My poor neglected blog…

I can’t believe I didn’t post the entire month of November. So sorry! It was a very busy month, filled with…

Starting my own photography business. Yeah, I decided to go for it. Well, just wading my toes in slowly. I would hate to get burnt out on something I love so much. But, most of my photography posts are now over at the new photography blog. You can also become a fan of me on Facebook (that sounds so narcissistic) or follow my photography Twitter account.

Celebrating my birthday. A bunch of us Scorpios got together and threw a big party. Then I went to Orlando to spend my birthday week at Universal and Disney. And I know I just linked to the photography blog twice more. I promise I’m not abandoning this one.

Being busy at work. Although, that’s pretty much been non-stop all year.

Starting Christmas shopping. I’m already halfway done!

And, um, NOT finishing the things I’m supposed to do before I’m 28. Yeah. Uh. We’ll just move that to the Before 29 list. (But to be fair, there was only one thing I didn’t do!)

30 Before 30 Update

I haven’t updated in a few months, so look at this! Only two things left to do before my birthday in two months!

Before I’m 28, I will:
• watch “Citizen Kane”.
• read at least five books on my books to read list. (Screw it. The list isn’t happening. I HAVE read four books so far this year [um, only one was on the list] so I may be actually able to make it five before my birthday.)
• get a passport.
• see a live musical. (Yay for “Wicked”!)
• make a new friend. (I’ve made several!)
• buy (or acquire) a dSLR camera and learn how to use it.
• volunteer for something.
• watch a sunrise.
• take a class of some sort.
• travel to Europe.

Before I’m 29, I will:
• kiss under a waterfall.
• read at least ten books on my books to read list.
• hold a formal 4-course dinner party.
• do landscaping on the yard.
• hire a maid.
• go skydiving.
• learn to knit.
• go to Vegas.
• write to a congressperson about something that’s really important to me.
• travel to a beach I’ve never been to. (Went to Destin!)

Before I’m 30, I will:
• get a promotion.
• read at least fifteen books on my books to read list.
• write a novel.
• pay my parents back.
• pay off all student loans and credit cards.
• put 10% of my paycheck into my 401k.
• build a snowman.
• stop thinking of 30 as old.
• see at least one of the following bands/artists in concert: Tool, Coldplay, Nine Inch Nails, Jack Johnson, or Daft Punk. (I still want to see the others, of course, but NIN was awesome.)
• travel to California.

30 Before 30 Update

I’m in Europe, so I’ve scheduled this to post while I’m gone. The first list is getting there… Um, and I rearranged a bit. I removed “buy land for a house”, moved “build a snowman” to later, and added “go to Vegas”.

Before I’m 28, I will:
• watch “Citizen Kane”.
• read at least five books on my books to read list. (I think I need a new list. Or not keep myself to a list. I keep reading things that aren’t on the list.)
• get a passport.
• see a live musical. (I can cross this off in September.)
• make a new friend.
• buy (or acquire) a dSLR camera and learn how to use it.
• volunteer for something.
• watch a sunrise.
• take a class of some sort.
• travel to Europe.

Before I’m 29, I will:
• kiss under a waterfall.
• read at least ten books on my books to read list.
• hold a formal 4-course dinner party.
• do landscaping on the yard.
• hire a maid.
• go skydiving.
• learn to knit.
• go to Vegas.
• write to a congressperson about something that’s really important to me.
• travel to a beach I’ve never been to.

Before I’m 30, I will:
• get a promotion.
• read at least fifteen books on my books to read list.
• write a novel.
• pay my parents back.
• pay off all student loans and credit cards.
• put 10% of my paycheck into my 401k.
• build a snowman.
• stop thinking of 30 as old.
• see at least one of the following bands/artists in concert: Tool, Coldplay, Nine Inch Nails, Jack Johnson, or Daft Punk. (Stupid Coldplay is coming while I’ll be in Europe. Not to mention that the tickets are like $120 each.)
• travel to California.

30 Before 30 Update!

One more thing off the list…

Before I’m 28, I will:
• watch “Citizen Kane”.
• read at least five books on my books to read list. (Still have not gotten my butt to the library.)
• get a passport. (In progress. Mother, please have my birth certificate ready for me when I come home next weekend. I have a feeling I’m going to have to expedite the thing.)
• see a live musical. (Yay, I have “Wicked” tickets!)
• make a new friend.
• buy (or acquire) a dSLR camera and learn how to use it.
• volunteer for something. (I’ve got the applications. I just need stamps to mail them.)
• watch a sunrise.
• take a class of some sort.
• travel to Europe. (Hopefully in June.)

Before I’m 29, I will:
• kiss under a waterfall.
• read at least ten books on my books to read list.
• hold a formal 4-course dinner party.
• do landscaping on the yard.
• hire a maid.
• go skydiving.
• learn to knit.
• build a snowman.
• write to a congressperson about something that’s really important to me.
• travel to a beach I’ve never been to.

Before I’m 30, I will:
• get a promotion.
• read at least fifteen books on my books to read list.
• write a novel.
• pay my parents back.
• pay off all student loans and credit cards.
• put 10% of my paycheck into my 401k.
• buy land to build a house.
• stop thinking of 30 as old.
• see at least one of the following bands/artists in concert: Tool, Coldplay, Nine Inch Nails, Jack Johnson, or Daft Punk. (Stupid Coldplay is coming while I’ll be in Europe. Not to mention that the tickets are like $120 each.)
• travel to California.

More goal progress…and a new list.

If you haven’t heard, Ben and I called off the wedding. Obviously, this presents a problem for a few items on my “30 Things” list. Namely, getting married and having babies. So I’m going to have to rework the list a little. But, at least I can mark off a few things!

Before I’m 28, I will:
• watch “Citizen Kane”. (Still sitting on my entertainment center. I’m really, really going to try to watch it this week.)
• read at least five books on my books to read list. (Yeah, nowhere close yet.)
• get a passport. (In progress.)
• see a live musical. (I really want to see “Wicked” later this year. We’ll see if I can get/afford tickets.)
• make a new friend. (Yeah, still working on this.)
• buy (or acquire) a dSLR camera and learn how to use it.
• volunteer for something. (I’ve got the applications. I just need stamps to mail them.)
• watch a sunrise.
• take a class of some sort. (I bumped this one up, since I did it already. I took both a photography class and a cooking class.)
• travel to Europe. (This one got bumped up too, since I am planning a trip as we speak.)

Before I’m 29, I will:
• kiss under a waterfall. (I bumped this one down, since I was expecting this to happen on our honeymoon, and, well, now it won’t.)
• read at least ten books on my books to read list.
• hold a formal 4-course dinner party.
• do landscaping on the yard.
• hire a maid. (I’m debating on whether I should replace this with something. Kind of silly for just little ol’ me to have a maid.)
• go skydiving.
• learn to knit.
• build a snowman. (Still hasn’t snowed enough.)
• write to a congressperson about something that’s really important to me.
• travel to a beach I’ve never been to. (Like Tahiti! As if I could ever afford that.)

Before I’m 30, I will:
• get a promotion.
• read at least fifteen books on my books to read list.
• write a novel. (Heartbreak does at least give you some good story ideas.)
• pay my parents back. (This one got a little more feasible without having to pay for a wedding.)
• pay off all student loans and credit cards. (This one too.)
• put 10% of my paycheck into my 401k.
• buy land to build a house. (I’m tempted to remove this one, as what’s the point of needing a bigger house if I don’t have a family.)
• stop thinking of 30 as old.
• see at least one of the following bands/artists in concert: Tool, Coldplay, Nine Inch Nails, Jack Johnson, or Daft Punk.
• travel to California. (I’ve never been and I want to.)

I was tempted to throw “get married” onto the last section of the list, but it’s probably better not to give myself a deadline for that. But you probably noticed all my new stuff involves traveling, which, as I said when I made the list, I wanted to include more of anyway.

Goal progress…

Thought everyone might be interested in how the 30 before 30 goals are coming along…

I have added “Citizen Kane” to my Blockbuster Total Access list, although I’ve had “Prince Caspian” for over a month now and I really want to see “The Duchess” next, so it’ll find its way to me in time…

I have been reading, but unfortunately none of it has been on my books to read list. But I am currently reading “Angels and Demons” by Dan Brown and “The Last Unicorn” (my autographed copy!!) by Peter S. Beagle. I also recently read “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” by Fitzgerald because I want to see the movie, as well as “Click for Love”, which is a personalized romance novel that my mom got for me for Christmas, haha.

I did acquire a dSLR camera for Christmas, so the next part of that is learning how to use it. Dove Wedding Photography is offering a photography basics workshop at the end of the month that I’d love to take, but I’m waiting to hear back if it is full already or not. Incidentally, this would also take care of “take a class of some sort”.

Also, along those same lines, Ben and I are taking a cooking class at the end of February to learn how to make a Sicilian dinner. So I guess that would count too.

For my “make a new friend” goal, I have signed myself up at meetup.com and am in two meetup groups: Nashville Hip Chicks and Board Game Lovers. Hopefully, I will be able to make a friend through one of these groups.

I’ve also been contemplating what I want my novel to be about, but so far have nothing. Well, actually I had something, but failed to write it down and then forgot it. So there you go.

30 Things to Do Before I’m 30…

I did pretty well on my list last year. I bought a house, bought a car, adopted a kitten (or two), took a vacation, and started my business. Still have a bit of credit card debt, thanks to the wedding, but I’m working on it.

Since it’s my 27th birthday, I thought I would crank it up a notch. Here are thirty things that I want to accomplish before I’m 30, with 10 of them before I’m 28, and 10 more before I’m 29. I think I could realistically do all these things. I would love to travel more than I have on here, but we’ll start with this.

Before I’m 28, I will:
• get married.
• watch “Citizen Kane”. (I’ve never seen it.)
• read at least five books on my books to read list.
• get a passport.
• see a live musical. (I see ballets every year, but I’ve only seen one musical in like the last 10-15 years.)
• make a new friend. (Probably the hardest thing for me on the entire list, especially considering I only gave myself a year.)
• buy (or acquire) a dSLR camera and learn how to use it.
• volunteer for something.
• kiss under a waterfall.
• watch a sunrise.

Before I’m 29, I will:
• travel to Europe.
• take a class of some sort.
• read at least ten books on my books to read list.
• hold a formal 4-course dinner party. (I’ve been dying to do this, but I never have enough money.)
• do landscaping on the yard. (Or…hire someone to landscape.)
• hire a maid. (Ben and I are in agreement that we hate housework and want to hire a maid as soon as we can afford one.)
• go skydiving.
• learn to knit.
• build a snowman. (Of course, this is contingent on it ever snowing…)
• write to a congressperson about something that’s really important to me.

Before I’m 30, I will:
• have a baby. (The scariest thing on the list, lol.)
• get a promotion.
• read at least fifteen books on my books to read list.
• write a novel.
• pay my parents back. (You don’t want to know how much money I owe them. This is probably the least feasible thing I have on here.)
• pay off all student loans and credit cards.
• put 10% of my paycheck into my 401k. (I’m doing 6% right now.)
• buy land to build a house.
• stop thinking of 30 as old.
• see at least one of the following bands/artists in concert: Tool, Coldplay, Nine Inch Nails, Jack Johnson, or Daft Punk.