#14 Go to Harry Potter World in Florida

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a Potter fanatic. Well, not a dress up like Hermione for the premiere fanatic. But a fanatic who has read the books, that were delivered to her door on release day, countless numbers of times; listened to the audio books (Jim Dale version is the only way to go) at least twice; and went to the midnight showing of every movie (yes, all 8 of them).

Ever since my mom handed me the first book, that was given to my brother for his birthday I think?, (Thanks Judie!!) on a summer day i was complaining of boredom, I have been taken by the world created by J.K. Rowling. It is one of the few books I can get lost in over and over again.

So it seems only fitting that I take a trip to Hogwarts Castle. I'll try some butter beer, visit honey dukes, and probably buy a wand at Olivanders. Just thinking about it makes me feel giddy like a school girl . . . I can't wait!

#13 Visit 2 National Parks

Chris and I love the great outdoors and spending time hiking, canoeing, and exploring (although my friends will attest to the fact that I do NOT camp, under any circumstances, my day in the great outdoors better end with a real shower either at my house or in a hotel :)). We have always tried to spend the Minnesota summers exploring the parks and lakes that Minnesota has to offer. But I think it is time to branch out, especially with our pending move to Texas. So I would like to visit at least two national parks in the next four years. Some ideas: Yellowstone, The Grand Canyon, or really any on this list would be excellent.

#12 Visit Washington D.C., tour the Supreme Court

I am one of those people who loves history filled vacations. Unlike my sister, I got my dad's genes when it comes to loving museums and history. So I find it kind of funny that I have never been to Washington D.C. I would love to go and tour around everything, there is so much history there that it would be super fun. Part of that includes touring the Supreme Court. Last time my dad visited Washington D.C. for work he brought me back a Supreme Court coffee table book and some super awesome prints. It looks very cool. Plus, the reason I went to law school is that I wanted to be a judge, so that makes it even cooler! I can't wait to take a trip out to D.C. and tour the sites!

#11 Visit the Town My Grandma is From in Mexico

If you didn't know, now you do: My grandma is a first generation American, which I think is pretty cool. I think it would be so much fun to go and visit the town where my grandma grew up in Mexico, especially after I get better at speaking Spanish. So sometime in the next 4 years I want to gather up my mom and grandma and head on down to see a piece of my history.

#10 Take a European Cross-Contental Cruise with Chris

Chris and I have talked about this one for a while now. For our 5 year aniversary we want to go on a two week European cruise that starts in Italy and ends in Florida. Now we might find a different or better cruise by the time we decide it is time to go, but the goal of this one is to take a BIG vacation somewhere out of the country.

#9 Have My First Post-Graduate Degree Required Job

This one is also pretty self explanatory. It's time for me to grow up and get a big girl job!

Now to be more specific it just has to be degree required, that doesn't mean it has to be a lawyer job. It just can't be caribou or starbucks :).

I'm more than okay with being flexible in trying to find my career path, especially in this economy. I might have to get creative in finding what I want to do, but by the time i'm 30 I would like to have found something.

#8 Pass the Texas Bar

The big test that will officially make me a lawyer, the last obstacle standing between me and being done with school for forever, the bar. Three days of lawyer torture where I have to know 12+ subjects, fill out 200 multiple choice questions in 6 hours and 12 essay questions in 6 hours. It isn't your mothers licensure exam! But the nice thing is, I just have to pass. So hopefully I only have to take it once, but even if I have to take it more than once, by the time I'm 30, I better have passed the Texas bar exam!

#7 Move to Texas

Ever since my dad moved us up north when I was 12, I have always dreamed of moving to a warmer climate. Me and the MN winters just do not go well together. Luckily, Chris spent a year living in Oakland, and his MN born and bred self learned the awesomness of warmer climates. So with that, we decided that after I was finished with law school we would head to a warmer climate. After doing some research about economies and living conditions we had settled on either Austin,TX or California. The cost of living innn California didn't quite match up with our goals (aka any house we would ever be able to afford would be TINY and we would be spending way too much of our income on it for our liking) so we settled on Texas. We later were convinced by our good friends Phil and Jill that we should move to Dallas instead, because that was where they were moving. It also turns out that Dallas is a much larger city and therefore would have more job prospects for us. So we decided on Dallas.

On our aniversary last year we discussed our goals for the next year. Chris and I are both looking at job changes and we had to decide what was more important to us: waiting around until we found our perfect jobs in Texas and then move, or look for any job just so we could get down to Texas. We decided that getting to Texas was more important than getting the perfect job right now. We knew that if we didn't go now, we would be perpetually stuck in MN. So in November, when I was coming up with this list, I put moving to Texas on there.

Now, as I am writing this in mid-Jan, Chris is in Texas having started his new job on Jan. 3rd! It only took him a couple of weeks to find a job, oh to be an engineer. It ended up being an excellent job where he will be able to use his old skills while developing the new ones that he has been working on, so it looks like we get the best of both worlds. Moving to Texas, and an awesome job for Chris! More pics to follow of the whole moving process and our new rental house in Texas!!

First item on the list almost fulfilled!

#6 Read 30 New Books

This one is pretty self explanatory being that I have always been an avid reader. Now that I will no longer be tied down to law books (after I take the bar in March) I want to make sure to read lots of books. 30 shouldn't be so hard because it only averages out to about 7-8 books per year over 4 years. But they key is, they have to be new books. Reading Harry Potter for the ninth time doesnt count :)

#5 Volunteer with at-risk kids again

Before I started law school I was always volunteering with kids. At the YMCA, at the crisis nursery, at the church nursery, etc.

Enter law school and anything that wasn't necessary fell by the wayside.

But I don't want to spend the rest of my life being too busy to help people, and since I enjoy helping kids, that is the population I choose for the list. I think it would be fun to do some pro bono law work with a children's law center or something like that. That way, I can use my degree and help kids.

Laura

#4 Become (basically) fluent in Spanish

Oh Spanish . . . in high school I hated you. Refusing to learn more than I had to in 9th and 10th grade, I quickly forgot everything but the few sentences I had been taught in 3rd grade Spanish class. The I went to college and realized the amazingness that knowing you could bring. You were a piece of my heritage, a way to get me closer to my roots, and I longed to know you. Alas, my "I will pay for my last three years of college in cash," hardworking self refused to take a Spanish language course because of lack of time and wanting to graduate early. So there I was, 16 years of school under my belt and no foreign language to show for it.

But my desire to know Spanish did not diminish. I bought a number of at home study courses, but never really followed through with them. I also spent 6 weeks in Spain taking language course. While I am now somewhat conversational, I still want more.

So the plan is to finally use all of those at home study courses. Once those are complete we are going to buy Rosetta Stone and do the whole program. Once I feel like I've got a good set of knowledge under my belt we will make a trip to some non-touristy Spanish speaking area where I can practice my new skills. Hopefully by the end of this I will be able to speak, read, and write a whole lot better.

Then when I send my kids to Spanish immersion school I can keep up with their skills :)

#3 Get in Shape (noticeable abs) and stay that way for one month

I'm not a huge health nut, in the sense that I am not obsessed with being super in shape or being super skinny. I think that being healthy is important, and that requires some working out and eating the right foods. However, being super in shape requires ALOT of working out, and that is not something that I am usually willing to do. As long as I am healthy I am happy.

However, I thought it would be interesting to get in the best shape of my life once. Just so I can see what it is like.

So that is where #3 comes from. I added the noticeable abs, because those are likely going to be the last thing that comes on my body (it is the first place I gain weight), so once I see those I am likely in great shape. Staying that way for one month will allow me to see the real fruits of my labor.

Will I like it so much that I will want to stay that way for the rest of my life? Probably not (and even if so, I enjoy life too much to work out that much for the rest of my life). But it should be fun, or not?

#2 Run a 5k with Jill

Back at the end of our first year of law school Jill and I began training for a 5k. We ran 1 5k that summer (see a recap here) and then two more in the fall. Our goal was to run one in under 30 minutes, and we achieved that goal by our last 5k in the fall (28.5 minutes or something like that).

I would love to get back in shape again to be able to run a 5k. To all of the runners out there, it doesn't seem like much, but to me it is a huge accomplishment.

So this one is pretty simple.

Jill and I need to train again (spending the time chatting together is half of the fun!) and run a 5k.