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30 Things to do before I turn 30

January 30, 2018

Grey Loft Studio
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30 things to do before I turn 30

January 29th, 2018

When I originally planned this list of “30 things to do before I turn 30” I was about 9 years old, talking to my friends and family (I always had a close relationship with adults I would get excited about sharing my dreams with them) about all the things that I wanted to achieve before I turned 30 or graduated adulthood. When I was a pre-teen, you may not know this about me, but I wanted to be a lawyer. I worked tirelessly through high school and graduated with honours and got accepted into Carleton only to find my first year in Law was not what I thought it would be like. I soon realized that was not what I wanted to be doing. I saw a guidance counselor who said – “well you did really well in Sociology, why don’t you switch?” So, I did.

Flash forward a few years later, I still had my “30 things list” in the back of my mind. After a year-long adventure in England, where I worked for Barclays Bank and traveled around Europe, I was ready to settle down and start knocking down this list. While I was in England I made some pretty amazing friends and now we all have kids, but we still know how to party. I can’t wait to see them again and I want to try and plan for them to come and visit us here since none of them have been to Canada before. I am doing what I think most people my age would call the dream. Let me tell you, this dream comes with lots of blood, sweat, and tears. Maybe more tears than blood because I faint when I see any sign of blood. I decided after my euro trip to settle down and work full time while pursuing my studies part-time at Carleton University until I graduated. It took a few years longer, but I finally graduated in 2013. I always knew that I wanted to get married by 26 years old and have a kid when I was at least 28 years old. I wanted to have it all, and I had it all figured out.Buying my first house when I was 22 felt like the biggest badass accomplishment and it quickly became the party house for myself and my friends, but not that dirty party house because I have OCD about things being a certain level of clean. This proves to be hard to manage, but thankfully I still have the same house cleaner from that time helping me today, not sure what I would do without her!

I met my now husband Luc online through POF (plenty of fish) and he was actually my plan B for the night, as the first guy I had set a date with canceled super last minute on a Friday night. If you have ever done online dating you know it’s a numbers game, and let me tell you, I have some super funny stories for which I could write an entire blog on! But let’s leave that for another day. It was Friday night and I started messaging this Government worker who seemed really nice and fun and I thought, well I might as well have a drink with him, since I had already made plans to have a party at my house later that night anyway when my friends got off work, but I needed to kill time till then. We met, we had a few drinks while playing pool, and then I proceeded to invite him back to my party, and the rest is history.

So imagine this, I am 23, talking to this cute and fun guy about all the things I want to accomplish and when I want to do them by.  Looking back now he probably thought I was joking. I was so serious about them but I think he would just think that I was joking because he would almost laugh. I would often talk to Luc about our dream house in the country with our dogs on some land in a bungalow. I even had a folder in our closet called DREAM HOUSE! I kid you not, and I had some super fancy Cardel Models in them. We would talk about raising a family in the country, but not too far because we like being close to the grocery store. First world problems here! We always talked about our wedding and how we wanted it to be a party and super fun. Well, it didn’t quite happen in that order that I described above, but we somehow got there. So I wanted to share with you a list of things I want to do before I turn 30 in the next few months, and I hope you will help me out or point me in the right direction as I journey on my path and kick all my goals asses.

Let’s start with the easy ones mentioned above….

1. Get married – done (nice) – growing up my Grandmother and I were super close. I actually lived with her during my second year of University and she would always tell me that I better get married before having children. Oops! Sorry! She was super cool though as she would always take me shopping and she would buy me tampons, which my mom was super against for some reason!

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2. Buy my dream house – We did it! – This is our third property — we actually still have my first house which I bought before I met Luc when I was 22 and we rent it out in Stittsville. I moved to Stittsville after keeping my horse on Hazeldean Road at my best friends place which was when I was 21 years old! If you didn’t know, horses used to be my entire life. I got my first pony when I was 5 years old. I still love it, but I plan to get back into in my thirties!

3. Start my family – Philippe – actually, when I was 23 about a year after meeting Luc I had EXTREME baby fever, it was like everything in my life was screaming baby! So weird.

4. Get a degree & Start my own business – yay! I have done this and now I get to do my DREAM job full time! It’s the best and worst feeling sometimes as it still scares the shit out of me but in a good and motivating kind of way! When things get hard in my life it somehow motivates me to push harder and harder and to dive into being even more successful.
I spend about a day feeling sorry for myself and then I kick my own ass into high gear and focus on being awesome. It’s just how I’ve always been!

5. Travel – even though I don’t travel as much as I used to – this is on my 2018 list of things I want to do more of. I would love to do at least 2-3 trips a year! – Some of you may not know but I lived in England for just over a year (one of my best years for sure travel wise and fun wise) I met some of my amazing girlfriends and they are the ones who introduced me to lots of ‘holidays’ which included Spain, France, Amsterdam, Scotland, Portugal. I have also traveled to Italy and Egypt and I have even lucky enough to go to Florida many times and Cuba, Mexico, Bahamas, & the Dominican Republic. My next trip I would love to hit up Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, and Thailand. I love traveling and I want to expose Phil to as many cultures as possible! My friends that I met when I was in England still keep in touch with me and we are all having kids now! Crazy how things change!

6. Shoot a gun – I have yet to do this! If anyone wants to join me let me know! Luc has been bugging me to do this for years!

7. Go paintballing – I plan to do this as soon as the weather warms up.

8. Learn to make fancy cakes – I can bake, they will taste yummy, but they will NOT be pretty! If anyone has any classes or want to have me hang for a day and learn something that would be amazing!

9. Learn how to write fancy – calligraphy style – I have yet to do this and I would love to host a wine and calligraphy night if anyone wants to jump on the bandwagon.

10. Sew myself or my little man an outfit that I or he would actually wear – I want to be proud of what I am wearing as I feel that I love to create – so if anyone wants to sew with me – let’s do this asap!

11. Swim with sea turtles – I love these guys – but I have never swum with them!

12. Get accredited by the Professional Photographer’s of Canada – it’s on my list to do!

13. Make some sort of bath product – I have never made a cream or scrub/soap which I would love to learn!

14. Make some pottery or cement DIY – either or?

15. Get hypnotized – I have heard some crazy things but I have never done it! Anyone brave enough?!

16. Karaoke – I have never done this that I can remember – so it doesn’t count

17. Play Bingo – at a bingo hall! Does this still happen? I have never done it – I played while I was in school for fun, but I want to make some money!

18. Learn to play poker – and play in a tournament? Of course a home style one – because I don’t want to lose all my money in a casino! Haha

19. See a Ballet – I have never done this and it’s something I would love to do! Does anyone see ballet shows? I would love to go with you!

20. Try pole dancing – I know this takes EXTREME strength but I think it could be fun!

21. Fit into my skinny jeans – YES – this one I am working on currently! It’s my goal before I turn 30 to try and lose 20 more pounds!

22. Shuck oysters – I have yet to learn how to do this nor have I ever eaten them!

23. Leave my mark in Graffiti – when I was a kid we used to drive the 401 a lot as I grew up in a military family so we would see all these rocks with names or “Mike Loves Sarah” I would love to do this! Not sure if it’s illegal!? But anyone want to do this too!?

24. Feed or clothe the homeless – this is something I have not done. I have donated but always just dropped off, never have I sponsored someone and seen the direct impact.

25. Learn to meditate – I have been working on this! I can’t go more than 3 minutes without my mind racing. I would love to get to 10 minutes a day if possible.

26. Learn to skate backwards – I still don’t know how to do this! Haha does that even make me a Canadian?

27. Learn how to dive into water without holding my nose or getting water up my nose – just never EVER been able to do this! Blah – my son is better already and he is 3.

28. Learn how to drive a motorcycle – I have been on one when I got my tattoo- I took a drive to NY on the back of a motorcycle and I said I would never go that far EVER again as my tailbone was on fire! But I would love to learn how to drive one and maybe get a second tattoo!

29. Find a recipe that mushrooms actually taste good in – yet to find this!

30. Find my purpose – this is something I am still working on but I have a pretty good idea – I want to build amazing and long lasting REAL relationships with like-minded people who really understand that the struggle is real and that we are all in the same shit boat together. Some of us are dealing with more shit than others, but for the most part we are all trying to navigate this journey the best that we can. I am so thankful for the REAL relationships I have made in the past few years as without the support of the people I have met I would not be where I am today.

I was never the girl who had a friend that I “grew” up with. My friends have come and go with my family being military. I have always been able to make friends easily, but I have never known what it was like to keep friends for a long time as I have never been in one place long enough it seems. Lately, I have been working hard to change that. People who mean a lot to me are the people that I think about a lot, who I try to talk to as much as I can on a regular basis (whatever regular may mean to some) and just try to be as super real as I can. This has served me so much better as I seem to be attracting people who not only relate to this theory 100%, they live it also.

 

I know that I am far from being the woman who has all her shit together even though I like to pretend that I do sometimes. I know that each and every day I have to try, try to be a good wife, a good mom, a good friend, a good role model, a good sister, a good cousin, a good businesswoman, but I tell you, those hats aren’t all easy to juggle and I know I am not alone when I say that its so hard! I have good days and bad days, like really bad ones where I want to cry. They are just part of what life is for me and that’s ok! It’s not always rainbows and sunshine and that is just fine for me, that’s not what motivates me anyways!

If you would like to help me complete my list, please reach out to me! My Birthday is March 19th and I am planning a weekend in Montreal with some couple friends and of course, BABY FREE! :) If you want to join let me know!

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