30 Things to Do Before I Turn 30

Here it be, my friends. Some of these don’t need much extra explanation… actually probably none of them do, but I am going to elaborate anyway. Wish me luck! Help me out! Start your own! Let’s do this!

1- Fall in love
Stipulation – it needs to be reciprocal. This adds to the challenge somewhat. But dammit, I’ve been patient long enough. I need to get myself out there.

2 – Earn my black belt in TKD

3- Visit Las Vegas
A road trip with my girls would obviously be ideal but given time constraints of vacation time and what have you, I am ok with flying. This also accomplishes “visit a casino” which isn’t a separate line item but could be. This might take a while given my lack of finances… perhaps I’ll save it to the end and that is how I will celebrate my 30th birthday? oooh, I like that. Hear that, girls? My 30th birthday – we are headed to Vegas!

4- Kiss in the rain

5- Sell a piece of artwork – COMPLETED AUGUST 2009
Ok, it was to my friend Steph… but it was AT an art show! So it totally counts. This also simultaneously knocks “be in an art show” off my list. Maybe I should be more ambitious… Sell a piece of artwork to a stranger?

6 – Photograph a new city
Cites that I’ve already done (more or less): St. Louis, San Francisco, New York, Des Moines. Anywhere else is fair game. I’d really like to hit Minneapolis, maybe. I don’t think I’ve taken enough shots to really count it. Maybe I should go somewhere new? Chicago? I’ve never been there…

7 – Learn a foreign language (or enough to be mildly conversational)
Either French or Spanish. French cause it’s pretty, Spanish cause it’s useful.

8 – Get a tattoo

9 – Visit a winery – COMPLETED AUGUST 2009
Already knocked this one out, but I’d love to go visit more! Maybe I could expand this to “tour a winery” – not just taste all their wine! : )

10 – Pay off my credit cards

11 – Find the perfect little black dress

12- Lose 30 pounds
(25 would be acceptable. Hell, I’d even take 20 at this point.)

13 – Sing karaoke
Doing it as a group totally counts, as long as it’s in front of people. And we’re liquored up.

14 – See a Broadway show
… on Broadway. Damn, I guess that means I’ll have to go to New York. ; )

15 – Learn to drive a stick shift
My dad tried to teach me once. It ended in epic failure. There’s still time!

16 – Go out to the middle of nowhere and watch a meteor shower

17 – Visit a haunted house
This will freak the shit out of me. I should probably do it anyway.

18 – Travel outside state lines and buy fireworks
Yo, Missouri – what’s up? ; )

19 – Learn the Thriller dance
This is very important. Because it would be AWESOME.

20 – Get a manicure/pedicure and/or a massage
I’m almost tempted to not cross this one off until I do both. I have been missing out!!

21 – Go to the Iowa State Fair – COMPLETED AUGUST 2009
I came, I saw, I ate something on a stick. And deep fried Oreos. And totally almost lost my car in the parking lot. It was fun.

22 – Go campaniling
This only makes sense if you are an Iowa State student/grad. One of the traditions is to kiss under our campanile (clock tower) at the stroke of midnight. They say you’re not a true Iowa Stater until you do it. I never did it! : ( For as into ISU as I was, this makes me feel kind of like a failure…

23 – Be in a movie
This could be entirely contingent upon how this whole tax-credit thing goes and if they keep filming movies in Iowa (Des Moines is the new LA!). I want to be an extra! Preferably one that actually shows up on screen! Hollywood, baby!

24 – Participate in a cancer fundraising walk
I will never be able to run a 5K, but dammit, I still want to participate. I am signed up to do one in October – it’s just 1-mile walk, but it’s something.

25 – Go Tailgating – COMPLETED SEPTEMBER 2009
Can you believe I never went tailgating in college? Ok, I went once, but I was 19, and the thought of getting a MIP charge wasn’t cool. There was no beer involved. And it wasn’t fun. So I finally went, as someone of legal age, and it was everything I hoped it would be. Except I didn’t get fed. Maybe next time I can tailgate with people who will grill some burgers.

26 – Write a short story. Send it in to be published. Frame the rejection letter.
By 40, I hope to take a stab at a novel. Or my memoirs – y’all know I’ve got some good stories to start it. For now… something smaller.

27 – Walk a dog
I’ve never done this. We’ve always had cats…

28 – Host a dinner
Cook a full meal – appetizer, entree, dessert – for some friends. Yum!

29 – Learn to parallel park
Cause, seriously? Right now I will park blocks away just so I don’t have to.

30 – Clean out my car
I probably wouldn’t have actually put this on the list except I was coerced into doing so by a few of my friends. Basically my car is a giant pit hole of everything I’ve ever travelled with. It needs some TLC and possibly a ShopVac. Also, by putting it on my list, I may actually DO it.

All right, that’s my list. Five years to get them done. Starting… now!

xoxo
K.

It’s T Minus 2 days until I “officially” launch this project – by which I mean, I will post my list and there will be no turning back. I currently have 29 things on it… naturally I feel like #30 has to be a good one. It will probably be something lame. I still have a day to figure it out.

Here is what I am NOT going to include: things like “getting married” or “have a baby” and such. For starters, I don’t know if I even want kids, ever, let alone *rightnow* – also, that’s kind of Serious for my purposes. As far as getting married? I’d love to be settled down by 30, but that includes a whole slew of variables, including finding somebody that I actually want to commit to for the rest of my life. To me, you can’t put a timeline on that. So I won’t.

Other things I’ve excluded are things I’ve already done, that might have otherwise been on my list. (Visit a foreign country? Check. Try sushi? Check.) If I did it before I even started this list, it doesn’t count. Meanwhile, if I started the list, and happened to have the opportunity to do it… eh, well, I’m counting it. It’s not cheating… it’s just me getting ahead of myself.

Primarily, these are fun and happy things that I want to do, not a checklist of grownup-ly things that I should do. These are things I want to do. Hopefully soon. Then, when I check them all off? I can make a new list of things I want to do. Hopefully by then, I will have more money, and I can start putting things on there that will someday be more financially feasible. : )

So… check back on Wednesday, I will OFFICIALLY OFFICIALLY post the list, and we’ll see where this little experiment takes me. If anyone gets inspired to do their own list, let me know – I’ll link to it over yonder on the side.

Cheers!
K.