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Spot of Tea Designs

Spot of Tea Designs

30 Before Thirty – the results!

in Lifestyle

Well today’s the day, I’m 30!

In June 2010, I launched my “30 Before Thirty” list of 30 realistic things I wanted to do, that just required a little motivation. (inspired by Making It Lovely’s 30 Before Thirty list)  While I didn’t accomplish all 30 items, I am happy with the progress I made and the things I was able to achieve during this time.

First, let me share the ones I did:

1. Make a painting for my house. – DONE “create” painting for craft room, pollock style for bathroom

2. Throw an awesome party. – DONE. I know this my personal opinion but I enjoyed throwing our housewarming bbq last August so I consider this accomplished.

5. Become my own last name pet peeve. (explanation: my boyfriend’s last name is a first name, which used to be my pet peeve) AS DONE AS I CAN GET! We’re Engaged and have a September 2012 wedding planned, exactly 7 months after my 30th birthday! I’m completely happy with this one being partially done an on its way! :)

6. Take a multi state road trip. DONE road tripping from NJ to VA to visit Miss A

7. Cook a delicious dinner from scratch. DONE In fact I think I’ve been working to add a few new recipes into the mix for the future! One example: Caramel Apple Pork Chops

8. Design 7 more successfully selling items for my cafepress site. DONE and then some! (1 Here for the cupcakes, 2 Anti Clown, 3 Holiday Snail Mail,4 T-Shirt Time,5 couponaholic,6 Penn State,7 I love u in braille 8 Typography Nerd, 9 It’s a Boy)

9. Go on a sightseeing, non strictly beach vacation with D. DONE California Jan 2011

11. Run another official race. DONE Art of Running June 2011

12. Go to a wine tasting at a winery. DONE L’s Bridal Shower shower Oct 2010

13. Make cupcakes from scratch. DONE!  Favorites Party

15. Increase my average daily water consumption. DONE! Double Insolation cup purchased and used!

16. Do the “one picture a day for one month” challenge. -DONE. December 2010. Inspired by Ali Edwards, I highly recommending everyone try this at least for one month of their life. It helps to capture all the little details of life you don’t notice but are fun to document.

17. Buy something cool at an antique store. DONE! Allie’s Year of Date Night September.

18. Find a new yummy drink. DONE Peach Sangria. Ingredients: 1 bottle Riesling, 1/2 cup peach schnapps,2 shots triple sec, 1/2 liter ginger ale, 1/4 cup or less of sugar, 2 peaches cut up, strawberries. Directions: mix all these ingredients the night before serving.

19. Visit a zoo or amusement park which I have never visited before. DONE!  October 2011. Philadelphia Zoo

21. Fill in the journaling on all my outstanding unfinished scrapbook pages. DONE!

22. Learn about my money investments (401K).  DONE. Just signed up for the 401k at my new company and therefore had to review my past investments and choose new ones!

23. Find a new vegetable I like. DONE! I’ve learned to tolerate brocoli.

24. Have a spa day with a friend. DONE! Miss Allie came up for a crafting weekend in February that started with nice massages at the local salon! 02.10.12

25. Host a crafting day/party. DONE Girls crafting party in VA. November 2010

26. Create an adult’s guest room (not a blow up mattress and misc furniture pieces like I have now). DONE!

27. Make one of those fun coordinated dessert tables for a party. DONE!  Favorites party

28. Go on a romantic date which requires me wearing a dress. DONE! 2.18.12 we just went the other night!

29. DIY a piece of furniture for the house.  – DONE! Folding chairs DIY

30. Find a favorite lip gloss. DONE! #30 Find a Favorite Lip Gloss

And now, the not so successful items and my poor excuses:

3. Officially stop biting my nails/cuticles. I have been doing this for YEARS and cannot seem to get out of this habit. I’ve done the gloves, the non nail biting polishes, vinegar etc. I think I need to moisturize them more so they are soft and not so cracked to bite!

4. Design/Alter a piece of clothing and wear it. This one is pretty pathetic, especially since I do this for work!

10. Be a consistent size 4. I am not marking this as done because I’m consistently in between a 4 and 6. BUT I am happy about my weight/size/frame so I have no regrets on not hitting this.

14. Completely decorate one room in the house. While I have made a lot of progress on many rooms in the home, I don’t feel like any one is completely decorated. I’d rather that they change as we grow in this house so again I’m ok with not marking this one done. :) 

20. Go on a multi mile hike. I just lost sight on the weather. Once the winter season hit, I didn’t think about being outside much.

And as a 30th birthday present to myself, I bought my domain name! If you haven’t noticed, you are now reading my blog via Spotofteadesigns.com! :)

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Comments

  1. Carla S. says

    February 24, 2012 at 2:38 pm

    Belated Happy Birthday, Tara! I enjoyed reading about all the items you checked off, as well as the “almosts.” You accomplished so much! So what’s next..50 before 50? ; ) Congratulations on your list — and on your new domain name! Lots of birthday hugs!

    Reply

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