Drew and I are in the car right now on our way back to New Orleans after a weekend at home. (it is so nice that with these modern conveniences today, I can be on the internet while we are driving down the interstate) Anyway, I needed to be reading my book for my contemporary American literature class, but instead I opted to read the January issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine that I subscribe to and haven’t had the time to read yet, even though I’ve already gotten the February issue. Since it was the January issue, it was all about the new year and starting it with a blank slate and about organization, healthy living tips, and things that would be good to do in the new year.

I had already been thinking about a lot of these things lately. I really love the way a new year feels. To me, it always feels so fresh and exciting. It is always nice to think of all the things that are going to happen this year. I am really excited about 2011. I’m excited about planning a wedding this year, about being halfway done with college this year, about getting my own apartment in New Orleans sometime this year and finally moving off campus, possibly staying in New Orleans and working this summer, and all sorts of other things that this year holds. I’m also turning 20 this year!

Speaking of turning twenty, I got this idea last week of something that I wanted to accomplish in the last few months before I turn twenty this May. It was inspired by a project on one of the blogs that I read frequently, Making it Lovely. For the girl on the blog, it was a list of 30 things that she wanted to before she turned 30. Mine is similar, although it is a list of 20 things that I want to do before I turn 20.

To start thinking about 20 things that I wanted to do before I turned twenty, I first started thinking about what had I already accomplished in the twenty years that I’ve been alive. I had a great childhood, graduated from high school with honors, got into Tulane University, got a full-ride scholarship for college, moved to Louisiana, survived the first two years at Tulane, survived the first two years away from home, spent a month and a half outside of the United States by myself (in France, Germany & Belgium), traveled many places in the United States (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin), visited the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico and the English Channel, fell in love, went on a vacation with just Drew, got ENGAGED, started planning my wedding, got a pretty good idea of what I want to do for my career, and about a million other things. Overall, I’m pretty happy with what all I’ve accomplished so far in life.

I only have three and a half months before I turn 20, and this semester won’t end until about the week before then, so I know that I can’t plan to try to do anything outrageous before then. So my list is just a small list of little to-dos that it is my goal to accomplish before May 13, 2011. So here it goes:

(and these are in no particular order either)

1. get engagement photos taken
2. officially set the date for the wedding
3. try cooking new things with new ingredients (I think we might pick at least 1 new recipe a week)
4. write a substantial poem
5. launch Drew & I’s combined design business (We’ve been working on it and I’m excited about it!)
6. finish the stuff I need to do for my mom’s bow business
7. officially decide on a location for the wedding & reception
8. go bridal shopping and try on my first wedding dress!
9. sew something on my new sewing machine I got for Christmas (I have several projects I want to do)
10. Have a Corks N Canvas date night with Drew (more about that here)
11. write another creative non-fiction short story
12. get a job for this summer
13. start a bible study that Drew & I do together
14. Make a budget/spending plan for Drew & I
15. Continue my healthier self diet & start going on more walks
16. work on decorating Drew’s apartment so it feels more “homey”
17. finish my 50 hours of community service for my scholarship that I need this semester
18. make my creative portfolio of all my art and design work
19. get my first apartment
20. work on the design for my wedding invitations and other various wedding planning

I’ll probably blog about most of them as I get them done, so you should be hearing about them again soon. :)