1. Read/Finish a New Book Every Month

My birthday is in a few short hours and I was anxious to remove something else from this dang list.  I read quite a few books.  I don't have pictures of them.  So of them are e-books so listen just take my word for it.  Here's the list:


The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson
  -The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
  -The Girl who Played with Fire
  -The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Really good series but it took me a while to get through the first book.  If you decided to give them a read just do yourself a favor and skip the first 150 pages. You won't miss anything and you'll thank me later. The movie was pretty good, too if you just want to skip the book altogether.  Just the first one.  The last 2 are great no skipping necessary.



The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
  -The Hunger Games
  -Catching Fire
  -MockingJay

Another great series and really quick to read.  Probably because it's a YA series.  Don't judge me.  I didn't expect to enjoy the books as much as I did.  So I was a little surprised when I got so attached to these characters.  The movie was really good, too and I can't wait to see the next 2 movies.  You should read all the books.  I can't recommend these enough.


Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

I hate ya'll for making this a thing.  No further comment.


I think that's it.  I overshot the goal a little.  Strangely after reading 50 Shades I haven't been able to read anything else.  I'm still in disbelief.  People are really enjoying that book?  Like for real?  If you say so...

Either way mark this one off the list folks!

P.S.  This was my 100th post!  Woot!

30 by 30...revisited

My birthday is next month.  I just looked at the list over there and I haven't even tackled half.  A lot are contingent on money and employment.  Neither of which I have.  So I think I'm going to tackle it as a 30 in 30 instead of by 30.  Meaning I'm going to try to finish these things in my first year of my 30's.  A 30 by 31 if  you will.  Make sense?

That's the deal.  30 by 31.  Maybe I'll throw in a bonus task so I'll have 31 by 31.  Probably not but it sounded good.

21. Get out of VA for a Weekend

I went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore!  I hadn't been since middle school so it was a nice change of scenery for a day.  I know that's not an entire weekend but it's April and the big 3-0 is in June.  We are going to have to start cutting some corners if all these things are going to get done.  Also, anytime you go anywhere more than 30 minutes away with 4 kids in one car you'll find that it seems like you've been gone twice as long than you were actually gone.   The kids enjoyed it the adults were all exhausted so a good time was had by all.  Here's my favorite picture from the day:

16. Find a Job That I Love

So I'm calling it.  I'm 3 days into my new job and it's pretty awesome.  Mostly because I work from home.  I'm working for a credit card company as a customer service agent.  I know I haven't taken a single phone call yet and I know I burned out in customer service before but this one just feels different.  Maybe because I'm training and will be working from the comfort of my home in my ratty old sweatpants.  Maybe it's because it's knowing that the customer load is generally pretty happy customers and not people yelling because they screwed their account up.  Who knows but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I'm gonna love doing this.

Isn't having a good attitude half the battle.

26. Go To A Movie or Restaurant (or Both) Alone

Yeah you didn't think I was actually going to do this 30 by 30 thing did you?  Ha!  In your face.

Felt appropriate.  Go Giants!

I tackled my first 30 by 30 item by deciding on a whim to go see Chronicle.  I actually spent the better part of my day doing something that people on Twitter and Facebook have been telling me to do for a while.  It's called "going out"  I don't know I'm not familiar.  It wasn't bad.  I should do it more often.  Anywho the movie was good and I couldn't think of a great way to prove that I had actually you know...done this.  I  couldn't take a picture in the theater.  That would've been creepy and lame so you are going to have to take my word and a picture of this lone ticket stub as proof.  

$10.50!!!! Sheesh.