366 Days of 20

At roughly 5:00am tomorrow, I will begin the last year of my 20's. For some of my friends, who have or are about to reach this age, it's been a source of major stress and sort of a big deal. A fact which has made me feel like maybe I'm missing something, since it seems like any other birthday to me. Am I sad to be leaving my 20's at the end of this year? At present? Nope. I made the jump from childhood to adolescence and from adolescence to adulthood without much of a backwards glance - so why make a big deal out of this change? Time marches forward whether we're ready for it or not; whether you kick and scream or not you're still going to get older.

And while I can say that I'm neither having an end of early adulthood crisis nor a lot of sighing or reminiscing, I do feel as though this one *should* be a bit special. Perhaps it's a mingling of knowing there's a sort of age threshold approaching and the fact that I decided 2012 is going to be a big deal for me. Maybe not such a big deal in the eyes of anyone else, but as one of my mantras for this year is "Who gives a fuck what others think?" I'm not going to sweat it.

In order to get my thoughts, plans and goals together I've taken a page out of the Big Book of Late 20's activities and made myself a mini bucket list; a 30 before 30 list. 30 things I'd like to do or at least keep in mind over the next 366 days. Did I make this list to be dramatic and awe inspiring? Nope. I've made it so I can have some accountability, it's high time I do some of these random or silly things. So, without further adieu, I present to you my 30 before 30 list:

Danni's 30 by 30 List
1. See a whale shark.
2. Fly a kite.
3. Be a healthy weight.
4. Write a letter to myself to open in 10 years.
5. Get my passport.
6. Travel outside of the U.S.
7. Ride a horse.
8. Volunteer at an animal shelter.
9. Go to a drum circle.
10. Build a sheet fort.
11. Make a decision with a coin toss.
12. Have a Harry Potter movie-thon.
13. Ride in a hot air balloon. (For the record? I'm terrified of heights.)
14. Complete a journal.
15. Lay out and watch cloud shapes.
16. Learn (or at least make a solid effort to learn) Spanish.
17. Go to a music festival.
18. Eat cake without using my hands.
19. Give belly dancing a shot.
20. Participate in the Color Run when it comes to Charlotte, NC.
21. Adopt a puppy.
22. Use a fake name at Starbucks.
23. Have a Red Dress photo shoot.
24. Put my toes in the ocean again.
25. Watch a meteor shower.
26. Stop caring and accept myself.
27. Be brave and bold hearted.
28. Paint my own version of Van Gogh's Starry night.
29. Sleep outside.
30. Be Happy.

There are several other things I'd like to accomplish this year that I haven't put on the list, such as letting go of some things, reconnecting, getting deeper into my path, tuning more into nature, making more time for my muse and finding my tribe. I decided to keep my list relatively light and sort of silly, filled with simple things I've never done (like flying a kit or riding a horse) and things I've done that make me childishly happy (like sleeping outside and watching meteor showers.) I figure, if I'm going to make this year special, it had better be good fun to boot!