30 Before 30 Revisited...4 Months To Go!

In just four and a half months, I'll be celebrating my 30th birthday! Celebrating how? I'm not quite sure yet. Certainly not how I'd planned, that's for sure; a big party with my nearest and dearest. Whatever form the celebrations take though, it's still exciting (and a little scary) to be hitting such a big milestone! 

Some time ago, I set out 30 goals I wanted to achieve before I turn 30 and, with only a few months to go, it's time to check in on how those goals are going. I'll be doing another post shortly after my birthday to check off any goals I've managed to achieve in the time between now and then. And then I'll be sharing my 40 Before 40! But before all that, here's a little look back at my 30 Before 30 goals. 

1. Visit New York at Christmas. Well, this hasn't happened. Mostly due to the fact that I'm a) terrified of flying and b) afraid of staying away from home overnight. And as we won't be going anywhere abroad this year, even if we wanted to, I don't think a travel goal is likely to get ticked off before my birthday. I'm going to revise this goal to Plan a weekend away for 2021. And I can safely say we've done that we've booked in at a cute little B&B in St Ives for a weekend in July to celebrate my best friend's wedding (I'm Maid of Honour!) 

2. Go to the dentist. Hahaha. Nope. And not likely to now, either. Time to revise this one too to Take better care of my teeth (to avoid the dentist!) I'll do this by brushing my teeth twice a day, instead of once, and using mouthwash regularly. 

3. Cook, or bake, something from scratch. I'm known for my awesome roasts. And now I can add homemade banana bread to my cooking/baking repertoire too! 

4. Have a baby (or two.) I only wish I could check this one off. We're still childless and still trying. I had to go on the pill last year to control my really heavy, non-stop bleeding so I had a good six months where I had no chance to get pregnant. So I'm revising this goal to Come off the pill which I have done recently! 

5. Get married. That's a big fat CHECK. 

6. Buy myself a designer handbag. I might have two or three now. Oops? 

7. Celebrate Christmas at home. Well, we might have to this year if a vaccine isn't found and I still can't see my family. But I'm less interested in spending Christmas at home with just my husband now and more concerned with spending it with my family. No point revising this goal, as Christmas comes after I've turned 30, so this one will go unchecked. 

8. Read, at least, one book a month. This was a silly goal really. Some months I'll read upwards of 10 books. Others months 1 or less. I'm going to revise it to Read, at least, 100 books a year and that's a check for the last few years. 

9. Go to a gig or show. I've seen Jodi Picoult talk about her newest book (twice), if that counts? I also went to see Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone In Concert with my granddad for my last birthday which was just an amazing experience, especially to share with him. My granddad is the one who got me hooked on Harry Potter and he shares my love for the series. 

10. Keep a diary. Meh. Diaries are overrated. I don't have time to write one everyday! I'm revising this to Keep a gratitude journal as I think that's much more reasonable and important, even. Every night before bed I'll make a note of, at least, three things that have made me smile, feel grateful or happy that day. 

11. Redecorate the kitchen. This has been put on hold, as it's an expensive project and we just don't have the funds right now. Instead I'm going to aim for Start saving money for a kitchen refurb.

12. Grow my Bloglovin' to 1000 followers. Ooh boy, was I optimistic. Let's aim for 500 followers instead. 

13. Grow my Twitter and Instagram following to 5000. I mean, combined I'm almost there. Separately? Nowhere near. Let's revise this to Reach 4.5k on Twitter and Instagram (combined.)

14. Lose 7 stone. Not even close. I've definitely lost some weight over lockdown though, so I'm hoping I can Lose 1 stone by my birthday! 

15. Repaint the house. Still hasn't been done, and is getting more and more desperate. Especially since I stained part of the living room wall with soot from a candle. Oops? I doubt we'll get to it this year though, so this goal is likely to remain unchecked. 

16. Go full-time with blogging. This hasn't happened but not just because it can't, but because I don't want to. I like my day job, and I'm not as in love with blogging as I once was. So I shall Remain employed for some time to come I think! 

17. Attend at least one blogging event. Nah, anxiety and finances got in the way of this. But that's okay, there's always next year. And instead I'd like to Attend a therapy event before my birthday. And oh, what's that? I did, last year in fact! And I found it immensely helpful. 

18. Buy myself a MacBook. How about Pay off some of my debt then buy a MacBook instead? 

19. Replace the old/worn out furniture. My husband refuses to replace the sofas as the cat still scratches them, fair, so I've covered them with throws instead. We do now have a new TV stand and coffee table (£16 from IKEA) and new bookshelves. So it's a start! 

20. Cook a Sunday roast, at least, once a month. Since lockdown, I've been cooking Sunday roasts pretty much every damn Sunday. Admittedly before lockdown we were going for a carvery every Sunday but that's irrelevant now. This is life after lockdown, baby. 

21. Learn how to do my make-up properly. Thanks to my amazing wedding make-up artist, I now have a pretty good idea of what looks good on me, what products I should be using and in what order. Was I high when I wrote this list? As if that was going to happen when I can't even set foot on a plane!

22. Swim with dolphins. Was I high when I wrote this list? As if that was going to happen when I can't even set foot on a plane! I don't know what I could realistically replace this goal with, so it'll remain unchecked. 

23. Have some decent savings. Yeah..no. Another one to revise, maybe to Focus on clearing my debt instead. 

24. Get my name put on the mortgage. This just isn't feasible as they'd charge us an extortionate sum just to add my name on to the mortgage agreement. So we'll wait till we buy a new house and then I'll be on the mortgage! 

25. Replace the fire in our living room. Another one we haven't got around to yet. I'm going to change this one to Look into replacing the coals in our living room fire. This is something I can do in lockdown, at least. 

26. Watch the sunrise. Did this unintentionally one day when the cat woke me up silly early. It was a beautiful sunrise though, and I got some great photos! 

27. Go to a field, lie down and watch the stars. This is one that could actually be achievable over the next few months. Not much else to do really is there? 

28. Go on a road trip. I've gone on a few - mainly to Cardiff. It's a road trip if you take a flask of coffee and have to drive for longer than an hour for a day out at the end of it! 

29. Buy a new car. Did this and sold my little Clio, my starter car. Hubby and I now share a Volkswagen Golf and it's a lovely car. I do sometimes miss having my own set of wheels though! 

30. Get a dog. I knew this one was going to be tricky, near on impossible to be honest. So here's a new goal; Buy some more fish and shrimp. 

So, there's a fair bit of work to do in the next few months. But I have achieved 14 out of 30, and that's almost half! Hopefully I can smash the rest. New goals are:

- Take better care of my teeth

- Keep a gratitude journal

- Start saving for a kitchen refurb

- 500 followers on BL

- 4,500 followers on Twitter and Instagram (combined) 

- Lose 1 stone

- Remain employed

- Pay off some of my debt

- Focus on clearing my debt

- Look into replacing the coals in our living room fire

- Watch the stars in a field

- Buy more fish and shrimp.

That feels achievable. I'll update you on my progress after my 30th! Time to get started thinking about my 40 Before 40...

Wish me luck!