a new list

So I had a birthday. And now I am 29. This is the first birthday where I have felt hesitant to tell people how old I am...mostly because the comments I was getting were always something like "oooh, just one year left to live it up" or something like that. I guess I don't see turning 30 as getting old, but it will be the end of an epic decade. I hear that 30 is the new 20. I certainly don't want to be 20 again, but it's fun to think back over the last 9ish years and see how much I've grown and learned. I would agree that the 20s are about discovering who you are and figuring life out a bit and then your 30s are more about embracing what you have learned.

Anyway, over the last week or so since my birthday, I have been thinking about this list. I wanted to set some goals for this last year of my twenties. This year has been a little rough for me so far and the last month or so especially has been frustrating as I've been job searching and contemplating a move and making some big decisions. My first idea was to have 30 things, but that was really hard and I decided I would rather focus on just a few things to better my chances of accomplishing all my goals. So this is my list of 10 things I want to do before I turn 30, in no particular order:

1. Get a new job-preferably not just a job, but a career-something I will be happy doing for at least a few years
2. Get engaged
3. Pay off my remaining credit card debt
4. Lose 25 pounds
5. Get a passport and use it
6. Make journal writing+blogging a habit (at least once a week)
7. Try a new recipe once a week (and blog about it)
8. Spend time developing my hobbies (gardening, photography) and try something new (ceramics, sewing)
9. Take some trips to visit family and friends out of state: some destinations include California (Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe), Cour d'Alene, ID, Portland, OR and Washington, D.C.
10. Volunteer-get more involved in my community