Today is my birthday! I’m actually writing this the night before, because tomorrow I’ll be hanging out with Ian at a vineyard and an Italian restaurant and who knows what other shenanigans. I was looking around for a good my-birthday-this-many-years-ago photo to accompany this post and realized that photos of me on my actual birthday are in short supply. So I promise to take some/have Ian take some whilst out and about today 🙂

Anyway, I am officially 28 by the time this posts, and it’s time to revist ye old 28 Before 28 from last year and see how I did. Bold equals met, italics equals not.

1. Actually plant things in the flower bed areas in the front of the house. I planted jasmine vines on the stakes, and bulbs for tulips, daffodils and irises in the ground. The jasmine is still doing well. Otherwise, only a handful of the daffodils and irises bloomed, and none of the tulips. Sigh. Green thumb, I do not have you.
2. Clean out my office closet. It’s the repository for all things I’ve saved because of the minuscule chance I might use them someday but probably won’t. This will be a major undertaking. Done! Finally tackled this, it’s much better now. March 2012.
3. Travel out of country. Visited Victoria, B.C., Canada in May 2012 as part of our Alaskan cruise.
4. Travel somewhere new within the US. Visited Alaska in May 2012.
5. Bake a pie completely from scratch, crust and all. Done! I’ve actually done two of these! A strawberry rhubarb pie and a brown sugar cinnamon apple pie.
6. Screenprint something on all of the blank apparel I currently have on the shelves (45 shirts, 4 tote bags). Uh, no. I still have lots of blank stuff. Partly due to time, partly due to indecision and partly because I like to have the perfect combo of colors & design, and I’m not sure I have the right designs for some shirts yet.
7. Make double-digits in the DA shop sales on Etsy. Achieved! Aug. 2012.
8. Host a giveaway on my blog. I hosted my first giveaway in January 2012.
9. Start offering sponsor ad spaces on my blog. I started offering sponsor spaces beginning January 1, 2012. (And there is still time to snag your space for November!)
10. Get a new office chair that is friendlier to my back. Check! New chair = way better than old chair. Nov. 2011.
11. Stay consistent with Pilates (at least once a week). This is half and half. I was very consistent for awhile, and then I lapsed, and now I’ve been consistent with my new workout routine for going on 2 months, which is partly-but-not-strictly Pilates, so… Somewhat?
12. Obtain a sewing machine and start teaching myself to use it. Machine obtained Jan. 2012. Still learning to use it, but I’ve made some pillows and a maxi dress so far.
13. Re-awaken my piano playing. I’m thinking if I play once a week, I’ll consider this met. I played once or twice, but otherwise neglected this. Bad Amanda.
14. Obtain a nicer digital camera, preferably of the Nikon SLR variety. Purchased Jan. 2012. Still love it. 🙂
15. Try one new-to-me restaurant a month. We tried so many new restaurants in this past year, it was awesome! I’m not sure it was strictly at least one new one per month, but I know some months we did plenty more than one new place, so it all evens out and I’m calling this one easily met.
16. Go on a getaway/vacation with just Ian, no other family/friends. This did not happen, sadly. Though we are having a little staycation this week.
17. Go thrifting in Austin. I actually haven’t ever done this. Now I have! Several times, even.
18. Go to a pawn shop, just to see what it’s like. I also haven’t ever done this. Still haven’t been.
19. Pay off my car loan early. I’m not quite done, but I did make some extra payments this year, so I only have 2 or 3 months left at this point. Yay!
20. Find & start using an acceptable bookswap site as a replacement for the beloved Goodreads Bookswap that will be no more soon. I’ve started using PaperBackSwap.com. It’s not quite as awesome as Goodreads, but will do. April 2012.
21. Go to a live concert. I saw The Civil Wars in downtown Austin. Jan. 2012.
22. Go to a live comedy or theatre event. I did several of both! Saw comedy on the cruise and at Cap City Comedy Club, and have seen two plays this year, too.
23. Pay down my credit card debt to less than 50% of my credit limit. Ha, no. Not even close. Getting a plan in place to do better this year.
24. Go out stargazing with a star chart. Did not get around to this sadly.
25. Write one poem a day for a month. Yes! I did this in September 2012. You can see the poems here.
26. Finish the screenplay that has been sitting at 60% done for far too long. Nope. Not even close. I don’t think I even touched it once. Fail.
27. Acquire 5 new long-term/repeat freelance clients. Sadly, with most small businesses, once they get their initial needs met (logo, business cards, etc. maybe a website) they don’t generally need anything else for awhile. I have 1 or 2 new repeat clients, but did not hit the benchmark 5.
28. This one is secret. (My list, my rules). But if it happens there will undoubtably be a blog post about it, so not secret forever. This did not happen, so still a secret.

New List

And now for the whole new 29 Before 29 list! Here’s the things I want to accomplish before turning 29 a year from now.

1. Take a vacation with just Ian, no other friends or family.
2. Reach 150 items in my shop inventory.
3. Go through my old old old poetry archives and re-work at least 30 poems to no-longer-embarassing status.
4. Bake/cook something requiring ramekins.
5. Improve sewing skills by creating 5 new clothing items.
6. Participate in NaNoWriMo and “win.”
7. Learn more about jewelry construction.
8. Get to see my little sister.
9. Paint the walls in at least one room a color other than the current boring off-white everywhere.
10. Pay down my credit cards to below 40%.
11. Stick to a strict monthly budget for unessential shopping.
12. Create at least 10 typographic digital prints for the shop.
13. Stay consistent with my workout regimen.
14. See/attend one of each of the following: play, concert, comedian, and festival.
15. Learn how to do food canning.
16. Learn how to apply make-up correctly, even though I don’t plan on wearing it every day/full-face. It’d be nice to now *how* for special occasions.
17. Go to the beach with Sienna.
18. Actually read the manual for my camera.
19. Create one new design for screenprinting each month (so, 12 total).
20. Create a few pre-made blog designs for general sale.
21. Advertise on one new blog a month.
22. Open a retirement account.
23. Bake & decorate a tiered cake.
24. Discover/invent a new alcoholic drink that is based on cream soda as a mixer.
25. Take a cooking class with Ian.
26. Save up and get the months-long treatment plan my chiropractor recommended.
27. Find people/friends who can model the other sizes of shirts in my shop that don’t fit me so I can get product photos of everything on actual people.
28. Try to stock the pantry and freezer with basic mixes and sauces for easy use.
29. Blank for now. To be filled in soon.

Do you do a yearly list of goals (New Years or birthday-based or otherwise?)? What kinds of things do you put on it?