Only 20 days left until I turn 32, so I better make some more progress on that list, geez. Let’s see what was left after my last update:

4. Visit parents
5. Build vegetable boxes
9. Get patio set so that we can eat dinner outside on nice nights
10. Build sandbox for Milo and pals
11. Go down a dress size
12. Do yoga at least three times a week
13. Sign up for charity work
14. Donate dead car to charity
15. Make five year career goals with micro-goals to work on now
16. Don’t say anything negative about anyone for at least one full week: friend, family, acquaintance, celebrity, no one. Then try to increase that to a month.
18. Take Milo to the coast for the day
19. Have a family picnic at the Arboretum before magnolia season is over
20. Go on hikes at least twice a month before it gets too hot
21. Bake for friends
22. Host a dinner party
23. Try a vegetable, plant, or spice I’ve never tried before
24. Perfect a Thai drunken noodle recipe
25. Cook Matthew a meal of all his favorite foods
26. Paint the kitchen nook
27. Touch up the border of our bedroom
28. Paint and assemble our headboard
31. Put up up blackout blinds in Milo’s bedroom for naps
32. Edit and upload a few of our videos that are sitting on the hard drive

I’ve managed to knock out a few of these!

4. Visit parents

In mid-May, we took a long weekend and went to visit my family at my parents’ house in Texas. My mom and I threw a small party to celebrate the wedding, and Milo got to see his cousins, and I got to see friends from Austin who we hadn’t seen in over a year. It was wonderful!

Thanks, Mom and Dad!

5. Build vegetable boxes

Not going to happen! I reused the boxes I used in the fall, which I made out of salvaged untreated drawers from The Rebuilding Center. They’re not going to last past this fall, so I guess I’ll have to build new vegetable boxes next spring.

18. Take Milo to the coast for the day

Milo and I went to Cannon Beach last weekend. I woke him up that morning and said: “Do you want to see a really big rock?” and he spent the rest of the morning shouting: “ROCK! ROCK!” I did not oversell the rock, people. He was pretty much ecstatic about this huge rock. He ran toward it as soon as it came into sight. Do I know my son or what?

I love living so close to the coast. To hop in the car at 9 AM and have my feet in an ocean by 10:30 is just the greatest.

22. Host a dinner party

One of my oldest friends, Jesse, is strongly considering moving to Portland, so on recent visit, we had him over and sweetened the pot by making him cocktails, delicious food, and playing volleyball in my front yard while listening to the Top Gun soundtrack. That’s what you do when you want your friends to live nearby, right?

In case you were doubting how long I’ve known Jesse, here is photo documention: us before prom. I’m the one dressed like Stevie Nicks. You’re welcome.

That’s the next item on the list when trying to convince a friend to move nearby, right? Post awkward photos of them from when they were 15 on the internet? Oh good. Check!

24. Perfect a Thai drunken noodle recipe

I hesitate to post about this, because it has happened, but I haven’t written up the recipe yet, and I know that proclaiming: “I have perfected a vegan Thai drunken noodle recipe!” will only inevitably lead to 25 comments demanding said recipe. I will get around to it! I swear! Eventually! Maybe it will be on my “33 Before 33″ list.

There are some items which should really come off this list because I can tell you now that they just aren’t going happen in the next three weeks! But I will make some earnest effort on the more easily attainable items and check back in around my birthday.