30 for 30 Update

It's been a little while since I gave y'all an update on my 30 for 30.  I have 3 years and two months til then so I feel pretty good about how this is going.  Goal-setting is kind of my thing, I love lists, planning, and figuring stuff out, so this feels like my deal here.

1.  Adopt a pet 

Well I think we all know that this definitely happened!! 

2.  Run five 5K races

K, oddly enough haven't registered for any of these, but will do at least one this fall, if not a 10k.

3.  Run a half marathon

Registered for the Houston Half-Marathon on January 19th! See my first post on training here.

4.  Cook a multi-course (six? seven?) dinner party for at least six people.

5.  Actually become good at painting my own nails. 

Well, I got two gel manicures in the last six weeks so I think we know how well that is going.

6.  Go to Europe

Probs not gonna happen til after we buy a house and have spare cash again!

7.  Cook my way through a whole cookbook (minus seafood recipes--my list, my rules)

I have chosen my cookbook! After a lot of debate I am going with The Little Paris Kitchen by Rachel Khoo.  

The debate that ensued in my mind was over what type of cuisine to choose, how far to push the boundaries, and how many recipes to take on.

This book has 120, which is very much doable.  Plus, I love French cooking, and feel there is enough variety in it to keep it exciting.  Finally, I figured some of the techniques will be new which is great!

8.  Make my own chocolate candy (not a bark, something more involved)

9.  Buy our first home!

We actually started tracking our expenses and made a new budget so that we can start saving more aggressively for our down payment! Feels great.

10.  Make a list of Texas restaurants to try and cross them all off!  

Ummm. I don't even have a list for this. Fail. Texas friends, give me your recs! 

11.  Bake four colors/flavors of macarons.

K, so I def bought the macaron book like six months ago.

12.  Re-learn Spanish/get Rosetta Stone.

Me gusta cupcakes.  Still have a little ways to go on that.

13.  Go to the dermatologist!  

DONE on 5/28/13.  It was scary but worth it.

14.  Visit New Orleans (preferably during Mardi Gras)

We are booking a trip to NOLA for our anniversary at the end of September! Please, please leave suggestions for everything from a good hotel to nightlife to food!

15.  Begin/continue paying off my grad school student loan debt 

Set up auto-pay as of May 2013!  

16.  Learn to shoot a gun properly

Also not even on my radar. 

17.  Own a total of eight place settings of our wedding china and the stemware to go with it (currently have 2 settings, 0 stemware)

HA!  This will happen like the last day of 29 when we have bought a house and don't save every extra nickel for that! 

18.  Buy a sewing machine and learn how to use it

Nope.  Totally forgot this was on here, lol.

19.  Visit New York City

Meh, not in the near future for now.

20.  Complete one DIY project that requires staining, a hammer and nails, power tools, etc.

This will follow the house purchase I'm sure.

21.  Watch the IMDb Top 250.

Um I basically hate all of the movies on this list! And I am peeved that certain classics aren't on it.  I didn't realize it was user-ratings generated so now I don't trust it. (Yes, you can have distrust for inanimate things like lists.)

Anyways, looking into the AFI list now.

22.  Rent a dress on Rent the Runway for a wedding/event.

Thinking next spring when we have a few more on deck.

23.  Learn to golf finally!

Omg...soon. Very, very soon.

24.  Go carb-less for a week.

HA.  Def not while in half-marathon training.

25.  Have a Louis Vuitton Speedy 30. (This is my "something ridiculously expensive that you bought just for yourself" item.  And I've been obsessed with this bag since my first "real" job when I was 22.)

Mm..yeah...I should probably start a sep bank account for saving for purses.

26.  Get a Sunday subscription to the newspaper (I love reading the Sunday paper and would rather just have a subscription, plus it's cheaper this way!)

K no, and this has been on Living Social for months I feel like.

27.  Read 30 new books (Including some from genres I would not usually read)

Read: The Storyteller by Jodi Piccoult. 

I'm currently reading World War Z (Max Brooks), Inferno: A Novel (Dan Brown), and Steve Jobs (Walter Issacson).  

28.  Go to one yoga class a week for at least three months 

Planning on incorporating this into half-marathon training. The difference between a stretched body and calm mind on my runs vs. being tense and worried about distance is huge.  Aside from the physical benefits I'm hoping this will curb my anxiety over distance and the challenge of the half!

Inspiring words and photo from my yoga guru gal pal in Chicago :: Angie Starz Yoga on Facebook

29.  Actually do one of the 400 million mason jar DIYs I have pinned! 

Hm, yeah I could paint the inside of some jars next month.

30.  Begin going to church regularly.  

Honestly we have just not found a church we feel could be our place here.  To be continued.....

All in all, not. so. bad.  What have you done lately that you're proud of?  And what do you still want to do that you?  What's your number one to-do before you hit that "certain age"??