My twenties were freakin AWESOME, and everything they were supposed to be, according to every Buzzfeed post you’ve read in the last 5 minutes.
I started them in love with a spectacular guy, got far too intoxicated all too often at the so appropriately nicknamed University of Casual Sex and Beer, entertained a handful of delicious guys who’s names all started with the letter J, graduated college and immediately hopped a Eurail through Western Europe with my bestest friend, suffered a brief heart murmur for a hott Italian boy named Giuseppe while in Barcelona, worked my ass off in the industry that I always dreamt of being a part of, revisited the place where I became a woman atop Masada, and picked my life up to move to the place I only thought I never ever wanted to live, ever.
And well, since the last decade and everything that came before were so breathtakingly tremendous, I thought it only appropriate to send them out with the same bang that they came in with, only with less vomit and blue tongue.
So, without any further ado, here we have 30 bomb diggity things I did before turning the fab age of 30 this Monday!
1. Skydived out of a helicopter while attempting to shout “HOLY SHIT!!” over the Swiss Alps, in Interlaken, Switzerland.
2. Road tripped cross-country to spend Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Disgusting.
3. Grew my first grey hairs in my “Garden of Grey” while coordinating fancy events and GLAM SQUADS for Jenny from the Block.
4. Got LASEK and “restored” (if that even means they were ever perfect) my eyes to 20/20!
5. Got my degree and hit the road for a month through Western Europe with MayMay.
6. Went on Birthright, and big surprise, came back head-over-heels in intense L**E (?) with a sexy IDF soldier.
7. Went fishing for the first time in Phu Quoc, Vietnam and caught a school of my very own fish…that I later ate.
8. Was a bridesmaid for the first time in the wedding of 2 of my dearest high school friends.
9. Watched, with pure glee, as my favorite dance teacher tapped his face off as Mr. Braithwait in Billy Elliot on Broadway.
10. Took an authentic Thai cooking course in Chiang Mai.
11. Schaeff family roadtripped to Graceland, Mt. Rushmore, the White House and nearly all 50 US states in a 15 seater van.
12. Saw *NSYNC, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Madonna and The Rolling Stones (amongst others….) all live in concert. Teeny bopper fo lyfe.
13. Spent a Fab 4 New Year’s Eve on stage with Kanye West in Vegas, long before he was half of Kimye.
14. Made the overseas move to Korea and lived in my own apartment for the first time.
15. Swam with Spinner dolphins in the wild, off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii.
16. Had a great young love (and a big chunky camera!)
17. Took a bath with, and rode an elephant, through the Thailand jungle.
18. Gallivanted through Angkor Wat.
19. Got Bat Mitzvah’d atop Masada, while my family laughed beside me, and then I slathered my body in Dead Sea mud.
20. Laid with baby tigers, spooned a mama or papa tiger, and caught a couple tigers by their tails.
21. Got stuck in a typhoon in Osaka, Japan with nothing to do but karaoke Celine Dion and drink sake all night long!
22. Walked (quite scared) through the Red Light District and watched a live sex show in Amsterdam.
23. Let my knockers out as part of a Rocky Horror Picture Show shadow cast.
24. Saw Heath Ledger and Ben Affleck on Leno, James Franco on Conan, sat front row at Ellen and went to the Grammys! Shameless “I’m so LA” brag.
25. Witnessed an actual sea parting, with Moses, during Passover, while wearing a “Shalom” fanny pack, in the Jindo province of Korea.
26. Visited Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany (and took this severely awkward photo), and Anne Frank’s hiding place in Amsterdam, two WW2 places I’ve always wanted to see.
27. Taught myself how to make a few signature Koreans dishes. Here we have some kimchi jjigae.
28. Shot a Vietcong AK-47 in Saigon.
29. Learned to read and write Korean.
30. Started and MAINTAINED this here bloggy blog!
HELLLLLOOOOOO 30!!!
This is great! I love it!
thanks matty boy!
Happy 30th to you! May you continue to thrive and keep checking off that bucket list! Girl you have lived some amazing moments……just think what the future holds, keep traveling and dreaming. May you always have peace in your mind and a full heart!!! xo Danice
aw thank you mama hord! you’re the sweetest š
Sounds like you’re doing it right! You swam with spinner dolphins in Hawaii?!?! That’s my dream! Tell me more!!! I’m also a Gaucho and living in Korea… great minds think alike! š
Ah shut up! You went to UCSB? When did you graduate?! The dolphins were awesome, and I think def the way to do the whole swimming with dolphins thing. Since they’re spinners they’re way tinier than bottlenose and their sonar is far more sensitive as well, so while you can touch bottlenose you can’t touch the spinners, you just swim with them which is one of the coolest things ever! We did it in Oahu, I don’t remember the company but I’m sure if you google it tons of companies will come up. It took us way out and dropped us off when they knew they were coming. DEF WORTH IT! š
Omg that sounds amazing! I am definitely going to do that someday. I graduated in 2008! You? I just visited SB on my vacation last week… Sadly I didn’t make it to Freebirds because going to IV just makes me feel old these days but everything else was still amazing. Also, I took a tap class when I was home, which I thought you’d appreciate haha. Hadn’t worn a pair of tap shoes in years but it’s amazing how quickly muscle memory kicks in! š
How funny! I graduated in 2006. We def may know some of the same people! I was actually back last Jan and went to Freebirds and it was just as bomb as it was back then, but yea, it’s so weird going back to IV. You suddenly feel eons older than everyone. There are also so many new places. It’s really coming up lol. And YAY for tap! That’s awesome! It’s my fave š I took a class here once and got my ass handed to me, but I think it may have also been that I was so nervous and they were all speaking Korean lol. I think we would get along swimmingly, so if you’re ever up in Seoul let me know, and I’ll do the same for Daegu š