30 before 30: 18 month report

I just know that the world has been on the edge of its collective seat waiting for my next (and second to last!) report on the progress on my 30 before 30 list. I've spent the last two weeks worried I wouldn't have anything to show, but thankfully my January-self was hyped up on New Year's resolutions and my June-self has been trying to make the most of some abundant alone time (see #23) to check a few things off as well. Those weekly goals though...

Blog
4. Post 1X/week (Jan-June 2015=12/26)

Cooking
8. Try 5 new/unusual foods (4/5 - chipotle chiles in adobo sauce 10/2014, dragon fruit 12/2014, seitan from Whole Foods hot bar 3/2015, chia seeds 6/2015. Not a fan of seitan, and I haven't experimented with chia seeds enough to know whether or not I will be buying more when the bag runs out. They do seem to get stuck in your teeth though, which is kind of annoying.)

9. New recipe 1X/week - (Jan-June 2015=28/26; Keizo gets a big chunk of the credit for this one, with the 9 new recipes he made for us in April alone. I also bought a spiralizer; does it count as a new recipe if the ingredients are in completely new shapes?)

Fitness
11. Run a 10K (St. Patrick's Day 10K; 3/2/2015. There was a lovely winter mix falling from the sky and there were ice pellets stuck to the front of my bib when I finished around the 57 minute mark, but I did it! I would actually consider doing another one too, maybe in early fall?)

13. Try new activity (6 AM Bootcamp; 6/2015. Astoundingly for someone who can barely get out of bed at 7 AM, I have only skipped one class this month, and I am planning to stick with it for a few more months, or at least while it's still light out at 6 AM.)

14. Yoga 1X/week - (Jan-June 2015=9/26; Who's feeling stiff and inflexible these days? This girl.)

Personal Growth
19. Read 12 non-fiction books - (7/12 - Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Bikenomics, Blink, At Home, The Rolodex Network Builder, Walkable City. I am also currently in the middle of Hidden Power about the First Ladies of the 20th Century)


Relationships
22. Get married - (Engaged 8/29/2014; Fiance visa paperwork filed 11/2014; Notice of Action received 6/3/2015. Things are moving ever so slowly in the right direction. After 7 months in the Texas holding center, our paperwork moved to the New Hampshire processing center. The very official letter informing me of the move said I should not contact the processing center about the status of the case for 30 days. Those 30 days end on Friday, and I have my fingers crossed that I get another letter saying the application is en route to Tokyo before the week is up!)

23. Live in same time zone - (We tried it out Feb-May 2015 and I think my face below says it all. Going back to being 8,000 miles apart and relying on facetime has been challenging for both of us.) 

24. Write letter 1X/week - (Jan-June 2015=9/26; I know I am not writing a letter every week, but I am even worse at keeping track of them.)

Travel
27. New York City - (Weekend trip booked for mid-July 2015. It will also be my first trip on Amtrak!)

29. Renew passport - (edited 6/2015. It's hard to believe that the passport I renewed in preparation of studying abroad in Costa Rica my junior year of college is only a few days away from the end of its decade of validity. That one still had plenty of pages left, but I am already excited thinking about getting the first stamp in the new one!)

Currently - June '15

playing - with kettlebells for the first time today during a 6 AM bootcamp fitness class. My goal is to go twice a week for the month of June.

going - on a bike ride once a week.There are some great trails around here once you figure out how to get them!

wearing - mostly skirts and dresses to work; sandals when I can get away with it.

sipping - flavored seltzer in lieu of beer/cocktails at home. It's bathing suit season and I am not feeling it.

reading - a new stack of books from the library. Two mysteries, a graphic novel of unusual DC history, a vegetable cookbook and a non-fiction tome about presidential marriages.

See what others are up to "currently" at Anne in Residence and Gold & Bloom.