it hasn't caught up with you yet

Well I did it. I made it to 30. (I've been telling people I'm 30 for months, so it's nice to finally be there.) Approximately a fortnight ago I thought maybe I should create a "30 Before 30" list, as is the cool thing to do. With the help of my girl Cynthia I have realized what was on my list all along, and that I did pretty well!

1. Buy a car. Done. With mostly my own money, too!

There she is, Silvey. Behind some other cuties.

2. Participate in ward sports. Everyone knows I'm afraid of balls but I've suited up in both basketball and softball in the past year! (I think I played softball in my last ward too.)

3. Learn a new instrument. Guitar didn't go super well, but I've learned a couple songs on the ukulele (with more surely to come) so I'm counting it!

20-second effort before I messed up

4. Perform a dance number in a talent show. I'm extremely sad that my "Hot to Not" lip-sync dance routine that I got my sister to do with me 7 years ago didn't get recorded, but I do have this Irish dance piece I rocked...

5. Sing in the Messiah. Not the whole thing, but more selections than I knew before. It's a great tradition!

From our performance in 2014. For a video from 2017, click here.

6. Visit 20 temples. I don't think I've quite reached this goal, but I'm pretty close (especially if I count open houses and standing outside the gates): Logan, Brigham City, Ogden, Bountiful, Salt Lake, Jordan River, Oquirrh Mountain, Draper, Mount Timpanogos, Provo, Manti, Washington DC, Detroit, Nauvoo, Kansas City, San Diego, Portland.

My most recent non-Utah temple

7. Learn how to bake a pie. I'm slowly but surely getting better at this. Here's what was left of this weekend's efforts.

It was a chocolate pecan pie.

8. Accompany a full musical. Hey thanks, Anne of Green Gables, for helping me mark off this goal!

I'm not in this picture, because I was not supposed to be seen. But I'm playing for whatever they're singing. Something about Prince Edward Island, I'm sure.

9. Participate in a musical production. Like, besides as accompanist. Here's me in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (for the second time).

10. Visit the rose garden of my childhood dreams.

My blog post here

11. Floss more often. When I was 26 I didn't believe that this was a thing that could ever actually be done. I don't floss every day but it's definitely what I would call a habit.

The smile of a flosser

12. Meet one of my favorite authors. Megan Whalen Turner made this possible for me! And I guess Shannon Hale was there too (but she didn't touch all my books to bless them).

Blog post about that experience here.

13. Sew something I'll actually wear. I wear this apron all the time.

14. Ask a guy on a date. I've asked male guests to a few events, but I've still only asked one guy to dinner, just to have dinner. But I have done it!

(It was to Cafe Rio.)

15. Memorize The Living Christ. It was done. It may not be provable currently.

This doesn't have any immediate relation to it, but it's possible the document was discussed at some point

16. Sing a solo in church. It was a duet with my cousin Megan but I'm counting it because we both sang by ourselves during parts of the song.

There we are. This is not when we sang.

17. Get married. This one didn't happen. When I created the list there was still time (narrator: there was not still time)...


18. Kiss 5 boys. This one did happen. No more, no less. (You know what metric I'm using for what counts as a kiss, I'm not talking nephews here.)

I have kissed all these boys too.

19. Write a successful pop culture parody. Cynthia and I can't actually watch this because we're so embarrassed, but we thought we were SO COOL and we definitely were so cool. And lyrics are on point.

20. Get a smartphone. This was achieved 2.5 years ago.

Pictured here is my very own original smartphone!

21. Coast-to-Coast. East Coast, West Coast, I've seen 'em both.

Acadia National Park and the Oregon Coast

22. Go to Europe. Achievement unlocked!

I actually have a ton of Italy pictures that I never look at and forgot I had.

23. Live in the same place for five years. Not exactly. I lived in the same place for four years, though, which definitely gave a sense of permanence to my adulthood.

...not sure why I have a blurry picture of the living room I lived in for 4.5 years but I lived here for 4.5 years. Almost a sixth of my life! And I loved it.

24. Actually write something in my 20's. I was pretty prolific in college when it came to writing fanfiction and whatnot, but I hadn't successfully written any fiction in years when I finally wrote "sharing a biscotti with some brunette hipster," which is a work I am very proud of. Next goal: more than 10,000 words?

Read my blog post about it (with a link to story) here.

25. Paint something. Painted, kept, and hung up in my house. Check!

It was a design choice I was making at the time.

26. Gain a higher education. I graduated from college amid hardship and loopholes, but I did it. I almost forgot to apply to graduate from my master's program but it's gonna happen this summer!

Can you believe I took these pictures within 5 minutes of each other?

27. Try a new food. I've never gone out of my way to try sushi, but it was always in the back of my mind that I should try sushi sometime in my life. And I've had it twice and would consider eating again. (No picture for this one. Apparently I didn't take a picture of the exciting sushi or anything else that sufficiently indicates I've tried new things.)

28. Have a calling outside my comfort zone. I could control this one about as well as #17 up there, but I've still had this opportunity. RS President was a lot of fun (also a LONG time ago), and so is ward choir director. Learned a lot!

I've been known to use memes to promote attendance.

29. Expand my acquaintances. There's always more people to know in my ward and neighborhood, but I started feeling like I should meet, like, other people. So I joined a random book club! (a Harry Potter one, because that's who I am)

There's all my SLC Hallows peeps.

30. Read 1,000 books. You can't prove I haven't.