40 Before Forty | 1 Year To Go

Whether they are 1, 5 or 10 years from now, it’s always great to set goals for yourself! Take a little glimpse into one 40 Before Forty list of 40 things to achieve before a 40th birthday!

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WOW friends! It’s been a while since I’ve shared an update on this list. Actually, it’s been 2 years! Yes, today is my birthday and I turn 39! Before I go any further know that I’m not one of those sappy, sad birthday people. I feel pretty happy with what I’ve been able to achieve thus far in my first 39 years. I am very blessed to have a great relationship, family and immediate friends that make life fun at this age. I feel lucky to have had many creative opportunities over the years, so age 39 or 40 isn’t a soft spot for me!

I will always be a list maker so when I was 6 months from turning 30, I made a 30 Before Thirty list that I worked to achieve. Once I turned 35 I made a new list to work on over the next 5 years. 3.5 years in, Coronavirus happened and put a damper on that last ditch effort to finish the list so we’ll see how far I get in the next 12 months!

First, let’s review the tasks I was able to complete in the 4 years this list has been active. 15/40 Complete

• Go on an adults only vacation. DONE! My bestie Allie and I went to Savannah and had a great girls only trip! 5/2018. Would still love to go on one with my husband too!

• Read Gone with the Wind… again. DONE! I’m named after it so I was due to read it again and did so by January 2018!

• Upgrade my DSLR camera and/or lens. DONE! I must’ve been a good girl as Santa brought me a new Canon 80D in 2017 and then I got a new wide angle lens in 2020 to capture shots like the above!

• Book a professional photoshoot session. DONE! 10/2018 We did our first mini photo shoot for our Christmas cards which has since become a yearly tradition ever since.

• Complete a physical challenge. DONE: I completed a 10 mile woman’s only race 10/2017
• Take a class to learn a new skill. DONE: Participated in a Paint and Sip experience with fellow NJ bloggers in 2017, a Chocolate painting class in 2019 and a cookie decorating class in 2020!

• Pull off a big surprise! DONE! We were able to keep our Disney trip a surprise for the girls until we revealed it two days before we left!

• Treat myself to an expensive experience or splurge item. DONE! 12/2017 I bought a new Canon 80D camera!

• Do something scary. DONE! 10/2020 – I took a leap and started photographing some friends for their Christmas cards which turned into photographing their friends that I didn’t even know! It was scary to take that leap of faith but I had a great experience and loved it! I look forward to doing more family photography mini sessions this year!
• Try a new hairstyle. DONE! I had my first experience at a blow out bar through a moms group meeting and had them give me those large barrel beach waves. I loved it and used the photo for my profile for a while!

• Start a new family tradition. DONE! 12/2018 I decided to let each sister pick out a gift on their own (of course with guidance) to buy, wrap and give to the other sister. It was a hit and we do it for their birthday (since they share one) and Christmas now!

• Find a personal mantra. Creativity Takes Courage. It’s a phrase framed in my office (and one you can grab from my Etsy shop) and something I think about with the new things I’ve tried recently, including launching my shop and being a family photographer for Christmas card shoots!

• Attend another blog conference. October 2020 I attended my first VIRTUAL influencer event thrown by Toy Insider called Holiday of Play. It did give me an opportunity to connect with a few brands, some of which I started working with after the event!

• Perfect a new craft. Wow perfect is a restrictive word! Will I ever be perfect at something? Probably not! But I’m glad I’ve added cross stitch, as in my stitch people gifts and vinyl crafts to the list of crafts I love to do!

• Learn a new makeup technique. I stretched out this concept to include all self care and got to try Red Aspen nail dashes through my friend Laura! Yes, they are press on nails with pretty nail polishes already applied. After one week of wearing the set she gave me I went ahead and bought two more plus another as a gift. I think it will help curb my nail biting habit for sure!

Here are the ones that are close:

• Complete 5 random acts of mail!
  • #1 package sent- Box of Sunshine
  • #2 package sent – Booed our nieces with a printable from Dylbug
  • #3 package sent – Wintertime Blues
  • #4 Halloween baking kits
• Try 50 new recipes. UPDATE: I’m up to 37 of my 50 recipe goal! When I hit all 50 I’ll create a post of all those I try and which I recommend.
• Complete 5 random acts of kindness. UPDATE: I completed 3 of 5. I like to think I’m pretty kind, but maybe just too planned to complete “random” acts?! I’ll work harder on this the next year!
• Renew and use my passport. UPDATE: Half complete! Derek and I have our new passports but have nowhere scheduled to go!

Here are the 40 Before Forty tasks I have yet to cross off! Onto the excuses!

• Take a family road trip someplace we’ve never been before. Leave me a suggestion on where we should go!
• Have a “YES” day with my kids. Haven’t given this a go yet, but thinking the summer might be a fun time to attempt it!
• Visit 3 new states. Pretty sure I was an overachiever with this one! Check out the list of possible states I’d have to visit. I’ll be lucky if I get to ONE! Oregon, Washington, New Hampshire, Kentucky, New Mexico, Alabama, Lousiana, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota, Indiana, Kansas, Arkansas, West Virginia, Alaska
• Officially stop biting my nails. A big downfall to my life, especially when I use my hands in videos now! Hoping putting Red Aspen nails on hinders my attempts and breaks the 35+ year habit altogether!
• Host a multi course dinner party with food made from scratch. Party? What’s that?
• Learn HTML so I can fix blog problems myself.
• Get finances in order and write a will. UPDATE: Derek has all our finances in order, but we still need to do the will!
• Have a tech free day. Life doesn’t allow for this unless we’re sick!
• Return to my pre-pregnancy weight. Hmm do you need the full list of excuses for this?
• Be fit enough to wear a bikini again. Wow! Did 35 year old me really want 40 year old me to wear a bikini on the beach? haha. Safe to say that even if I were more fit, I don’t know if I feel this is my 40 year old personality. LOL
• Go on a multi mile hike.
• Try sushi.
• Learn what the different knives in my kitchen are used for.
• Watch the sunrise in a beautiful place. This would require me leaving the house.
• Binge watch a triology back to back to back. I do a lot of Netflix binging but haven’t technically done this with movie formats because I never have multi uninterrupted hours to myself to watch them! Give me a hollar on which I should pick!
• Create a beauty routine that includes moisturizing. More self care I’ve been avoiding!
• Create a flossing routine. Can’t say I have a true routine down for anything these days!
• Learn how to grill. Derek did give me a demo about this last fall so I think I may give it a whirl when the weather is warmer!
• Publish something.
• Volunteer my time somewhere. Tried volunteering myself twice for school activities that were both canceled!
• Try a trendy new gym class. I have a treadmill now so I don’t plan to join a gym anytime soon.