21 Before 22

aka 21 Things To Do Before I Turn 22
or
21 Things To Do While I'm 21


I got this idea from Elsie's blog last year. I think I was a little too ambitious with my goals last year. Some of them were more like lifetime or within-the-next few-years goals. I was just trying to make steps towards my bigger goals with them. Well, let's see how I did with last year's goals, shall we?
[See my full 20 Before 21 list here. See my Half-Birthday update here.]

20 Before 21


1. Sell art, crafts, clothes, etc. on Etsy
I didn't quite get to the selling part, but I did make quite a few things for my Etsy shop. I am just now really getting down to the details I need to figure out before listing things in my shop. (All that technical stuff like money, shipping, packaging, etc.)

7. Have a website
This wasn't really about actually having a website, it was more about having a reason to have a website. While I don't have a .com, I do have a site and Facebook page for Lux Cake Designs, and someday I'll have a .com.

9. Sell cakes
Check this one off! Kim and I made it official with Lux Cake Designs and are actually selling cakes!


10. Make friends
I think I can call this one a success. I'm friends-ish/friendly with people at work and I reconnected with some old friends recently.

12. Enter every contest/draw
I'm lazy. But I've recently reminded myself of this goal and started entering giveaways on the blogs I read. I mean, really, all I have to do is leave a comment and I could win something!

13. “No rules, no fear.” No excuses!
I don't know if I'll ever get past these. I am so full of excuses for everything. So afraid of everything. It's something I'll probably work on my whole life. Not caring what other people think about me, not making excuses for not doing or doing things.

16. Make music
I started playing the guitar and I recently brought my mom's old keyboard home with me so I can start playing again. I haven't written any songs, or recorded anything. I'm just enjoying making music and re-learning to read music & play the piano again.

18. Get a job
I did this! I got a job at Michaels in July as a cashier and last month I was promoted to Front End Supervisor. Earning money has been great, but as Christmas approaches and the store gets busier and busier, and I get more and more exhausted and more and more sore, I'm thinking about trying to get a job in a cake bakery or somewhere I'm not on my feet all day and isn't so much stress. As a cashier, there are tons of customers who need me all the time and as supervisor, I have cashiers who need me and front end duties to get done on top of customers. It's maybe too much for me.


This year I'm going to include more just-for-fun things that I want to make sure I do this year, as well as achievable small goals; small goals that are a part of/leading towards my bigger life goals. I'm also transferring some of my 20 year old goals that I didn't get to onto my 21 year old goals list. This year is all about growing up, getting motivated and making my dreams come true.
So, let's get to it!

21 Things To Do Before I Turn 22

1. Start and maintain an Etsy shop.
Sadly, I've been saying I'm going to do this for a year. But I seriously will be doing that this year. Seriously. I swear. I'm so close.

2. Go on a road trip.
I just want to get in a car and drive from place to place, with a bit of a plan but also room for spontaneity. It would probably be more fun with a friend or two, but I might just have to try and borrow a car and get out on my own for a few days. [P.S. A road trip is not just driving somewhere a few hours away. A road trip takes several days and many stops for adventures. It's about the journey, not the destination.]

3. Learn French.
Je suis sérieux cette fois. Je veux pouvoir avoir une conversation en Français. J'ai un livre et un CD. Je dois juste commencer á faire les leçons.

4. Write a story.
A script, a short story, a long story, a comic, anything. I want to have an actual, finished project that I can share.

5. Get a job that I love.
I hope to get a new job (probably at a bakery), or it might be that my Etsy shop and/or Lux Cake Designs become major enough to be considered a second/third job for me.

6. Have a theme party.
I love dress-up parties! I've planned many theme parties over the years, but I think the only one I've actually executed was my Alice in Wonderland Tea Party. My friends and I dressed up as the characters, we watched the movie, listened to the music, had tea (aka juice) and scones and cupcakes, and went outside in the cold to play croquet. (I really wish I had photos, damn.) Now that I actually have more than one friend around here to play with, I think this year I will be able to actually have a little theme party!

7. Go skating.
I haven't been skating in a few years. Sad. I was a competitive figure skater when I was a kid. I was really good. Like, really good. But I quit because I was, after all, just a kid and it got to be too competitive and all work and no play. I think I have some crappy skates at my parents house that I could use to go skating this year. And I'm not talking about going to a rink, oh no. Skating is for outside. Kim's family skates on their pond and we can skate on the creek in Kemptville. Or maybe this year we can go on the Rideau Canal. I've lived in the Ottawa area for ten years and never been.

8. Go camping.
I love camping! I went every summer with my family, all over the country. And my BFF Kim loves camping, too. We've been camping together a couple times before, so I don't think she'll need any convincing to plan a camping trip with me this summer.

9. Make a SWEDED! movie.
This was supposed to be Runaway Girls' first new big challenge of our 'relaunch' in September, but no one has made any videos or expressed any interest in the group for a long time, so I think Runaway Girls is pretty much dead. But I still really want to make a SWEDED! movie. Now that I have red hair, I might just have to find a movie with a red-haired star. (The Little Mermaid? Run Lola Run? That Batman movie with Poison Ivy?)

10. Start an interview video series.
I've been thinking about this for a while now. I've been reluctant to start because my camera is ancient (2003) and I feel like if I'm going to go out into the world asking people to do interview videos with me, I should have the goods to back up my mad skillz. But now I'm thinking, don't let waiting to save up enough money for a new camcorder stand in my way of making videos. Someday I will have an awesome camera and make better quality videos, but for now I can still have fun and get experience making videos. (And I may have a shit camera, but I now have Final Cut Express for editing, which should help make them look more pro.)

11. Make a music video.
I'm constantly making up music videos in my head when I listen to music. It's just how my visually-oriented mind works. It's one of my dreams to make a music video for a local band (especially Fire and Neon- love them!), but again I have the issue of my shit camera. But I can still make my own music videos to songs that I love. I've made a lot of all-talk videos in the past, but my true love is just images to music. I'm not good at, like, talking and such, so I suck at creating stories with dialogue, but I would love to create some beautiful scenes to go with some beautiful music.

12. Write in a journal.
I think it's good for me to reflect on my life and my emotions daily. Looking back, I tend to write in a journal most when I'm really depressed. Most of my journals consist of "I hate my life." and lists of how I was going to change my life. Now that I'm not depressed anymore, I want to journal the good stuff. It will also help develop my writing. I might also try a visual type of journaling á la this.

13. Take lots of photos.
It's fun to just have random, bad photos from your adventures. I'm not talking about being that person who is too busy documenting their life to live it. I just think snapping interesting photos with my cool photo apps on my iPhone will make for good blog posts and memories. I mean, lots of photos of people posing, smiling at the camera, isn't really capturing a moment, it's not really what was going on that night, right? The photos that need explanation are the best because you get to relive some crazy moment that you took that awkward photo.

14. Learn to play a song from memory on the piano.
I want to be able to sit down a piano and just play an amazing song from start to finish without reading any music. Preferably Lady Gaga.

15. Collaborate with someone on an art project.
I'm usually pretty insecure about my creative projects and don't like to share until I'm sure I'm finished and it's ready to be presented to the world. However, I would really like to be able to work creatively with another person. I think it would be great to have someone to share ideas with, get ideas from, and just learn from each other as we create something amazing.

16. Sew a dress from scratch.
So far, I've only made clothes from other clothes. It makes it easier to have the basic structure already made and I just have to adjust it. I do have a lot of dress sketches, though that I would love to make. It would be a real challenge for me because I'm bad at precision work that requires measuring and no undo button, but it would be so rewarding to be able to wear a gorgeous dress and say "I made this all by myself from scratch."

17. Move to a new apartment.
As much as I love my colorful little apartment, it does get a bit depressing down here in a basement with just one little window. I need my sunshine. Also, I've been told it's way over-priced and after looking online, I'm pretty sure I could find a cheaper place that actually has windows. And moving means I get to go through all my stuff and get rid of junk and then I get to reorganize everything and decorate a new apartment!

18. Try a new hair color.
I've been dying my hair since I was twelve. It's usually a dark red color, or my natural dark brown. The only bright unnatural color I've had my hair is bright red. (This is my fourth time having it bright red.) Pink is my favorite color, but I've never wanted pink hair because it's just so overdone. And cool colors (blues & greens) usually fade quickly and look gross. I'm thinking maybe adding some purple pieces to my red might look nice, or perhaps I'll try pink hair for a while just for fun. Maybe I'll just go crazy and do a bunch of colors together, who knows! I'm planning on keeping it red for the foreseeable future, so this would just be for a couple weeks or months, just to try something different, and then I'd go back to red.


19. Make a snow fort.
I hate winter and snow for day-to-day life. However, I do love to get all bundled up like a little kid and play in the snow. One year a made a nice big fort in the giant snow pile by my house/parking lot that the snow plow made. It was awesome except I would come outside like a crazy old lady and yell at the neighborhood kids for playing on my snow pile and ruining my fort.

20. Make a tee-pee.
Ever since I saw Elsie's tee-pee, I've wanted to make one. Maybe it will just be a temporary one, or maybe I'll make a nice canvas one to keep forever.

21. Visit a far-away friend.
I have friends all over the country; Montreal, Toronto, Southern Ontario, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Victoria. Sometime this year, I'm going to save up my money to go visit someone and have some fun adventures!


Okay, now it's your turn to make your list. Even if it's no where near your birthday, it's never too late to make a list!

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