30 Before 30

Soooooo I am turning 30 in 2016!!!

About two years ago I thought to myself, “30 is the arbitrary marker by which society thinks I will start decaying in front of everyone’s eyes. Now is the time to make a bucket list.” It’s (you guessed it!) 30 items long with some big goals and some smaller ones.

I would recommend this exercise to anyone. It allows you to put all the ideas of things you want to do, which have just been vaguely floating through your head, on paper = more likely you’ll do them. Also, as I look back through the list it gives me the pride of accomplishment and I can pat myself on the back with a lot of superiority.

Here are some of the bigger ones I’ve completed:

Go on an international trip.
1. We went to Peru at the end of 2015. I’ve dreamed about traveling ever since I put up a world map in my teenage bedroom (different than other types of bedrooms), which was only ramped up after studying abroad in Chile, and I hope to continue doing trips FOR FOREVER.
  MACHU PICCHU OBLIGATORY PIC
Run a half marathon.
If I pose near the finish with a bib on is it convincing that I actually did it? Or is it the fact that Dan is propping me up?
Run a marathon.
1. Colorado Marathon 2015. Excited to complete a marathon, not excited to do another road marathon ever again.
  Please make the pain stop.
Read Walden by Henry David Thoreau
1. I always wanted to read this book. His better-known quotes about solitude and self-reliance have always made me feel like less of a weirdo for liking those things. Then I read his book. I think this review on Amazon perfectly summarizes my thoughts on the book:
  1. What a blowhard. I couldn’t get past the first three chapters. I like literature, and I like being alone in the woods, so I expected to really connect with this book. Nope! I’m thinking HDT moved to the woods because nobody wanted to sit around and listen to him blather on about how much better he was than everybody else, or how much nails cost. If you want to be bored to tears, this is the novel for you.
Hike a 4th class 14er.
Finish nursing school and get my RN license.
Buy a house.
If you want a good way to channel anger/frustration, take a sledgehammer to your home. Then see if putting it back together increases or decreases said anger/frustration.
Go to Moab.
1. Go three more times, check.
  Weeeeee!
Read 10 classics. So far:
1. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Loved it. Especially the part about the beautiful, super hero-like capitalists saving the world from the ugly, pig-like looting socialists.
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Who doesn’t love a good ole classic romance novel?
3. Animal Farm by George Orwell. A quick, easy to read political satire. Down with communism.
4. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I really, really disliked this book. Between the boring sub-plots and tedious, long-winded descriptions I couldn’t wait for this to be over. Which if it were any other book I would have stopped about 50 pages in, but because it is a Classic I forced myself to see what all the hubbub is about. Still unclear on that.
5. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol. Dislike. Given the number of rave reviews, I feel like I’m missing something. Like the point of reading “literary nonsense.” Pass.
6. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. I enjoyed this one, it made me think a lot about life (hooray for introspection!).
Plant a garden.

Look how poorly I spaced things! But I got things to grow!!

Spring greens plus a lil radish.
Backpack the Maroon Bells 4-pass Loop.
1. One of my most favorite backpacking trips.
Alpine Climb. Northridge of Spearhead in 2015.
Lookit.
Visit the state of Washington.
1. I’ve always wanted to go to the Pacific NW. In 2014 I did a road trip with my childhood best friend from San Francisco to Vancouver over 2.5 weeks and it was awesome.
  Mt. St. Helen
Complete an ultra marathon.
Hooray, I like this a lot better than running on roads!
Full moon hike.