The List

Fitness/Health

1. Get to, then Maintain Weight under XXX lbs
2. Complete a Half-Marathon
3. Snow/water ski/board
4. Climb an indoor rock wall
5. Go Kayaking
6. Do a cartwheel

Educational

7. Try 2 New recipes per month
8. Become comfortable speaking Spanish
9. Become comfortable salsa dancing
10. Watch 20 TED talks
11. Take a cooking class
12. Learn beginner ASL
13. Read the Harry Potter Series
14. Write a children’s book for Josephine
15. Find 10 Little Libraries
16. Watch 100 movies on IMDB’s Top 250 Movies List
17. Read 50 Books on top 100 books list

Friends!

18. Visit a State I’ve never been (Texas?)
19. Talk to a friend on the phone once a week
20. Hand write a letter twice a month
21. Send flowers to someone - just because.
22. “Pay it forward” project

Just Because!

23. Pay off all my debt - except student loans (because, duh)
24. See Elvis Impersonator
25. Donate to 5 causes
26. Eat 50 things on Top (200) things to eat in Memphis
27. See a USMNT/USWNT match
28. Take a weekend trip
29. Attend a concert
30. Go to a drive-in movie

A New Start

About 6 weeks ago, I made the big move from south-central Pennsylvania to Memphis, Tennessee. I'll be living here for the next 2 years working for the federal government (I mean, ideally, if the government ever reopens). This is my first time living in the south - I had never even visited Memphis when I accepted the job here. But I'm here and I'm excited for what this opportunity brings.

Among those things that my time in Memphis will bring is my 30th birthday. Like it or not, I'm going to be turning 30 in just over a year-and-a-half. The closer I get, the more accepting of it that I am. Plus, apparently I can still pass for a 22 or 23 year old, so what does it matter?

In anticipation for my 30th birthday, I've been reflecting on what I want to have accomplished before that happens -- which resulted in this list of 30 things. Some of them are one-and-done activities. Others are larger commitments which will take most of the next year-and-a-half to complete. But all of them will make me a better person as I enter into my 30s. So here we go.