countdown to 30

I turn 30 in 30 days. It totally snuck up on me. Yikes.

It seems like I've been in my 20s for ages. In a good way. It probably doesn't help that we're still living with a grad-student mentality so we don't really feel like we're "grown ups" just yet.

I figure it's a great time to hit the restart button on some of my priorities. It takes about 30 days (or less) to form or break a habit, or so the story goes. So, I'm attempting to form some new daily habits, and break some old ones. Here's what I'm focused on for now:

- Hitting my knees first thing in the morning to say my prayers BEFORE starting my day. I've gotten totally out of the habit of this (having little kids wake up extra early doesn't help) and half the time end up saying my morning prayers in the car on the way to work. Better than nothing but I know when I pray first thing my day generally goes better, maybe just because my attitude is in the right place.

- Getting out of bed the first time my alarm goes off. No more hitting the snooze button! I've been really bad with this lately -- daylight savings seems to have affected me more than usual -- but it's got to stop. I know why I set it for the certain time and I need to stop justifying another 10 mins, following by another 10 mins...

- Reading my scriptures BEFORE the end of the day. Again, another thing I know I would get more out of if I would regularly do them first thing. Lunch can also be the perfect time if I make it happen. It's hard to get in more than a verse or two if I wait till I'm about to go to sleep at night and it doesn't leave me with much energy for pondering what I've read.

- Doing the "100" or at least a variation of it every day. I still run regularly throughout the week but I need to get back to core strengthening and toning exercises to improve my posture and rid myself of those post-baby jiggles. Just for fun (?!) I'm finally using my "30 Day Shred" DVD while I countdown to 30. I figure it couldn't hurt -- well, actually, it does hurt (so far), but that's the point!

- Drinking a green smoothie a day. This, for me, is a great way to get in some good raw vegetables and fruits with minimal effort. Christian loves them too. He loves to put "leaves" in the blender and he's in charge of blending it all up once the lid is in place. I prefer them for breakfast but sometimes we have them with dinner if the morning was too crazy. We'll eat them for a few days in a row and then drop the ball so I'm trying to do better with this. It helps keep me balanced.

- Leaving the sink EMPTY before going to bed at night. Is there anything worse than waking up to a dirty, dish-filled sink? We try to stay on top of things but once a week there's a night that's totally insane and I look at the pile we never got to and decide to head to bed instead. After that, it's all downhill from there. Our apartment starts to fall apart and there's no recovering it until the weekend thanks to our busy schedules. You may think I'm kidding but I really think a clean sink and cleared counter make all the difference in our home. It keeps all of us motivated to load our own dishes and clean up after ourselves. (Side note: I spotted this cleaning schedule so I'm going to try it out. I must prefer to get the cleaning done during the week so we can play on the weekends and it will help me to have a set schedule.)

- Applying wrinkle cream morning and night. When I turned 25, I told my mom all I wanted was a big jar of wrinkle cream. I used it casually till it ran out. Reality hit hard the other day when I studied the skin around my eyes in the mirror the other day and, let's just say, I'm rededicating myself to making the effort. (I also think I spotted my first gray hair! Shane says it wasn't but I think he was just being nice.)

- Flossing every day. I'm the worst with this. I just need to take a minute each night to make it happen. That way maybe I won't get scolded by the dentist next time around.

- Getting six hours or sleep or more. This entails going to bed earlier, especially on days when I'm planning to run before work. For me this is going to take real effort. It's so easy to justify staying up when you have so much left on your "to-do" list  -- or I just need some time to unwind -- but I need to just remember, it will still be there tomorrow. ;)

Okay, some of these goals/habits are obviously more superficial than others (and there's plenty more I'm trying to work on) but really, I just want to be more in control of my life as I enter this next decade. To act and not be acted upon. I want to be more organized, I want to be more generous, I want to be more available to others -- whether its my family or my church or my community. And I feel like I'll have more that I can give if I do better at keeping myself balanced along the way.