I recently had my 22nd birthday (July 8) and it was a pretty uneventful one (just antiquing and a nice dinner, which was fine by me), so I want to make sure this is a year to remember. Andi of My Beautiful Adventures (who I finally met in person!) inspired this list with her own 29 Things to Do Before Turning 29. Some are taken from my Life List. And yes, I know I make wayyyy too many lists.
- Beat last year’s travel record by visiting 4 countries. (Australia, Costa Rica, Canada, New Zealand?)
- Beat last year’s travel record by visiting 15 states (at least 7 new ones).
- Run/walk a half marathon. (Next year is the marathon…wuh oh)
- Get another tattoo (like this but less big and different placement)
- Have a travel story published in print.
- Write a book (or keep writing the one I have already started)
- Read all of the unread books on my shelf. (a true feat if you’ve seen my packed bookshelf)
- Learn to drive stick shift. (harder because no one I know has a manual car)
- Bungee jump.
- Sing at an open mic night.
- Couch Surf at least once.
- Successfully live off of freelance writing. (is this possible? we shall see…)
- Go on a spontaneous trip without planning any details prior to arriving. (a real challenge for a control freak like me)
- Meet at least 5 more blog friends in real life.
- Pick back up my Italian studies, which have lapsed since I completed my college language requirement.
- Volunteer in my own city, not just abroad.
- Go on another solo trip.
- Learn to surf. (should have done this while I still lived at the beach)
- Perfect all of the family recipes and make a cookbook with my mom and grandmothers.
- Learn to stick to a budget.
- Survive a camping trip.
- Take a travel writing class on Media Bistro or Matador to better my writing.
- Become an active College of Charleston alumna.
Also, I found a list in my box of random high school items of 20 things to accomplish in life. Do any of these look familiar? As in on my Life List?
- graduate high school (check)
- read 100 books (probably passed that some time ago, considering I’m up to 5 in the past 2 months and I made this list 4 years ago)
- travel to every continent (I’m up to 3)
- work at an art museum (not as necessary at this point)
- see Jimmy Eat World (I was big on JEW in high school)
- meet Natalie Portman (had a major girl crush. still do)
- write a book (see above list)
- design a clothing line (not so sure anyone would want to buy my combination of thrift store granny sweaters and flowery headbands)
- get married
- adopt 2 kids
- be a photographer
- write travel books
- be in a band (nahh)
- graduate college (check)
- swim with dolphins
- visit 8 wonders of the world (depends on what you count as wonders)
- graduate grad school (at this point I would rather cut my own spleen out than go to more school, let alone pay for more)
- climb a mountain (check)
- skydive (one of these days)
- get a tattoo (check)
Not too shabby, huh? My goals have definitely changed, but I have done many of these things or still want to. High school Caroline was pretty smart. Even if she dressed weird.
my mom has a manual car. and i can surf. we even have a board. i will do a half marathon with you!
You know my family has 4 manual cars right?? Haha, but I don't think Fletcher or I would volunteer our clutches for you to learn on! Fletch's old truck and the bug are definitely fair game though.
What an awesome list darling!!! Thanks so much for the shout-out and I'm delighted that I inspired you. I can't wait to see if you're able to accomplish all 23–I'm sure you can!!! XOXOPS Sooo happy we finally got to meet as well.
That is a very ambitious travel list you have! Not to mention the rest of it. Goals are fun when you get to the end of the year and realize how many of them you've done without even consciously thinking about it too much.