GlossyVeneer

My 30th birthday was earlier this week and it’s been quite the week. I’ve been out to dinner WAY TOO MUCH… I’ve seen a show on The Strip… I’ve eaten more dessert in one week than I’ve probably eaten in the past year… I’ve slept very little… But it’s been good.

After my 29th birthday, I created several lists of things I needed to do over the next year before turning 30. I didn’t quite accomplish everything, but I am pleased and content with how everything panned out. I mean, I did broaden my horizons quite a bit.

Foods: I tried snails and raw fish. I missed out on the oysters because I couldn’t get up the nerve to spend the money on an appetizer that may ruin the rest of a meal for me. Yep, I was a chicken. And I never tried the prickly pear cactus, but that was just thrown in there for kicks because I’ve seen it on the produce shelves. I’ll still be game to try oysters if they are presented to me, but I’m not going to buy them for myself.

Self-Nuturing: I did pretty good with this list: dying my hair (multiple times), getting a massage (multiple times), got a manicure (just once, it was ruined too quickly). My biggest failure here was that I never did give myself a day to just sleep. I’m really bad with the sleep issue. I know it’s important but I always feel if I’m sleeping too much, I’m missing out on so many other things that I could/should be doing.

Accomplishments/Experiences: I missed out on that exotic dance class I was going to take, but I don’t care too much about that. I did plant some tomatoes, even growing a small handful of the fruit/veggie for consumption. The plants croaked when the dripline to them broke while I was out of town for a week, but oh well. I’ll keep trying. I went on a trip all by myself, something I decided could fulfill a slot on this list. But the biggest one for me was finishing a marathon. That one event was more life-altering than I could have ever dreamed and it has set me on a path that I hope to continue down for the rest of my life.

Now I need to make some “Before 31″ lists. I don’t think they’ll be as extensive as these lists were, but I still think it’s a tradition that I want to carry on throughout my life. Making a couple goals for the year is a great way to focus on improving my life, a little bit of healthy selfishness to draw my energies away from my job and cleaning the toilets.

Thanks for being such a great cheering squad for me, this has been fun to share my lists with all of you. If you’ve got any suggestions for things you think I should do, I’d love to hear them. Sometimes it takes encouraging from others to get out of your own little comfort zone and I need that excitement in my life!

When I was a little kid I flew on a plane by myself between my family’s home in Illinois and my grandparents in Salt Lake City. I have flown by myself to meet other relatives in different cities for various reasons where they would pick me up at the airport. I have co-planned trips for my husband and me where I was kind of responsible for navigating us around but many arrangements were made by him.

This past weekend marked the very first time I have ever gone on a trip all by myself. Where I made all the arrangements, drove to the airport, parked my car there, flew, arranged transportation to a hotel, checked in, etc. ALL BY MYSELF.

Many of you may think this is kind of pathetic, that I haven’t done all of these things on my own before, but this was a big step for me and I found it very liberating.

It wasn’t on my list of things to do before I turned 30, but it should have been. Maybe I’ll put it on the “experiences” list since some of the other items got relegated to trash. In fact, after reviewing that list, this trip has officially become the 4th item on that list.

Now I still have to find a replacement for that exotic dancing one!