Update: 26 before 27

Hi everyone. Sorry for the absence over the last few weeks. I've been busy on many fronts as of late: work, personal and hobby. Since today marks my half birthday, I thought I'd go over the goal list I made six months ago. It's an ambitious list, but I think I've been pretty good at tackling a lot of the things so far.

Get a pet
I want a dog so badly. But I make take anything at this point: A turtle, a cat, a salamander. Whatever.

Wally has been the best companion, ever, really. He's very smart, loves cuddling and attention, and loves giving us kisses by softly biting our faces. Lol. And he follows commands surprisingly well for a cat. Mark is convinced we inherited a dog in a cat's body.

Try out for a sport
It's always been a dream of mine to do roller derby.

This is something I've really followed through with this month. I bought my first pair of derby skates, and have been practicing a ton, which is one of the reasons I've been absent on the blog. Tryouts for the team are this weekend. Don't tell me to break a leg. ;)

Read more
I'm constantly reading news articles all over the interwebs and writing stories. But my leisure reading is seriously lacking. I hope to maybe read 20 books over the next year. It's still not that much, but I feel like it's an attainable goal.

I've been trying to stay on top of this one, too. (Also, if you look to the side of my blog, I recently added a book-reading widget! Huzzah!)

Host a major holiday feast

I successfully cooked for eight this Thanksgiving! It was pretty overwhelming, but really rewarding. I might start hosting on an annual basis. As long as Mark can cover the turkey. :D

Go on a road trip

Mark and I went on a very fun trip to Boston back in October to commemorate our one-year wedding anniversary. We saw many historic sites, visited Salem, and I cried a few times driving because the drivers there are incredibly aggressive. But all in all, a fun adventure!

Some things I need to work on before my birthday: Attempting more ambitious cooking, sewing of any kind, being more loving and appreciative, sending more snail mail.

I think having a list like this has been really nice for me. It puts things in perspective and motivates me to follow through. Have you had success making goal lists?

26 before 27

This Saturday officially marks me being closer to 30 than to 20. Gulp. Yep. It'll be my 26th birthday.

OIt's hard to believe this picture was taken more than two decades ago.

I've become inspired by some other bloggers that have made these goal lists, (like this) so I'm going to list a few things, 26 of them in fact, that I hope to accomplish over the next year.

1. Try out for a sport
It's always been a dream of mine to do roller derby. I'm not sure why. But next time the Steel City Roller Derby Team has tryouts, I'll totally be there! I don't even care if I get my ass kicked.

If that doesn't work out, I would like to join a rowing team again. I rowed throughout high school and in college.

2. Read more
I'm constantly reading news articles all over the interwebs and writing stories. But my leisure reading is seriously lacking. I hope to maybe read 20 books over the next year. It's still not that much, but I feel like it's an attainable goal.

3. Travel to a new city
This is an easy one. I already have a trip booked to Austin next month.

4. Revisit the Pacific Northwest
With friends in Seattle and Portland, this shouldn't be too difficult. I hope.

5. Plan to my passport
I got it in 2007, and have yet to use it. It's a long story about why I haven't used it, but now, I need to use it before the damn thing expires. Plan is the operative word here. So if a European backpacking trip is planned by a year from now, I'll be in amazing shape. :)

6. Get outside more

7. Make and/or reconstruct one piece of clothing a month
This will hopefully motivate me to take my new sewing machine out of the damn box.

8. Knit something that isn't a scarf
Scarves are easy. I want a challenge.

9. Get a pet
I want a dog so badly. But I make take anything at this point: A turtle, a cat, a salamander. Whatever.

10. Buy more secondhand
This is mostly about my closet. While I buy a ton of secondhand housewares, I would say only about 1/3 of my wardrobe is thrifted or bought at buy/sell/trade stores. I'll try to make it half my wardrobe by next year.

11. Send out more snail mail
I used to be great with sending out letters and postcards to family and friends. I've gotten out of the habit of doing it. With my weekly feature, it's pretty obvious that I'm fascinated by mail. If it's worthwhile, I might consider reserving a PO Box to swap mail with other bloggers. :)

12. Host a party

13. Organize a fancy picnic

14. Run a race

15. Go on a road trip

16. Complete another t-shirt quilt
I sewed a Pittsburgh Pirates themed one for Mark ages ago. I have a bunch of rowing shirts that I would like to make into one.

17. Open an Etsy shop
It's always been a random, vague dream of mine.

18. Make an apple pie

19. Experiment more with cooking
I'm a jam canning pro, but how about pickling?

20. Get a tattoo

21. Volunteer

22. Host a major holiday feast

23. to 25. Visit (three) out-of-town friends

26. Love more; appreciate more
I have a tendency to be super critical and self deprecating. It's a bad habit, to say the least.

So. This is a very expansive list. But I thought, at least, why not try? What are some of your personal goals over the next year?