Cheers to being 30!

Well, I've reached the ripe old age of 30. And a year has past since I wrote my 30 before 30 list. Let's take a look to see how I did...

Pay off student loans In March, I happily paid off all of my student loans. I definitely didn't get the rewarding feeling I got when walking across the stage to receive my diploma ... however, my back account appreciates it. Ryan and I were both able to put money towards the loans, chipping away with my monthly contributions as well as making bigger dents with our bonuses and tax returns. So long, student loans, so long. I will not miss you. A special thanks to my financial adviser, Ryan. He is very savvy and determined when it comes to these things ... just another perk of being married to him!

Skydive For our first wedding anniversary, I gave Ryan a gift certificate for sky diving. It is good for two years, but I wanted to plan on using it this year. Ryan has other ideas ... I think he is waiting for it to expire rather than use it! It is on the list for later this year. Ready or not, honey, we're jumping out of this plane!

Create my portfolio site I knew that this goal was going to be one of the hardest to achieve. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about web design, especially code and programming. I was determined to make myself my first portfolio site, however. Unfortunately, I'm not completely done with it. I need about 1-2 free days to complete the site. I'm disappointed I'm not done but know it will be worth it when it is online. It definitely has been a challenging experience!

Grow vegetables and/or herbs I bought a long planter and planted seeds for cilantro, basil and parsley and a mint plant. Unfortunately, the herbs didn't seem to ever really take off ... they grew by they didn't ever develop the taste they are supposed to have. Tasted like grass or another plant. Yuck! I'm going to try this year again. I'll buy the plants, however. So much for having a green thumb!

Run a full marathon When I put this on my list, I wasn't even entirely sure I was committed to doing it. I thought the idea seemed a little insane. But that's all history now since I completed my marathon in October. As I've stated, it is an experience I won't ever forget.

Create a video For my parents' anniversary I created a video for them as a gift from all of us. The majority of the three and a half minute is a slideshow of sorts of images. I did include video messages from Ryan, Jess and Paige and myself as well. I have some footage from the Black Hills and harvest that I plan to play with in the future. Best way to learn is to dive right in, right?!

Visit Hawaii With the family trip to Dominican Republic, Ryan and I opted to hold off on Hawaii until early 2016. This sounds like a long ways away, yet our travel agent is recommending that we start planning for this trip a year in advance. I've started researching and can't wait to make some decisions and book the trip!

Ice skate I attempted twice in one day to go ice skating with my sister. Other activities at the ice rinks got in our way. My butt was relieved that we couldn't make it work! Haha! We decided to pursue this another day.

Read the entire Harry Potter series My mom read the entire Harry Potter series in about a month. Paige read the books and used to show up for the movie theater's midnight releases. Because of this, I had very high expectations of Harry Potter. Unfortunately, I didn't fall in love like they did. I still enjoyed them and felt a touch of sadness when I was all done. I suppose I had a little attachment to Harry by the time I finished the last book.

Ride along with Dad in the tractor during planting and/or harvest. I was able to do this and ride along with Ryan in the combine. It was a great weekend at home and I'm glad I made the time to do this. For pictures, check out the post.

See Mount Rushmore As you've seen this post, Mom, Dad, Ryan and I visited Mount Rushmore in July. Here's a photo from our trip.

Color my hair differently than I typically do I have colored my hair the same color for many years. This past summer I decided to not color my hair with an all-over, permanent color. Instead, I kept my natural color and added highlights. It was a different look but I did enjoy it for the summer months.

Can something (tomato sauce, salsa, cucumbers) Summer came and went and so did the canning season. I was hoping to do some canning back home with Mom, but we couldn't make it work with our schedules. I always feel bad that we load up with jars of her hard work when we are home and never help out with the process. Hope to make it work this year!

Pay for the coffee of the person behind me in the drive-thru This one was tougher than I thought it would be. First of all, I'm way too frugal to spend $5 on coffee regularly. I also don't drink coffee often since too much of it can make me feel a little funny. I'd say I visit a Starbucks or Caribou roughly 5-10 times a year. This includes getting an afternoon frappuccino, green tea or refresher. I was able to complete this task just recently paying for $7 worth of coffee for the person behind me. I hope they appreciated it and paid it forward!

Learn how to change a tire This learning did go exactly as planned. This past summer Ryan was gone to South Dakota for his fishing trip. At this same time, my tire decided to go completely flat while at work. In order to get it fixed, my co-worker Matt had to show me how to change my tire to the donut. Talk about a fun morning in our company's parking lot.

Volunteer for a good cause In May, I volunteered as part of the National Women Build Week with Habitat for Humanity. We were lucky enough to get the task of installing insulation ... yuck! Not a fun job ... but for a good cause! Here's a photo of myself and the other gals from Veridian at the Habitat for Humanity home we worked on.

Paint a painting I bought the watercolors and the paper. But, what I tried to paint was a bit of a disaster. I'd like to try again but I'm not sure I'm the artist I'd like to be. I am glad I have the watercolors on hand, however, and have done other little projects using them.

Have a girls day with my sister-in-law(s) I didn't put this on the list so I could say I did it. Rather, I simply wanted to make a conscious effort to make more time for my sister-in-laws. Each of us lives busy lives and I often only get to see them for holidays or birthday celebrations. We were able to sneak in lunch together in Des Moines when I was down a couple weeks ago. I want to do more of this and see them more often. It is always great catching up and hearing what's new with them.

Go vegetarian for a week I had good intentions to try this. Mostly because I don't completely understand why someone would choose not to eat delicious, yummy meat! Rather than judge, I thought I'd see what it was like. Definitely easier said than done! I guess this farm girl just can't part from her beef ... or pork ... and chicken.

Extend my vocabulary by purposely replacing a word I commonly use for one that I do not I'll be the first to admit that my vocabulary isn't robust. I am often self-conscious about this and wish I could find the right words at the right time when speaking to others. I'll keep trying to build my internal dictionary, yet, at the end of the day, I've got to be OK with my not-so-articulate-self. Maybe that's why I enjoy writing so much ... there's a delete button and a thesaurus always within reach!

Try Thai food This was one of the first items crossed of my list. Jess and I tried a Thai place in Cedar Falls one Friday night. I fell in love with the dish I had ... especially the rice noodles. I've been to the place another two times since then. Yummy!

Run a timed mile on a track I completed this about two weeks after completing the marathon. The weather was starting to get cool and I wanted to still utilize the training I had done. I ran the mile ... and it was tough! It reminded me of high school track practice and reinforced to me that I've become a long-distant runner. The heavy, uncontrolled breathing was really hard on me. My time ended up being 7 minutes and 35 seconds. I'm all for speed races (400 meters or less) or endurance runs (8+ miles) ... but speed and endurance just doesn't mix for me!

Go to a Farmer’s Market If I lived in Des Moines, I think I'd go to the Court Avenue Farmers Market a lot to pick up fresh produce and goodies. Unfortunately, I don't and the markets in the area are small and relatively unknown. One weekend while in Des Moines, Jess, Ryan and I made a stop at the market. I didn't get anything, and it was pretty packed (we went close to noon), so we didn't spend a lot of time there. Either way, I can check it off the list!

Register at Be The Match  I completed my registration to the Be The Match program by signing up online and sending back four q-tips with my saliva. I'm officially in their records, only to be called if I'm a match for a person in need of a bone marrow donor.

Participate in a ten-week session of Next Level Fitness I completed this fitness program from January to mid-March. The session was five days a week and included boot camp cardio work, free weights and kickboxing. There was definitely a learning curve to a lot of the things, but I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. It was a great way to exercise over the long winter months. I plan to do another session in October.

Make our bed on weekdays This wasn't something I never made the time to do. Oh, I'm running behind, I don't have the time! You know how it is. But, what I've come to realize is that it doesn't take long at all. Even when I'm running short on time, I have made it a priority to take the 2 minutes it takes to make our bed. I am proud to say I only missed one week day for the year. And that simply because I forgot. The bed looks nice (and I'm displaying all those pillows I bought for the bed) and is more inviting when we are ready to turn in for the night.

Tell my loved ones that I love them often enough that they never question it This isn't something my family does. We love each other but we're not lovey people. And, I realize we're not the only family like this. Even though this isn't who we are, I think it is important to share our feelings with one another. I've tried to do a better job of this. To tell Ryan, our family members, my friends how much they mean to me. I don't see this as a goal that ends now but one that I'll continue to keep top of mind.

Try 30 new recipes I made 30+ new recipes over the course of the year. I got a lot of these recipes from bloggers I've come across on Pinterest. If I'm looking for a new recipe, Pinterest is usually the first place I explore. Some of the new recipes I've tried and plan to make again in the future include lemon chicken piccia, mushroom and leek chicken, stuffed mushrooms, chipotle turkey burgers, lemon orzo chicken soup and a corn skillet.

Learn to French braid While back at home recently, Mom showed me how to French Braid (on Jess' head!). It worked as I thought it did. I will admit, though,  it looked much easier than it was to do. Your fingers are definitely put to work when braiding. I will need more practice but glad to understand the basic technique. Who wants to be my next guinea pig?!

Spend a long weekend away with my hubby to celebrate this milestone birthday! Ryan and I traveled to Nashville to celebrate. It was a great trip with my main man!

All in all, I am glad I was able to focus on a lot of these efforts and make them a reality. There are still some that need to happen this year or in the near future. I have already created a list of improvements, to-do's, projects and activities for this year. I'm a bit of an oddball and find some enjoyable in holding myself accountable. It allows me to say I'm glad I did this ... instead of wish I would have done this...