It’s been a while since I updated my 27 before 27 list—I figured I’d save them up so I could post a bunch at once. I have five new ones for today. :)
#5 visit the farmer’s market (07/23/11)
Back in July, Jonathan and I finally went to the farmer’s market with a couple of our friends. We discovered all sorts of new foods (like purple bell peppers)! :) I didn’t take many pictures, but here was one of some yummy-looking squash:
#6 travel to a new state (08/25/11)
Undoubtedly one of my favorite things to cross off my list! Jonathan, Nick, and I went to Seattle, WA for the Penny Arcade Expo (extreme geekery!)—it was SO much fun and an absolutely amazing trip. Here’s a photo of the three of us at the top of the Space Needle:
#9 send an unsolicited gift (?)
I don’t have a specific date for this, nor do I have a photo, nor do I want to tell you to whom I gave the gift! I feel like that would defeat the purpose. ;) But I accomplished this in September, I promise.
#11 paint the hallway (10/12/11)
So I didn’t actually paint the hallway myself—Jonathan did it. But I can still cross it off my list, because it was accomplished before my birthday. :P While he was at it, he got really motivated and also turned our hallway door into a Dutch door. I am so impressed with his fearlessness when diving into projects like this. He is amazing! :)
#24 celebrate 4-year graduationversary (05/15/11)
This one was tons of fun. We went to the UNA campus four years after our graduation (to celebrate having been graduated as long as we were in college). We toured the campus, went to eat at one of our favorite spots, and recreated some funny pictures we took while we were still in college. I loved visiting again and thinking about how far we’ve all come.
As for the rest of my 27 before 27 list, I don’t foresee finishing it this year. A lot of the goals that remain cost money (visiting a new hockey rink, going camping [we own zero camping gear], take a class, preserve my wedding dress), which is something not in great supply. But I’ll keep working on the goals that I can, and I won’t sweat the ones I can’t get done. After all, I made the list for myself, to be fun—getting uptight about not completing it would defeat the purpose.
I haven’t decided yet if I’ll do a 28 before 28 list similar to this one for next year, or if I’ll do a reading list instead, or if I’ll just pick one goal like a New Year’s resolution…what do you think?
Over the past couple days I’ve completed two more things on my 27 before 27 list:
#14 – finish organizing / printing photos, completed on 04/30/11
It feels so good to finally have this done. I’m caught up through 2010, and I’ve even printed a few photos from 2011 (they’ll be stored in the adorable teal box until the end of the year when I know what size photo album I’m going to need).
#26 – read a non-fiction book, completed 04/29/11
I finished reading Heaven is for Real yesterday, currently #1 on the New York Times best-seller list in the non-fiction category. As a very short review, I’ll say that I enjoyed reading it, that I think some of it should be taken with a grain of salt, and that I don’t find it hard to believe that a good deal of it is true. I strongly encourage anyone who reads it to remember that Scripture is where we need to base our faith, not solely on a young boy’s story of going to Heaven. But it is an interesting story nonetheless, and I think it’s worth reading. :)
I still have a lot to do to accomplish all 27 things, but I’m getting there!
It’s time for a mass update about my 27 before 27 list. I’ve completed 5 more things since my last post about it. Now that the weather’s getting warmer around here I should be able to tackle some of the outdoor stuff soon. In the meantime, here are the newest items I’ve crossed off the list:
#4 – start a garden (03/19/11)
I planted some herbs today. Jonathan and I were hoping to have a full-out vegetable garden this year but the time’s not quite right yet. Instead, I’ve planted some basil, chives, lavender, and rosemary in a small plot next to our garage. I’ve never planted any herbs before so I’m hoping they’ll turn out.
#8 – read a classic novel (01/30/11)
Since I have an English degree, I’m kind of ashamed that it wasn’t until this year that I finally read Fahrenheit 451. It was, however, worth the wait. I really enjoyed it!
#10 – meet a neighbor (03/19/11)
I met our neighbor today. Well, it’s kind of a shame, really—he’s not technically our neighbor. He’s renovating the house next door in order to sell it, so unfortunately he won’t be around for long. But he’s a nice guy anyway—Dale. No pictures though (thought that might be kind of awkward :P).
#15 – update my resume (01/16/11)
Finally got around to doing this back in January. I’m not in the market for a new job or anything, I just hadn’t updated my resume in about three years, so it was past time. It feels really good to have this crossed off the list.
#17 – buy some red high heels (03/05/11)
This is definitely my favorite update. I searched long and hard for these babies. The requirements were that the shoes 1) be high heels, 2) be red, 3) be sexy, and 4) make me feel gorgeous. They definitely succeed at all that.
Hope to have another update in another month or so with more stuff crossed off the list! :)
As we’re nearing the end of 2010, a lot of people are thinking about their new year’s resolutions for 2011. I very rarely participate in the new year’s resolution craze—this coming year I’m not going to have a new year’s goal considering I have a list of 27 things to do before I turn 27 next November that I haven’t yet put much of a dent in. But over this past year, on top of my weekly goal list, I made a lengthy resolutions list, and I thought I should update on how I did this year in making these things happen.
1) I will write more.
I feel like I accomplished this. I didn’t put any specific measurements to it, but I’ve been journaling consistently once a week this year, sometimes twice, with an occasional miss. I’ve also blogged some, so I’d call this a success. The next step is to get back to creative writing, my real desire, something I haven’t done in a long time and feel drawn to do.
2) I will read more.
This one is also a success. I did manage to squeeze in 12 books this year, one being the NCV Bible which I completed reading in November (it took me two and a half years to read the whole thing!). I re-read all the Harry Potter books in preparation for the movie last month, and I also established one night a week as reading night, which I’ve been able to stick to on most weeks.
3) I will honor the Sabbath.
Like I said in my original new year’s resolution post at this time last year, for me, this is Sunday. That may change—I’ve started reading the Bible over again and this time I’m studying it, not just reading, but for now, I’m trying to get into the habit of taking a day of rest. Obviously there were quite a few weekends when I didn’t succeed at this, especially because it’s a habit that I have to form, but I’d say more weekends than not I did take Sunday to rest, so I’d call this one a win, too.
4) I will find a home church.
I was most worried about this one, but I did it! Fortunately for me I mentioned my church hunting woes at work one day and a lot of co-workers had some great suggestions, and I found a church as a result of that conversation. I really love it—I love the music, the atmosphere, and the teaching. It’s been really great.
5) I will take better care of my body.
This goal has definitely been my biggest challenge this year. I still haven’t successfully found a workout routine, but I haven’t given up. I have, however, made a lot of good choices when it comes to the food that I eat, so at least I’ve made some progress there! Hopefully into 2011 I can really tackle this.
6) I will be more loving.
This goal happens to be the least quantifiable, but I think I met my own expectations of what I wanted to do. My goal was to train myself to think more about others and less about myself—I’ve made a lot of progress in this and it’s something that I’ll continue to work on as life goes on. There’s always room for improvement here, especially because people are generally selfish by nature, including myself.
All in all I’m really happy with my progress over the last year, and I’m determined to carry the good habits and thoughts into 2011.
Happy new year! :)
I hadn’t planned on completing this goal so soon (#27 on my 27 before 27 list: add another classic to our Disney movie collection), but my mom and dad are apparently looking out for me, because they bought us Beauty and the Beast for Christmas! :)
I definitely plan on adding many more to our collection, but this is a start and enough to cross off another goal!
On December 12th, I completed #16 on my 27 before 27 list: attend a rock concert. On a whim, JB and I decided to go see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra! :) We went to see them two Christmases ago, but we enjoyed the show all the same! And if you don’t think TSO counts as rock…then you have never heard their really good stuff. ;) Here are some pictures chronicling the evening—enjoy!
Cookies and I have a love-hate relationship…I love them, but they hate me. Okay, the cookies probably don’t hate me, but I am notoriously terrible at making cookies unless I buy that pre-made cookie dough that’s already cut into perfect little disks. Hence why I chose sugar cookies for #1 on my 27 before 27 list: make a dessert from scratch.
Step 1 – make a mess of the kitchen
Step 2 – mix, roll, and cut
Step 3 – make an overdone batch
Step 4 – make an underdone batch
Step 5 – make a batch that’s juuuust right!
Mission #1 complete (12/07/2010). :)
