30 By 30

On Tuesday, I turned 29 years old.  Although lots of people joke about turning 29 “for the first time”, I’ve never been afraid of aging.  While things are starting to look up, it’s no surprise that it’s been a pretty rough couple of years around here.  I realize the danger in saying this, but I’ve felt for a long time that things have nowhere to go but up as life moves forward for me, so I embrace each passing year with the hope that this is finally the year that things turn around.
 
Maybe it’s finally starting to happen.
 
I tried a 101 in 1001 list in the past, but it all fell apart since quite a few items on the list revolved around my graduation, which did not happen in time.  I’m going to try again with a 30 by 30 list – 30 things I’d like to accomplish, often in 30s, by my 30th birthday.  I’m thinking of these as 30 little ways to try to improve my happiness and ensure I end my 20s on a high note despite those messy years in the middle.
 
So, without further ado, by the time I turn 30, I pledge to:

1. Buy a house.
2. Go on one last drunken midnight monument walk with college friends before moving.
3. Throw a bitchin’ housewarming party in our new house.
4. Find room for, and use, 30 wedding gifts that have been in storage the past 4 years.
5. Host a holiday dinner party at our new abode (Passover, perhaps?).
6. Donate 30 articles of clothing before moving.
7. Eat/drink at 30 new restaurants/bars in my new city.
8. Drink 30 new varieties of beer.
9. Read 30 books.
10. Write 30 blog posts.
11. Mail 30 cards to family and friends throughout the year.
12. Volunteer for 30 hours.
13. Pay 30 compliments to complete strangers.
14. Cook 30 new husband-approved meals.
15. Join a book club.
16. Join a CSA.
17. Walk 2,500 miles in a year.
18. Lose 30 pounds.
19. Go 30 days without refined sugar.
20. Do 30 consecutive straight-legged pushups.
21. Use a neti pot every day for 30 straight days (and hopefully form a lifelong habit).
22. Spend 30 weekends doing something outdoors – exploring the city, watching a parade, hiking, etc.
23. Save $10,950 ($30/day) toward our future “forever” home.
24. Take 30 portraits (I only take travel/landscape photos).
25. Complete a Project 365 (one photo per day, every day) to document the last year of my 20s.
26. Decrease my yarn stash by 30 skeins (a total net decrease factoring in any additional new yarn).
27. Open an Etsy shop and make at least $30 in profit.
28. Take a real vacation somewhere with just my husband, which we have not done since our honeymoon.
29. Do 30 things under $15 “just because” to make me happy (i.e., buy fresh flowers for the living room, get a manicure, buy an ice cream cone).
30. Make 30 new friends in my new city to invite to my 30th birthday shindig.

The End

I’ve heard from so many people that somehow, magically, things just come together all at once at the end of your Ph.D., even if nothing has worked for years.  Of course, I didn’t believe them.

I was wrong.

In the past four months, I:

• submitted a manuscript
• had said manuscript accepted five days after submission
• wrote my dissertation, start to finish, in two weeks
• defended my dissertation
• graduated
• went on post-doc interviews
• accepted a post-doc position, after agonizing over my options for weeks

Suffice to say, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind these past few months, but, to quote a 90s staple, it finally seems like everything’s coming up Milhouse.