30 Before 30 Revisit

I'm so bummed! On my last blog, I wrote up a "30 before 30" list: 30 things to do before I turned 30, and then when I deleted the blog, I never wrote down my list. What a momental loss!
I started thinking about this list last night because I wrote it when I was 24 and now in a month, I will be 27 and that is half way to 30 from my last list... which is a little scary when you consider how quickly time goes by and how quickly things can change.
I remember recording that there was so many things that I wanted to do, wanted to accomplish before having a family. At that time I couldn't image having a child -
I think back on the last 3 years and smile about the things I did do, but remember that there were opportunities to try new things that I avoided: out of fear, out of laziness... Why do we sometimes avoid ways to enrich our lives? Why I am content with so little sometimes when there is so much life to be lived!?
I worried about a lot of stupid stuff, I shrunk away from being who I am, I often lived in the future instead of in the present, I was anxious... I'm not that afraid to admit these things - they're probably issues that a lot of people struggle through and have to go through in order to live the lives that they were intended to live. But the part that I do become afraid of is the complacency to continue living in that mind frame. It's not fun to worry - and I shouldn't. God has surely taught me, especially this year, that worry is an extra burden that only I put on myself. It isn't worth the struggle - God knows what I need, He supplies it, and I don't have to worry - ever. I suppose the same rule applies to living authenticly - I am who He made me to be - there is no reason to hide that or to live otherwise.
I'm starting to realize this, but the hard part is getting over that hump... (I get to this place in my rationale a lot) and just doing, just living, just being me.
In the spirit of enrichment in my life, I have formulated a new list: and I'm not saying that I HAVE to do everything on it, but they are things that I want to do because doing them would make me, more me! I'd love to accomplish them before I have kids - but I am slowly realizing that children create more life and more love and I want more life and love - and I want them with Ross - so I'm not putting a time table on this list; 30 before 30 just has a nice ring.

1. Read through the Bible in a year
2. Run a marathon
3. Get something that I write published
4. Have a garden
5. Create a hobby farm (yes, I want chickens!)
6. Take cake decorating classes
7. Get my Masters
8. Get a dog
9. Learn how to sew
10. Take cooking classes
11. Go sailing
12. Travel to Asia
13. Travel to Western Europe
14. Buy an original piece of art - check, did that
15. Take a pottery class
16. Relearn french
17. Take a backpacking trip with Ross and not be scared (bears are scary forces!)
18. Create something that I can market/sell
19. Eat healthy so that I truly look my best
20. Join a community band
21. Volunteer somewhere on a regular basis
22. Use the farmer's market regularly
23. Take more pictures
24. Run a duathelon
25. Have a family
26. Adopt
27. Be a smart consumer
28. Find a true church home
29. Be part of a book club
30. Be able to stop, analyze, evaluate a situation, and chose the best thing to say at any given moment :)