19 before 20.

For the past couple years for my birthday I've been writing goal lists to attempt to complete within the next year before my birthday! I've seen several other bloggers that I follow do them and thought it would work out perfectly for me.

My birthday is towards the end of January, which gives me just enough time to surpass the new year with some thoughts in mind of what I want to accomplish. I have this thing for "New Years Goals", I've just never really liked them. I have the mind set that if I want to get something done, I should do it. But with the 19 before 20 list, it can help me pick things I would like to do that I can't exactly accomplish right away, or things I need to remind myself to do. My brain has a weird way of how it likes to organize those types of things.

May I present to you...

Jackie's 19 before 20!

1. Travel out of New England
    - I can honestly say with the exception of traveling to Florida and once to Canada, I have never been outside of New England. Majority of the states I've spent driving through, anyways. I would love to take a trip to more central states, maybe Ohio or Indiana, even if it's just for a night!

2. Make Deans List BOTH semesters
    - Though this may not be the hardest of all goals, I really want to try and make Dean's list for the current Spring semester in and the Fall semester. Last semester I missed Dean's list by about a .4 so this semester I'm going to go for the gold!

3. Graduate Freshmeat & Start Reffing
    - To those who might be reading that know I do roller derby, you understand what this means. For those who do not; I do roller derby! Well, kind of! I was doing 'freshmeat' which is the beginners course for roller derby which you have pass in order to move on and start real training. Being it was my first semester of school and I wasn't working, I had to stop halfway through because I couldn't afford it. I plan on taking the course again this coming fall once I can save up enough money from the summer.

4. Be more social
    - When I'm at school, I don't really have this problem since majority of my friends live within my building. I tend to say that I "can't" hang out or I'm "busy" when I'm really not. Here's to hopefully being less anti-social!

5. Take more pictures
    - For graduation, I was gifted a Canon 60D. Unfortunately, a few weeks before I went to school it got stolen out of my car with several rolls of 35mm film, a couple packs of intax mini film and some other accessories. I was heart-broken but pushed through it, and luckily was able to purchase a new one at the end of January. So, now I have no excuse!

6. Write more poetry
   - I love performance poetry, and poetry in general. After the competition I participated in for slam poetry in senior year of high school, I haven't really written much. Time to change that.

7. Read 30 books
    - Pretty self explanatory.

8. Save money
    - Not working while at college puts a major damper on my wallet. I need to save a substantial amount of money this summer in order to go through the next semester without much struggle.

9. Have a functional blog
   - This is going to be one of my many, several attempts. But I aspire to be like many of the blogs I follow and would really love if this time I would actually get around to doing it!

10. Grow more than three different fruits or vegetables
   - I love gardening, and last summer I was going to make raised beds and never got around to doing it. I was only able to grow two different kinds of peppers and an herb garden, so this year I'm hoping to grow much more of a variety!

11. Finish half sleeve
   - Also pretty self explanatory.

12. Go the extra mile for people
    - I try my best to do as much as I can for people, but I really want to make sure that I really do all that I can and help out to the best of my ability.

13. Make videos!
    - I'm a film and video major and I feel like I hardly make any videos, even small pointless ones. I love editing and directing and creating, so hopefully this year will bring more videos not for projects into my life.

14. Shop at the farmers market/buy local
   - We have a quaint little farmers market every Wednesday back home during the warmer months, I've never really gotten to check it out but I would love to eat mostly locally grown vegetables from others as well as myself.

15. De-clutter life
    - Physically and emotionally. I already have gone on a dorm de-clutter spree as well as a Facebook de-cluttering spree. I'm trying to get rid of anything that is holding me back in any way.

16. Perform as much as possible
    - I'm a theatre minor (soon to be double major) as well as a slam poet, and in general, I love getting on stage and performing for people. I may get nervous and shy on occasion, but I do love it and I don't do it nearly enough. Every open-mic night at my school or play I can audition for, I'm going for it.

17. Walk/Ride bike more
    - Ever since I got my car, I have been slacking on doing as much walking and bike riding. This summer I want to try and ride my bike to work on occasion, and when I only need a couple things from the store, I'll walk or ride the bike opposed to wasting gas and a nice little exercise. 

18. Partake in as many outdoor activities as possible
    - I went camping for the first time in YEARS last summer with my boyfriend and it was amazing. I want to go hiking more, adventuring more and all sorts of other outdoor activities!

19. Appreciate EVERYTHING
    - I had a really scary dream (I won't go into detail) and it ultimately led me waking up and feeling like I really need to let people know more often how much I appreciate them and be thankful for even the little things. Not just in my head, but aloud.

Do any of you have any goals for the year? Any of the same?

xoxo Jackie