Oh man you guys.. I am 28 today.  And feel so, so old.  And while I feel like I’ve had a great 20’s.. I also have lots I want to do before I hit the big 3-0!  I decided to make myself a list of all those things.. and as I was writing these huge dreams, I realized I only have TWO YEARS to get it all done.  Old, old, old.  So I did my best to be realistic..

thirty before thirty

TRAVELS

1. Travel to Australia. I’ve been to Europe, Asia, North America (obviously) but have never been to South America, Australia, or Antarctica. I’d love to cross all three of those off the bucket list but I’ll settle for just Australia by the time I’m 30.

2. Visit a US national park that I have never been to. I’d like to go to the Grand Canyon.. I can’t believe I’ve never been there.. but I would settle for Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Crater Lake..

3. Hike part of the Appalachian trail.  It’s RIGHT THERE.  No excuses..

4. Take an unplugged vacation.  No social media, no phones, no email.

5. Take a US road trip.  There is an amazing one going around Facebook.. who’s with me?

6. Fly first class.  I realize this would be a huge, completely unnecessary spurge, but still.

7. Go bungee jumping or sky diving.  Maybe paired up with the Australia trip?

8. Ride in a hot air balloon. Michael tried to proposed to me on a hot air balloon.  And then we tried to end our engagement session on one.  Yet I still haven’t been on one!  So I will try and try again.

 

Learn + Grow

9. Try stand-up paddle boarding. I’m pretty uncoordinated and have zero arm strength as of right now.. so even though this seems like a simple one it could prove to be very difficult.

10. Learn calligraphy. I have always been a lover of handwriting, fonts, etc. and would love to be able to do some of these things on my own

11. Take a pottery class. My favorite thing in high school was throwing on the wheel in art class and I would love to be able to do this again.

12. Discover a favorite cocktail and learn how to make it.  I’m not really adventurous with my choice of beverage.

13. Learn to french braid my own hair.. or really do anything to my own hair.  Curl it, style it in any way.. I’m a mess y’all.

14. Wear makeup and know what in the world I’m doing.  I wear makeup.. just very, very, VERY rarely.  And while I don’t want to go crazy with this one, I would love to know what in the world I am doing with my face on the rare occasions I put some makeup on.

15. Read 30 books.  I love to read and don’t do it nearly enough.  More reading, less TV.

16. Try out 30 new recipes.  Another thing I love to do is cook, and it’s also another thing I don’t do nearly enough.  Michael and I get stuck in these cooking ruts and revert back to the same 5 recipes. I’d love to learn some good classic recipes to add to our cooking arsenal.

17. Read my Bible cover to cover.  I have tried and I have failed.  I’ve gotten through a lot of the books, but I’d love to read it as a whole.  And hopefully that can make me a little more accountable for some devotional time.

 

Be an Adult

18. Be financially secure. I’d love to be debt-free aside from our house. We have been chipping away at student loans for a while now and we are getting so close!  But I want to not only be debt-free but we also have a great security fund, good investments, and a well established retirement fund…. all that adult stuff.

19. Start the process for international adoption. Adopting internationally has been on our heart for a long time and after going to Kenya and seeing all of those sweet faces in the abandoned children’s homes, so we knew that we were going to be mom and dad to one of them (at least one).  We’d love to start the process as we know we can it can be a long one.

20. Buy a house.  We own our condo now.  We love our little condo (even though I complain about it all the time).  But we want some LAND.  And our very own Chip and Joanna Gaines style fixer-upper.

21. Get out of the classroom.  I have been teaching for about 5 years here in Newport News, and while I love it, I know that isn’t where I am going to be forever.  So I’d love to have the courage to break away from it and try something else, at least for a little while.

22. Buy a car from the 2000’s.  I realize that I am stay I might buy a 17 year old car.. but this would still be a big step for me.

 

Randoms

23.  Find a friend for Tusker.  We knew immediately that we wanted another dog after we brought Tusker home.  He LOVES other dogs and would be so happy to have a friend.  AND on our land from number 20?  Perfect.

24. Clear the Clutter.  Michael and I have some serious STUFF.  I don’t know how it happened, but after we got married, things just started accumulating.  I want to clear it all out… especially before we move!

25. Get in shape. I realize that this is on everyone’s goal list like ever butttt it’s going to be added to mine too.  And maybe run a 5k.  Even though running is like the worst thing in the world in my opinion.. hmm maybe not a 5k.

26. Sew. I’ve sewn a couple dresses in my life, but it’s been a while. I’d love to get back to it.

27. Make an album from our time in Kenya.  I realize this doesn’t really seem like a bucket list kind of thing, but it’s been over a year since we got back from Kenya.. so giving myself two years to get one made doesn’t seem like a stretch.

28. Find a beautiful piece of antique furniture and restore it.

29. Give up TV and mindless social media scrolls for a month.  At lease a month.  Hopefully much, much more.

30. Organize all our old photos.  I’ve always had a camera in my hand, so there are TONS of pictures from growing up that are in boxes in closets.  I hate that.  I’d love to get all our pictures organize, and some displayed.

 

So what do you think?  Do able in two years?

What’s on your bucket list?