Today, I turn 30. *insert every old lady joke I’ve heard in the few hours since I’ve been awake*

In the last couple weeks leading up to this milestone of a birthday, I’ve taken some time to think. About my life now. About my life in the past. About what I want the rest of my life to be like. 5 years ago I had the most epic of birthdays, in Copenhagen Denmark, where I brought in my 25th year in style. I had a huge birthday party with a “high fashion” theme, everyone walked the red carpet to get in, and we passed around fancy appetizers. It was a blast! And it was absolutely perfect for where I was at in life at that time – young, vibrant, single, living life on the edge. In the past 5 years, my life and goals have taken a drastic turn. I’m still young (hold the jokes, thanks) and I like to think I’m vibrant. I’m definitely not single (yay!) and my edginess has calmed down a little. These last few years have been some of the most challenging, trying, and growing years of my life. It’s in these years that I started to realize what was really important to me, and what my values were. And it’s during that time that I really began feeling comfortable in my own skin.

I want my next 30 years to be marked by an insatiable desire to serve others and to invest in relationships. I want them to be full of life, love, laughter, and adventure. My first 30 years set the foundation for those things to happen and I do hope that 30 years from now I’ll have brilliantly silver hair, a twinkle in my eye, and my signature smirk that let’s everyone around me know that I still enjoy getting into a little trouble.

But before I get old, I need to stay young. And I have a lot that I want to accomplish in life. So, taking things one step at a time, before the milestone of 40 hits, these are some things I want my 30’s to be marked by:

• I want to start a family. First of the fur kind, and then the human kind. 10 years from now I would be the happiest woman in the world if I had two dogs and two kids. Ideally 1 samoyed and one labrador, but the breed is still up for debate. Regarding the human breed, I can only hope they are spunky little things that give Adam and I a run for our money.
• I want to build our dream house, as much as possible with our own hands, and have it fully paid off.
• I want to take a trip to New Zealand. Ideally for our 5 or 10 year anniversary.
• I want to give copious amounts of money and time to organizations and ministries that need it.
• I want to take my Grandfather to Italy and spend some time in the village our family is from.
• I want to travel to 10 new countries.
• I want to be a contestant on a reality TV show. Or make my own 😉
• I want to start a little side career of speaking at conferences and workshops.
• I want to write a book.
• I want to host regular dinner parties and game nights.
• I want to invent and take 2 products/ideas to market.
• I want to shoot weddings in Santorini, Greece, India, Scotland, Africa (Kenya?), The Faroe Islands, and Bora Bora or Fiji.
• I want to love so fully and authentically that my heart literally feels like it’s going to explode.

The bottom line is that I want these next 30 years, and my life in general, to be marked by love, servanthood and adventure. It all boils down to those three things for me. And I know this is a lot of milestone birthdays away but, when I’m at the ripe old age of 99 and facing being a century old, I want this to be me: