Thirty

Me and my cute boy on my birthday!

So, I have officially entered a new decade of my life. Yup, I'm thirty. Typing that really freaks me out. I may be one of those people who decides to celebrate their 29th birthday multiple times...at least until my looks catch up to me. 

Nah, I suppose being thirty isn't that bad. After all, if Olivia Wilde can feel good about it, so can I. She actually makes some good points there. Mostly, it just feels surreal, like I should still be a kid or something. I don't feel like I always thought I would feel at this age. I remember when my mom turned thirty. Mostly because I spent the night of her big party puking my guts out in her bathroom, and my friend Jeffery's mom came in to take care of me. She gave me pepto bismol, which I then colored the toilet pink with. I was not a happy camper that night. And I was jealous that I couldn't sneak out to spy on the party.

Anyway. The past year and a half has been a bit of a whirlwind. I feel like my birthday kind of snuck up on me. Granted, I've been thinking about it for awhile. I just don't know that I was ready to leave my twenties behind. I thought I ought to do something monumental to bring on the new, more mature me. So I made a list of all the things I've put off doing for one reason or another, that I really want to get done. And I'm going to do them. All thirty of them. While I am thirty.

Thirty list 

1. Organize the millions of pictures that I've taken - especially over the last year.
2. Upload all the videos I've taken of Jesse (and figure out a system to keep them current). I'm working on that one, but too slowly. 
3. Camcorder DVD conversion - I have a bunch of old videos from my childhood and teenage years that I'd like to preserve.
4. Organize my external hard drive.
5. Scan mine and Luke's childhood scrapbooks.
6. Lose the excess 20 from my twenties (pounds, that is). More importantly, I just want to get fit, so I can feel good about my weight/size.
7. Take more self portraits. I love to take pictures, but when I don't feel I look my best, I tend to hide behind the camera. I want my little boy to have lots of pictures of me WITH him!
8. Get dressed more regularly (as much as I love staying in my PJ's all day).
9. Floss daily. Yes, I have worked in the dental field for most of my adult life. No, I don't floss on a regular basis. /hide
10. Clean out and organize my clothes. Um, I still have my maternity clothes hanging up in my closet...
11. Read to Jesse daily. He loves his books, but we kind of get caught in our daily routine, which doesn't always involve new and exciting books. Especially since he started eating all his books, so I put them out of reach. 
12. Sing more. Out loud. Even though that terrifies me. Lol!
13. Be more socially active (take advantage of my time in MBASA).
14. Read more books. This one I have actually been doing - Luke signed up for audible.com this summer while he was commuting, and has kept it active for me. I can get so much done while I listen to a good book!
15. Try more new recipes.
16. Start blogging again (both my personal and my food blog).
17. Journal consistently - weekly at least, if not more! There is so much going on in my life every day with this little guy! I don't want to forget it!
18. De-clutter my house. I am a bit of a pack rat, and now that my days are consumed by being a mom, it's starting to show!
19. Be ready to move (i.e., don't procrastinate!). Thankfully, I found this awesome set of tips, including a full checklist to make sure everything gets done in the right order. Totally taking advantage of it. Hopefully, the company Luke gets hired by will help us with the moving - either by sending movers, which a lot of these companies do, or at least compensating us for the cost. This'll be the first big move he and I do on our own! Yikes!!
20. Clean the floors more often. I am terrible at this! But I have become so conscious of it with a little guy who loves roaming around the house. I've been working on it already, but I could definitely be better!
21. Figure out some sort of housekeeping system, or at least start some weekly/monthly routine so I can focus on one task at a time, and not feel so overwhelmed all the time. 
22. Create a family yearbook. I have a couple of friends who have done this, and I love the idea! I REALLY want to do it. Even if I can't order the books until we have money, I want to get them made!
23. Learn more about personal finance. Luke took this class in business school, and the professor has put all his lectures and text online for public use. I wanted to do it at the same time as Luke was in the class, but just couldn't keep up. However, I really would like to understand it all better, so I'm going to at least watch the lectures. 
24. Brush/bathe the cat on a regular basis. My baby girl has been replaced by a more demanding baby, so I haven't really kept her as groomed as I would like to. She's starting to get old, and I don't want her to suffer from poor health as a result of bad hygiene. Oh the guilt!
25. Eat better. T'is the season, right? Ha! I have been following the cheap and easy diet these days, which doesn't always help me feel my best. I am going to change that! I'm also going to eat less sweets.
26. Be more positive. Easier said than done, right?!
27. Create a home emergency plan/72 hour kits.
28. Organize a meal plan system. I tend to get stuck in cooking ruts, but I love eating new food. I also get tired of eating the same thing day after day. I am terrible at structured meal planning, but I'd like to come up with something that will help me keep our meals exciting, our grocery trips few, and our budget in check. 
29. Get better at managing my time. I *thought* I was busy once upon a time when I didn't have a kid. Now I know better. I miss my free time. But I am also not the best at taking advantage of what time I do have. 
30. Pick back up an old hobby. I keep going back and forth between sewing and playing the piano. I would like to someday be good at both. I have easy access to everything I'd need for either. Just have to choose one (or both, if I get really ambitious!). 

So, here goes. I've actually been working on some of these since I started writing this list. But, I've got quite a lot of work cut out for me.

I suppose I'll have to follow up next year. Stay tuned...