35 for 35 - Recap and Update {05.08.25}

Hello and happy Thursday friends! I hope your week is going well and you are looking to a fun weekend ahead. For those in the United States, I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day. For those who have sadness around this day, just know that you are so loved. 

For today's post I thought I would do a recap of my 35 for 35 goal from my 35th birthday since my birthday is officially next week. 

MY 35 FOR 35 - here's how it went

1. 100 miles in 100 days – June 1st to Sept 9th

Starting June 1st, I am challenging myself to complete 100 miles in 100 days. 

In June 2024, I did start doing 1 mile a day on my walking pad and I made it a total of 33 miles before stopping. I think 100 days was a bit too lofty of a goal to start off and I got overwhelmed quickly. 

2. Send 35 letters to friends/family

While I didn't send 35 cards to friends and family, I did send quite a few over the last year. 

3. Finish 10 of my books on my TBR pile

Last year I finished a total of 56 books and some of those books were part of my TBR pile, though I cannot be certain whether there was 10 in total complete, but I know I finished more than 10 books in the last year. 

4. Learn to make macarons 

I learned how to make macarons with my girlfriends and it was so much fun! I will say, I think I will stick to buying them in the future because they are a lot of work. 

5. Spend 1 day a month media free

Each month I made a concerted effort to spend a day off my phone in general, so I can consider this one as checked off for the year. I actually think I will probably try this again for my 36th year of life and maybe push it to spending XX amount of time off my phone a day or limiting social media use to XX amount of hours a day. 

6. Try 35 new recipes

Justin and I have been cooking at home more, so I figured it would be fun to try 35 new recipes and expand our very small list of things we like to eat for dinner.  My plan is to find 35 recipes, put them in a wheel and every week spin the wheel to pick 1-2 new recipes to try for that week.  Once it's been tried, the recipe will be removed from the wheel until we get them all done.

7. Visit 1-2 new bookstores in Michigan (or another state) 

I am excited to share that I did, in fact, make it to a few new books stores. 

8. Finish my crochet sweater for myself

Not only did I not finish the sweater, since my birthday last year I started another sweater AND a blanket for myself which have not been finished. One of these days I will make a sweater for myself but it just has not been a priority. 

9. Try 5 new foods/food types

I tried a few new things the last year but honestly don't remember what they were. They either must have been good or must have been bad because I don't remember either way. 

10. Visit 1-2 new cities in Michigan

Due to budgetary restraints, I had to postpone these as I did not have the resources to go and stay at a new location. 

11. Take a yoga class at a local studio

I found a local studio that offers classes; however, they mainly do only hot yoga and I have to say that I just cannot. I have asthma which makes any humidity/heat difficult for me. I did take a few classes on YouTube that I liked and have done them all multiple times. I'm not as flexible as I had hoped I would be by now, but they definitely helped my back pain.

12. Finish one box of my house plant diamond painting kit 

I am happy to say that I finished one box! I love these little diamond painting kits because they're small and can be done in less than an hour each.  I have another box to complete and I'm looking forward to it. 

13. Color 35 pages from a coloring book

I definitely colored more than 35 pages. I didn't finish an entire book, but I did a wide variety of coloring over the last year and really enjoyed it. 

14. Plan another trip just mom and I

Mom and I discussed a trip and started making a tentative plan but our budget got wonky due to hubby losing his job so we had to postpone. I can say that we went on a family vacation last July 4th and it was wonderful.

15. Donate/give 35 books to free little libraries or my library

Earlier this year I went through all of my books and purged quite a bit of books. I found that a lot of them were not ones I had enjoyed or never could see myself reading. The books were given away to family/friends or donated. 

16. 12 deliberate dates with Justin

Justin and I did not go on deliberate dates, but we did spend good, quality time together throughout the year. I think for this next year I want to put together date ideas for us to go and do things together. 

17. Start and maintain a sourdough starter/ 18. Learn to make sourdough bread

Okay here's the update on this one - I have a sourdough starter. I did not personally start it myself, but it is generations old and I love it so much. BUT, I never actually baked anything with it. I've just been keeping it alive with the plan to sometimes bake a loaf of sourdough bread. 

19. Start and finish my quilt from Justin

Another Christmas came and went and I did not finish this quilt. I know where it's at, but I haven't touched it. Maybe I'll plan some time off work and make it a point to focus on the quilt. 

20. Create a regular workout routine/program

This one will be a bit more difficult for me because working out is not something I look forward to, ever.  But I'd really like to do something and I'm thinking it will be important to set up a good routine.  Not exactly sure what it will be at this time, but I have a few ideas floating around. 

21. Plan a NYC trip for Justin and I 

Like previously mentioned, this one had to be postponed due to budgetary constraints. 

22. Pay off my student loans 

I am down to my last $600 of my loans so I won't have them done by my birthday but I will definitely have them done by the end of this year at the very latest. 

23. Learn five songs on my ukulele 

Just like the quilt... the ukulele is still stored where it was on my birthday last year. 

24. Volunteer for 35 hours this year

I'm sad to report that I did not accomplish this one. I reached out to a few places to volunteer and tried to get something together then it fell off my radar.

25. Eat at a restaurant you’ve never tried before

I actually accomplished this one in April this year and tried a new nearby restaurant as part of an event with my coworkers. The food was DELICIOUS and I intend to go back again. 

26. Finish the 90% done projects in the house

Do you have projects in your house that are 90% done? I think we all do.  My goal is to tackle those over the next year.  So far, I've only captured three but I'm sure I'm missing more: 

1. Patch hole in pantry room ceiling - there's still a hole there lol

2. Finish tile in laundry room - this was done early in the past year and I LOVE how it turned out.

3. Paint arch in mudroom white - this is the only beige thing in our house and it's still driving me insane but I never did it. 

27. Get Boudoir photos done

This one is just for me but I'd like to get boudoir photos done.  I've not had a positive view of myself for quite some time and I think it's time I change that.  

(please note: I will not be sharing these with anyone, I'll just update that they're done).

28. Complete one 1,000-piece puzzle or 2 500-piece puzzles

I forgot to take a photo, but I did actually do two 500 piece puzzles. I really enjoyed doing them and look forward to doing one that Justin and I got that's a mystery in a puzzle. 

29. Design 36 new stickers and list on Redbubble

If you didn't know, I have a sticker shop on Redbubble.  My goal was to have 35 stickers listed and I'm happy to share I have 55 designs on my site. I blew this goal out of the water. My shop needs some work and I haven't added anything new recently, but I am so proud of my little shop. 

30. Take a beginner sign language course

I did not take a beginner sign language course, BUT I did make friends (not on purpose) with a friend that is a sign language interpreter for a living. She has been teaching me signs and I'm slowly picking things up over time. 

31. Do 35 random acts of kindness

Majority of my acts of kindness consisted of supporting strangers or by complimenting people.

32. Develop a journaling habit

I realized over the last year that I really do not like journaling. I hate sitting down and just writing nonsense in a notebook. And I don't really feel comfortable digging deep into things and putting it down on paper. 

33. Take an art class

When I added this item to my list of things to do, I think my intent was to take a painting class. I did actually sign up for a "Learn to paint like Bob Ross" class, but the class was canceled. That being said, I recently picked up a pottery class and have been learning how to make pottery on a pottery wheel. 

34. Start saving for my dream purse

I didn't realize when I started this list how many things were tied to me having money. I did not start saving for a purse and, honestly, I'm not too upset about it. I think I'd rather spend money on adventures/travel than an item that I won't use.

35. Dedicate appropriate time to the blog

I think overall I did a great job keeping up with the blog. I wish I had done more, but I'm overall happy with the progress. 

Well that is it for this post. The last year proved challenging but I am happy with the progress I made over the last year. That being said, should I do a 36 for my 36th year of life? 

Have a wonderful day,

Jackie

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