30 before 30

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A New List: 35 Before 35

So I updated my list to accommodate my need to extend my deadline. I did adjust some things, but many stayed the same.

So here is how I did this last month.

1. Crochet something else besides blankets or scarves at least once a year

  • I have a few blankets I need to whip out right now, but I do have something planned for little man.

2. Do a photography challenge

  • I have it all planned out, but I won’t be doing it until the fall.

3. Visit 5 cities I have never been to before (1/5)

  • I went to Johnson City, TN. It was for a conference, but I was able to see a university there and parts of the city while in town. And the hotel we stayed in was GORGEOUS!

4. Tour at least one of the distilleries in the KY/TN area

  • Maybe this summer?

5. Send at least 5 snail mail a month

  • This has been a fun one to finish each month.

6. Become a “professional” photographer

  • Sill a work in progress, but slowly some day I will get there. I am having fun along the way.

7. Complete at least 10 races (any distance) (0/10)

  • I have the half marathon planned in a couple weeks with my sister-in-law. I am still going back and forth on how it will go now…

8. Go camping with Tom

  • Nothing yet.

9. Pay for the car behind me in a drive through

  • Nothing.

10. See Tyrone Wells live as many times as possible

  • I get to see him in a little less than a month!

11. Tour Fort Defiance here in Clarksville

  • People, I just found out that Ft. Defiance sometimes does Civil War re-enactments! I need this in my life! I am scoping their calendar/website to see if one is coming up for our schedule!

12. Water ski with my dad

  • Another summer to plan.

13. Do a 5K with my mom

  • Nothing.

14. Take a swing dance class with Tom

  • I need to do some research.

15. Read at least one fun book a month and one professional development book every three months

  • This month I epically failed. I still am struggling through one book. I have a hard time giving a book up too, so hopefully I can get through it this month.

16. Take a pottery or stained glass class

  • None of the classes here on base fit into our schedule lately.

17. Do one new recipe each month

  • This is new.

18. See both a Clemson and UCM football game live

  • I don’t think this will happen in the fall seeing as Little Guy will just have been born.

19. Find a place to volunteer on a regular basis

  • I volunteered to be the POC (Point of Contact) for Tom’s platoon. This is a position within the Family Readiness Group. How I have understood it the position is just part of a phone tree within the unit and helps disseminate information. I have the training for it next week, so I am sure I will find out more there.

20. Go hiking

  • Someday…

21. Ride in a hot air balloon

  • Girl’s Day some time in the future.

22. Go to at least 20 “new to me” restaurants. (8/20)

  • I actually did quite a bit on this one. My dad was in town a couple weeks ago. We went to O’Charley’s where I chowed down on some steak. We also checked out a mexican restaurant that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of. It wasn’t my favorite one in town so there’s that. I also went to a place called Cootie Brown’s in Johnson City. I was having some serious morning sickness, so I did not enjoy this meal at all. The pizza’s however looked amazing and large! Tom and I also found a little cafe INSIDE one of the thrift stores we went to this past weekend. Totally a random and unplanned stop, but Miss Lucille’s Cafe was adorable. And their chocolate covered cheesecake was pretty amazing.

23. Stay at a bed and breakfast

  • Nothing.

24. Spend a day without electronics (phone, t.v. and computer)

  • Hoping to do this summer.

25. Have a Kentucky Derby themed 3oth birthday party.

  • I have started pinning things like crazy on my party board on Pinterest.

26. Explore Nashville while we live here

  • I have been driving to Nashville every couple weeks for the past 2 months, but seeing as it is for doctor’s appointments, it doesn’t count. We will need to work on this one.

27. Watch at least 10 movies that I have not seen before that won Best Picture at the Oscars and at least 20 documentaries (not necessarily Oscar winning) Movies (0/10); Documentaries (4/10)

  • Nothing.

28. Sew an item of clothing from scratch

  • Maybe I will make myself a maternity jersey knit skirt…

29. Do a personal devotional/bible study

  • I really want to do better at reading my bible. I have an app on my phone that sends me a verse daily. I have added this to my prayer journal reflection every day. I want to find a good devotional too. This is basically focusing on my personal spiritual walk a little more.

30. Be a mascot for an event

  • I have no idea where this came from, but I have wanted to be a mascot for so long! I just think it would be so much fun.
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This is the closest I have ever gotten. On my last day at Worlds of Fun, my partner and I “found” the character closet. Since they wouldn’t allow me to be one since I am too tall, I just tried on the head for size.

31. Go on our honeymoon (preferably somewhere tropical)

  • Due to life circumstances, Tom and I have never went on a honeymoon. We have tentatively planned to do it around our 5 year anniversary.

32. Host an annual NCAA Basketball Tournament Championship game party

  • My parents have thrown a party for the tournament championship game for as long as I can remember. It was something my brother and I looked forward to every year growing up. We got to stay up late, eat junk food and low country boil all night long, and be in charge of the betting pools. My brother still goes over every year, and I have made it back home for a couple since I have moved away. I don’t think we will end up in KC, so I would like to carry on this Glinn tradition wherever we go to. I love me some basketball, and Tom loves hosting, so it should mix well once we have a place!

33. Go on a mission trip

  • I went on these through middle school and high school, and it was very enlightening. I would love to get involved with a youth group and be a leader this time around. This one is very dependent on a lot of timing and money, but I want to make it happen.

34. Be on a recreation volleyball team

  • I was on a team while I was in Iowa, and I loved it. I really want this back in my life for so many reasons. Unfortunately, the Ft. Campbell/Clarksville area does not agree with me and has none to offer.

35. Become a mom

  • Little bean is doing so well. He was jumping and dancing around at this week’s appointment. Hard to believe I am already 4 months pregnant!
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30 Before 30 Update 4

Here we are another month has past.

1. Crochet something else besides blankets or scarves-so something that isn’t straight lines.

  • Done.

2. Do a 30 day photography challenge

  • I have one picked out. I am going to do it sometime this summer.

3. Visit 3 cities I have never been to before (1/3)

  • I am thinking maybe we can do a babymoon trip this summer.

4. Tour at least one of the distilleries in the area

  • We could still do this but I can’t partake obviously. The Jack Daniels one doesn’t do samples anyway, so we may look into doing that.

5. Send at least 5 snail mail a month

  • Complete.

6. Become a “professional” photographer

  • This last month, I had a lot happen. One of my pictures was featured on one of my favorite photography websites to be critiqued. I got a lot of great feedback on my work, so that was really exciting. This last weekend I was the photographer for a charity art auction. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot. One of my photos was also auctioned off, so that was a feel good photography moment.

7. Run at least 5 races (any distance)

  • I am not doing much of running or planning really.

8. Go camping with Tom

  • We are still planning this for our anniversary, however I will be 6 months pregnant. So we may have to make other plans.

9. Pay for the car behind me in a drive through

  • Ugh I need to put a reminder in my car because I never remember until I do these updates.

10. See Tyrone Wells live again

  • Going in May!

11. Tour Fort Defiance here in Clarksville

  • Not yet.

12. Water ski with my dad

  • The pregnancy complicates this a little bit.

13. Do a 5K with my mom

  • Not yet.

14. Take a swing dance class with Tom

  • I will have to wait until my doctor clears me for more activity.

15. Read at least one fun book a month and one professional development book every three months

  • I have slacked on the fun book. The last read was a struggle for me to get through. I did finish a professional development book.

16. Take a pottery or stained glass class

  • I need to look this up to make a plan.

17. Learn how to make sushi

  • Well, the pregnancy is putting a stalemate on this too.

18. See both a Clemson and UCM football game live

  • The baby is due during football season, so it may not be feasible to travel with the bundle of joy to a football game.

19. Volunteer with MCFOTS and Special Olympics on a regular basis

  • Because I am pregnant,  I can’t volunteer anymore. So I may need to find something else, or just lay low for the time being.

20. Explore Land Between the Lakes

  • This is our anniversary trip plan.

21. Ride in a hot air balloon

  • This pregnancy is making this list interesting.

22. Go to at least 10 “new to me” restaurants in Clarksville. (3/10)

  • My supervisor took me to Johnny’s which is a mainstay for Austin Peay. It is a local burger joint. All grease and all goodness. Surprise it was no Chinese. Tom and I didn’t go anywhere the last month thanks to morning sickness.

23. Stay at a bed and breakfast

  • Maybe babymoon?

24. Spend a day without electronics (phone, t.v. and computer)

  • Not planned yet.

25. Have a Kentucky Derby themed 30th birthday party.

  • Still a ways away.

26. Go to non-touristy parts of Nashville

  • We were going to do this when we were in Nashville on Valentine’s Day, but then we found out we were pregnant and then Tom’s car almost exploded. So we didn’t do as we planned. But we found out we were pregnant! And I ate McDonald’s in an AutoZone parking lot. I guess that was a non-touristy part of Nashville…

27. Watch at least 10 movies that I have not seen before that won Best Picture at the Oscars and at least 10 documentaries (not necessarily Oscar winning) Movies (0/10); Documentaries (4/10)

  • We watched a documentary on Auschwitz.

28. Sew an item of clothing from scratch

  • I know what I want to do, I just need to do it.

29. Find a church home here in Clarksville

  • Thanks to morning sickness, I haven’t been.

30. Become a mom

  • Ahhh YES!

So I have been thinking because of the pregnancy, there are a lot of things on this list that I am not going to be able to accomplish within this time frame. I am completely ok with that because being a mom is such a blessing. I do want to continue with this list, but I think I am going to change it to 35 before 35 to give myself more time and add 5 more things to do. I haven’t thought about what those things are, so I plan to have an updated list by April.

I am in charge of this so I can change it if I want!

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30 before 30 Update 3

It does not seem like it was 3 months ago that I made this list!

Let’s see how much I didn’t do this last month…

1. Crochet something else besides blankets or scarves-so something that isn’t straight lines.
  • Done.

2. Do a 30 day photography challenge

  • I did pick a challenge to do. I want to do it later in the spring or in the summer so the weather is better for me to include outside opportunities.

3. Visit 3 cities I have never been to before (1/3)

  • Nothing.

4. Tour at least one of the distilleries in the area

  • Nothing.

5. Send at least 5 snail mail a month

  • Done. I really enjoy mail, although I wish the stamps didn’t keep going up in price.

6. Become a “professional” photographer

  • I have some things coming up in March that will hopefully propel this business further. I was able to take pictures of our friend’s homecoming a couple weeks ago. (It was just as much for me as it was for them though.) We had planned on doing a Facebook ad in February, but decided to wait until the events in March happen so potential clients can see those in my portfolio as well. I have also been brushing up my flash photography for one event. I would rather do natural lighting and not press the flash, but the exposure of this event is just too good not to take the time to hone my flash skills.

7. Run at least 5 races (any distance)

  • I have signed up for one in April. I am hoping to do a couple 5ks during the summer. Anyone want to run with me?

8. Go camping with Tom

  • We are going to celebrate our anniversary this summer at Land Between the Lakes.

9. Pay for the car behind me in a drive through

  • I did not do this, however we did give a tip that was 100% plus more a couple weeks ago!

10. See Tyrone Wells live again

  • He will be in Nashville on May 7th, which is two days before my birthday! You better believe that I will be there, even if I am by myself!

11. Tour Fort Defiance here in Clarksville

  • Waiting for warmer weather.

12. Water ski with my dad

  • Also waiting for warmer weather.

13. Do a 5K with my mom

  • We need to get a plan for this.

14. Take a swing dance class with Tom

  • So with the upcoming deployment, I need to find a class this summer.

15. Read at least one fun book a month and one professional development book every three months

  • I am working my way through Monuments Men for fun and another book on the digital age for my professional read. Keeping on track!

16. Take a pottery or stained glass class

  • This needs to happen this summer as well.

17. Learn how to make sushi

  • I think I will wait to do this while Tom is on deployment since he doesn’t like sushi.

18. See both a Clemson and UCM football game live

  • I was hoping I would be able to do this with Tom, but with the deployment schedule not confirmed yet who knows. Although, I am sure I can convince my dad for a football road trip to distract me from my empty house. Plus I would really like to go to my undergrad for Homecoming so I can march with the band at halftime…some day.

19. Volunteer with MCFOTS and Special Olympics on a regular basis

  • I am fairly positive that Special Olympics isn’t going to happen so I am going to just change it to only MCFOTS, which is the animal shelter in town. I love it there. It definitely gives me my little dog fix. I do have to share about one dog horror story-now funny story. There is one dog who loves to play off leash, and we usually let dogs who have been there for awhile hang out without a leash in the yard to play. She however does not like to come back inside after play time. It was the first week of super cold temps here, so it was around 5 degrees. I chased that dog for about 45 minutes in my snow gear. I looked like a sobbing marshmallow (obviously I was crying) because I couldn’t get her to come inside for anything. I eventually had to lay on the ground with hotdogs as a trail to me to get her back on the leash. Needless to say, this dog has not been off leash since. She is otherwise the most darling dog. She cuddles so well once she is inside, and she never barks. She just really loves to run outside as much as she would like to dictate. I still want to bring her home with me. Who am I kidding; I want to bring them ALL home with me.

20. Explore Land Between the Lakes

  • Anniversary trip

21. Ride in a hot air balloon

  • My best friend and other half are going to do this with me.

22. Go to at least 10 “new to me” restaurants in Clarksville. (3/10)

  • We went to China Town. Yep we unintentionally started a tour of the Chinese restaurants with this one.

23. Stay at a bed and breakfast

  • Not yet.

24. Spend a day without electronics (phone, t.v. and computer)

  • I will do this one day in the summer when the weather is nice.

25. Go to the Kentucky Derby

  • I need to change this to Kentucky Derby themed 30th birthday party.

26. Go to non-touristy parts of Nashville

  • We are actually going to try to do this one this upcoming weekend.

27. Watch at least 10 movies that I have not seen before that won Best Picture at the Oscars and at least 10 documentaries (not necessarily Oscar winning) Movies (0/10); Documentaries (3/10)

  • I made my movie list, but I didn’t watch any. I also watched two documentaries:  Shelter Me and William and Katherine:  A Royal Love Story. The first is about different shelters across the nation and the good work they do. It wasn’t the best documentary; I am going to admit that I fell asleep in the last 30 minutes. HOWEVER William and Kate, I could watch for hours! This one was really fascinating. I learned a lot about the Royal family. If you are obsessed with the Royal family as I am, or just mildly interested, you should check this out!

28. Sew an item of clothing from scratch

  • I pinned a whole bunch of items on Pinterest to be inspired…

29. Find a church home here in Clarksville

  • We have, but I have been too sick to go the past couple weeks.Womp womp.

30. Become a mom

  • If you read my post on Sunday, you saw that we are definitely not pregnant. Dang hormones. We are going to a specialist this week to talk about some other tests and our options since all my blood work came back normal. Thank you to everyone for the sweet words of encouragement and all the thoughts and prayers in our direction. We know that it will happen when a baby is supposed to come into our lives. We just need to be patient and just continue to enjoy our time as a twosome (well foursome with the pups).
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I guess I did better than I thought! Who knows what the next month will look like!?!

If anyone would like to partake in one of the tasks with me, just hit me up! I would love to have friends along this endeavor!

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30 before 30 Update 2

Here we are for another month’s update on my 30 before 30 list. There is not much to update since we were doing holiday stuff for most of the month and were gone more than we were home for December.

1.      Crochet something else besides blankets or scarves-so something that isn’t straight lines.

·         This totally happened if you saw my post from earlier this week. Next stop hats!

2.      Do a 30 day photography challenge

·         I have plans for the timing. Now I just need to find a good challenge. Any suggestions?

3.      Visit 3 cities I have never been to before

·         Nothing new here.

4.      Tour at least one of the distilleries in the area

·         Nothing.

5.      Send at least 5 snail mail a month

·        We sent all of our Christmas cards, so I happily exceeded this!

6.      Become a “professional” photographer

·         We are coming up with an Facebook ad for the Clarksville area for a promo in February, so hopefully that pans out. I just need to be patient and be ok with the slow start.

7.      Run at least 5 races (any distance)

·        I have plans in the works.

8.      Go camping with Tom

·         We have plans for this for next summer for our anniversary.

9.      Pay for the car behind me in a drive through

·         Not yet. I will be honest, I don’t seem to remember this when I am in the drive through.

10. See Tyrone Wells live again

·         Nope.

11. Tour Fort Defiance here in Clarksville

·         This is more of a summer thing.

12. Water ski with my dad

·         Also summer.

13. Do a 5K with my mom

·         We did talk about it over Christmas, but no plans yet.

14. Take a swing dance class with Tom

·         I am still trying to convince Tom to do this with me. This may come near the end of the challenge.

15. Read at least one fun book a month and one professional development book every three months

·         I caught up from November. I read two books over break.  Blogging buddy, Ellen, and I are planning on doing a virtual professional development read. We picked a book yesterday and will be reading a chapter a week, so I may have this done this next month.

16. Take a pottery or stained glass class

·         Things have been too crazy schedule wise to make this happen yet.

17. Learn how to make sushi

·         Nada.

18. See both a Clemson and UCM football game live

·         This will have to wait until fall.

19. Volunteer with MCFOTS and Special Olympics on a regular basis

·         I am loving volunteering for MCFOTS. It is a great shelter. And it is super fun to go play and love on dogs that aren’t mine for a few hours a week. (Well most of the time, last night I was not too happy with one dog who wanted to play chase for a half hour in 20 degree weather. She just wouldn’t come back inside from playtime! Also I sliced my thumb open on a dog treat trying to coax her inside. Overall, though my shift are pleasant and tug at my heartstrings.  Two of my favorites got adopted this week. (Which is good, because Tom and I almost ended up with a third boxer.) Like I said, this volunteering gig may be a bad idea.

20. Explore Land Between the Lakes

·         Summer plan.

21. Ride in a hot air balloon

·         Tom is off the hook on this one. My other half and best friend from college and I are going to make plans for this in Kansas City.

22. Go to at least 10 “new to me” restaurants in Clarksville.

·         Since we were gone most of December, nothing happened with this one. We still have 8 to go. Any of my Clarksville friends have suggestions?

23. Stay at a bed and breakfast

·         We have the place picked out in our old college town. We just have to find a weekend we can do it.

24. Spend a day without electronics (phone, t.v. and computer)

·         So this didn’t happen over winter break.

25. Go to the Kentucky Derby

·         Ok so reality sunk in that this will not be a possibility financially. However, I do want to go see the museum. And in cahoots with my sister in law, I want to have a Derby themed birthday party on my 30th.

26. Go to non-touristy parts of Nashville

·         No time this month. We did find some cool activities though that we want to do in upcoming months. Tom has a lot of ranges coming up so he will be gone a lot, so we’ll see how the plans pan out.

27.Watch at least 10 movies that I have not seen before that won Best Picture at the Oscars and at least 10 documentaries (not necessarily Oscar winning)

·         I didn’t watch any of the films, but I did watch a documentary. I watched “Behind the Myth” which is about the myths behind bully breeds and the horrible laws that have ensued because of it. It was kind of heart wrenching to watch, and I may have cried. It is a little outdated, but it does a good job showing the history of the bans and the grassroots efforts that have sprung because of the stereotype and trying to debunk it.

28. Sew an item of clothing from scratch.

·         We did get a new sewing machine. Now I just have to figure out my first pattern.

29. Find a church home here in Clarksville

·        We did find a church, but we have been the last few weeks with traveling.

30. Become a mom

·        We both met with my physician before we left for the holidays. The only thing we weren’t already doing that she suggested was for me to be taking prenatal vitamins. Apparently, you should start taking these before you get pregnant as well as the duration. I had no idea. So we got those for free at the base hospital, score! I also had some blood work done this week to check my hormonal levels. We will also be meeting with a fertility specialist in the upcoming month. For some, I know this may seem like we are being really impatient considering it hasn’t been a full year since we started, but the Army is covering all of these expenses so we figured we would take advantage of it while we know we are both here for a bit. Also my physician said that even with everything perfect, there is still only a 20% chance of getting pregnant, so we want to make our odds as high as possible.

I’d say that is still pretty good progression considering what was going on this month. Hopefully January will prove to be fruitful and exciting!

Anyone want to join me on any of these excursions?

Do you have ideas on how I should accomplish any of these tasks?

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30 before 30 Update

One month down since I decided to do this 30 before 30 thing.

So here is my first update. I think it has been a good start to this 18 month challenge.

1.      Crochet something else besides blankets or scarves-so something that isn’t straight lines.

·         I have some ideas for Christmas presents, so I may have an update next month.

2.      Do a 30 day photography challenge

·         I need to do it in a month where we aren’t traveling a whole bunch. The hardest part is making a commitment to get the camera out ever day.

3.      Visit 3 cities I have never been to before

·         Well, I went to Russellville, MO for a wedding, but I am not sure it counts because we didn’t really “see” the town. But I guess I am the one in charge of this challenge so I can make my own rules.

4.      Tour at least one of the distilleries in the area

·         Nothing.

5.      Send at least 5 snail mail a month

·         I actually sent 9 letters! Also, this was a great excuse to buy new stationary.

6.      Become a “professional” photographer

·         This is in the works! Anybody have any photography needs? I am for hire!

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One of my favorites from my most recent family sessions.

7.      Run at least 5 races (any distance)

·        I have plans in the works.

8.      Go camping with Tom

·         We have plans for this for next summer for our anniversary.

9.      Pay for the car behind me in a drive through

·         Not yet.

10. See Tyrone Wells live again

·         Nope.

11. Tour Fort Defiance here in Clarksville

·         This is more of a summer thing.

12. Water ski with my dad

·         Also summer.

13. Do a 5K with my mom

·         Nothing.

14. Take a swing dance class with Tom

·         I am still trying to convince Tom to do this with me. This may come near the end of the challenge.

15. Read at least one fun book a month and one professional development book every three months

·         I have no excuse for this one. I am still in a reading rut, but I did start the last in the Castle series this week, so hopefully I will catch up in December.

16. Take a pottery or stained glass class

·         Things have been too crazy schedule wise to make this happen yet.

17. Learn how to make sushi

·         No plans yet.

18. See both a Clemson and UCM football game live

·         This will have to wait until fall.

19. Volunteer with MCFOTS and Special Olympics on a regular basis

·         I am still waiting on some paperwork from Special Olympics. This week, I started at MCFOTS (the animal shelter we got Crosby). I love it so much! It is a good thing there is a limit on how many pets we can have on base because there were two dogs that I almost took home with me. Grace is not very happy with me doing this though. She is so mad that I have cheated on her. I will deal with her hateful stares though because this is seriously awesome!

20. Explore Land Between the Lakes

·         Summer plan.

21. Ride in a hot air balloon

·         This will take some work and research.Tom hates heights, so either this will take some convincing or I will need to find other people to embark on this journey with me.

22. Go to at least 10 “new to me” restaurants in Clarksville.

·         We have been to two:  China One and King Mao. Tom and I love Chinese restaurants, and they usually are part of our weekly date nights. It was no surprise that these were our new places, however I still think our online ordering is the best out there. Any of my Clarksville friends have suggestions?

23. Stay at a bed and breakfast

·         Working on it.

24. Spend a day without electronics (phone, t.v. and computer)

·         I am thinking about doing it a day over winter break.

25. Go to the Kentucky Derby

·         I would really like to do this for my 30th birthday since it is a week before my day. This would be enough time to save money too because it is expensive!

26. Go to non-touristy parts of Nashville

·         I did this weekend! My supervisor from grad school was in town! We had a mini Clemson reunion downtown with dinner.

nashville trip

We went to the Old Spaghetti Factory and then walked around downtown for a little bit. Tom got 2 pounds of taffy from a candy shop there, which he promptly ate half of on the way home.

27.Watch at least 10 movies that I have not seen before that won Best Picture at the Oscars and at least 10 documentaries (not necessarily Oscar winning)

·         I need to do some research and make a list of the Best Picture films I would want to watch and put them on our Netflix queue. As for the documentaries, we tried watching one on Zombies. Yes, this is true, but we only made it through 10 minutes before we couldn’t take it anymore. It was so absurd.

28. Sew an item of clothing from scratch.

·         We think our sewing machine is out for the count, so this may be on hold or need to be changed on whether we can get it fixed or get a new one.

29. Find a church home here in Clarksville

·         I believe we may have found a church that we both like. Tom and I have different tastes in how we like to enjoy worship, so this is an adventure trying to find a good mix for both of us. 

30. Become a mom

·         Working on it. *wink wink*

So there you have it. Not too shabby for my first month. We’ll see what I can mark off this month. December is going to be pretty nuts since we have so many things planned for the holiday time. Wish me luck!

Anyone want to join me on any of these excursions?