Embracing the Big 3 - 0!!!

I'm thirty! I'm saying it - with a proud tone, even. I actually had a great day/weekend and got so many wishes from so many friends - from all over the world. It was pretty amazing. I celebrated with a little:

And a little:

It was nice.

I have known people to make lists of 'thirty things to do before [they] turn thirty'. I probably came across a couple of these around the age of 28, and with only 2 years left, I thought it was a little ambitious to make one of these lists myself, so I always had it in the back of my mind that I would make a 'forty things to do before I turn forty' list so here goes:

Forty things to do before I turn the BIG 4-0 (in no particular order):

1. Buy real estate
2. Take a cooking class (preferably in Italy)
3. Watch all the 'Best Movie' Oscar winners since 1980
4. Run a 10k in under 60 minutes
5. Drink an entire pint of Guinness in one sitting
6. Visit friends in New Zealand and Australia
7. Bake homemade bread
8. Go on a winery/vineyard tour (preferably in Napa Valley)
9. Learn to play chess
10. Attend a MotoGP race in the US with my Dad
11. Watch the Star Wars trilogy
12. Read the entire Bible
13. Attend an Olympic event
14. Learn to drive manual shift - and well
15. Conquer sewing a button and hemming a pair of pants
16. Learn a language
17. Visit the Grand Canyon
18. Change a tire all by myself (preferably in my driveway, not on the side of a highway)
19. Return to Africa in some capacity
20. Attend the Master's in Augusta
21. Stay up on water skis for more than 10 consecutive seconds
22. Knit a scarf, baby's sweater or whatever is practical at the moment
23. Learn to play Bryan Adams' acoustic version of Summer of '69 on the guitar
24. Go horseback riding
25. Shoot a gun
26. Read Mandela
27. Scan and electronically catalogue all my childhood photographs
28. Sing a karaoke solo
29. See Sting in concert
30. Frame my many art prints acquired traveling
31. Learn to play 5-card draw and beat someone who is relatively good
32. Donate blood
33. Cook an entire Thanksgiving meal on my own
34. See Mount Rushmore in person
35. Do the maple syrup, lemon water and pepper cleanse for 7 whole days
36. Attend the Kentucky derby
37. Paint a picture
38. Do fifty push-ups
39. Attend a New Year's Day UGA bowl game
40. Fall in love

In reviewing, some of these look a little, well, normal - but I think now is the time for some "normalcy." I'm definitely excited about most of these (well maybe not the cleanse or the push-ups), however, I'm pretty confident that the next ten years are going to provide opportunities I can't yet even imagine. As I turned 20, I don't think I would have guessed that I would have lived in England, taken a boat up the River Nile, ridden in a hot-air balloon over the Masai Mara, visited a Turkish bath, attended a Wimbledon final, sat on the shore of the Indian Ocean, been to the top of the Eiffel tower with my Mom, worked with a former child soldier, vacationed on the Suez Canal, shared chilled vodka shots with friends in Russia, camped for 3-straight months in Port-au-Prince or ended the decade unmarried, even. I guess the lesson is - life's pretty amazing, unexpected and always unfolding. Yay for ten more years of opportunities and experiences!