30 Before 30

I am turning 30 at the end of this year.

"The whole idea of Mormonism is improvement -- mentally, physically, morally and spiritually. No half-way education suffices for the Latter-day Saint." - Lorenzo Snow

I have been thinking about a fresh start since the beginning of January, and at the same time can't believe that I am going to be 30 this year! It feels like start or end to something important.. it's a big milestone. I truly am excited to be 30, seems like such a mature energetic age. I feel like the twenties are for making stupid selfish decisions.. the thirties are all about being happy with yourself, loving others, giving yourself more, being steady in life decisions but fancy free at the same time, wise, and youthful and energetic. I feel like I am headed into the prime time!

So I decided a few weeks ago that I needed to fresh'n up my life with some positive goals, and since I am turning thirty.. why not make thirty of them? I love having goals, I believe in positive thinking, and making goals turns your mind from negative thoughts to inspiring positive thoughts.. which make you better and happy. 

So here you are... the list of new things I want to try, old things I want to get better at, attributes to attain, things to look forward to.... 

1. the Alpine Challenge. 62 miles on May 5th.

2. becoming a distinguished graduate at Front Sight... which will require dry practice shooting before attending the course in May.

3. reading the Book of Mormon on my iPhone before going to Belize, I recently fell in love with reading the Book of Mormon electronically. Being able to highlight new things, and tag scriptures, and then see them listed on my phone in quick display modes. I love it. I actually read the last two chapters that way, and have started over, and now will read the whole thing with new markings... adding fresh notes and tags for a complete new study... I want to finish before the summer when we go to Belize and take the Book of Mormon ruins tour.

4. either take pottery or guitar lessons. I feel like living in a new place, requires a new hobby... so I can remember down the road "oh, San Diego... that's where I fell in love with the guitar... or with pottery." I'm leaning more towards the guitar right now because our apartment simply isn't big enough to have any extra pots... my cupboards are packed as it is... with even more pyrex in Utah. I need to learn to play the guitar. It's crucial.

5. attend a country concert with Dan (preferably Pistol Annies, Band Perry, or Little Big Town)

6. completely organize the back bedroom, where Dan and I have separate work tables. His for reloading, mine for sewing.. .right now it's complete mayhem back there, and I just want it to be a fun, organized and happy work area. I can see it all now.. music going, my sewing machine humming along, while Dan reloads and tinkers with guns.... sounds like bliss. I can already cross this half way off... because we did get a corner organized when Dan built his reloading table and moved his gun safe in. His corner looks really good now. To cross this completely off we need to take my bed that's in there back to Utah, and add another shelf to organize the rest of it.

7. give up white sugar, white flour and most dairy products again, because I feel so much more functional and healthy when that happens.

8. complete this GM cleanse diet (depending on if it is successful, doing it multiple times)

9. finish my kickstart business plan profile... and see if anyone will bite.

10. feed the missionaries.

11. practice yoga, and attend a yoga class to get better.

12. read more poetry, memorize a few poems.

13. draw some more illustrations

14. glam up! actually do my hair in a new way a few times a week, straighten it more often, do an actual up do, not a bun... I want to not be wearing any of the same clothes/styles I wore throughout my 20's. I want a more sophisticated polished look. Lipstick, make-up, jewelry... etc. 

15. find a second income at home, whether it's saving enough money to buy my own desktop and CAD station at home to do independent contract drafting jobs.

16. expand my graphic skills, illustrating and photography skills (this will help with #9, #13, #15, #17, #27 and #30)

17. document my wedding, honeymoon and first year of marriage pictures with some sort of scrapbook/photobook to have all the memories hard copy.

18. give the kitchen table set a fresh new look by reupholstering the chair sand redoing the paint of the table.

19. grow some plants on my porch... and make the porch a cozier place, make a cushion for the porch swing.. since ours was stolen. And especially since we spend so much time out there... with the fire pit and all. This includes learning how to make quality throw pillows... with piping and all that.

20. finish quilts that I started. make Dan his dream quilt.

21. save up before buying stuff.

22. go panning for gold at least a couple of times.

23. attend spin classes in the morning.

24. get in a good temple attending groove.

25. Continually be a better wife, since that's my major roll right now. I want to be sweeter, more understanding, less stressful, more Christ-like, and more giving than selfish.

26. knit this blanket, or this one.... or maybe crochet this one.

27. send out Christmas cards the beginning of December.

28. get scuba certified and dive with Dan.

29. join the ward choir, and attend practices (even though I think our ward choir sucks and there's four times as many women as men... I like singing and singing church songs - it uplifts my soul)

30. return of the talent show birthday party!! if I can't be in Utah to arrange it, then an online party or video competition of sorts. Perhaps a 3 minute video of your talent... or something, and I'll reveal them all on my birthday in a blog post. Since all my friends live far away, it could be like an online party!

Pretty good list... I'm stoked about it. I want to go home and start crossing stuff off of it right now!