Jyoti's #26: Actually donate the clothes I don't wear instead of thinking "one day..."

I thought I had a picture of the tons of bags that I donated right around the holidays, but I can't find it. Sad face :(

Anyway, donated literally hundreds of clothes at the end of last year and it was so great for so many reasons - a) giving to charity always feels great! b) i cleaned out my closets, drawers, etc. to have space for NEW stuff and c) tax deduction, woohoo!

In fact, I loved it so much that I am now doing it every 6 months and have another 3 bags to donate now! This is the whole point of 30 before 30 I guess, right? Doing things that I have been putting off to help make my life better on a continual basis. Sweeet.

Jyoti's #2: Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge

This one I did last summer with my bestie Annie! It was wonderful and thrilling. And to be honest, made me want to a) climb up on the wires on the sides of the bridge, b) jump off the bridge into the water or c) all of the above! I did it from the Manhattan side to the Brooklyn side, but I heard the opposite is even more beautiful. Next time I will do that!

Me and Annie at the center of the bridge!

Just me. Walking over the bridge. Crossing things off my list. NBD.

So, so beautiful. So, so tempting to scale.

Jyoti's #14: Go to Wrigley field for a baseball game

I finally did this, yippeee!!! I was in Chicago for a work "event" earlier this year and lo and behold, not only were the Cubs in town, but they were playing the Red Sox!! It was a crazy hot day, but it was super fun to be at Wrigley and see such a historic, fun stadium. I have to say, that this was one of the craziest baseball games I have ever been to! It was 1 in the afternoon and the stadium was packed with people who were blitzed drunk, with their shirts off/in bikinis and getting tan. A very fun atmosphere but something that I will probably never see at Fenway! Sadly I didn't get any pictures of me with my friends (just too hot I guess!) but here is an iPhone photo of the park. So happy to cross this one off and hopefully I get to go again soon!

Wrigley field - Cubs vs. the Red Sox, woohoo!

Jyoti's #8: Perform on stage in some way, small or big

This was a really fun one! The company that I work for has a summer offsite every year and we have a company band play and different people get up and sing. Last year (the summer of 2011) my friend Donald and I sang "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz, with the lyrics changed to be about my company. I was actually super nervous (I can dance until the cows come home, but singing is not something I have done a ton of!), but we had SO much fun. I also danced on stage to my friend singing Justin Bieber's Baby. I think perhaps I chose the wrong profession in life. Studies, blah. MIT, blah. Science, blah. Business, blah. Musicals, YEAH!!!

Weird side angle, but me and Donald performing!

Getting funky to Baby with Mo!

Monisha, Donald and I in the finale

Fun picture of Monisha, Donald and I (and others) in the finale!

Jyoti's #7: Spend a day without saying one single word

This is a short entry because I don't really remember it, but about 6 or 7 months ago Poops was gone for the whole weekend and I didn't have any plans on Saturday and I wasn't in the mood to chat with anybody on the phone so I spent the whole day without saying a word.

While it was calming and character-building, it also was very, very weird. Something that I will probably (ideally) not be doing again.

Jyoti's #5: Go on a solo vacation

Phew, after a long time getting back to updating this blog and making progress on 30 before 30! So, a few months ago I went to visit my most fabulous friend Corrin and it turned out that she ended needing to travel for work right when I was going to be there. Sad to not spend as much time together but happy to say hello to checking off one of my 30 before 30 - a solo vacation!

I was traveling from Tuesday-Sunday (I think?) and Corrin and I spent the weekend in Amsterdam, which means I had 3 wonderful days to spend by myself in London. How was it? In short, AMAZING. I obviously missed my friend, but it was so fun to explore the city on my own, have no schedule, see lots of sights when and how I wanted to and just spend some time with little old me! The only tough part was taking pictures, so you can see below that I perfected the one-armed-self-portrait technique. Haha.

Overall, a fantastic time and will definitely be doing this again in the future. See, so many learnings from 30 before 30 :)

Going shopping in London. Topshop, here I come!

Buckingham Palace. They invited me in but I said no, you know, wanted to keep it low key.

Walking across the Millennium Bridge. I was lucky to have gotten the best weather ever. If London is always like this, I want to live here!

In front of Big Ben. Hardest picture EVER to take with so many people walking by!

FAV PICTURE EVA!

Leilani's 30 before 30 list

While flying through the air Jyoti and Leilani became quick friends discussing life and different trapeze tricks. One day while working on our trampoline back-flips, the two were discussing them nearing the big 3-0 to which Jyoti explained her 30 before 30 to which Leilani responded enthusiastically, wanting to join. And so it goes, a third joins the journey of completely their 30 before 30’s. 

Leilani's 30 before 30 list: to be completed by March 21, 2013

1. Become intermediate in Trapeze
2. Learn to run
3. Perform at an open mike night  
4. Finish my children’s book, start a grown-up one
5. Learn Hebrew
6. Volunteer more consistently (maybe habitat for humanity)
7. Learn to drive stick-shift
8. Learn to snowboard/ski (at least a bunny slope)
9. Figure skate
10. Meditate daily for 8 weeks straight
11. Photography
12. Learn another instrument
13. Write 1 letter/lost card weekly
14. Twinkle again
15. Learn to surf
16. Build a snowman
17. Love and trust fearlessly
18. Write a song
19. Ride a motorcycle
20. Compete in something
21. Patent my brilliant idea
22. Do an unassisted handstand (handstand backbend for bonus points)
23. Become proficient in one new form of dance (tap, tango, swing, hiphop, flamenco, etc. – ideas welcome) 
24. Take a trip where I don’t book my ticket until the day I leave
25. Visit two countries I’ve never been to
26. Jockey a horse
27. Donate blood
28. TBD*
29. TBD*
30. TBD*

* Note: I have about ten other items on a waitlist for these last three spots, but as I cannot choose from them and also feel like I’ll have some epiphany or someone will have a great idea of what one of these list items should be I am going to open it to suggestions and ideas and will decide a bit down the road. Here’s to 30 before 30