35 Before 35

A number of other bloggers have composed lists of Things to Do Before One Turns 35. As my 35th will come in September of the dawning year, now's as good a time as any to make MY list and then endeavor to complete it in the next nine months. Lofty ambitions, to be sure.

Again, these aren't resolutions--we all know how I feel about those. These are GOALS for my 35th year of life. Hold me to 'em, folks!

My list:

1.  Organize the master closet--oh, the shame!

2.  Get back into my size 4 pants I bought a month before I got pregnant this last time--the tiniest size I've ever worn, and it only lasted a few weeks!

3.  Make some clothes for MYSELF.

4.  Display Pretty Jane in a solo booth at the Inman Park Festival.

5.  Set up my bookkeeping the way it OUGHT to be lest the I R S come knocking and find shoeboxes of receipts.

6.  Publish an eBook.

7.  Complete 500 sales in my Etsy shop.

8.  Take a great vacation with my husband--again.

9.  Repair the leak under our kitchen sink that has been making me insane for five months.

10.  Send my sister the most amazing gift package she has ever received, to make up for the fact that I am a crappy, crappy gift-giver and she is the greatest.

11.  Teach my 100th student in my sewing classes at Beehive.

12.  Have my little company featured prominently on some really famous blog.

13.  Lose the extra 14 pounds I'm still carrying around since our baby was born.

14.  See our eldest perform in her first school play.

15.  Buy a minivan.  Say what you will, I've embraced the minivan.

16.  Design one really great tween dress.

17.  Cut back on sugar--I think it makes me ornery when I have too much!

18.  Get back to running--I'm so out of practice that thinking about running makes me short of breath.

19.  Give myself permission to relax each night with a novel for a few minutes.  It's my way of sharpening the saw, but it feels so indulgent that it must be wrong, right?

20.  Have a weekly date with our oldest so she won't enter her angst-ridden teen years thinking her mother has forgotten her.

21.  Print out the best of our digital photos and create an album to display in our living room.

22.  Begin some sort of really cool summer tradition for our family--everyone has holiday traditions, but we can do better.  Suggestions graciously accepted.

23.  Incorporate my business, and admit to myself that I am an Entrepeneur--well, Momtrepeneur.

24.  Get business letterhead. And matching envelopes.  Oooh, yum!

25.  Always shop Etsy first when gift-giving opportunities present themselves.

26.  Take my vitamin EVERY DAY, and not just when I remember to.

27.  Have an ENORMOUS yard sale and finally, finally win the war against the Garage That Ate Atlanta.

28.  Drink more water.

29.  Have the ring my parents bought me as a 30th birthday gift reset so that I'll actually wear it.

30.  Call my grandmothers, while I still have them.

31.  Visit my sister before she has her second baby.

32.  Keep the flowers in the terra cotta pots on our front steps alive, so that for one summer, just one, my husband won't "tsk" me all season long.

33.  Publish a series of sewing patterns, available for download.

34.  Convince my husband that another baby is a GOOD idea.  And SOON.

35.  Chill out, for heaven's sake, and realize that my life is so far beyond my expectations that even if I accomplish NONE of these things I am blessed beyond all measure.

OK, only nine months to go!  Keep me honest, everyone.