30b430

Achieving thirty goals, making my dreams and wishes come true before turning 30.

[pothw]

ok, so as i was talking about earlier, i have to  give away at random one of the props from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I’ve had them for 10 years and I think its time for one of them to find a new home.

At random i will give away one of the following - An envelope for Mr Potter, A Knut, A Sickle or a Galleon (all are actually minted by a bank) or the Gringotts cheque as shown in my frame.

now i’m not asking you to follow me or any of those other stupid things the Tumblr Giveaway’s do, just reblog this post and when there are enough enough reblogs i will announce a winner at random

good luck!

[30before-blog]

wow what a gift!

[luz-sonriente]

Siren Song series by Victor Nizovtsev

[30before-blog]

oh my god these paintings!

[odendron]

[prochoicegeneration]

Best post

[dancingloki]

Also, Lily Potter would have never wanted an abortion, because she was a financially well-off white woman starting a family in a happy marriage with a secure place at the top of wizarding society.

The question you should be asking is what if Merope Gaunt, an impoverished and uneducated single woman who escaped from a severely abusive family only to become pregnant with the unwanted child of a man who wanted nothing to do with her, had had access to an abortion and not had immense social pressure brainwashing her into carrying to term?

[heretherebdragons]

Perfect commentary is perfect.

[inverts]

it got better

[30before-blog]

Perfect!

[beauty-in-the-breakd0wn-deactiv]

‘Fat’ is usually the first insult a girl throws at another girl when she wants to hurt her. I mean, is ‘fat’ really the worst thing a human being can be? Is ‘fat’ worse than ‘vindictive’, ‘jealous’, ‘shallow’, ‘vain’, ‘boring’ or ‘cruel’? Not to me; but then, you might retort, what do I know about the pressure to be skinny? I’m not in the business of being judged on my looks, what with being a writer and earning my living by using my brain… I went to the British Book Awards that evening. After the award ceremony I bumped into a woman I hadn’t seen for nearly three years. The first thing she said to me? ‘You’ve lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw you!’ ‘Well,’ I said, slightly nonplussed, ‘the last time you saw me I’d just had a baby.’ What I felt like saying was, ‘I’ve produced my third child and my sixth novel since I last saw you. Aren’t either of those things more important, more interesting, than my size?’ But no – my waist looked smaller! Forget the kid and the book: finally, something to celebrate! I’ve got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed world, and it worries me, because I don’t want them to be empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones; I’d rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny – a thousand things, before ‘thin’. And frankly, I’d rather they didn’t give a gust of stinking chihuahua flatulence whether the woman standing next to them has fleshier knees than they do. Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons.

J.K. Rowling (via likejameslovedlily)

[nodaybuttodaytodefygravity]

[timothydelaghetto-deactivated20]

WTF.. the Rock looks like a character out of a comic book, muscles I used to draw as a little kid and shit… CRAZY!

[30before-blog]

Fuck. Yes.

One BIG thing I have learned with weight loss and healthy living that it CANT be all or nothing. Thats no way to live your life! ENJOY food, just do it in moderation.

[smeagoled]

[30before-blog]

Truth to live by, JK you are my hero forever.

[30before-blog]

Drawing to a close Part 2

As days go by I have been thinking more and more about what I'm going to do with this blog once I'm finished with everything. Results are: I have no idea.

Originally I had planned to put all my articles together and try and write a book about the last 2 years of my life. My personal growth, ideas, inspirations, pit falls, realisations... but now that the time has actually come to start thinking about that I have sorta lost the fire in my gut to make it happen.

I guess this is largely due to the fact that feel I have done a pretty good job at recording all them things in the actual posts themselves and I dont feel like making more work for myself if I can avoid it :P

I started this journey for a number of reasons. One was, I didn't want to be one of them people who regretted their past. By that I mean, I didn't want to turn thirty and look back and think "what the hell have I done with the last 30 years of my life?!". I want to turn 30 and think "Holeycrap Ive done alot for someone whos only thirty!" and I believe I have accomplished that. Not just with these meager 30 tasks, but they certainly kicked into gear to getting my shit together and figuring out what I wanted to do with my life.

Another reason was, I never want to be one of them people who dreads growing older. Those who know me know I have an old Dad. He will be 77 this year I think? or 76? Ahh I lost count... my point is that every birthday the dude has is a celebration! Never has he EVER said "nah no birthday this year we are just skipping it..." its always "SARAH MAKE ME A T-SHIRT WITH MY AGE ON IT SO I CAN START AWKWARD CONVERSATIONS WHEN I NOTICE PEOPLE READING IT!!" (so that actually did happen... he had a shirt made saying "I'm 74!" and LOVED when people asked him about it haha). Every year is a blessing, every year is appreciated and never looked back upon with a "what the fuck did I DO with my time" sort of outlook. The man doesn't stop actually :P So with this goal in mind, I thought it would be a great way to ease me into my 30's, something that I can look back and remember wonderful times through and enjoy little moments along the journey. I believe I have accomplished this also.

Yet another reason was, I NEVER finish what I start and I wanted to set myself goals I thought I could achieve. I am the worst for finishing anything. THE WORST! I think this is mostly due to the fact that I am a commitmentphobe and also when I set goals... I usually make them epic. It's always been "I WANT TO BE SKINNY!" not "I want to change my lifestyle" and with goals like that, as soon as you inevitably slip up you feel like you failed so whats the point in trying anymore. Setting realistic goals was the key and for the most part I think I did a good job at achieving results.

And one of the biggest reasons was, I wanted to change big flaws in my personality before becoming a mother. For the last 3 years, I have known that I wanted to be a mum at some point. My mum and husband kept bringing it up so I told them they couldn't bother me about it till after I turned 30. This gave me some time to sort out shit in my head before having to worry about the shit going on in my child's head. Hangups I had about my body, my gender, my personality, my beliefs, my career were all weighing heavy on my shoulders at the time and I didn't want to pass these pressures on to any spawn I ended up bringing into the world. It wouldn't be fair on them, so I wanted to give myself time to sort my shit out and finally make some positive changes to my life. I think of all the reasons behind this blog, this one was the biggest and this one was the one I had the most success with.

I don't want this post to prattle on too much, but basically after almost 3 years of being self aware, thinking before reacting and learning from my mistakes... I can honestly say I have grown into a strong, mostly confident, successful and proud woman. I really like myself and while I am terrified of becoming a mum, I think in the end I will make a pretty good one.

I'm sure I will have more to say on the subject later on.

Breaking this blog-goodbye into chunks sounded like a good idea to begin with but now I find I have so much I want to talk about ... I'm once again making too much work for myself :P

[30before-blog]

#3 Finish a piece of art just for me

I know I already blorged about finishing this... and I stand by that lame effort! But I just worked my arse off on this little project to finish it for my Nephews nursery and I am really super proud of the end result.

It was a MASSIVE challenge and I am going to dedicate a full article to its process as it took me on quite a journey.

[30before-blog]

#3 Finish a piece of art just for me

OK so I guess this isn't the kind of "art work" I had in mind back when I wrote this item for the list... but after having a think about it, it certainly fits the bill.

A little while back I was commissioned to create a logo for a lovely lady, she wanted an illustrated logo inspired by an old (and iconic) sign of the Skipping Girl (from Sydney Aus).

I of course got very excited and started my creative process, sketching out thumbnails of my interpretations and in the end I came up with 5 solid sketched ideas. The main 3 were;

#1 a childish version of this skipping girl in my illustrative style

#2 a more age similar version of this skipping girl in my illustrative style

#3 a closer version to the original sign, keeping that neon look going

The client ended up really loving this third option and that's the one we went with in the end. She was really happy and so was I! And that was the end of the project...

UNTIL NOW! Sort of.

I was cleaning my desk recently (yes you heard that right, cleaning my desk! PRAISE ME!) and i found the old sketches I did for Skippin' Girl. Even though they were rough and just drawn on crappy print paper, I couldn't throw them out for some reason. I really liked them! So I pinned them to my paper board and once again forgot about them for a time.

This weekend I had some time to kill and, feeling inspired by some amazing people on Tumblr and Pinterest I thought I would give bringing them old ideas to life a crack. It was purely for my own pleasure, just to see if I could have made the ideas work as logos.

I redrew them, inked them, scanned them, cleaned the lines up in photoshop, traced them in illustrator and then brought them back over to photoshop to be coloured (something I usually do in illustrator but since the project was just for me I thought WHAT THE HELL MAN LETS GO CRAYCRAY IN PS!).

I have to say, I really enjoyed the whole process. If my old client were to see these, I know she would still pick that third option. It really worked with the style she wanted and these remakes are very far from her original idea... but as iconic logos I think they would have both worked well.

What do you think internet?

And thats the story of how I sort of cheaped out on this list item and didn't feel bad about it one bit!

[30before-blog]

#23 Draw and frame a montage of Robots for our hallway

[30before-blog]

Drawing to a close

Far out so, I turn 30 in less then 2 months. In 42 days to be exact!

This has got me thinking about my list and brought me to the conclusion that, obviously, I will not be completing all 30 tasks :P

I set out with the best intentions but you know how shit gets!... Life gets in your way and commitments change and what you once thought extremely important suddenly becomes a passing fancy and then ends up fluttering off into oblivion.

Ive done so much since I started this journey though, so I am far from disappointed in myself. Before I keep going, I'm going to stop myself because I feel like this is turning into my "leaving" speech and I'm not done with things just yet!

I think theres another 5 I can do before my time is officially up... so stay tuned for some pretty random updates coming to a tumblor near you!

[30before-blog]

#14 Go on a weekend holiday with Jeremy

Quietly, before Christmas this year (last year?! 2012!) Jeremy and I slipped away for the weekend to go on our little holiday. We actually ended up calling it our Honeymoon since we never had one years ago when we got married.

Most frustrating thing about this post is going to be, I lost ALL the photos from our trip! I didnt even post them up on my social feeds like I usually do because Jeremy told me not to due to people potentially seeing my tweets, figuring out we weren't at home and robbing our house. That's how he thinks. 24/7 that is his brain!

So anyway! We took a beautiful trip down south to Margaret River to an amazing chalet bought by my parents on a KUDO voucher :D Cheap is good!

Jem and I dont go away much, so we aren't exactly hotel connoisseurs or anything... but this place we were at was seriously stunning! Log fire (which we didnt use being that its the middle of summer), big comfy bed, kitchen, tv, lovely surroundings, everything was top notch!

Our first day there we went on a bit of an adventure, driving along the coast, looking at the rich people houses and basking in the beauty. Margaret River really is quite stunning.

We went to the caves and did the Mammoth Cave tour which was pretty dam incredible! Seeing the cave formations and the way things have grown over literally millions of years really left us in awe of the place.

We went out for one of the most amazing lunches we have ever had in our lives! Lasagne and salad with a milkshake each... can I just say... fuck yes!

When we eventually made our way home we were exausted and wanted nothing more then to eat and relax. Our cabin was outfitted with a ready-to-use kitchen which was great. We bought some food stuff from the local IGA and went home to get our chef on (believing that we could save some moneys if we cooked for ourselves... ha).

Little did we know, while the kitchen DID have the tools to make food, the tools were the worst in the entire world. Every knife was so blunt I could have got better results using the spoons. The cooking pan was one of them ones that EVERYTHING sticks to unless you use a shitton of butter. The oven and stove was electric and while it looked brand new, functioned like a ... cant think of anything funny to compare it to but lets go with IT WAS BAD! Basically, it took us 3 times as long to cut up the ingredients as it normally would, the meat got burnt, the pasta wouldn't cook properly and the whole thing came together like shit in a shoe. We ate it though cause like... fuck going to all that trouble only to be beaten by a shit kitchen. YOU COULDNT BEAT US TERRIBLE KITCHEN!!

We spent the rest of the night watching dumb movies, laughing and hanging out.

All in all, it was a great day <3

The next day we had to pack up to leave. On our way out we stopped at the shops and Jeremy bought me a beautiful little silver ring (i made him do it BUT he picked it out, aww). Then with home on our minds we got in the car and raced home to see our little Beans. We love that dog far too much to go away for more then a few nights. Shes our sun and stars!!

And yeah, thats pretty much it!!

When you write it out like this it comes across as kinda a boring trip, I realize this... jem and I aint jetsetters. We love our life and our home and our lifestyle. We dont dream of big holidays away or pine for adventure I guess because we live every day with love and laughter. Who'd want to escape that?!

When Jem and I dream, its of future plans. Farms, animals, homelife, shit that revolves around being parents and making the world a little brighter every day.

Although I would kill all your mothers for tickets to Harry Potter world in Orlando. Just sayin. I would.

[30before-blog]

Sah, I haven't accomplished much in my life, but I did have you and If that's as good as it gets IM ECSTATIC!!! WOW I'm proud of you, your outlooks, your passions and you have a beautiful heart You made me giggle just thinking of you....You keep doing what your doing. Cos your oozing joy. You have helped me with my hangups. And it should be the other way around. U are a Carebear My Tenderheart My Daughter. XXX you are going to make a kickarse mum. I loves you soooo much

This is a message my Mum left me on facebook after reading some of my posts up here. I had to share it because of all the lovely messages she has ever left me, this one really touched my heart. I have the best mum in the world <3

[30before-blog]

#15 Donate money and make a care package to an Animal Shelter

[30before-blog]

#13 Donate Blood

Daw, this is my first official "FAIL" because try and whine as I might, it is impossible for me to complete this task.

BUT I did however try very hard to complete it!

My biggest problem with this one was, I got a tattoo early on and you have a wait period before you can donate blood. Granted I have had years to do this and if I was organise or had thought about it, I COULD have done it before I got my tat. But you know, swings and roundabouts?

So I booked Jeremy and myself in for our donation appointment, went through all the interview process and as the lady was asking me questions I said "I know for sure I'm not pregnant, but I am trying to get pregnant. That's not a problem is it?" Because I was taking pre-pregnancy vitamins I thought better do the right thing and ask the question.

Well apparently this sent up a huge red STOP flair. Because we were trying, nothing to even DO with the vitamins... I was not allowed to give blood. Not even plasma. I pleaded with her (quite pathetically I might add) that I really really wanted to do this and if I didnt do it now, I might actually fall pregnant next month and for sure not be able to for the next year! The woman looked very kindly at me and thanked me for my "passion" but said its far more important that I am healthy if we are trying to conceive and my red blood cell count was a big factor. Which I dont think it IS but whateverrrr.

Turns out though, I totally was pregnant :P We found out literally a week after this donation interview so I guess I should thank the interview lady.

Thanks lady!

Heres some proof that we DID go in (not allowed to take pics once inside the center). Oh also thats my rad new car! Her name is Penny!

[30before-blog]

#21 Splash a kid at the beach without them knowing it was me

Of all the stupid goals to have on this list, this was by FAR one that played on my mind the most... and the most fun to achieve!

I have quite a large side to my family, being my Cousins troop of 5 kids. And because seeing everyone on Christmas is mission impossible, this year we all decided to hang together and have a picnic on the river a few days before.

It was seriously such an awesome day full of laughs and food and presents. Exactly what Christmas is to me. Family and love.

My parents brought their little blow up dingies and we took the kids (who cant swim) out for a ride. Tied together with rope (so they wouldnt float away in the strong river current) the kids had an absolute ball!

Things soon turned to splashing each other, screams of "DONT GET ME WET" went unheard as one of the boys realized he could splash much more effectively using the dingie ores :P

They were being loud and squeelie, drawing the attention of other kids playing on the rivers edge. I saw my opportunity to knock this goal out and I took it!

2 little boys around 8yo came over to play and as my cousins were splashing around, I grabbed an ore and splashed the shit out of one of the random kids who were trying to join in. He had no idea where it came from (wasnt expecting an "adult" to get him I imagine) and I had completely soaked him! When i went for my second splash however, he saw it was me and looked pretty delighted! He started to get in on the splashing and they all spent a good 5 mins going feral in the Swan River.

Then my dad pushed me completely in, i landed on rocks and i was over it :P WAY TO GO DAD!

I didn't take any photos as I was soaking wet, but it was a great little moment and I'm glad I got the chance to live it :)

[30before-blog]

#7 Make a strawberry pie with my own strawberries

SOOoooo this one had to be slightly modified due to the fact that I am incapable of growing goddam strawberries for some reason!!! I have planted like, 6 or 7 strong strawberry plants now. Looked after them (mostly, kept them watered and shaded and loved... and the dam things either die from insects or they just never actually flower. I think this year after planting so many I have eaten 2 strawberries. Not enough for a pie.

But I still really wanted to knock this off my list! Instead of a strawberry pie, I thought "fuck, why not step it up and make a Cherry Pie instead!?" .. Cherries being my most fav fruit in the world you see.

So I did! And heres how:

YOU WILL NEED:

Pastry 125g unsalted butter, at room temperature ½ cup sugar (I used brown sugar) 1 egg ¾ cup plain flour ¾ cup self-raising flour Filling 1kg fresh cherries, pitted 2 tablespoons sugar pinch of ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ¼ cup water 1 tablespoon cornflour

MAKE THE MAGIC HAPPEN

Wash your cherries and pit with your hands. Enjoy cause this takes fucking ages and shit goes everywhere.

Combine sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and two tablespoons of the water in a large pan. Cook stirring over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Add cherries and stir gently to coat. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally. Remove from heat.

Combine cornflour and remaining water in a small bowl and stir into the cherries. Return to heat and cook, stirring gently for 3 to 4 minutes or until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat, cover and cool completely.

Your Cherry Filling is COMPLETE! Yeahhhh eat some, it tastes so good!

STEP 2, THE PASTRY Alot of people might skip this step, choosing to use premade pastry slices. Trust me when I say, dont be a lazy jerk. The pastry soaks up all the juice from the cherry filling and tastes so good you want to American Pie that shit! Preheat oven 180°C/ 160°C and grease a 20cm pie dish. Didnt take a photo of this step because seriously...

Using electric beaters, a fork.. whatever you got to mix butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Beat in egg. Add sifted flour (both types) and stir until mixture just comes together. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth. Press enough of the dough over base and up sides of dish to form a 5mm thick pastry case. Trim excess. Personally, I had NO excess because i was using such a huge pan for my tin thingie, but if you have left overs keep it for the top of the pie.

Place dish onto an oven tray. Line pastry with baking paper and fill with dried beans or rice (this is to stop it from raising too much). Bake for 20 minutes. Remove rice and cook for a further 10 - 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool and then spoon in cooled cherry mixture. Awwww yeah look at that shit! Roll out remaining pastry between two sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick and large enough the cover pie. Trim edge with a knife and press the edge to seal. If you want to get fancy, brush the top with beaten egg and sprinkle the pie with sugar! Cut a circle in the centre of the pastry top and discard. (this is to let the steam out so the center cooks properly)

^ I couldn't do any of that cause I had no left overs, so instead I used some pre-made sheets and tried my first pie lattice! I sliced the pastry into 1.5cm lengths and just layered them ontop of eachother, leaving about 1cm between each slice.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden. Cool in pan then cut and serve warm or cold. Serve with custard or ice-cream. awwww yeah put that in your mouth!