I am pretty sure this has been done before, but as I embark on this half marathon training, I figured it would also be a good time to start a “Things to do before I turn 30 list“. Now, I have about a year and a half before that happens, but I figured I’d get an early start. Here’s what’s on my list (not in any particular order):
Run a half marathon.
Wow…I’m five months away from accomplishing something on my list! I’m awesome. Go me! So far, training has been great, minus a few hiccups with my calves cramping up mid run. My stamina has improved a ton, I am getting faster and I am tacking on more miliage. I am starting to feel like a real runner, not someone who just says they run. I’m actually doing it.
This is a good start; I am feeling pretty awesome about this planning/ listing thing. Moving on…
Go on a two week storm chasing expedition.
This is something I’ve wanted to do for about a year. I grew up in GA, and they have pretty nasty weather in the spring/summer months. So, we experienced a lot of thunderstorms and tornados. I left GA with a slight phobia when it comes to weather.
I still have a panic attack when I hear the emergency system alarm go off on TV, and I still can’t sleep through a thunderstorm without thinking a tornado is on its way. This is a dumb fear…well, it’s not completely dumb because weather is unpredictable and anything can happen. But, it is dumb to freak out every time I see a bolt of lightening. So I figured I try a little exposure therapy, and sign up for a storm chasing expedition.
The place I’ve found is called Cloud 9 tours and they take people storm chasing every year. They are two weeks long, and you aren’t guaranteed to see a tornado, but it would still be pretty cool to do. Also, I’d be there with experienced storm chasers and individuals that are knowledgeable about weather, so they may help me get over my fear. Plus…ROAD TRIP!!! It’s around 2800 bucks to do the tour, so I’d have to start saving now.
Own furniture.
This one is weird, I know, but for the past 12 years or so I’ve either been in school or lived at home. My last two places came with furniture, so I had no need to purchase any. I had furniture once…a bed, chair and some paintings, but I gave those all away to friends when I thought I’d move to Virginia after undergrad. When I came back from my four month Virginian adventure, I moved home and then left for grad school about two years after that. The only thing I’ve managed to collect in all my many travels were books, and I probably have enough books to make furniture out of them. On the plus side, it does make moving pretty easy when there is no furniture involved. However, eight boxes of books are not fun to move. Speaking of which…
Read/own every single Stephen King book ever written and visit Maine.
I am a HUGE Stephen King fan. Ever since I picked up a copy of Rose Madder at age 14,(fantastic book btw…not too scary, if you want to start reading his books) I’ve been hooked. Since then, I find myself reading anything he’s written. I own almost all of them; some I have not read completely because frankly…they are pretty scary. The cool thing is, I’ve never purchased most of the books in my collection because my friends seem to just hand me Steven King books they come across. How cool is that?! These friends I love.
In his books, the main place for all the horror he writes about occurs in Maine. I’m curious to see if it is as creepy as he makes it out to be. So, I want to visit and hopefully catch him out in the neighborhood Starbucks writing books and share a latte. Then he can give me advice about writing horror/mystery novels, give me a tour of his house and give me unpublished copies of his secret works. These are the things I fantasize about, people.
Finish my tattoo.
I got my tattoo in August 2010 as hommage to my mother. I have always wanted to build on to it, but wasn’t sure what else I wanted, or where I wanted it. For a while, I wanted one on my arm, but decided against it as the original tattoo starts on my back. Once I decided that having my back covered was what I wanted to do, I had to select what tattoo I wanted.
I have a thing for trees. For me, they represent power, comfort and strength,things my mother definitely embodied. Plus they rock in general. So I’ve been looking at tree designs for a while and then I came across this:
I knew that I had to have that on my back along with my current tattoo. I’m not sure how I am going to incorporate my current tattoo into this one, but I will make it happen. I need to check out shops here in AZ, but I am tempted to fly home to Fresno for this one. My artist is super talented…and hot.
Go to Hawaii.
One of my closest friends moved to Hawaii a little after I moved to AZ. I’ve been dying to see her on her home turf and I have never been to Hawaii. My other friend, who is a genius, planned a trip for us and another friend in our posse to go see her March of next year! Hooray! Our lodging has been booked, dates have been set, now all we have to do is grab tickets and go.
I’m excited to be going with these girls and I know that we will have a blast. We always have tons of laughs when we get together. Based on the stories my friend has shared with me since she’s lived there, I suspect there will be more laughs if one of these shows up:
Go to Europe.
Again, I have awesome friends who are great at planning things. A couple years ago, on a four hour phone conversation with my best friend, we came up with this awesome idea to tour Europe for 6 weeks when we turned 30. We planned for hours: which cities and countries we wanted to visit, where to stay, what to see, when to go and what to do. We estimated that it would be around 5000 euro to fully enjoy our trip.
It’s crazy how much has changed since we had that conversation. At the time, my mom was still living, I planned on getting my PhD at Berkley and saw myself living in San Francisco sucking down clam chowder on a daily basis. When life happened as it usually does…all that went out of the window. I kinda assumed my dream to tour Europe did too.
Well, I was wrong. I’ve got about half that saved and now we have another friend joining us which is really exciting. I think we’ve whittled 6 weeks down to two because we all have jobs and it’s highly unlikely for two of us to get that much time off. But, we’re going and I am glad that we’re going together.
Well…that’s my list. It can always change and I know as the road to 30 continues, I’ll add more to it. Till then, I am ready to see where life takes me. Hopefully, I get to check things off my list along the way 🙂
OH, and believe me they’re big…and they charge after you…and they bite 🙂
What?! You didn’t tell me that they BITE!!!! Oh hell nah!!!