Birthday Post and 30 before 30 Update

Well it's arrived., The dreaded 30th birthday, that I made this whole list about last year, sort of hoping it would never come or that I would at least cross most of these things off my list.

So far my birthday week has been a lovely few days of drinking wine and eating tasty things with friends, waking up to a lovely breakfast cooked for me by the boy, and spending some quality time not being at work for once, and knitting up a storm with my lovely knit night friends. It was also Jesse dog's 5th birthday (see adorably happy picture above) so we spoiled him with a new toy and a dinner of fancy dog food. My sister is also coming up for the weekend, and we have pedicures, high teas and other fancy things planned. She's also bring with her some preserves from my parents (woo rhubarb jam and zuchinni relish!) which I am pretty darn excited about and some fancy presents!

Looking at my 30 before 30 list now, I can see that a lot of these things were too hard to measure in terms of completion, and that is sort of detrimental to this kind of list. I definitely made some progress on things, largely that were related to my Etsy shop and business, because those goals were more tangible and realistic.

So if nothing else, I at least have a good perspective on the kinds of things to include in a future list and of prioritizing what my goals are for the coming year. I'm thinking that if I make another list, it will be more fun and project oriented like this one or be more of a general bucket list with more specific goals. I also love the idea of a 365 day project like this embroidery project or this hand lettering project.

Without further ado, here's how I did on my list over the past year:

30 Before 30 List

1. Retake G1 exam and get full G2 license Fail- although, eventually
2. Try to get at least 7.5 hours of sleep every night I tried but having a bedtime is seriously hard for me
3. Work on something crafty every day Some days I was all over this, others I failed totally
4. Go to studio at least 3 times a week - There were points where this happened, when I still had my studio
5. Tidy up the apartment a bit every day --goal: 20 minutes - Again, I tried, but overall cleanliness of the apartment was not overly effected 
6. Finish creating Craftzilla Facebook page (finished July 2011)
7. Get a passport and use it to travel somewhere fun that requires a passport - Financial probs this year really stood in the way of this 
8. Start practicing yoga again on a regular basis (try for 3 times a week) underway--see posts here! But overall, more progress to be made
9. Keep a clean inbox in all my emails --accomplished at one point, with this post
10. Participate in some kind of Photo project (i.e. 365 Day portrait, 30 Day photo challenge) - Photo an Hour  and February Photo a Day challenges here (I at least started a few, although wasn't overly successful in completing them)
11. Get new Etsy shop up and going -- and make a few sales! Shop opened in June 2011! Up to 9 sales so far (as of Feb 2012)
12. Organize some crafty events in town (i.e. Etsy Team for Guelph, another craft Party, perhaps an Etsy sellers show) - I am currently planning an Ignite Culture Event, although would still like to do more events, and some specifically with Etsy people in town
13. Take some photos every day Again, some days I was awesome at this, others it just didn't happen
14. Get at least an 80 in every course I take this year Fail on this one, close but no cigar
15. Try to be mindful of my temper and don't take stress out on loved ones - Some days it was easy, others it was extremely difficult
16. Limit TV watching --try for 1 hour a day max - Some days it was easy, others it was extremely difficult or I just needed to unwind with some mindless TV watching
17. Finish a knitted sweater - my sweater is so close to being done! 
18. Take a screen-printing class - I screen printed an awesome pillow case at my friend Cai's studiofor the Bring Q to Guelph campaign. I think that counts
19. Take a weekly yoga class  started a summer membership to yoga in July 2011-loving it so far!
20. Visit a city I’ve never been to before - at most, I went to Niagara Falls, but I have been there before. 
21. Go on a weekend getaway somewhere Completed with Niagara Falls Trip, Feb 2012
22. Read at least 10 more books from the BBC Big Read List (see my progress here) --apparently even my book reading suffered this year, I only read about 4 new books off this list :(
23. Go to a museum I've never been to before completed Feb 2012- post to follow
24. Have a tea party - I'm going for a birthday high tea on the weekend, so that's gonna count!
25. Pay off credit card debt and keep a $0 balance - Nope
26. Learn to use Photoshop proficiently - I think I've become overall better at editing photos, but not more complex Photoshop actions. 
27. Get to 100 blog posts  Completed August 7 2011 with this post
28. Host a blog giveaway  Completed September 2011 - I did a bunch over this year! one, two and three four five
29. Learn to use my serger - I tried, but managed to break the needle a bunch. More work needed.
30. Plan a fancy picnic with dishes I haven't made before - I'm going to count the fact that I planned a few regular picnics for this one:)


Any suggestions for a list for me for this coming year? 


♥ Craftzilla