It’s crazy to think I am about to turn 30. When I was 12, I remember thinking how old my aunt was. She was cool – I’m pretty sure she had the boyfriend jean thing going on over a decade ago – but she was 30. She was unmarried, occasionally single and always having fun. I think her first overseas trip happened around when she was 30, and she owned real estate. I idolised her – but she was old.

It got me thinking, Carrie Bradshaw style, about what the most significant moments in my thirty short years have been – both good and bad. What were the defining moments? What are the things that make me who I am, that I’ll remember fondly forever, or would rather forget? No doubt having compiled this list, I’ve forgotten some (and I’m sorry if they involved you!) but off the top of my head, I wrote the moments that were my most significant to me, since 1984.

And then I started writing about how I felt, and why that event was special. And the copy got really really long. So here is the first batch. Stay tuned for the second instalment!

1. My Debutante Ball
Year 11 at my high school was all about the Central Australia camping trip, and the Debutante Ball. Not being much of a camper (much to my parents disappointment!), I was all about the glamour of the ball. The idea was that young ladies were supposed to ask the boys, but as all shy 15 and 16 year olds will know, that’s not always the way it happens. I think Adam and I mutually agreed, in the spirit of our friendship, to escort each other – and then spent the next month of training laughing our way through the two-hour long dancing sessions. Mum and I shopped for the dress, and I had my hair, make up and nails done. I was 15 years old and felt like a princess. The whole evening was so much fun, followed by an equally awesome after party, and a group of my girlfriends sleeping the night at my house. The next day I put on the dress again, and wore it all day, just because I could (and because I had to return it on Monday!). That night will always be one of my favourites.

2. 21st birthday
I’m one of those silly people who actually likes their birthday. That might change after I turn 30, but at 21, I was super excited. I bought all the paper and made my own invitations, Mum booked a hall, organised a massive cake and scores of fingerfood, while Dad sourced ice and beer. My brothers ran the bar and acted as emcee. My girlfriends told funny stories and my parents played ‘A Little Ray of Sunshine’ – ‘my song’ from before I was born. I wore a black floor length jersey dress with diamanté straps that was backless – I went braless (which is saying something if you’ve met me!) and the black fabric stained my nails grey from lifting it all evening so I didn’t step on it. There were 110 of my closest family and friends in the same place and I was in my element.

3. Getting my year 12 Enter score
My high school years had ups and downs, but overall, Year 12 was up. I studied when I was supposed to, worked two part time jobs and had a great group of friends. My results were good, and I was planning ‘the rest of my life’, post high school, based on what ENTER score I would achieve after my exams. I required a score of 68 to get into the university I had chosen, and was thinking I would achieve a score in the 70s that would easily satisfy this requirement. When the time came for Year 12 students to log on online to check results, I found I didn’t want to know – what if I hadn’t gotten enough? At the school’s presentation evening that night, other students excitedly shared their results whilst I continued to stress over something I could easily have found out. And then two teachers came over and congratulated me on my results. As soon as we got home, I was online, discovering I’d achieved in excess of 86. I didn’t know whether to smile or cry or both. I was surprisingly proud of myself.

4. Finishing uni
It took me four years to complete my Bachelor of Business(Marketing & Media)/Advanced Diploma of Marketing at University. Four years of tutorials, lectures, classes, assignments, exams, beer gardens and toss the boss. Tuesday nights at Cheers, Thursday nights at Daiseys – it was a wonder we learnt anything in the four years we drove the hill on a daily basis to Swinburne in Lilydale. Long breaks between lectures were filled at the local cinema (where I worked, so movies were $2), at the driving range, or the local La Porchetta, where we consumed so much pizza, we could probably have bought the restaurant. In 2005, I finished my last exam – I can’t remember what subject it was but I can recall the room it was in – and met my friends in the Atrium. We were done. Months later I donned the robes and traditional graduation cap and paid $180 for a portrait of me wearing both. My degree is still in the tube they gave it to me in, but I was the first of my generation – both my mother and fathers side – to finish.

5. Meeting Breece
Having been pretty much single for close to a decade, I was just about done looking. I had resolved that I wouldn’t go down the online dating path until I was at least 30, and everything else seemed too hard at the time. Work was frantic and my social life was active. But the Universe had other ideas, and so it was that one evening in November 2011, I was in the right place at the right time. Attending a work function alone after my colleague was unable to make it, I was quietly making small talk with industry people when an innocent social media check in saw me meeting friends in the bar for a drink. One drink turned into a particularly big night, and the beginning of the next phase of my life. I had always thought I would meet someone through a friend – and I’ve been told these things happen at the most unexpected times. Over two years later I am still grateful I decided to go to the work function alone that night!

6. House sitting in the city
I have lived 75% of my life in the same suburb, about an hours drive to the east of Melbourne. I went to primary school there, high school in the next suburb, and university one suburb the other way. My friends lived there, I bought a house there. It was comfortable. My first job out of Uni was in the CBD and I commuted an hour each way on the train morning and night. It was a long commute but was else was I to do? It was then that I was asked by my boss to housesit her amazing apartment on Queens Rd, opposite the Albert Park golf course. I spent three weeks within a tram ride of the CBD, walking distance to the Prahran Market and strolling Albert Park lake – not to mention the $10 taxi ride home. There was no going back – I had seen how good it could be. I immediately began my search for inner city rentals and shortly after moved to South Melbourne, where I would like to stay for the foreseeable future.

7. Buying my first house
While all my friends went off on gap years and bought fancy cars in our early twenties, I decided to take my wisdom from having working in Real Estate and buy a house. I did my research – I didn’t need a 10% deposit (oh, the days before the GFC!) as long as I could afford the repayments – and with that, I was on my way. While Mum tried to dissuade me with talk of rates, insurance and the other ‘unknown’ costs of being a home owner, I scoured realestate.com, drove to open for inspections and met with mortgage brokers. When I found the one, I called in my parents for a second opinion and twenty four hours later, my dad sat beside me while I put in a offer on my first house. After some negotiation, my offer was accepted and 90 days later, I was the proud owner of  a 3 bedroom brick veneer on a corner block. I was 22.

8. Going to Paris 2011
Travel was something I always wanted to do, but having bought my first house at 22, not something I could afford. It took me until I was 27 to finally get the cash, and courage, to branch out and get on a plane to a foreign land, but it was the most amazing experience and not one I would have been able to do at 20. It took my girlfriend six months to convince me to go with her, but those 2 weeks in Paris could not have been better. Spring in the city of lights was magical and showed me just how much of the world there was to see. I was lucky enough to return to Paris in 2013, during winter, and see Paris in a whole other season. I will be forever grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to travel – and those that will come in the future.