Monthly Update

Today is July 23, 2013, exactly one month since my 29th birthday and the beginning of my 30x30 Challenge.  (It's also my sister's and brother-in-law's two year wedding anniversary.  Congrats, Kirsten and Jordan!)  So it seemed like an update on my list items would make for an appropriate post.  Here's a look at how I've done so far:

1. Attend Sunday night church at least one night a month - I promise, I'll get started with this on Sunday!
2. Clean out and organize the office closet - I haven't even thought about/touched this yet.
3. Complete the coursework for my doctoral program - I'm halfway through my summer class and have my last two courses in the fall.  So this should be accomplished in early December.
4. Complete the gallery wall in my house - Slowly but surely, I'm making progress on this one.
5. Create and implement a safety "plan" for the house - Yeah, I haven't even started thinking about this one either...
6. Defend the proposal for my dissertation - I'm hopeful that this will happen sometime in Spring 2014.
7. Deep clean and purge the house of extra junk - This should happen in mid-December, if not sooner.
8. Finally finish watching "Lost" - I'm actually making progress on this one!  Taylor and I just finished episode 10 (out of 18) in the final season of the series.  So maybe I can cross this off my list in another month or so?
9. Find and buy the perfect little black dress - I have not looked, found, or purchased this.
10. Get pedicures with my sisters - Maybe around Christmastime?  Or before Valentine's Day?
11. Give blood - Yeah, I need to get on that.
12. Go on a fancy dinner date with my husband - This should happen in October for his birthday, if not sooner.
13. Go to a midnight movie - The plan here is to attend "Catching Fire" (the second Hunger Games movie) at midnight on November 22.  I've already starting making plans for this!
14. Go to Six Flags with a group of friends - Maybe in August or September?  For Brian Lair's birthday?
15. Have a certain amount of money in my retirement fund - I am almost 82% of the way to my goal amount.  Just a few more months and I can cross this off the list!
16. Have a certain amount of money in our savings account - I am about 51% of the way to this goal amount.  So I need to work on this a little more.
17. Hold a newborn baby (Accomplished July 10, 2013!)
18. Keep a regular prayer journal - Still need to get started on this.
19. Make extra payments on my husband's students loans - Yup, I'm doing this every month.
20. Make extra payments on our mortgage - Also doing this every month!
21. Participate in/practice "Meatless Mondays" - So far, so good.  And feeling so much better for it.
22. Pass my qualifying examination - I'm hoping to receive official word (and good news!) about this by the end of this week.
23. Read the entire Bible in one year - I've stuck with my reading plan and have read 8% of the entire Bible so far.
24. Run five 5K races - Ran the first on July 19, 2013 and will hopefully run my second on August 10, 2013.  Then I'll start thinking about which ones to do in October and November...
25. Run a 10K race - Still need to find and plan for one of these.
26. Run a half marathon - Hoping to do this on September 15, 2013, so we'll see!  Wow, I get nervous just writing about that!! 
27. Start a blog (Accomplished June 23, 2013!)
28. Take a Barre 3 exercise class - Need to schedule this and do it soon.
29. Teach a Bible class at my church - I'm currently doing this with a friend this quarter.  I'll have to post some information about it before the class ends at the end of next month.
30. Volunteer at Breakfast on Boulevard - Maybe sometime this fall?

So I've completed about 6% of my list so far, while making good progress in some areas, and absolutely no progress in others.  That's not too bad for the first month, I guess.  But it is a good reminder of the things I should try to think about and do in the coming weeks!