23 before 23 recap

If you've been anywhere near my blog in the past year, you probably noticed a very prominent topic: my 23 before 23 bucket list.

In fact, for several months now, it's been about the only thing I've posted about because completing the tasks was taking up a lot of my time and energy. So this will be my last "23 before 23" post, but I couldn't let list just die without a little recap of all the things I did and accomplished in the last year :)

1. Go to at least three different national parks or monuments {Dinosaur National Monument} {Zion National Park} {Mesa Verde National Park} . . . In all of these cases, I had to plan or at least participate in a weekend trip. I really am not much of a planner, so unless I have to plan something, I'll often end up being boring and watching TV or something. Since I had this goal, I had to make the effort, and the effort was always worth it. I had a lot of fun with Russ and other family on these weekend trips.
2. Do work in all the temples in Utah {Mormon Temples} . . . This task also took a lot of planning, and if I hadn't had this on my list, it could have taken me a very long time to visit all 14 Utah temples. Going to all of the temples in one year made it more special for me :)
3. Make a baby {an update} . . . Despite working on this one all year, we couldn't check it off the list. Guess that just means it will make the next list, too! :)
4. Scrapbook at least 23 pages {28 in one week!} . . . Scrapbooking, like blogging, is one way I like to document my life. I quickly found that 23 pages was too low a goal for this last year--I actually ended up scrapbooking 71 pages total. As my life changes, I may find that different counts work for different years, but since scrapbooking is something that I enjoy, I want to keep it as a priority.
5. Get Zumba certified (or at least find a Zumba class that I like enough to regularly attend) {Zumba!} . . . I went to a few different Zumba classes until I found one that I really enjoyed, only to realize that what helps me enjoy Zumba is doing it with my cousin-friend Talyn. 
6. Read 23 books (especially look into more intellectually enlarging books about things like business, leadership, politics, finance, and history) {group 1} {group 2} {group 3} . . . Although I didn't read 23 books, I did read 15. Without this goal, I'm sure that number would have been much lower.
7. Grow my blog to at least 75 followers . . . Unfortunately, I don't remember how many followers I had when I made that goal. My guess is that I had somewhere in the low twenties. Again, even though I didn't complete this goal, my following did increase because I made this goal and worked on it. I reached out to other bloggers and to family and friends, and I ended my year with about 45 followers.
8. Meet a blog friend in person {blog besties} . . . One of my favorite tasks, no doubt. Laynah and I talked about meeting on several occasions, but for a while, it just didn't happen. I think it's easy to talk about things or think about them, but actually doing them takes time/energy/money/etc. Without the list, it may have taken a lot longer to actually plan a trip to meet Laynah, but the list helped me to act.
9. Start a successful crafting group--a group that consistently has at least four people attending {my disastrous attempts} . . . Part of happiness is doing things you love. Since crafting and social interaction are two things I love, I wanted to incorporate those into my life on a regular basis. 
10. Take a contemporary dance class  {Dance Company Reunion} . . . Another thing I love and miss is dancing. Before setting up this reunion workshop, I hadn't danced in more than 4 years! It took putting it on this list to get me back on the dance floor, and it was so great!
11. Start a Happiness Project
12. Graduate  {I'm a graduate!} . . . So it's likely that even without this on the list, I would have graduated. But I still liked checking it off the list as one of my accomplishments for the year :)
13. Go camping {cabin camping} {camping in Zion} . . . Russ and I went camping right before we got married in June 2012. In the three years since that time, we've talked about going camping many times, but we never actually had been back camping until we went in Zion. Again, the list helped me do things that I already wanted to do, but was too lazy to plan otherwise.
14. Learn a new song on the piano other than a hymn
15. Do a sprint or novice triathlon. Or a 5k at the very least. {unofficial 5k} {Tulip Festival 5k} . . . My 5k definitely felt like a big accomplishment. Running is not my favorite thing and it took a lot of preparation and persistence to train for this race. The process and its culmination made me feel really great about myself and the things I can do if I put in the effort.
16. Have a tea party--complete with hats and/or gloves! {Afternoon Tea} . . . I loved this excuse to dress up, eat pretty food, and get together with girlfriends that I don't see all the time.
17. Have a weekend getaway with Russ {Logan} . . . There's something about weekend getaways that is just so romantic. My relationship with Russ is a huge priority to me, and weekend getaways always strengthen our relationship.
18. Sew at least two projects not required for a class {Tea Party Dress} {Pillow Covers} . . . Sewing is a talent I have, but one which doesn't get used unless I make a special effort. I wanted to make sure I used that talent this last year.
19. Read The Book of Mormon . . . Getting to the point where I read my scriptures every single day is still on my list of unattained goals. Since that is a goal that becomes impossible once you miss just one day, I made my goal about how much I read rather than how often. It's not ideal like reading every day, but it did help me kick my butt into gear and read more regularly, and I did finish in time, even if I was reading 5-10 pages/day near the end :)
20. Finally get our wedding album put together/ordered {Wedding Album} . . . Another task that finally got done because I put it on this list.
21. See a Broadway musical (a traveling Broadway production counts) {Wicked} . . . Another fun thing I can say I did in the last year. I didn't spend the whole summer on a couch watching TV . . . on at least one night, I did something fun: I got up and went to a fabulous production! ;)
22. Find a cause I want to invest in (time, money, service, etc.)
23. Get rid of any jobs that aren't in my field and get a job that is. It should be enjoyable, too {Jobs} . . . This task gave me the push I needed to start saying "no" to jobs that I didn't actually want and to instead pursue ones I did want.

As for the tasks I didn't accomplish, perhaps they'll make it onto my next bucket list! 

There were a lot of things I loved about having this bucket list, and a few things that I didn't. But that's a whole other blog post, so come back later this week to read about what I'll do differently this next year! :)