The 30 Before 30 List
[Brackets refer to Life List items](last updated 9/7/11)
- Establish a regular workout routine
- [84.] Meditate regularly
Quit my current job[June '11]See at least 6 live music shows per year[2011]Go on a road trip along the East Coast[August '11]- Attend a taping of the Colbert Report
- Complete the NaNoWriMo challenge
- [25.] Write a novel
- Run a 5k and 10k [5k in November '11]
- [15.] Sign up to go on a service trip abroad
- [64.] Become comfortable driving on freeways and learn to parallel parking
- [32.] Take public speaking courses (public speaking is one of my biggest fears)
- [18.] Begin language classes (Spanish? French? Hawaiian?)
Visit an out-of-state national park[Shenandoah National Park]- Attend a Stratejoy workshop/event
- Meet some bloggers in person
- Lose 50lbs (which is what I need to lose to be at a "healthy weight")
- [43.] Go on an archaeological dig
- Submit a piece of fiction for publishing
- Spend a weekend at my favorite bed and breakfast
- Cook my way through an entire cookbook
- Apply for grad school
- [8.] Take a 3-month-long backpacking trip around the world
- Take mom to Ireland
- Run a half marathon
- [62.] Finish paying off my credit card debt
- Start eating only humanely/naturally raised, free-range products (and less meat in general)
- [80.] Start a retirement fund
- Get engaged (Possibly. Hopefully. This one's obviously negotiable.)
- [81.] Start the process of moving back to Seattle (Again, hopefully.)
The Life List
(last updated 2/4/11)
Graduate from a 4-year college[University of Washington, '05]Travel to Ireland['03, '08]- Have a rustic, vintage, outdoor, handmade wedding
Fall in love[with Nate]Live outside of Hawaii for an extended period of time['02-present]- Retire on the Big Island, HI
- Build an incredibly stylish and versatile wardrobe
- Take a backpacking trip around the world
Adopt an animal that needs a home[Mija the cat, Finn the dog]- Hike regularly
- Sky dive at sunset in the Bay of Islands, NZ
Bungy jump[Kawarau Bridge, NZ, '05]- Cage dive with great white sharks
- Zip-line in Whistler, BC
- Volunteer with an international humanitarian organization
See U2 live[June '11]- Take a vacation abroad with my mom and sisters
- Learn to speak Spanish fluently
- Get my PhD
- Go ATVing on Mauna Road on the Big Island, HI
- Stand under the Eiffel Tower when it's lit up at night
- Walk through Old City, Jerusalem
- Take a trip to Alaska and see the Northern Lights, grizzly bears, and go dog sledding
Pet a tiger[Thailand, '06]- Write a YA novel
- Own a hybrid car
- Cultivate a personal relationship with God
- Keep a journal and try to write in it as much as possible
Have my writing published[academic publications, '09]- Vacation in Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard [Cape Cod done in '11]
- Meet someone famous
- Overcome my fear of public speaking
- Watch a sunset in Positano, Italy
Study abroad[Northern Ireland '02, New Zealand '05]- Learn to snowboard
- Go on an African safari
- Take annual vacations somewhere I've never been
- Work or intern for a travel/lifestyle magazine or publisher (i.e. Sunset, Lonely Planet)
Go white water rafting[Wenatchee River, '04]Play in the falling snow[first time: Seattle, '04]- Open a bookstore (and possibly a cafe)
- Visit all the National Parks
- Go on an archaeological dig
Get backstage at a concert and meet the band[Band of Horses, '10]- Work/volunteer on a ranch or wildlife preserve
- Give birth to a child
- Adopt a child
- Practice yoga and pilates at least 2x a week for a year
- Spend a few days in Santorini, Greece
- Get certified and go diving on the Great Barrier Reef
- Own a home in Hawaii
- Lose 40lbs in a healthy way
Get a tattoo[Got 2, so far]- Take a week-long rafting trip in the Grand Canyon
Visit Crater Lake, OR[Northwest Roadtrip, '09]- Camp in Yosemite National Park
- Visit the Great Pyramids of Giza
- Have a marathon LotR extended version movie night (b/c I'm a nerd)
Go horseback riding[with Nate, '08]- Work to increase/protect the rights of indigenous peoples
- Run another 10k
- Get out of credit card debt
- Take a cross-country roadtrip
- Learn to drive comfortably on freeways
- Have a career where I can work from home
- Get Lasik eye surgery
- Visit the fjords and Alesund, Norway
- Ring in the New Year in NZ (it's the first place to experience it!)
Go to the Olympics[Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC, '10]- Own a house with views of the great outdoors
- Restore a fixer-upper
- See New England in the Fall
- Drink beer at Oktoberfest in Munich
- Go ghost hunting
- Learn to sew and reupholster
- Be on the winning team at my family's Annual Cook-Off
- Earn a stable and comfortable income doing something I love
- Own a horribly expensive, but utterly fabulous, pair of shoes
- Grow a garden
- Start and maintain a savings and retirement fund
- Move back to Seattle for a period of time
- Get my mother's secret recipe for her Energy Bars
- Go hot-air ballooning
- Meditate 5x a week for a year
Trace my genealogy['10]Go to a Renaissance Fair['07]Crowd surf at a rock concert[No Doubt, '98]- See the ruins of a lost civilization
- Buy (and wear) some amazingly sexy La Perla lingerie
- Raft +5 rapids
Stop drinking Diet Coke[January '11]- Take a Girls Trip out of the country
- Hire a personal shopper/stylist for a day
Visit a place I've read about in a novel[Monterey, CA and Ireland]- Participate in La Tomatina in Spain
- Take a photography class
- Travel to Bali, Indonesia
- Learn to cook one fabulous go-to "company" dinner
- Relearn to play the violin
- Call home weekly
