My 30 Things To Do By 30: Update

Can you believe that 3 years have passed since I made My 30 Things To Do By 30 list? Can you also believe that the 23 year old that started this blog is now officially “in her thirties”… or does that start when I’m 31? Anyway, life definitely comes at you fast and keeps going whether you’re ready for it or not. Since writing that post, I have learned so much about myself and made some life-changing decisions. I have also had some amazing times and some pretty awful ones, but that’s life right? As time goes and we grow, many things change including our wants and needs. I didn’t accomplish everything on my list and I am fine with that. Some of the things I don’t even care for anymore, while others I definitely do want to work towards in these next years, like fluently speaking another language, visiting Japan, and making travel photo albums.

Here is an update on everything that I checked off my list:

1. Watched a few Broadway Shows

Last year when I visited New York I made sure to see a Broadway show. My friend had already seen the Lion King and while she didn’t mind watching it again, I wanted us both to have a new experience. We decided on Wicked and as the British people would say, it was brilliant! The singing, the costumes, the set changes, everything was amazing and I would definitely watch that play again. Moving to Manchester has made watching Broadway shows so much easier because there’s usually a new play showing each month. I’ve watched Aladdin, 101 Dalmatians, and Grease all this year. Aladdin may be the best show I’ve seen so far though and that is saying a lot because they all were great. However, seeing Aladdin and Jasmine literally fly around on the magic carpet while singing A Whole New World, really did something to me and I was ready to cry. While, I haven’t watched the Lion King as yet, it’s still on my must-watch list and hopefully that will be changing soon. I need to make a trip to London.

2. European Adventures

I am trying to find the words to explain how seeing the Duomo, La Sagrada Familia and the Eiffel Tower sparked something so special inside me. While absolutely believing that I would eventually visit these countries, it was so surreal when I actually got to see these monuments in real life! I am so grateful to have visited Portugal, France, Spain and Italy all within the past 10 months. Eating pastel de natas in Porto, croissants in Paris, paella and sangria in Barcelona and all the pizza, pasta, and gelato I wanted in Milan was honestly magical. I made wonderful memories on each trip and I would visit each country again to explore different cities. However, my mommy recently asked me which city I would return to, and I would easily visit Paris again. Speaking of Paris, have you checked out My 3 Day Paris Itinerary as yet?

3. Solo Fancy Dinner Date

Over the last 3 years, I have solo “fancy” dined more than 5 times and had countless casual meals alone. Sometimes when I was on resort for work, I would get dressed for dinner and enjoy a sushi feast, lamp chops and lobster or some pasta dish and boy do I miss that. Moving away for home has also encouraged me to dine alone because sometimes I really can’t be bothered to cook and ordering delivery can be more expensive than just going to a restaurant. I really have been trying to embrace spending time alone (outside of my home) this past year and will be sharing more about all the things I’ve done solo soon 🙂

4. Living Alone

While I don’t live alone, I technically have been living on my own, so I guess that counts. No one ever tells you how living alone literally means you’re the only one cooking, cleaning and taking care of you. While for the most part, the transition to living on my own has been okay, being sick and alone is the worst thing ever. I was so miserable when this became my reality one horrible week in March. I don’t ever want to experience that again so let’s pray that the next time I’m sick I have someone to take care of me.

5. Regular Spa Treatments

Between 2021 and 2022, I was having regular facial and massage treatments. In my previous post, I mentioned that I suffered from hyperpigmentation. Would you believe that the heat back home contributed significantly to that? I recently realized that I haven’t seen the bright spots that I usually get around my mouth and chest in over a year. They’re normally worst during summer and this summer nothing happened. I was shocked when I realized how much the temperature contributed to how my skin looked, so it’s safe to say, my skin prefers 40-60 degrees fahrenheit compared to 70-90 degrees. I would love to get back to having regular spa treatments though. Hopefully, next year I can have a spa appointment booked each month.

6. Saw Drake in Concert

And did! This was honestly such a surreal experience, I’m so happy I got to experience Drake live. I wrote more about it in my Hello 2024… post.

7. Published by a website with a high reach

Keeping up with my love for content creation, I become a content creator for my university. I wrote blogs for the website and made content for Instagram and TikTok. So, while not well known in the ways I initially hoped, my posts have been shared to thousands of people-whether current students, prospectives or alumni. Yay me! You can check out both of my blog posts here and here.

8. Still want to do a voiceover for a commercial

In 2021, I completed a digital marketing course and had to create a radio ad. One of my friends was able to add in radio sound effects and my commerical sounded so professional. Since then, I also created a TikTok account and have made a few voiceover videos. There were a couple of comments under my viral videos about how nice my voice sounded and I was blushing from ear to ear. So let me know if there are any voice actor roles you’d like me to be in, I’ll send my booking details.

9. Painting Class…Completed

Two years ago, one of my friends and I did a paint and sip class to celebrate our birthdays. No one else booked the class that night, so we had to place to ourselves. Our instructor was a professional artist and art teacher, and the artist in me really shined through. I had such a wonderful time, if you like, you can read more about my experience. Recently, I participated in a paint pouring class and that was so much fun. I definitely want to do more art related things and turn it into a true hobby.

10. All Inclusive Vacation Me Please

I have been so blessed to have worked for an all inclusive resort brand. One of the best perks of the job were the opportunities to stay at any of the hotels. I definitely took advantage of this benefit and took my mom and friends on vacation with me.

11. White Christmas Wish

December 2022, my family and I celebrated Christmas in Washington, DC. After alot of research and me literally making a speadsheet of 3 destinations with possible itineraries, DC was chosen as our Christmas destination. My research showed that there was a possibility of snow, however that was not our reality. It was cold though, but really nice sunny days which allowed us to do everything we planned. We had a great time (scarves, mittens and all) and now have 2 inside jokes that I’m sure we’ll be laughing at for years to come!

12. Full Spa Day

Well, I don’t know if this counts…but to celebrate my 30th birthday I visited QC Termemilano the day after my birthday. This spa was huge with indoor and outdoor facilities, and I have never been to one like it. There were saunas, pools, jacuzzis, a rain room, steam rooms and so much more. There was even an appertivo (snacks and drinks) included with my spa pass but I missed it because I had to head to the airport. If you ever visit, make sure to stay in your robes and get the included eats before changing.

13. Reading Time

Do you know how many journal articles I’ve read this past year?! I sure don’t, but I know for sure it’s equivalent to 12 books. For my dissertation alone, I read more than 50 papers and that’s just one class so let’s imagine. During my breaks, I also went to the library to pick up a few books to read for fun, so yea let’s just say I accomplished that goal too LOL.

14. Ate at Magnolia Bakery

In season 3 of Sex and the City, Carrie and Miranda are sitting outside of Magnolia Bakery eating cupcakes and talking about Aiden. As a true #SATC lover, when I went to New York last year, I had to make my way to one of the restaurants featured in the show. While, Magnolia is known for their banana pudding, I really don’t like bananas (in things) so I decided to try their peach pudding and that was delicious. I got a cupcake as well, but it wasn’t memorable.

15. Figured out my signature scent(s)

Over these past 3 years, I figured out that I don’t need or even want a signature scent because I enjoy having different scent combinations. Learning about layering and mixing different fragrances with similar scent profiles has been a wonderful journey. I know that I love gourmands and will usually add Kayali Vanilla 28 to the mix when I’m going on a night out. While, I tend to lean more into sweet florals like Marc Jacobs Perfect or Giorgio Armani My Way in the day.

Look at that, 15 out of 30– I think that’s pretty impressive, especially considering that this all happened over a 3 year period. I guess this means I need to now figure out what I want out of life for the next 5 to 10 years. I will try to remember though that just because I make plans doesn’t mean that they will actually happen or happen in the way I think they should and while it can be frustrating, that’s the beauty of life. At the end of the day, I know that all things are working for my good.