1. After toying with the idea of living in Philadelphia for 5 years, I moved into the City to live with my then boyfriend.
2. I had my heart broken.
3. I moved again, this time with a friend of my sisters.
4. I gave up my car lease and stopped driving for the first time since I got my license.
5. After months of planning, we held our first GirlDevelopIt Philly class.
6. I developed my first website (Not ready for public consumption after one HTML/CSS class. You’re welcome ).
7. We changed direction at 123LinkIt.
8. My Company turned 2 years old.
9. I spent more time with my family and we became closer.
10. I decided to make a valiant effort to stop being my own worst enemy.
11. I’m finally learning how to cook.
12. For a period of time, I unintentionally got back to my High School weight (I promise it’s not related to the previous item, haha. P.S. Break-up “diets” are the best!).
13. I accepted a part-time teaching gig at Montgomery County Community College.
14. I blogged more…and was named one of the top 10 entrepreneurship bloggers in Philadelphia.
15. I finally made it on TechCrunch! Okay, not exactly but I’ll take a shout-out during my buddy’s TC Disrupt debut . (P.S. Check out Playsay.com for an innovative way to learn a new language using Facebook).
16. I’ve become open to the idea of marriage and having a family (I had sworn it off years ago).
17. I started dressing up more. As a long-term tomboy, this warrants inclusion to the list. I bought my first 3 dresses and I wear them without having to (which is a big deal for me). I also put my hair down for occasions besides special events. To put this in context, I would probably borrow a dress once a year from my sister and wear my hair down 5 times on a good year.
18. I bought this motorcycle. Okay, okay this didn’t really happen but I will have my own bike come Spring!
19. I accepted more invitations to speak at events such as TechGirlz, StartupCorps, Word 11 Prefix and PANMA.
20. I’m now volunteering to speak at events such as the upcoming WordCamp Philly and BarCampPhilly. I would not have done this last year.
21. I’ve grown closer to certain acquaintances and I’ve expanded my circle of friends of which almost half of them I didn’t know until recently.
22. I’m taking salsa classes.
23. I signed up to become a Big Sister (Pst, they’re looking for more volunteers. Click here to learn more about the Program).
24. After vehemently refusing to watch it, I finally saw the Star Wars trilogy and I had to swallow my pride to friends when I admitted to enjoying it.
25. I got back into running.
26. I ran my first 5k for CHOP.
27. Besides walking, I’m using a bicycle as my main mode of transportation.
28. I discovered I can still shoot a basketball. Last weekend, I beat two people at a PNC Bank P-I-G Challenge. The second person was a buff black guy who wasn’t too happy about it. Worse for him is I was wearing heels, ha! [Picture]. I used to play religiously during middle school and high school.
29. I learned you can’t change people who don’t want to change themselves, a difficult feat for someone as persistent as I am.
30. …more I can’t announce just yet!

For those who don’t know me I’m someone who develops habits, particularly with things I like. And when I like something, I become OBSESSED with it. Take a new song for example, I will listen to it repeatedly over a course of a few hours. I ordered rancheros huevos while out at brunch with friends a couple of months ago and I have become so enamored with the dish, I cook it for myself at least twice a week now. I would go as far as to say you can’t find a better tasting one anywhere else. That’s me…I fall in love with things I like, thrive to become the best at it, and either stick with it or lose interest and move on.

What’s my point? The word “change” is not at the top of my vocabulary list. I’ve put myself out of my comfort zone more in the last few months than I ever have and the level of on-going discomfort I’m experiencing is new. That said, I’m noticing I’m becoming more relaxed about the possibility of change, even embracing it sooner than usual in some areas. I’ve learned more about myself during these last three months than I have in years and this process has helped me figure out what I want and more importantly, what I DON’T want.

I’m an extremely private person and even being this open is different for me. Maybe I should add that to the list! As someone once said, “If you don’t create change, change will create you.”