40 Before Forty | An update with 3 years to go

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Today I turn another year old (and wiser?) Today I turn 37 and am now 3 years away turning Forty. Two years ago I launched my 40 Before Forty list so I thought it’d be fun to see how far I’ve come and what I have planned for the next 3 years to complete these wishes, dreams and simple tasks!

First, let’s review the tasks I was able to complete in the 2 years this list has been active. 9/40 Complete

• Go on an adults only vacation. DONE! My bestie Allie and I went to Savannah last May and had a great girls only trip! 5/2018
• 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! 12/2017
• Book a professional photoshoot session. DONE! 10/2018 Last October we did a mini photo shoot for our Christmas cards. Loved the pics and think we’ll make it a yearly thing!
• 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! 11/2017
• 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!
• Start a new family tradition. DONE! 12/2018 This Christmas 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 I plan to do it every year now!

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!
• Renew and use my passport. UPDATE: Half complete! Derek and I have our new passports but have nowhere scheduled to 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.
• Host a multi course dinner party with food made from scratch.
• 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.
• Return to my pre-pregnancy weight. I joined the gym in the end of December and have been using the My Fitness Pal since the beginning of the year. I’m already down a few pounds and plan to keep it up!
• Be fit enough to wear a bikini again. See above!
• Go on a multi mile hike.
• Try a new hairstyle.
• Try sushi.
• Learn what the different knives in my kitchen are used for.
• Find a personal mantra.
• Watch the sunrise in a beautiful place.
• 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.
• Do something scary.
• Create a beauty routine that includes moisturizing.
• Create a flossing routine. UPDATE: I have been working to get this to become a habit more than an afterthought. I’m going to give it a few more months before confirming I’m on the way to making this routine! Thanks Dayna!
• Perfect a new craft. I mean I think I have my cross stitching skills down pat from all the stitch people type gifts I’ve been making the past few years but I also am itching to do a lot more with vinyl so I’ll add this as a contender. 
• 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.
• Try 50 new recipes. UPDATE: I’m up to 22 of my 50 recipe goal! Once I hit 25 I’ll do a blog post showcasing them as there are many we’ve put into meal rotation.
• Learn a new makeup technique. I’ve heard Sephora does some free classes so I need to look into this as an option to learn something new.
• Volunteer my time somewhere. I do have a little more free time lately so this could be something that moves up on the list.
• Attend another blog conference.
• Complete 5 random acts of kindness. UPDATE: only completed 1 of 5. I need to be kinder apparently!
• Complete 5 random acts of mail!
  • UPDATE: #1 package sent- Box of Sunshine
  • #2 package sent – Booed our nieces with a printable from Dylbug
  • #3 package sent – Wintertime Blues
• Try a trendy new gym class. I have joined a new gym but the classes aren’t part of my membership. Guess I’ll need to just test out a different gym or get invited to some special event to cross this off. I’d really like to try Pure Barre but there isn’t one super close!