30, flirty and thriving

I turn 30 tomorrow. I think a lot of people feel angst and nervousness about turning 30. For some reason I'm not going crazy about it but there have been thoughts running through my head like... oh my gosh, I'm in the grown-up years now... people in their 30s are responsible, they usually have more stable jobs, they have the 2.5 kids and the SUV. Life in the 30s looks a little more boring than life in the 20s... 20s seemed more carefree and fun.

During my senior year of college I made a list of 10 things I wanted to accomplish before I turned 30. I think the only things that were not crossed off where:

• Go to Italy and Ireland. Do a photography vacation. I only made it to Ireland where Kim was studying abroad... which was spectacular... but AJ and I did go to Greece two summers ago where I took about 10,000 photos.

• Open up my own event planning business in the city. I have my own event planning business but it's not something that I'm focusing on on a day to day basis and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't classify Manchester-by-the-Sea as a city... :)

Knowing I accomplished nearly everything I wanted to in my twenties makes me feel ready for thirty. I suppose with everything you get it means you don't get something else... for example... during those years before I met AJ I kept wondering why I hadn't met the right guy yet... I didn't think I was a complete loser who repelled people so I couldn't figure out why someone fabulous wasn't right around the corner. But here's the thing, though I wish I met him years earlier it's okay that I didn't... I had such a great time living with Danielle for a year and then once Kim graduated college we lived together for a few years. I couldn't have had either of those experiences if I had married right out of school.

It helped to narrow down what I wanted to do leading up to my thirties... and now for a list of nine things (that may be ever evolving) to accomplish / work on before 40 (holy smokes, that number is WAY scarier than 30).
1. Make a valid effort at spending time reading the Bible each morning, no matter how busy I am. I want Drew to see how important that is to my daily life.
2. Be very intentional about AJ and not "lose" him in the busy-ness of raising Drew and working on houses. Carve out time for just the two of us on a regular basis.
3. Raise a Godly child who had an interest in learning, health and others around him and in the world as a whole.
4. Finish our house (whoo hoo!). Sell it for a profit and purchase our Forever House (if we find the right one).
5. Travel. Travel. Travel. Make it to Italy and France and take an unbelievable amount of photos. Spend a summer abroad while AJ is still teaching. Mykonos, Greece? Yes, please.
6. Purchase more investment properties. Learn some carpentry from AJ so the burden for these houses don't fall primarily on him. Maybe I'll even learn how to do a complicated miter cut... :)
7. Figure out something I can do to make money from home and do it. (Yes, this is very vague... I don't have a lot of direction in this area yet...)
8. Take my real estate test. This needs to be done by July 2012... Maybe this is my answer to #7.
9. Do foster care or adopt a child (or children).

Danielle, when you asked me a couple days ago about how I felt turning thirty here is your answer...
I feel great. I feel like it's an age where you get taken more seriously (I'll find out if that is true or not). The stability of thirty both feels great and scary at the same time. I'm looking forward to this new season of life mostly because I'm excited to do these things with AJ. I'm excited for our conversations about everything from what he'll show me in France (when we finally get there together) to teaching Drew about how to handle money as a little kid. I'm nervous about these goals because it's going to be hard work and will require sacrifices... but I suppose no one lived their dream life by just sitting on the couch reading magazines about other people living their dream lives. They had to go out and make it happen... so... here's to making it happen!