30 Before 30: Update 1.

When I got hired last April, it turned my world upside down. For three years post-college, I only worked part-time and had become accustomed to a very flexible schedule and a lot of free time. Once I started on the 9-to-5(:30) grind, I had little time and energy left to focus on anything other than work. All of the goals and habits that were in progress dropped off of my radar completely because I was exhausted by my new schedule.

Now that I've been working for almost a year (crazy!), I've settled into my new normal and am finally ready to get back to working on some goals and habits. To tie it in with my return to blogging, I figured I would take a peek at my 30 Before 30 list and see if I'd made any accidental progress. Turns out I did a handful of things without even trying!

Completed Goals

13. Get a job. This one's pretty obvious, so I won't bother explaining.

18. Go see the Radio City Christmas show. I can't say Erik thought of this completely on his own - I told him it was unofficially on my Christmas list - but he was the one who suggested going together and bought the tickets, so he gets the credit for it anyway. Needless to say, I absolutely LOVED it. I teared up when they first came out, geeked out over the full-on tap routine, and squealed with delight when they did the marching soldier routine. I'm 99% sure Erik slept through half of it, but I was in heaven, and we had a really great night in the city just days before Christmas.

29. Buy a smartphone. As soon as I got my job and saved up enough money, my first big purchase was my iPhone. I honestly can't imagine living without it, especially since I'm not really allowed online at my job except for work-related things.

In-Progress Goals

3. Travel by plane. As I've mentioned, the only convenient way for me to get to Vegas for Bloggers in Sin City is by plane, so this will be happening in May.

22. Attend BiSC at least once! My ticket is purchased and I'm cleared for vacation time, so it's pretty much a done deal. Won't cross it off officially until I've hugged dozens of bloggers, though!

Classic Movie Sub-List

I have a list of thirty-seven classic movies, thanks to the help of Erik, friends, and my lovely readers when I asked for suggestions. It's an arbitrary number; initially I said twenty, but the list just happened to come out to thirty-seven. The only one I've watched so far is Edward Scissorhands, and I missed a chunk in the middle because I was at Erik's and we were getting ready to go somewhere while it was on. Obviously I'm not making the best progress here, but I'm going to put a little more effort into watching more of these.

-

There's still a lot of progress to be made on this list, but I think I'm doing pretty well considering I didn't put any effort at all into my accomplishments so far. Stay tuned for the return on monthly goals next week for the beginning of April!

Classic Movies.

On my 30 Before 30 list, one of my goals is to watch 20 classic movies.

See, I'm one of those people who hasn't seen any movie that's considered a classic. I only saw Forrest Gump and Shawshank Redemption in the past five years. I haven't seen When Harry Met Sally, any of the Godfather movies, or probably any other movie you can think of. Most of the movies I've watched over the years have been comedies, romantic comedies, or kids movies.

So I need your help. In the comments, leave as many suggestions as you like for movies to add to my list. I'm looking for those that are assumed to have been watched by everyone, the ones that you are shocked to hear someone hasn't seen. I'm 'that girl' through and through; I'm used to the surprised faces by now.

Also, to make it fun, share your favorite movie(s) with me, too!

30 Before 30.

For the longest time, I avoided the idea of Life Lists (and all similar lists) because I don't really live an adventurous life. I know that the point of such lists is to gently push yourself out of your comfort zone, but I always assumed I would never muster up enough courage or effort to get through the list.

In the past year or so, however, I toyed with the idea of making a 30 Before 30 list. To me, 30 tasks in five years is doable. Once I let go of the idea that I had to make a list containing outrageous tasks - like traveling overseas or skydiving - I felt like it was a much better idea.

So without further ado, here is my 30 Before 30 list:

1. Go to dinner by myself
2. Go to a movie by myself
3. Travel by plane
4. Take a weekend getaway with Erik
5. Learn to knit
6. Buy a sewing machine
7. Go to a(nother) major sporting event (this was on the list in my head before I went to see the New York Rangers, so it's on my list to go to something else)
8. Learn to make 10 meals well enough that I don't need the recipe
9. Open at Etsy shop (or sell crafty goods in some fashion)
10. Move out
11. Watch 20 "classic" movies
12. Go to disney
13. Get a job
14. Work in the event/wedding planning industry
15. Take a yoga class
16. Go to a dance convention/master class
17. Go to the tree lighting/Thanksgiving Day parade/4th of July fireworks/NYE in NYC (because I couldn't pick and I'm setting the bar low to go to at least one of these)
18. Go see the Radio City Christmas show
19. Go see a show on broadway
20. (Re-)Learn spanish
21. Host a dinner party
22. Attend BiSC at least once!
23. Start a Roth IRA
24. Save $10,000 for a down payment on a house
25. Get a tattoo
26. Watch Friends & Sex and the City from start to finish (I've never seen either all the way through!)
27. Go on six "real" dates with Erik a year (our "date" nights are usually staying in, or going out with a group of friends; by "real" dates I mean dinner/movie/activity together, just the two of us)
28. Take a pole dancing class
29. Buy a smartphone
30. Save $5,000 for a wedding

There you have it! I want to give a quick thanks to Allison for answering my tweet for some list inspiration - the last seven or eight were inspired by her list, which you can check out here.

I hope to blog about things as I complete them. I mean, some of them will be a given, considering I wouldn't miss out on blogging about going to Disney, my first plane ride, or going to BiSC. Of course, let's also see if I'm still blogging in five years! I hope to be, but you never know.