30 Things For Year 30: The Final Update
This is 31. Last year my word of the year was brave. It was a word that came fiercer than I expected in many areas of my life. When I chose that word, I had no idea what was in store for year 30, but more on that later as I finally reveal my word of the year next week. (It's only February... there's still plenty of days left in 2020.) Here's a quick look at what year 30 brought me though if you missed it on my social channels:
"Haircut day was today. It’s the only time I tend to post selfies so here we are. It’s “birthday week” which could also be synonymous with “reflect on your life week”. The past year has been hard. It’s been a year of ups and downs, a year of delving into some tough territory and confronting some hard truths. My word of the year for 2020 was brave. Being brave carried through all of my 30th very heavily in the decisions I made, the conversations I chose to enter and the goals I set for myself. Whether it’s your birthday week, you’re reflecting over life or you’re simply scrolling and avoiding responsibilities, I’d like to leave you with a few things that I had to learn, relearn and always need constant reminders of every day. Know that you are worthy of chasing your own dreams no matter how minuscule or grandiose they may seem. Know that your thoughts, emotions, and experiences are valid - whether or not they are validated by someone else or not. Know that whatever leap of faith you’re staring down, scary challenge thrust your way, hard thing you’re navigating right now, or paralyzing life-altering decision you’re facing, you can and will come out on the other side of it. You may have all the cuts and bruises to prove it, and that’s okay, because seasons change and spring will always follow the harshest of winters. But God remains constant through it all. You’ve got this, friend. ❤️✨" - @ashleykarlen + Ashley Karlen Photography
Big Year. Lots of things happened, lots of things learned. It was a difficult year in many ways and yet a year of such joy as well. I'd do it all again, but I am overly thankful for the fresh start of a new year.
How did I do on 30 Things for Year 30?
Honestly, better than I thought I would. I knew that it would be a pure struggle for me to get this dream of a list completely conquered. There's only 11 out of the 30 left. There's 2 that are not completely finished. A handful of others are in process. Not too shabby for a girl who thought she'd come back after a full year having completed like 4 things on this list. I'm celebrating that and really leaning into grace on that one which is on the list.
Cook
Make sushi.
Rick and I set out for a date night like no other. We ended up at two different grocery stores on three separate visits on one evening. We had decided on salmon nigiri, a roll containing salmon, avocado, carrots and cucumber, as well as trying to recreate one of our favorite rolls, the Wildflower from Japaneiro's by using salmon instead of spicy tuna. Everything was delicious. The rolls were huge though and a bit messy. I'm sure we'll return to it as a future date night though.
Make my own ravioli.
Rick and I made ravioli one afternoon last spring. It was an undertaking of a culinary adventure that didn't come out beautiful at all. It will never be plated and shown on the cover of a magazine unless it's a Pinterest fail magazine. Nevertheless, it was absolutely delicious and I can't wait to try it again with the knowledge of having done it once.
Bake my own bread.
I chose to wait on this one for the time being. When I first wrote about this, I had several people send me bread recipes. (They all seemed soooo yummy!) We don't typically eat or keep bread in the house though. My dream for this was to make a baguette and eat it with cheeses, meats and fresh fruits. I'm totally still dreaming of it and plan on doing it soon. I've decided on a recipe and I'm waiting for the perfect weekend for it.
Home
Unpack every single thing in our house.
Unpacking everything is in still in progress. There are a few boxes that have yet to be unpacked, however, we do know what is in them. They're being used as 1920's bar decor currently. There's also a few boxes that are remaining packed or we are trying to decide if it would be more beneficial for us having them packed. Either way, I feel like this should be crossed off because I believe that the goal of having a home not piled with boxes has been met.
Declutter and make our house into a home.
We have already started this! We had a a garage sale. We’re hoping for another one later this year. In the meantime, we’re evaluating what we need and what we want versus what we have space for in our life and in our home. Part of this is making our home functional so that if we have several of something and have needs in different areas of our home, we’ll have the extras where they’re needed.
Set up a functional home office.
We have a functional home office! There's still more I'd like to do in there, but I can fully say that both of us can work in there with ease.
Get our poker table fixed.
We got it fixed! This table has been broken since we first married, so we’ve never been able to use it. It’s the perfect game table and makes me so happy to actually have it set up in our home.
Plant a garden.
We have seeds, pots, and potting soil. We need to decide on placement and exactly how we're going to do it now.
Build an avocado tree.
I got all the supplies ready including the seed but never actually did it. It's on the list for this year as we work more on our garden.
Do
Read 30 Books (Audiobooks count!)
I did it! I think I read exactly 30 books and I'll be letting y'all know all about which ones I read in a future post including my favorites and one that was so good that I may reread it this year.
Make memory books out of all of my mementos… (or at least get it organized.)
This is one of the ones that is in progress. I have almost everything organized into files. From here, I need to make the memory books. I've recently found another small box or two that haven't been put into the files I've made yet. I'm working on how I want to make the books.
Take a photography class.
I decided to not do this one last year due to time and resources. I've dug into materials that I've already had so while I didn't do this, it still feels like I worked on it in a different manner.
Do family photos.
"Hire a photographer. Get some photos of us in this current life stage possibly surrounded by cacti and the desert." - That is still the dream! I ended up taking some updated family photos of us for our Christmas card. I still to get some photos of us, so I'm hoping this year, we can make that happen.
Print out my photos.
I haven't done this at all! I wanted to print out wedding photos and get some of them up on our walls. It's on the list of home improvements that I have that I'm working on.
Do a Lent study.
I did the She Reads Truth Job Study for Lent for 2019 and finished right before Easter.
Read the Bible in a year.
Completed! I ended up combining two different chronological studies and read them from about April through about September. I was hoping to link the studies I went off of here, but I can only find this one. Using both studies got very tiresome, so I chose to drop it to one and I used the one linked here. I ended up making a few pages in my Happy Planner where I marked off each chapter as I read so I could see if I missed anything from going back and forth. Have you heard of The Bible Project? They've created beautifully animated videos that I was able to use before reading each new book. Watching the videos helped me get a grasp of the overall narrative along with basic set up and structure of each book which was incredibly helpful. (and sometimes during my reading to re-review!) Let me say, there's some weeks that I was ready to quit, but I am so glad that I read through the full thing. In 2020, I will be reading through the Bible again using The Bible Recap. I've already started and I am really enjoying so far.
Change
Get a grown up wardrobe and donate the rest.
I did go through all of my clothes to sell/donate. I'm still working on getting rid of the old ones. I've been fairly careful as I've selected new ones to come into my home. I ended up doing a complete closet overhaul that really helped with this. I'm still rearranging and perfecting it, but it looks so great and is nowhere near as overwhelming as it once was.
Get a skincare routine.
I don't have a good one yet. I'm way more cognizant about taking care of my skin, but I feel like I'm still making selections and learning what this looks like.
Give myself grace and forgiveness.
This will be a lifelong journey, but I feel like I lean toward grace and forgiveness for myself and for others much easier and quicker now.
Lose 30 pounds.
This is the thing on the list that I can get most discouraged about. I did really well learning about nutrition and drinking water. I lost 10 pounds over the summer! Over the fall and winter, I found 5 of those back so I ended up losing a total of 5 pounds over the year. My health is important to me, so I will keep striving toward what it looks like to have a healthier life for me.
Experience
Go to the Houston Science Museum.
We went to the Houston Science Museum, a special place for me because of all the memories I have there with my dad. We went for a few hours during their free time on Thursdays which was a tad crazy, but it was still nice to be able to see it. There is so much to do there so we didn't get to everything or even out of the paleontology hall, but I'm so glad we went. We'll be back!
Do a winery tour in Texas.
I didn't do a winery tour. I ended up doing a tour that went to a winery, the Texas Hill Country Olive Co. and to a rum distillery. It wasn't the wine tour I had imagined, but it was a wonderful experience and it felt like it ticked the boxes for me in an unexpected way.
Worship Jam + Paint Session with Rick.
We have yet to do this one even though it's one of the easiest ones to do on the list.
Throw a themed party and go all out.
We threw a combined "Leaving Our Roaring Twenties Behind" 30th birthday party over the summer. Our house was all done up in a Great Gatsby theme which I loved because I adore art deco which is why a few of the decorations are lingering here and there. It was such a great day of seeing some of our friends and getting to celebrate us entering a new decade.
Go to New York City.
I could go on and on about New York City and how I loved it. I can't imagine living there full time, but I understand the draw of the city in a way that movies and books could never convey. There's a TON of things I want to say about our experience in NYC, but I'm saving all of that for a future post filled with our favorite spots including where we'll go back next time we're there.
Go to a bluegrass concert.
I started looking for a bluegrass concert in the last days of summer but I couldn't find any that we could attend in Texas. I decided to check to see if there was one in New York. There wasn't a bluegrass concert but Paddy Reilly's had a bluegrass meet up while we were there. We decided to go and it was honestly one of my favorite places in New York. It's a quaint little bar, the people were so nice, and the drinks were good. Later on in the trip, Rick ended up going back there to hang out while I grabbed a girls only dinner with Laura, my best friend since first grade.
Host a Murder Mystery Dinner.
We didn't end up hosting our own Murder Mystery Dinner for a variety of reasons. Maybe in 2020.
Visit a wolf sanctuary.
We visited the St. Francis Wolf Sanctuary right outside of Houston and it was awesome. I would highly recommend going out and seeing the wolves and learning more about them. Ever since I was a little girl, I've loved wolves so being able to see rescued wolves living in a sanctuary was a dream come true. Plus, it's so close to Houston that it's easy to make an afternoon of it.
Go on a Mother/Daughter Trip.
We planned out a trip, but postponed it, so we're still working on the when and where.
Take a class just because.
My mom and I took a floral class at Picked Flower Co. where we made beautiful arrangements. We've talked about going back, especially right before an event or holiday so that we can have an arrangement done by us to show off.
Will I Do This Again?
For right now, no. I love the progress that I felt in so many areas and having the chance to explore so many of my interests in very different ways. I don't think I need to make a list to do that though. I'm not saying that I won't ever do something like this again. If I do though, it'll hopefully be a shorter list!