16 while 30

Well, time's up for the 30 while 30 challenge. Tomorrow I'll turn 31.

Good news first - here's what I checked off the list this year:

• Earn my mom of the year badge by hosting an elaborate birthday party for the kiddos. 
• Successfully bake yeast bread from scratch. 
• Dress up for Halloween.
• Watch a sunrise. 
• Spend a weekend away with just Jonathan. 
• Donate blood. 
• Paint a picture. 
• Participate in a research study. 
• Swim in the sea. 
• Organize the garage and purge stuff in the garage, closets and attic (take to Goodwill). 
• Join and complete my goals with the Durham County Library summer reading program. 
• Get a mani/pedi with a friend. 
• Sleep for 8 uninterrupted hours, at least once. 
• Learn to do simple makeup. 
• Climb a mountain. 
• Go to a Durham Bulls Game. 

For those keeping count, that's 16 goals checked off the list. 

As for what didn't quite make the cut this year? I attempted almost all of these, and made some progress, but close doesn't cut it for me: 

• Get published again (I have some chapters so close to being published, but not quite there yet, and a manuscript under review)
• Lose 30 lbs. (Jonathan took care of this for me... that's how that works, right?)
• Get some pants tailored to fit right (I got some hemmed, and asked to have the legs tailored a la the advice you always hear on What Not To Wear, but the alterations person at the dry cleaner's didn't seem interested in anything beyond a basic hem)
• Write and mail a hand-written note to someone at least once a month (um, I maybe did this twice all year)
• Pull an awesome prank
• Complete my first triathlon
• Go 30 days without buying anything new (except for food)
• Do something big and spontaneous
• Visit that church I've wanted to visit forever
• Take my first ride in a hot air balloon
• Install flooring
• Send someone homemade cookies
• Go to a live play (or maybe I did? I can't remember whether it was after my birthday or not)
• Take a vacation day, go somewhere awesome, and do something awesome, all by myself

But I mean, it's not like I was just sitting on the couch watching TV when I could have been in a hot air balloon or something. I had some other stuff going on this year, and I accomplished some goals that wrote themselves as life unfolded. Goals like: 

• Get so fed up with your state's politics that you join the Moral Monday protests in downtown Raleigh. 
• Freak out when the doctor has Gideon tested for Cystic Fibrosis because he's so tiny for his age; proceed to try to feed him ALL THE THINGS. 
• Discover your favorite pinot noir. 
• Switch to a standing desk and love it. 
• Spend Halloween and Christmas with the kids at Duke University Hospital, visiting Jonathan. 
• Learn all about the pancreas. 
• Learn how to administer TPN via a PICC (and what those acronyms mean). 
• Push through many, many, many sleepless nights in the hospital with your husband. 
• Go to therapy. 
• No, seriously, I mean, go to therapy. A lot. 
• Visit urgent care for every single family member at least once (Jonathan: pancreatitis. Chelsea: sprained ankle. Evelyn: tooth knocked out. Gideon: giant bump on the head)
• Practice meal planning and prepping on a monthly basis. 
• Embrace the art of budgeting. 

So, all in all, it's been a pretty productive year. Lots of life lived. Lots of learning. I'm hopeful that there was some growing up in there too. 

I think I'll work now on a "40 by 40" list so I can give myself some wiggle room and a few years before the next goal-tending exercise. But it was fun to get myself to do new things this year.