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21 things before 21 {update no. 1}

i started a list at the beginning of the year of 21 things i'd like to accomplish before my 21st birthday in august. with exactly five months until this deadline, i thought it would be a good time to check in and see where i stand with all my goals.

1. do something with my hair i chopped off six inches (!) but it’s in a very transitional stage. i’m in the dreadfully long process of growing out my chemically straightened hair and letting it return to its naturally rebellious state but i’m stuck in the mean time with partially curly and partially straight hair. yikes! does anyone have any advice for making it look as "normal" as possible? any products that worked miracles for you? supplements that will accelerate the growth of my curly roots? i'll take all the help i can get!
fresh from the salon. it does not look like this anymore.

2. pack sensibly for france hmmmm. does incurring $100 in excess baggage fees constitute sensible packing? to be fair, i was packing for five months in europe!

3. see as much of europe as is humanly and financially possible definitely a work in progress. i’ve been to paris (several times!), four châteaux in the loire valley, london, barcelona, and amsterdam. plus i’ve got a lot more trips in the works! check out my sidebar "where in the world is design darling?" to see where i'm headed next.

4. ...and take thousands of pictures not quite at a thousand yet but certainly on my way.

5. spend valentine’s day with michael in paris read about it here.

7. apply to ten internships i think i’ve applied to seven, with one offer and anxiously awaiting to hear from the rest.

8. secure a french internship for the month of may create a website for our family’s summer house on nantucket since plan A didn’t materialize the way i might have liked, i’m moving onto plan B. i’ve wanted to build this website forever but i’ve never gotten around to it and i really have not the slightest idea where to start. knowing my way around blogger is one thing but the big www? i’m not quite there yet.

14. read 12 new books (one per month) my january book was the blind side by michael lewis. i hardly understand the game of football but i loved the movie (cough, want to be sandra bullock’s character) and lewis is a phenomenal writer — which leads me to my february book, moneyball. i’m much more into baseball than football but it seems i haven’t had as much time to read of late. here’s to catching up in march and april! any recommendations for future books?

15. blog here five times per week i’m doing quite well on this front, if i do say so myself. ;)

16. comment on at least one other blog per day hopefully some of you are feeling the love! i love reading your comments and am only too happy to return the favor.

17. start a study abroad blog

18. stay a vegetarian thank god for my wonderfully accommodating french host mom. i’m still finding it hard to eat out so i’ve really lucked out with her cooking.

21. end my twentieth year feeling more independent, more wordly, happier, healthier, and otherwise better! "little" things like mastering the parisian metro toute seule and surviving the arduous bike ride to villandry have definitely made me feel more independent. the combination of doing some traveling by myself and abandoning my native tongue for a new culture (truly no one in tours speaks english) is certainly making me feel a bit more worldly, too. i don’t know about healthy (too many crêpes, if such a thing exists) but i do feel very happy and lucky to be here.

not too shabby, right? i've got a ways to go but i feel like i've been making steady progress. what were your goals or new year's resolutions? how is your progress measuring up? i would love to hear from you (especially if you've got help for my hair or books for my reading!).

10 comments:

Sweet Southern Prep said...

What part of Nantucket is your family's summer house? I used to nanny a family there. The dad's family used to have a summer house there, the Dodds, and then his mother sold it :(, and I think they ended up building like three houses on their property. So now they stay different places there. Kind of fun though, but still not the same...last time the house was in Tom Nevers.

Jamie said...

You sound wise beyond your years! And I am sharing the same goal of seeing as much as Europe as humanly possible. Perhaps I should create a deadline too...hmmm....

http://glamlatte.blogspot.com

Anna @ IHOD said...

I loved reading this. You are such a cool person:)
I can't imagine the adventures of living abroad! The longest I was overseas was a few weeks and it still felt like the adventure of a lifetime!
All the best,
Anna

Fargerike Dagny said...

Thanks for visiting my blog! Love your list!! Are you going to update us on the progress?? :D

paula said...

what a wonderful idea. At you age my list would not have been so great.

my hair is like that naturally, ugh. what works for me bumble and bumble curl conscious defining cream (lasts forever). After it's dry, sometimes natural and sometimes blown, I take the crazy pieces and wrap them around a curling iron. I then have beach waves. super easy. I am getting the keratin complex treatment soon though. Is this what you did?

Last thing, my bday is in august too although I will be 30 yikes.

Full House said...

Oh honey I am feeling the love. I REALLY appreciate all of your comments.

I loved reading all of your goals. You are on the right track and should be very proud of all of your accomplishments because trust me you are WAY ahead of most..21 year old and above.

amy b.s. said...

good luck! sounds like you have a lot of amazing things to do over the next year! can't wait to read all about them.

ECQ said...

hair looks great!!! i like it - even though i miss the long hair.

misss youuu! you've done so much - makes me feel like i should get out more! :)

Unknown said...

ashley — our house is in naushop, between surfside beach and the airport, but my grandmother lives in tom nevers! what a small world.

dagny — of course!

paula — i did not get the keratin treatment, although i've heard good things about it! i believe the big difference is that, with what i did, your natural hair grows in at the roots (curly in my case) whereas with the keratin treatment the product just gradually wears off and the texture of your hair reverts more slowly all over. i'm not sure if that makes perfect sense but i can't wait to see how yours turns out! thanks for the product recommendation too.

Kendall said...

It's a great list. I'm a big fan of these types of lists, too. They really help to get your priorities in line.

You should read The Help, by Kathryn Stockett next. It is such a great book. One of the best I've read in a while.

kendallsimmons.blogspot.com