Real talk: I wrote this blog post on my 25th birthday. [yes..in AUGUST].. Welcome to how crazy my life has been the past 3 months. Its been sitting on my computer through the move back to Ohio and never found its way back to the desktop. I started feeling sad when I couldn’t find it..but I did!
Birthdays are like the new year.
Celebration. Sparklers. Cake. Horns…too much? Nope.
Every year I crack myself up by making resolutions and never completing them. The weight loss resolutions that sit on my counter and then eventually end up in the trash with the pizza box. But, I do love a fresh start. I love the beginning of a month. I love the new year. & I love birthdays!
Birthdays are the bomb dot com in this household. Even when I was little, birthdays were a SUPER close second to Christmas. I absolutely love celebrating life and love and all things birthdays. This week I turned 25. A QUARTER OF A CENTURY. Thats halfway to 50…scary.
I started thinking about what I wanted these next 5 years to look like. I wish you could see my bucket list. It may look similar to yours. Looks like I have a lot of great PLANS. Nothing is crossed off. Nothing is ever completed. It hurts my heart to see all the great adventures that are PLANNED but never DONE. This is me through and through. I can plan the crap out of a day, weekly goals, yearly, and never do any of them. It got me thinking about my next 5 years and what I wanted to actually DO.
I want to make these next 5 years the most intentional years that I have ever had. I want to be able to look back on these last five years of my twenties and see more life, more adventure, and more love.
When I started writing down places I wanted to go, things I wanted to see, people I wanted to bless, I started to feel a little twist in my belly. I know that twist all too well. Fear. Fear of not completing the list and failing. That might happen, but its about time that I step off my to do list, step out of my bubble and LIVE.
1. Be debt free
2. Buy a house and make it a home
3. Read the entire bible cover to cover
4. Save 3-6 months of expenses for emergencies
5. Go back to Nigeria
6. Buy a car in cash
7. Become foster parents
8. Have a baby
9. Send 30 handwritten letters
10. Go to a concert
11. Get a puppy [CHECK!]
12. See a broadway show on broadway
13. Photography for a cause
14. Visit Europe
15. See 10 states
16. Lose 30 pounds
17. Create an inspiring working space
18. Plant peonies
19. Take a girls trip with the women in my family
20. Mentor someone
21. Travel with friends
22. Go on an anniversary trip (or a babymoon-whatever comes first!)
23. OHIO sporting events- (Reds game, Bengals game, OSU game)
24. Finish a 5k [CHECK!]
25. Shoot 75 weddings
26. Go to an out of state conference with a friend
27. Make our wedding book
28. Give a big anonymous gift
29. Complete The Simplicity Challenge
30. Visit Nashville & eat our wedding food again
I started searching my computer this morning to find this list because last weekend I got to check off my first item on my list!! For my besties bachelorette party-we COMPLETED the Jingle Bell Run! No, I didn’t run it. (Thank goodness the list CLEARLY stated FINISH, not RUN. haha) This body is not ready for all that. But, it was a blast walking with one of the girls and seeing everyone dressed up for Christmas!
& then I remembered that we can check something else off our list!! Our little family of two grew by four paws a few weeks ago!! Meet Maisy! She is the most precious thing. We got her from the Animal Friends Humane Society! She was dumped in a dark cemetery and brought into the shelter. When we first met her, she wasn’t even ready for the adoption floor. She was so scared and timid and didn’t like the shelter life one bit. But, a few days passed and she warmed up to us! She has been the most perfect addition to our family. She loves cuddling on the couch and playing catch with her daddy! We are so in love!!
This was her first day in her new home..She wasn't sure about it.
This was yesterday! I think she has warmed up just fine ;)
Two things off the list. 28 to go! I’m so excited for the upcoming new year and I encourage you to get out and live. Life is way too short to just watch Netflix. (Although-This is Us…SO GOOD.)
xoxo Emily