28 Things to do Before I Turn 29

1. Overhaul my office area
2. Restyle my closet to fit my new fashion needs
   I have started buying only "sensible shoes," and more clothes with appropriate fabrics, lengths, etc. I occasionally stop into H&M and Forever 21, but I try to stock up on more quality products—like my jeans and my shoes, so that I can pick up endless tops at Target, since they don't last as long. Lots of lessons learned.
3. Sew and tailor all of my old clothes that need mending
   I didn't get to all of them, but I have mended a lot.
4. Pimp out our balcony
5. Donate our old towels to the MSPCA
6. Go sledding
7. Try a juice fast
8. Cook one new food or recipe every month
   We ended up participating in a farm share starting in June, and J bought a new propane grill. Between those two things, we were learning more about food this year than any year before. I ended up learning ways to cook millet, quinoa, beets, turnips, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, kale, butternut squash, and way more other foods that I never thought I'd be able to make by myself, much less enjoy in the first place (I was skeptical about brussels sprouts, but they are my new favorite food. Especially when they're buffalo flavored). I know that's only 8 foods that I've listed, but at least 12 different recipes came out of them—so I think it counts.
9. Participate in group meditationI went to the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, and it was incredibly relaxing and freeing. One of the founders, Sharon Salzberg, has written two books that I highly recommend: Real Happiness—The Power of Meditation—A 28 Day Program, and Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness.
10. Run a 5K
    This goal was originally to ride my bike more than 50 miles (in one ride). I stopped doing long rides long ago, and this didn't even become a possibility. However, I did start running, and I finished my first 5K in December!
11. Visit a new country
    We visited Italy and Croatia in August. It made me want to travel even more!
12. Take more photosI was more earnest about participating in Project 364, to take a picture every day of the year. I was wildly unsuccessful in taking a picture every day, but it definitely led to more photos, and more importantly, better photos—especially in Europe.
13. Go back to school
    I took Graphic Design I at MassArt in the spring, and Graphic Design II in the summer.
14. Complete at least three apartment projectsThe following improvements have made our apartment much better:
    
    • Hanging glass racks in our kitchen to hold our wine glasses, in addition to buying an Ikea kitchen shelf to get some of our bigger kitchen appliances out of the kitchen.
    • Hanging grundtal rails in the office—rails allow me to hang art supplies at an arms reach, and I also hung up a hanging file so that I could keep my Groupons at hand.
    • Patching up a hole in the wall. Yeah, sure I put the hole in the wall myself, but now I know I have the necessary skills to fix that sort of damage!
15. Find a new job
    I had a contracting position in July-September at MIT, and it was part of a thrilling and prestigious grant proposal. I am excited to add it to my resume.
16. Adopt a greyhound
    Feh. This one is happening. D-day (dog day) is January 26th. I missed this one by a few weeks.
17. Swim in the ocean
    Not only did I swim in the ocean, but I went swimming in the Adriatic Sea! The water was so beautiful—crystal clear and the perfect temperature.
18. Discover new music once a week
    Not once a week, but frequently. I posted a video a week for a while, and that helped me try to reach this goal.
19. Start knitting again
    I made an honest effort starting with a small afghan.
20. Learn to embroider
21. Redesign my online portfolio
22. Change my name
    I legally changed my name shortly after my birthday, way before 29 ;)
23. Visit a new museum
    We visited the Peabody Essex Musem in Salem, MA this past March.
24. Make the spare bedroom guest-ready (i.e. not my dumping ground)
    In all fairness, it is still a dumping/hiding ground, but we've streamlined the dumping/hiding process such that it takes a day to get it to guest-ready shape, plus we've made sure to include toiletries, internet password, and fancy guest towels.
25. Keep sparkling wine in the house for impromptu champagne moments
    I found mini bottles of champagne, and it has been simple to keep champagne in the house for impromptu celebrations or, you know, Tuesday nights.
26. Tour a chocolate factory
    This one was actually a bit of a cheat since we did it for my 28th birthday.
27. Plant an herb garden
    In May, I had mint, and lime mint growing on my balcony, and basil growing in my kitchen.
28. Compost
    I talk about our adventures composting here.

27 Things To Do Before I Turn 28

1. Get married!
   We were married on Nov 19th at the MIT Chapel
2. Take a real vacation
   I went to New Orleans for my bachelorette weekend, and J and I went to Vermont for our honeymoon over Thanksgiving, and were forced by the closure of every business and restaurant to just relax in our hotel.
3. Sew a dress
4. Take more pictures
   This is a goal of mine every year, and I somehow fail even more every year. I got a new 50mm lens, which made me pretty excited to take photos for a while, but it wasn't enough. I still wanted to take a picture every day for a year. I was going strong this year, and I think I succeeded at the goal of "take more pictures." Did I take a picture every. day? No, but keeping that goal through the year made me more likely to take a picture most days.
5. Wear lipstick more regularly
   After learning to do my makeup for the wedding, I made sure that I did myself up more often. Sometimes all I did was put on a little lipstick, and it's amazing how put together you can look with lipstick and nothing else.
6. Find a new hairstyle
   I learned how to do a dancer's bun and it saved me when I was growing my hair out for the updo I'd have on Nov 19th.
7. Host a board game night
   We had people over for Scrabble one night. It was brutal.
8. Use my kitchen every day
9. Do more yoga
   A friend of mine teaches a class on Wednesdays. I feel more accountable since I know the teacher. It's also helped me do more yoga at home.
10. Compost
    I did end up calling the city of Somerville to look into this, but they didn't have any bins available until after the New Year. After learning this, J and I went to Home Depot, picked up a 5 Gallon plastic pail, and we drop our compost off at Whole Foods weekly. I don't need it to garden (a wish/goal of mine when I embarked on this process that I have since abandoned), so this solution works for us.
11. Make a scrapbook
    I ordered a wedding photo book from pinhole press, and because I am feeling unambitious, but also like it was still an achievement, I will call this one a win, since I had to spend a lot of time with that layout.
12. Letterpress I letterpresesd and assembled our wedding invitations.
13. Make my office inspiring
    I did a lot of cleaning and purging, and it did help tremendously. I then bought a new (larger) desk and office chair and it's looking very professional and the addition of workspace makes me more efficient
14. Unveil a new website/blog
    Not that this is what I meant, but I did update the layout around here...
15. New business cards
16. Write more thank you notes
    After the wedding, I feel like I've done nothing but write thank you notes.
17. Drink more water
    I go back and forth on this one. In general, I feel like I've drunk more water this past year than I used to...but it wasn't measured.
18. Pimp our our bathroom
    Courtesy of our wedding registry, we now have matching towels. Matching. Towels. Also a spa-like bath mat, and a re-organized very spiffy basket to hold all of our bathroom needs.
19. Dog-sit a corgi
20. Organize my files
21. Clean out our bedroom
22. Start drinking tea
23. Participate in the Apartment Therapy Spring Cure
24. Thrift/restyle in my own closet
25. Eliminate chemicals from our home
    We are down to some Mrs. Meyers cleaning solution for the bathroom (since it's so gross in there), but everything else is all natural (vinegar, baking soda and lemon if I can help it, Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyers, or Method products if I cant).
26. Tour a brewery
    We went to the Magic Hat Brewery in VT on our honeymoon, and toured the Anheuser-Busch brewery with friends.
27. Hang more artwork/photos

26 Things To Do Before My 27th Birthday

{Old Greyhound by Daniel Greene}

Here's a scary thought. I turned 26 today. Twenty-six. Somehow, it feels different from 25. I was a little nervous, but mostly excited about 25, but 26 seems so much...more. I'm excited, but I'm starting to feel a little bit older. I'm starting to slow down in some ways, ramp up in others. That being said, I thought it was time to make a new list! Here are 26 things I hope to do before my 27th birthday:

1. Make a Quilt
2. Procure some David Bowie on vinyl in February 2011...shortly after age 27
3. Take dance classes
4. Take some yoga classes
   in 2011...I finally got off my butt and did this
5. Find a new apartment
6. Bake rainbow cupcakes
   For J's 28th birthday! Which is...oh, one month after I turned 27. Whoops.
7. Sew a dress
8. Apply to grad school
9. Make fortune cookies
10. Make a scrapbook
11. Brand myself
12. Plant some lavender
13. Design some jewelry
14. Go to waterfire
15. Start photographing stunning fashion moments
16. Visit the JFK museum
17. Travel
18. Finish the frost flowers shawl
19. Finish my first project 365
20. Use some of the polaroid film in my freezer
21. Make 100 paper cranes
22. Make a 2010 portfolio
23. Make garlands
24. Hang twinkle lights in the apartment
25. Do a project involving polaroids+letters
26. Go out on a rowboat

Bishop Allen Tickets Procured Today

Number 24 off the list!

25 things to do before I turn 26

1. Reshape and rebuild my website so that it's something I want to share with everyone I meet
2. Take up yoga, again!
3. Use a letterpress
4. Blockprint
5. Lose ten pounds
6. Ride my bike more places that we would normally take the car
7. Cook at least five times a week
8. Create a new budget, reflecting my new life changes and future goals
9. Read at least one book a month
10. Ride our bikes in Rhode Island, or Maine, or up the coast. Something scenic, and long
11. Have one screen-free night a week
12. Master at least four new recipes
13. Sew a dress
14. Put some entries in my etsy shop!
15. Dress up for Halloween, make our costumes
16. Finish Dan and Lydia's wedding present (afghan)
17. Make my Christmas presents this year
18. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge (I've ridden across on my bike before, but didn't have time to take pictures, or absorb)
19. Make 25 pieces of art
20. Take a dance class
21. Go sledding
22. Plant an herb garden
23. Find some photo booths and take pictures
24. See Bishop Allen live
25. Deep clean my home and make it a peaceful, inspiring and beautiful place to live

24 Things To Do Before My 25th Birthday

Inspired by hula seventy, I have decided to make a list of things to do before I hit my quarter of a century mark.

1. Build my own website 
2. Take a photography class 
3. Build a piece of furniture 
4. Screen print my own t-shirts 
5. Make sure this list is a yearly thing
6. Put another stamp on my passport 
7. Learn how to sew
8. Host a board game night 
9. Try to be more rigorous about taking photos
10. See a play 
11. Go camping 
12. Go to a free film night in Davis Square 
13. Make my Christmas cards
14. Make my own stitch markers
15. Knit entrelac
16. Aim to ride my bike to work four times a week** 
17. Participate in another bike ride (for charity or otherwise)
18. Take a weekend trip to Maine 
19. Bike up the coast in Rhode Island 
20. Visit a winery in Napa Valley 
21. Switch to energy efficient bulbs 
22. Get a library card
23. Build a light box (for photographing yarn)
24. See snow on the beach 

**This year I aimed for three. I was not successful many weeks out of the riding season. I figure if I aim for four, I might succeed at three more often?

A Dozen Movies

Twelve movies I could watch over and over and over again; i.e. my "Top Twelve" (original idea from Matt). They are in no particular order.

1. Gone With The Wind
2. The Royal Tenenbaums
3. The Life Aquatic (With Steve Zissou)
4. Love Actually
5. It's A Wonderful Life [every Christmas, and I generally save it for Christmas, but occasionally pull a viewing in June]
6. I Heart Huckabees
7. Fiddler on the Roof
8. Pretty in Pink
9. March of the Penguins [Shut. up! I love penguins!]
10. Happiness
11. Pride and Prejudice (yes..last year's version)
12. The Princess Bride

Wow. That was hard. What's more is that half of these aren't even in my DVD collection! I have a bad habit of actually watching movies over and over and over again and getting sick of them, thus they do not make this list...Fight Club, Bridget Jones' Diary, &c. This list contains movies I either have yet to tire of, or actually do feel like watching every time they're mentioned.