30 before 30 (plus updates on a few things)

1.Travel to a race
 Update: Finished the New Years Race in Downtown LA on my birthday this year

2.Los Angeles
Update: (see#1) two birds with one stone lol

3. Kenya
Update: savings plan for flight ticket is in full effect

4. Full marathon
Update: registering for Anthem Marathon in Richmond, VA, November 16

5. Pay-off credit card and keep it manageable
Update: paid it off the other day

6. Save $1000
Update: committed to & executed a saving plan

7. Buy Violin

8. Strength condition 2x/week
Update: attending a boot camp 2x/week

9. Fast for 40 days
Update: I decided to join the rest of the world in Lent, sort of, or at least I wanted to use these 40 days to knock out my 40 day fast. I chose to stop cursing and wake up at 6am every week day. I need to do better with both of these. I don't curse much but I curse more than I realized. Waking up in the morning is SO hard for me, I do not know why. I am a morning person but the getting up part is taxing.

10. Have daily devotion
Update: One of the reasons I need this list visible daily so I can account for everything

11. 100,000 Tweets
Update: I have not been tweeting really for about 3 months so I think I should 86 this and pick a new item for the list

12. Read 2 books/month
Update: I need to read faster, I am basically at 1/month right now. But something is better than nothing.

13. Grocery Shop Weekly
Update: I have been doing a good job of keeping my fridge stocked with fresh produce for my daily smoothie at the least

14. Allowing my hair to grow
Update: perfect example of my lack of patience and always ready to find a way out (cut my hair when its awkward and I don't like it) instead of finding a way through (experiment with new styles as I transition to different lengths)

15. Louis Tote
Update: In the midst of saving for Kenya and for life, I will have to work this in later in the year, hopefully

16. Memorize a scripture/week
Update: this is probably hand-in-hand with daily devotion so...

17. Commit to my blog (post weekly, maintain it aesthetically, etc)
Update: hello new blog :) see first post

18. Maintain 135lbs
Update: I was 142 late last week, but with my boot camp and consistently healthy meal choices and getting back to running, I will prevail shortly :)

19. Recommit to a clean diet
Update: going well between grocery shopping & passionate commitment. also, working out regularly makes me very picky about my eating bc I don't want to be uncomfy or sluggish for running and strength training.

20. Keep a food journal
Update: I fell off for about 1.5 weeks. But I have been eating well consciously so I am still reaching the goal.

21. Figure out & execute plan to perfect my Spanish
Update: I haven't thought about this much

22. Take my parents and sibling to a nice dinner
Update: I need to plan for this, probably in the summer

23. Acknowledge friends and family via thank you cards and thoughtful notes
Update: I have this great stationary I need to use more often, I bought it for this. I also need to go to the post office and ask why the cards get returned each time I try to send them out. I think when that happened I got discouraged. Again, my patience and staying the course need work.

24. 2013 Christmas Cards
Update: I need to collect addresses

25. 64oz of water daily
Update: thanks to my trusty water bottle I do this with ease. it is over 32 oz, I make sure to drink at least two bottle/day. I usually exceed this. I could not remember to go to the faucet/filter a bajillion times each day to drink water.

26. Get on my knees and pray daily
Update: I have actually been doing well with this, I have missed a few days but I am definitely doing it way more than I have ever done. I just think it is important to really humble myself before God at least once/day. I pray throughout my day about everything but I really wanted to commit to this time. I really need God every hour and I want to actively show that I know that.

27. Stop cursing
Update: work in progress

28. Brazillian, monthly
Update: just had one a cpl weeks ago and I scheduled my next one which should be in 2 weeks, I believe

29. Cook with tofu
Update: I need to just sit down and find a recipe that tickles my fancy

30. Go to a game at Lane Stadium
Update: As a HOKIE and a football fan, I need to be better at getting to Lane Stadium. I miss that place. I need to plan a trip with some of my friends.

Patience

I would love to have a successful blog that brands Thee Doll Show among hundreds or thousands of people. I have started and sometimes deleted several blogs over the years. I get inspired and frustrated when I see others' blogs flourishing and I look back like "How did they do that? What am I lacking?"

I got the answer just in the moment it took me to start writing this particular post: PATIENCE.

I need to be patient with myself about what I want to share, what I want it to look like, etc. I usually start and try to get post right out and do what I think will work instead of cultivating everything slowly, from the aesthetics to my first post. This usually turns into some sort of discontentment surfacing not too far down the road.

Interestingly enough, blogging is not the only area of life that I should extend some patience. To be totally transparent, I need to learn patience with myself across the board. As I begin this year, leading up to my 30th birthday, I have been doing a lot of reflecting regarding my past and where I want to go from here. A lot of my regrets and shortcomings stem from my own impatience.

So, I started a "30 before 30" list and a lot of it revolves around discipline, stability, and balance. I realized to cultivate all those things, I would need to be patient with myself, something I have essentially never done. I am currently reading "The Happiness Project" and Gretchen Rubin discusses her plan of attack on the list of things she would like to improve about herself: taking a different focus per month and by December working everything together at once. The concept makes total sense and almost seems like common sense except for the fact that I consider myself full of common sense and I did not even consider this method. I just immediately overwhelmed myself with "how am I going to remember all of these things?" and "how will I gauge some of my more intrinsic goals?" Over my life, in times of being completely overwhelmed, I usually end up cutting off my hair, quitting, submitting, against my will. "My will" being the part of me that wants to have it all, do it all, be it all. For some reason "my will" does not always rise to the occassion and frankly, I am tired of it. I really do not want to continue down this path. I want to change.

So here I am embarking on a journey to learn patience with myself in order to be it all, do it all, and have it all. However, I am changing my perspective: it won't all happen at once and in a set time and the key is for me to see everything to end.

Two major things that will be going into teaching myself patience:

• Creating and growing of THIS blog (though please stop by and check out my tumblr for all the fun stuff aka pictures and sorts: thedollshow.tumblr.com)
• Daily cognizance and attention to the goals I have set for myself via my "30 before 30" list

I really look forward to sharing my growth, trials, tribulations and whatever else strikes my fancy in this journey.