I'm the owner + photographer at Anne Casey Photography — serving Maryland & Pennsylvania

Well, it’s here. The big 3-0. Currently undecided on how I feel about this. My 20s are over? I’m not a teenager anymore? Am I old? Does this mean I’m really a grown up?? Milestone birthdays are a lot like New Year’s. Time is taken to reflect on the years before and dream for the years ahead. You make promises to yourself and all sorts of big plans. So, here are 30 things I should probably start doing now that I’m 30.

1. Learn to use chopsticks properly. I’ve been eating sushi and other Asian food for the better part of 15 years, but I cannot get the hang of chopsticks! I have my own “method”, but I know it isn’t actually the correct way.

2. Drink more water. I even purchased one of those bottles that marks off the times you need to drink. Didn’t work.

3. Learn to drive a stick shift. I had a very short lesson before Brody was born (about 9 or 10 years ago!), and while I understand the concept, in the event of an emergency I can assure you that I’ll stall out.

4. Separate my laundry. I throw it all in together and wash it on cold. 99% of the time, there’s no issue! However, that 1%…

5. Get dressed in ‘real’ clothes every day. Yoga pants and gym shorts probably don’t count.

6. Write a will. I’m not going to live forever and I’m certainly not going to let you decide what happens to all of my awesome stuff.

7. See a dermatologist. I’ve never gone! Gotta make sure there’s no skin cancer!

8. Get over my fear of propane tanks. Well, really any pressurized gas in a tank. I’m always certain it’s going to explode.

9. Find an exercise I actually enjoy. 

10. Similarly, exercise every day. Actually, let’s be real and say 5 days a week. Rumor has it exercise is like, really good for you.

11. Stop shopping in the junior’s section. I am officially too old for this. 

12. Have a regular bedtime! This is a work in progress. I’m trying to be in bed most nights at 10pm. 

13. Go out on regular date nights. Make this a priority. Chris and I are #busy. I’ll be even more busy in September because he’ll be gone. For the whole month! When October rolls around, I’m gunna date my husband! 

14. Learn one or two easy updos for my hair length. I have maybe 4 go-to ways that I wear my hair, none which are very fancy, one of which is a messy bun.

15. Read more! I am an avid book collector (read: they decorate my bookshelves more than anything else). I’d love to carve out time each day to dive into a good book!

16. Learn to like coconut. KIDDING. That will never happen. Same goes for you, hot dogs.

17. Give more compliments. I love to give compliments! Don’t be surprised if we’re ever out somewhere and I tell the cashier that her eyeliner is perfect, or tell some random dude on the street that his shoes are really awesome. There needs to be more kindness in the world.

18. Moisturize. There’s an entire shelf in my bathroom dedicated to lotions but I never take the time to use them…

19. Spend more time gardening. Chris and I really enjoy planting our vegetable garden and harvesting goodies all the way into the fall. However, my flower beds need a lot of attention! They’re kind of a mess!

20. Take some time and learn to shoot film! I’ve been collecting vintage film cameras and I’d love to see what they’re capable of!

21. Organize three generations worth of family photos. It would seem that I’ve been elected the family historian and through the years all of the boxes of photos have made their way into my home. I need about a month of uninterrupted time, but I have been wanting to get all of these photos into albums. 

22. Clean out my underwear drawer. Not too long ago I dumped it out and counted- I had 72 pairs of undies. WHY?!

23. Host more dinner parties! We love having people over for dinner and need to do it more often!

24. Get out of debt! Who’s with me?? We’re fortunate to not have any student loans, car payments, or a mortgage, but there is some credit card debt that needs to be taken care of. We’ve been chipping away at it, but I think if we really focus we can totally knock it out before I turn 31.

25. Save for retirement! I don’t want to work forever!

26. Plan for the future, and do it seriously. We want to buy a farm in a few years and we’d benefit from a concrete plan on saving up for such a big adventure!

27. Get more tattoos. Tattoos make you cool. 

28. Stop hitting the snooze bar! Gosh, it’s like a drug. The rush I get from pressing that button and getting 8 more minutes of rest is ridiculous. But those extra few minutes do absolutely nothing for me! 

29. Clear out my inbox! I never file anything away! It all just sits in there… thousands of messages…. 

30. Make the time to do all of these things. We live in a world where busy has become a badge of honor, although I’m not quite sure why! I’d much rather be known for enjoying my life and having the time to do what I want to do and spend it with my loved ones.

So there you have it! A whole bunch of things that I don’t do that I need to do! Which of these resonate with you? Do you need an accountability partner? Drop me a comment below!