30 under 30 update

It's been a few months since I last wrote about my 30 under 30 goals and I wanted to update you on this since there has been some progress. Nothing major, but still exciting.

1. Never stop playing soccer.
2. Get my PhD.
3. Have a baby, or at least try to have a baby.
4. Go to Hawaii.
5. Pay off credit card debt.
6. Go to France.
7. Find at least two life long friends in California.
8. Maintain my vegetable garden for at least one year.
9. Buy new dining room chairs.
10. Surprise myself with my grades.
11. Keep my current best friends.
12. Restore the ugly orange chair.
13. Do something I always say I'll never do ever.
14. Get an article published that is not my dissertation.
15. Drive the California coast.
16. Host a great weekend or Holiday here with my family.
17. Be a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding.
18. Organize my computer files (music, photos, and school stuff).
19. Take a vacation (even just an overnight trip) with just the girls.
20. Learn more about wine.
21. Figure out how to tell a chicken/roast beef/fish/etc. is done cooking just by looking at it.
22. See Radiohead live.
23. Learn how to fancy dance (ie. waltz, salsa, etc.) with my husband.
24. Start saving for a house.
25. Make an Italian meal for my husband's Italian family.
26. Work at least one job that is completely frivolous and fun (ie. not a resume booster).
27. Get into at least 5 new bands every year. 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
28. Read for pleasure more.
29. Finish my old diary.
30. Start a massive project, and actually finish it.

And here's the progress:

1. Soccer - Still going strong!
4. Go to Hawaii. - So we had done some research into this and had seriously considered going in October for Nick's birthday. But then I looked on the American Psych. Association's website and saw that in 2013 their annual convention will be in Hawaii. We decided to wait on going until then because we will be able to get discounted rates on a hotel and hopefully I'll present something and can get some $$$ from the school to put towards that as well. So semi-done?
7. Make lifelong friends in Cali - I have four really good friends here right now. I'd say they're all good candidates for that.
14. Get an article published that is not my dissertation. - Will be putting forth two applications to our school's IRB for two separate studies that have the potential for at least 3 articles. Also about to submit a poster to a conference. Kinda exciting stuff.
15. Drive the California coast. - We will be doing this on Friday when we head to LA for a quick weekend trip to check out the town and visit some friends. Yay!
26. Have a frivolous job - I think that Anthropologie more than qualifies for this. Done!

I AM DONE!!!

Today is not a real entry, but more of an exclamation of excitement and accomplishment. As of today, this very moment, I have officially completed my first year of my PhD program. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am about this and pride doesn't suffice either. I tried taking a picture on my MacBook to show you, but I'm too happy because they all looked like a scary clown.

At any rate, in a few hours I'll be on a plane to Vegas to party for 48 hours (or really sit by a pool, go to Max Brenner, then sit by a pool some more), before I have to be back to start the summer quarter on Monday.

Adios!

A Big Update on 30 under 30

1. Never stop playing soccer.
2. Get my PhD.
3. Have a baby, or at least try to have a baby.
4. Go to Hawaii.
5. Pay off credit card debt.
6. Go to France.
7. Find at least two life long friends in California.
8. Maintain my vegetable garden for at least one year.
9. Buy new dining room chairs.
10. Surprise myself with my grades.
11. Keep my current best friends.
12. Restore the ugly orange chair.
13. Do something I always say I'll never do ever.
14. Get an article published that is not my dissertation.
15. Drive the California coast.
16. Host a great weekend or Holiday here with my family.
17. Be a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding.
18. Organize my computer files (music, photos, and school stuff).
19. Take a vacation (even just an overnight trip) with just the girls.
20. Learn more about wine.
21. Figure out how to tell a chicken/roast beef/fish/etc. is done cooking just by looking at it.
22. See Radiohead live.
23. Learn how to fancy dance (ie. waltz, salsa, etc.) with my husband.
24. Start saving for a house.
25. Make an Italian meal for my husband's Italian family.
26. Work at least one job that is completely frivolous and fun (ie. not a resume booster).
27. Get into at least 5 new bands every year. 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
28. Read for pleasure more.
29. Finish my old diary.
30. Start a massive project, and actually finish it.

And here's the progress:

4. Go to Hawaii. - We've been super lazy about this and even though we said we were going to book the tickets soon we didn't. Although, we have changed our minds about when we're going to go. We may go in October or December of this year instead of January of next.
5. Pay off credit card debt. - DONE!!!!!!
14. Get an article published that is not my dissertation. - Emailed my co-author a ton of stuff that I had written and asked her to start writing her part. Very exciting to move to the next level.
15. Drive the California coast. - I think we want to do this when school lets out for the summer. We're thinking about taking a long weekend to drive down to LA to visit some friends there. This will be the perfect time to do that.

An Update on 30 under 30

I have not posted about this in 2 months! I guess last month was a little crazy busy for me. It was not a fun quarter at school to say the least.

To remind you about my list here it is:

1. Never stop playing soccer.
2. Get my PhD.
3. Have a baby, or at least try to have a baby.
4. Go to Hawaii.
5. Pay off credit card debt.
6. Go to France.
7. Find at least two life long friends in California.
8. Maintain my vegetable garden for at least one year.
9. Buy new dining room chairs.
10. Surprise myself with my grades.
11. Keep my current best friends.
12. Restore the ugly orange chair.
13. Do something I always say I'll never do ever.
14. Get an article published that is not my dissertation.
15. Drive the California coast.
16. Host a great weekend or Holiday here with my family.
17. Be a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding.
18. Organize my computer files (music, photos, and school stuff).
19. Take a vacation (even just an overnight trip) with just the girls.
20. Learn more about wine.
21. Figure out how to tell a chicken/roast beef/fish/etc. is done cooking just by looking at it.
22. See Radiohead live.
23. Learn how to fancy dance (ie. waltz, salsa, etc.) with my husband.
24. Start saving for a house.
25. Make an Italian meal for my husband's Italian family.
26. Work at least one job that is completely frivolous and fun (ie. not a resume booster).
27. Get into at least 5 new bands every year. 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
28. Read for pleasure more.
29. Finish my old diary.
30. Start a massive project, and actually finish it.

And here's the progress:

1. Never stop playing soccer. - Playing in two leagues right now, and possibly a third through school. May have bit off more than I can chew this quarter, but it's ok because I'll figure out which leagues I like and be pickier next season. At least there's options here!
2. Get my PhD. - Always a work in process. 2/3 of the way through year one!
4. Go to Hawaii. - New deals on ticket prices and after speaking with a friend who used to leave there we're narrowing down on booking a trip. Nick and I are going to talk about it this week!
5. Pay off credit card debt. - We might be paying off this large card next month, or at least 95% of it.
14. Get an article published that is not my dissertation. - Starting to write an article with Ellen Fisher-Turk about Phototherapy. And that's besides the research proposal I'm putting together that I hope to turn into a study and possibly 2 separate papers.
16. Host a great weekend or Holiday here with my family. - Due to my cousin getting pregnant I think my family's trip out here is pretty much canceled. I know my immediate family is still coming, but I don't think I want to count that.
24. Start saving for a house. - Does anyone know a free savings account that lets you have a low balance? I think I would like to start doing this but only put in like $10 a month for now. Problem is I don't want to get hit with fees if my balance is below a certain amount.
27. Get into at least 5 new bands every year. - Jenny and Johnny, Best Coast, Bad Books, Mark Ronson and the Business International, and Grizzly Bear. And it's only March! Still so much more music that has been recently downloaded on my computer. Consider this checked for this year!

Progress on 30 under 30: January 2011

To keep you in the loop, I've decided that at the end of every month, if I make progress on my 30 under 30 list I will post about it.

To remind you about my list here it is:

1. Never stop playing soccer.
2. Get my PhD.
3. Have a baby, or at least try to have a baby.
4. Go to Hawaii.
5. Pay off credit card debt.
6. Go to France.
7. Find at least two life long friends in California.
8. Maintain my vegetable garden for at least one year.
9. Buy new dining room chairs.
10. Surprise myself with my grades.
11. Keep my current best friends.
12. Restore the ugly orange chair.
13. Do something I always say I'll never do ever.
14. Get an article published that is not my dissertation.
15. Drive the California coast.
16. Host a great weekend or Holiday here with my family.
17. Be a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding.
18. Organize my computer files (music, photos, and school stuff).
19. Take a vacation (even just an overnight trip) with just the girls.
20. Learn more about wine.
21. Figure out how to tell a chicken/roast beef/fish/etc. is done cooking just by looking at it.
22. See Radiohead live.
23. Learn how to fancy dance (ie. waltz, salsa, etc.) with my husband.
24. Start saving for a house.
25. Make an Italian meal for my husband's Italian family.
26. Work at least one job that is completely frivolous and fun (ie. not a resume booster).
27. Get into at least 5 new bands every year.
28. Read for pleasure more.
29. Finish my old diary.
30. Start a massive project, and actually finish it.

And here's the progress:

1. Never stop playing soccer. - I started a new league the first weekend in January and have been playing every Sunday. Also, in conjunction with another student at school we're in the process of starting up a school team to play somewhere. Very excited about that since we just got permission from the president of the school to get funding.
2. Get my PhD. - Always a work in process.
4. Go to Hawaii. - Found out that we have enough points on Nick's credit card to get two free tickets and at least one free night's stay for our anniversary next year. Working on now paying for as many nights as possible with his points and trying to get a hotel gift card with mine. We'll wait until the summer to book that trip, but it's definitely looking like a reality!
5. Pay off credit card debt. - One card left! If our taxes are nice enough then we'll be done by April.
10. Surprise myself with my grades. - I got my grades back for the first quarter of school and got straight As! That's always been very difficult for me with regards to Psychology (should have been an English major if I wanted a 4.0). It was a tough semester (lots of work, big life transition, etc.), so I was not expecting grades that high. Consider this one checked off!
16. Host a great weekend or Holiday here with my family. - My aunt has decided to come visit us for Easter and my WHOLE family is supposedly coming out in August to celebrate my brother's 21st birthday in Napa.
18. Organize my computer files (music, photos, and school stuff). - My old computer just about died on me so I had to buy a new one. And therefore had to organize everything to move over to the new one. Unintentional, but still got the job done. Consider this one checked off!
20. Learn more about wine. - Went to Napa last weekend and probably tasted 45-50 wines. Definitely working on this one.
24. Start saving for a house. - Does anyone know a free savings account that lets you have a low balance? I think I would like to start doing this but only put in like $10 a month for now. Problem is I don't want to get hit with fees if my balance is below a certain amount.
27. Get into at least 5 new bands every year. - Definitely have downloaded more than enough music and bought more than enough CDs to accomplish this. Found 2 bands so far (Jenny and Johnny (their album will be reviewed next month) and Best Coast).

So two officially off the list and a whole host more in progress! That's kind of exciting.

New Year's Resolution? How about 30!

I used to make New Year's Resolutions. Things that I honestly intended to keep, and in truth often worked at (even if I didn't always fulfill them). I've been trying to think about what to make my resolution this year, but so many things I could come up with are either the same old stuff or things I should be doing anyway (like trying to do well in school or be healthy). Then a fellow blogger posted about her 30 under 30 and I was intrigued having never heard of the idea before.

Long story short, a 30 under 30 list is sort of like a bucket list for young people. It's things you want to get done before you turn 30. For some people that's the mark of true adulthood. That's when you have to get serious, have a baby, be finished with higher education, and have a steady foot in the door of your career.

I'm not sure I fully agree with any of those ideas, it really depends on you as a person and what you want of your life. But I guess for me since I'll be done with school, I see that as reaching my true adulthood. I'll finally be able to say I achieved one of my main goals in life (which is my 9 year+ dream of getting my PhD in clinical psychology and becoming a psychologist). Right now I always say things like "when I grow up" or "when I get to start my real life" and that's generally what I mean; being out of school and not having to put things off because school will be in the way somehow.

So I worked long and hard at coming up with my 30 under 30 list. A list of practical and fun things, achievements, and milestones. Definitely too much for just one year, but hopefully I'll get it all done in the 4 1/2 years I have left!

1. Never stop playing soccer.
2. Get my PhD.
3. Have a baby, or at least try to have a baby.
4. Go to Hawaii.
5. Pay off credit card debt.
6. Go to France.
7. Find at least two life long friends in California.
8. Maintain my vegetable garden for at least one year.
9. Buy new dining room chairs.
10. Surprise myself with my grades.
11. Keep my current best friends.
12. Restore the ugly orange chair.
13. Do something I always say I'll never do ever.
14. Get an article published that is not my dissertation.
15. Drive the California coast.
16. Host a great weekend or Holiday here with my family.
17. Be a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding.
18. Organize my computer files (music, photos, and school stuff).
19. Take a vacation (even just an overnight trip) with just the girls.
20. Learn more about wine.
21. Figure out how to tell a chicken/roast beef/fish/etc. is done cooking just by looking at it.
22. See Radiohead live.
23. Learn how to fancy dance (ie. waltz, salsa, etc.) with my husband.
24. Start saving for a house.
25. Make an Italian meal for my husband's Italian family.
26. Work at least one job that is completely frivolous and fun (ie. not a resume booster).
27. Get into at least 5 new bands every year.
28. Read for pleasure more.
29. Finish my old diary.
30. Start a massive project, and actually finish it.

Wow that seems like a lot...I wonder if I have until I turn 30, or until the end of the 30th year?