24 Things Before 24 Years.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love Joy the Baker. Her recipes look delicious but honestly... most of the time she's a little too... fancy (for lack of a better word) for me. She makes things like this and this and this, and yeah, they look great, but are a bit fancy for my tastes. What I do love about Joy the Baker is just her: the things that she says, what she appears to live for, etc. She made this list of 30 things she wanted to do before turning 30 and I grinned all the way through it because I was so inspired. So basically... I'm going to be a copy cat. Today is July 5, my birthday is on August 15, so I have a little over a month to complete the list. I don't have a lot of time on my hands, so it's a simplified version of Joy's list (apparently I just decided she and I are on a first name basis) But anyway... here's my list.

24 Things Before 24 Years:

1. Mail 5 people hand-written letters.*

2. Surprise someone with a batch of fresh cupcakes.

3. Spend at least 10 minutes a day for a whole week trying to learn how to play the guitar.

4. Make a pretty cake like this one or this one.
5. Send someone flowers.*

6. Spend an evening in a coffee shop doing nothing but self-reflection/spending time with that one pretty special guy that I pray to (Jesus).

7. Compliment 2 strangers.*

8. Enjoy 3 beach sunsets.* (Stolen from Joy and I can actually do it because I'm headed to Florida on Saturday! Yeehaw!)

9. Learn how to use my gosh darn camera.

10. Take someone out to lunch.*

11. Write a song.

12. Play marco polo and sharks and minnows in a pool.

13. Clean out my closet.*

14. Lose 5 pounds. (That's going to be rough considering I'll be on vacation and will gain probably 7 while I'm away...)
15. Give someone in need $20.
16. Read 4 books.
17. Ride a bike at least 5 miles.* (Let's be honest, it probably won't be all at once.)
18. Blog at least 10 times. (Today counts. So what if I'm a cheater...)
19. Finally make some sugar cookies with royal icing.
20. Introduce myself to 5 people I don't already know at work.

21. Tell 15 people why I'm grateful that they are in my life.*

22. Make 3 funny/encouraging/ridiculous videos for people's Facebook walls.

23. Paint something for a friend.

24. Write down the beauty of the day every day until my birthday.*

Wish me luck! I'll try to keep you posted as I go...

(*Items with asterisks are the ideas that I stole from Joy.)