After all this talk about Andy’s birthday, I realized it’s been a long time since I checked in on my forty before forty list (ugh, going from a thirty before thirty to forty before forty is a little rough on the ego). I’ve already crossed a few things off this list, and I still have some really fun items to complete.  And even better yet is that I still have a few years to do it!

Here’s my list and links to what I’ve completed:

1.  learn to make pancakes just like my mother’s (she made the best ones!)
2.  go on a gondola ride in Venice  DONE!
3.  renovate our kitchen
4.  take a trip to Los Angeles  DONE!
5.  eat a cheeseburger DONE and DONE!
6.  attend a blogger conference
7.  learn to use and be confident with my camera
8.  clean and organize the attic
9.  eat at home 6 out of 7 dinners each week for a month
10.  take an interior design class
11.  throw a dinner party
12.  sew a dress
13.  use the grill all by myself
14.  make waffle cones with the waffle cone maker I bought a year ago
15.  have a cocktail at the Velvet Tango Room in Cleveland  DONE!
16.  grow an herb garden
17.  clean out the basement
18.  take Andy to Fairbanks, Alaska, where I grew up
19.  go to a drive-in movie
20.  repaint all of our interior doors
21.  take a cooking class
22.  go to the Cleveland Zoo
23.  sew throw pillows for the bedroom
24.  frame and hang all the art we have in storage
25.  build a new garage  DONE!
26.  paint the guest room and rest of the attic
27.  drink a Guinness in Ireland
28.  renovate our bathrooms
29.  eat at Pommes Frites in NYC  DONE!
30.  sell or use our trailer
31.  go to a hockey game in an arena I’ve never been to
32.  landscape our front and backyards
33.  eat gelato in Italy  DONE!
34.  try silkscreening again
35.  go on a tour of Alcatraz
36.  get to my ideal weight and maintain it
37.  adopt a dog
38.  downsize to a smaller house
39.  love my job, by any means necessary (sorry, job!)
40.  have a baby

This is fun! I’m such a nut about making lists.

Here’s a picture of me and Andy eating our first gelatos in Venice. Somehow in all those pictures I posted of Italy I never posted one of us eating gelato… and believe me when I say we ate A LOT of it!