Today is my 36th birthday, which means I have 4 years to finish my 40 by 40 list! A bit of a stretch, but totally doable. A few years ago I took on a 35 by 35 list before my 35th birthday and the results were pretty good, so let’s give it another go, shall we?
This time I’ve split my list into loose categories; Travel, Self, Family, Food, Work, & Life. I’ll add a blog post for each as I completed the item. Click on ‘done’ to read more.
My 40 by 40 List
- Explore Paris Done August 2017.
- Start a yoga practice
- Walk the Great Wall of China
- Watch the sunrise over Emerald Lake in Banff
- Splurge on Prada sunglasses
- See the Northern Lights
- Watch a Broadway play in New York – Done. Total transparency guys – I didn’t watch a Broadway play and chose to wander Times Square and see the Christmas lights instead when I was in NYC, but it’s my list so I’m checking it off. No one should be a slave to their bucket list, priorities shift.
- Celebrate New Year’s Eve in a foreign city
- Take a cooking class
- Move my business to a creative studio space Done March 2017
- Read 52 books by South Asian authors – Working on it, see my progress here!
- Master hand lettering
- Sew a dress for Zara
- Make a 3 tier cake
- Commit to a weekly video series on YouTube for 52 weeks
- Perfect the art of making dahi (yogurt)
- Learn how stocks work [& maybe make an investment]
- Make scrapbooks of my kid’s art/school projects
- Visit Portland (and the bookstore everyone keeps telling me about!)
- Learn how to make an embroidered phulkari flower – in progress, I’m so close
- Get in the best physical shape of my life (not very difficult, since I’ve never worked out!)
- Camp in Pacific Rim National Park
- Treat myself to a designer bag – Done December 2017.
- Take a trip that requires a plane ride with Mr. T
- Buy a tea set I love
- Epic Canadian road trip with the kids
- Write [and submit] a book proposal
- Ride in hot air balloon
- Learn photography
- Grow fresh herbs
- Watch a movie alone – in a movie theatre. – Done August 2018.
- Wander a market in Morocco
- Commit to one family night each week and honour it religiously
- Take an intensive Ayurveda course
- Learn to make naan
- Spend a summer re-reading all of Shakespeare’s work
- Blog consistently for one year
- Record my family tree
- Organize my digital pictures – making progress, slow & steady!
- Buy a home
Are you a bucket list kind of person? I also did a 35 by 35 list, which I thoroughly enjoyed working on.
Such a great list! Good luck with it and happy birthday <3
What a great list! I too turned 36 earlier this year. Happy birthday!
Been a reader of your blog for some time, but commenting for the first time. Love the desi vibes on your blog!
Hi Shuchita! Thank you for taking the time to comment & for the kind words 🙂
Wow Raj! Happy Birthday! And I LOVE this list! And you are doing No. 40 well so that’s one down =)
Keep the pink chai spirit going!
Aamna – http://www.whilethebabynaps.com
Thank you so much Aamna 🙂
Great idea – I turn 36 this year and I’m going to come up with my own list. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Author
Can’t wait to see what you put on your list! I love following adventures 🙂
You go girl! I did a 40 before 40 and and 50 before 50. Because I decided to to take voice lessons, I’m now a singer/songwriter and cutting an album. I love birthday challenges and am so grateful that just by being brave and trying new things that scared me, I’m now doing and living my passion. (SarahCade.com) All that being said, YOU GO!!! I always did mine the year before, but having extra years isn’t a bad idea. Be sure to add “Try 40 new things” in there too. I also had “see 50 live bands” but in Austin, that was not too hard! 🙂 Best wishes!
Author
That is amazing Sarah! I love how your 40 by 40 inspired such a big life change!