30

i am now 30!

 which means i allow my 6-year-old niece to do my hair any way she pleases...

...and wear shark masks in public.

to celebrate, i decided to try and do 30 things i'd never done before between the beginning of October and my birthday on december 7th. i must admit i fell short by 3, but i have every intention of completing those others in a timely manner (i.e. sometime this new year). i realize now i should've photographed the evidence of me dabbling in newness and stepping more than a toe outside my comfort zone. but alas!

here's what i learned and did and enjoyed:

1. a little mountain biking for real
2. ran about 4 miles (a new longer distance for me) in a tremendous downpour as only the new hampshire woods can deliver (a new, soggier climate for me to run in)
3. darned a sock
4. drove from centerville to provo via scenic canyon roads instead of the interstate
5. ate a gourmet lunch in little red riding hood's grandmother's cottage (true)
6. ate a chrysanthemum and rose hip berries
7. went sailing on the charles river in boston
8. handled an actual 10th century book with script written in actual carolingian miniscule!! (i've done a lot of research on this period of book but have never seen let alone handled one. thanks boston public!)
9. gathered eggs from live hens!
10. ate clam chowder in boston for the first time (at legal sea foods-also a first)
11. chatted with homeless guys in boston
12. went bouldering (a tiny bit)
13. something shocking having to do with traffic lights
14. went through several haunted houses at halloween
15. made and thoroughly enjoyed eating a green tomato pie!
16. raked leaves in the middle of the night by the light of a full moon
17. went ice skating with a boy and found that together we skated as well as any olympic skater. we are now preparing for the 2014 winter olympics.
18. learned how to make grape juice
19. learned how to make a LARGE post binding

like so

20. completed 30+ repairs on books in 30 days (here's about 2/3)

21. ate at Los Hermanos in Provo (it was awful, but it's a provo institution so i had to try it. the people who own it aren't even mexican. yes, awful and overpriced)
22. hemmed a skirt!
23. viewed the international creche exhibit in midway
24. ate Ethiopian food (delish!!!)
25. bought and decorated a real live christmas tree for my own house (best idea ever).
26. finished two new bookmobiles (pictures forthcoming)
27. read the book of mormon in 55 days (i've never read it fast. i loved it!)
28. pending: give away a book of mormon
29. pending: start learning to drvie stick
30. pending: visit antelope island

a little anti-climactic, i know. but it was a great 60 days in which i had to be a little more adventurous. a great way to start a new decade.