30 x 30

My 29th birthday is this week. I have no particular fear of turning 30 next year but time seems to move at lightening speed as I gradually get older. There are things I want to do so I've decided to steal an idea that I've seen on other blogs and work on by 30x30 bucket list. Some of them I have to do solo, some I would LOVE help with from friends and family (see numbers 1, 5, 9, 22, and 26 among others) . Anywho - the list is now public to help keep me accountable. I've got until mid-April 2012!

1. Run a 5K
2. Make a souffle
3. Cook all the recipes in Jim Lahey's cookbook
4. Have my tarot cards read
5. Really go camping (like, where you hike to a campsite)
6. Lose XX pounds (I have a number, I just don't want to share it)
7. Buy a house
8. Learn to sew and sew something useful - like curtains
9. Participate in a city dinner crawl, which means having cocktails, appetizer, dinner, dessert and post-dinner cocktails each at a different place in one city in one night
10. Learn to drive stick shift
11. Find "my" winter perfume
12. Find a place to volunteer regularly (maybe getting Cooper certified as a therapy dog?)
13. Go see a professional hockey game
14. Quit soda (or at least those with aspartame)
15. Transition to "green" cleaning; making my own cleaners
16. Visit Niagara Falls (Mark has been bugging me to do this for three years!)
17. Visit two NEW states
18. Find a church to attend regularly (or at least more regularly)
19. Go to a shooting range
20. Grow vegetables
21. Have photobooks made of our tours in Italy and Afghanistan
22. Make a recipe book out of the family/friend recipes given to me at my bridal shower (this is one I really regret not doing before my grandmom passed away)
23. Sing "We Didn't Start the Fire" at kareoke
24. Commute to work by bicycle (this is partially contingent on buying a home at a distance that makes this possible. At worst, I hope to bike to metro regularly when the weather is decent)
25. Mail holiday and birthday cards - on time
26. Learn how to do a "smokey eye" without looking like I got punched in the face
27. Go to the opera
28. Learn to knit
29. Go see one of my high school favorites in concert
30. Read at least ten NEW books from this NYT list