29 December 2010

my list.

A bucket list sounds like a good concept.
A list of all the wonderful things in this world that you want to do....someday.
Before it's too late.
But what if you don't have the time to get to your list (often times our exit from this earth is sudden). OR, what if you get sick and all those things that you thought would be fun to do just aren't possible.
The reality of getting sick is it's expensive, you feel the need to sort out "details" for those that you will be leaving behind, and you feel sick.
The only thing left to do is spend time with those people you love.
We need LIFE lists. Lists that we will do now.
I wrote myself a list... It's my 40 by 40 list.
Forty things I will strive to achieve before turning Forty.
My List:
1. Get Published.
2. Start a book club.
3. See Mt. Rushmore.
4. Plant 100 tulip bulbs in my yard. I can’t wait to see those all pop up one spring morning!
5. Get to my goal weight. (135)
6. Go on a cruise.
7. Take a vacation with just my sisters.
8. RUN a 10K (without pit stops).
9. A weekend away with each child by themselves, NO DISTRACTIONS!
10. Visit New Orleans.
11. Birthday cards to everyone in my family, ON TIME!!
12. Give the perfect handmade Christmas gifts. (Rrrrrrr…so many good intentions that have flopped!)
13. Go on a whale watching tour. (Hopefully, Alaskan)
14. Spend an entire week in complete silence.
15. Put on Ice-Skates again. (A long time ago this was my thing, I’m afraid I can’t do it anymore.)
16. Enter something I’ve made in the State Fair.
17. New Zealand. (Maybe to stay) (If I can convince my ENTIRE family that we’re all moving.)
18. Learn to play guitar. (I guess guitar hero doesn’t count)
19. Sing Karaoke.
20. Have a formal Portrait taken. (The one that they’ll hang at my memorial service when I’m old and wrinkled)
21. Interview my Grandfather.
22. Interview my Grandmother.
23. Drive a paid off vehicle for a year.
24. Go on a Mission Trip.
25. Stay at one of the historic hotels on Mackinac Island.
26. Learn (or just try and then sit inside and watch other people) to (snow) ski.
27. Introduce a non-believer to my Lord and Savior.
28. See Wicked.
29. Take some management classes.
30. Have a bike with a basket on the front. (Had one once and I miss it.)
31. Get LASIK eye surgery.
32. Actually make one of the many genius recipes that I “think” I have in my head.
33. Pay off my credit cards!!!!
34. Go off trail with a map and a compass in the forest, maintains, or somewhere untamed!
35. Have a closet full of clothes that I actually wear.
36. Learn a second language.
37. Take adult dance classes.
38. Someday work for something or someone that makes my heart soar….could be on my 50 by 50 list…or my retirement must do list…
39. Help someone fulfill a life dream.
40. Organize (and print) my family photos.

As many of you know, I've already gotten to check off quite a few of these. I know some things sound kind of dumb and (maybe) impossible, but this is my list...and sometimes I achieve "dumb and impossible"!

So get out and write yourself a list. It can be a 40 by 40, 11 in 2011, or anything else you can think of...just as long as you're living it.

21 December 2010

i (will try to) love winter.

I hate to be COLD.
So, me and Winter don't get along so well.
Today on the first official day of Winter (even though we have already had 14.5in of snow) I will focus on the wonderful things winter brings us.

1. The silence of falling snow.

2. Static hat hair. (ONLY on babies!)

3. The warmth you get deep down in your belly with the first gulp of a hot drink, after being out in the cold.

4. The breathtaking beauty of bare tree limbs coated in ice.

5. Sledding, ice-skating, and building snowmen.

6. The warmth of the kitchen after hours of baking (can only be truly appreciated during winter).

7. The combination of watching falling snow while sitting by a warm fire. (the cheesy fire/ice combo)

8. (I'm starting to struggle here.) Wearing those favorite old soft sweaters.

9. The way that fresh snow can make even the ugliest yard beautiful.

10. Seeing the little puffs of your breath.

THAT'S IT.
I wanted to get to 10 and that was all I could manage. Maybe next year I'll have more.

Happy first day of Winter.

pushing away the dust.

I know it's been a little while since I've updated my blog, but I've been out blogging anonymously about all my misadventures to complete strangers living in the moment. Also, my computer has become no man's land overloaded with pictures and documents that I need to move...somewhere...in my "free" time. Makes it not so fun to sit and blog when I have to push through that jungle. The next couple of blogs may be totally random, but for me to sort through all those old documents and pictures y'all will have to hear about them. Besides it could be nice to talk about my favorite flower (Peonies) during the dead of winter.