Today is my 27th birthday.  This is a day that never really crossed my mind when I was younger – I thought being 20 was old.  But here I am at 27 with 30 sort of looming right there in the near future.  Weird.

I celebrated with friends yesterday.  A bunch of girls from my small group joined me at the Abbey Garden Tea Room (one of my favorite places ever) for a little tea party and then a few of us went to the new James Bond movie after that (I liked it but I think Casino Royale was better).

In honor of this day and the year that has led up to it and the year that will come from it, I decided to make lists of 26 things I did in my 26th year and 27 things I’d like to accomplish or do in my 27th year.  So here it goes:

26 Things I’ve Done This Year (in somewhat chronological order)

1.  Went to Alaska twice

2.  Continued to support Harriet who lives in Uganda through Childcare Worldwide

3.  Read Pride & Prejudice for the first time (I’d read every other Jane Austen book except for Lady Susan but still had not conquered the most famous one)

4.  Learned to make really good garlic mashed potatoes and cooked a butternut squash for the first time (random I know, but these mashed potatoes are so good that I get sudden cravings for them at least every other week)

5.  Got my first bikini wax (I know – TMI, but it was significant in my year only because now I know they aren’t to be feared!)

6.  Went to Disney World for the first time (not as great as I imagined)

7.  Had surgery to remove a melanoma

8.  Became an aunt to my darling nephew

9.  Started my fifth year coaching cheer

10.  Went to Disneyland for the sixth time

11.  Met my good friend Naomi’s fiance

12.  Camped at a music festival on Orcas Island (and played about a billion games of Bananagrams)

13.  Went to the dentist for the first time in 5 years

14.  Hosted my friend Carlie and her baby on their visit here from TN

15.  Took a CPR/First Aid class

16.  Got hooked on the abc family show Greek

17.  Took my first ballet class in 5 years (after having danced from 2nd grade through my senior year of college)

18.  Went horseback riding (this was a birthday present to my roommate for her birthday 2 years ago!  I finally made it happen.)

19.  Went to the So You Think You Can Dance tour (I love Chelsea Hightower.)

20.  Quite working at the INN (sad.)

21.  Started this blog

22.  Went to Hood River for Naomi’s bachelorette weekend

23.  Went to the movies by myself

24.  Got rid of 2 garbage bags full of clothes and a box full of shoes (actually I still need to take one bag and the shoes to Goodwill!)

25.  Went to Stoney Ridge Farms for the first time (This is the Disneyland of pumpkin patches.  Oh, and I ate an apple right off the tree for the first time!)

26.  Voted in the presidential election

And now…27 Things I Want to Do This Coming Year

1.  Go to Alaska (this one’s easy – I’m going next week)

2.  Get my passport renewed (this has been on the to do list for almost 2 years – I’m ridiculous)

3.  Go to a foreign country

4.  Read the books from my current “to read” pile before buying any more

5.  Oops, except for I want to read Twilight so that I can see the movie in the theater if I end up liking it

6.  Downsize the amount of stuff I own

7.  Take more ballet classes

8.  Actually go to the gym

9.  Celebrate at Naomi’s wedding

10.  Watch my cheer squad compete for the first time (and hopefully a second time if we qualify for state)

11.  Take more pictures

12.  Blog on a regular basis

13.  Stop eating out for lunch so much

14.  Get my 3rd full body scan to check for any more skin cancer

15.  Figure out a next “step” in my life

16.  Drink more water and less soda

17.  Go to my 10 year high school reunion (which I might have to plan :( )

18.  Volunteer at a food bank

19.  Do a better job keeping my room/house/car from looking like a bomb went off

20.  Take time to actually enjoy coaching during basketball season

21.  Continue to send birthday cards to friends and try to keep in better touch with them overall

22.  Write more thank you cards

23.  Try out yoga

24.  Clean out my email inbox (how boring am I on this one?!?!)

25.  Spend more time with my Grannie

26.  Not allow my social life to disappear because coaching and work take up too much time

27.  Work on focusing on the positive and trying not to allow anxiety to get the best of me