Whew you guys, we made it through the holidays. I have no excuse to dislike the holidays but I always have a hard time enjoying them. They end up so busy, so expensive, and so jammed with things like work parties (seriously, we see each other every day, why so many work parties?). It didn’t help that 2012 was a really bad year for a lot of people. I can’t remember a year where I knew more people who lost loved ones or jobs or their health. Greg and I have been hiding out for a week, working on jigsaw puzzles and staying in our pajamas all day.
I also painted more black doors.
I’ve been reading everyone’s “What we accomplished last year” lists on their blogs and I was feeling so lazy but then I realized that we painted the house and landscaped the front yard plus I painted a whole bunch of stuff, so that made me feel better. I still have no quarter round on the floors upstairs but the year of little things was fairly successful. We have curtains in the living room! We have a real light fixture over the kitchen sink!
Our biggies on the list for 2013 largely involve the basement. I got a gift certificate to Mr. Plywood for Christmas so we’re finally going to install baseboard and window trim in Greg’s movie lair.
And on the laundry side we’re going to demo a useless built-in and install shelving. Greg thinks if we do this I’ll stop leaving the tape measure in a different place every time I use it, which makes me laugh and laugh. Variety is the spice of life! Where is the fun in home improvement if you don’t spend the first half hour looking for the hammer that your girlfriend inexplicably left in the bedroom closet?
From me to you, I wish you good health, happiness, and peace. I’ll be over here poring over all the gardening catalogs I’m getting in the mail. Spring is coming!
Much of my life has been spent being cautious. I’m a worrier, I’m clumsy, I’m broke, I’m afraid to fly, I always have a lot of reasons for not doing stuff. I’ve had people tell me I’m boring (which is so rude! and not true!). At some point about five years ago I decided to stop being afraid of stupid stuff. It’s okay to be afraid of flying because that shit can actually kill you. But being afraid of karaoke? Unless there’s a freak gasoline fight accident at the karaoke bar, you’re not going to die. So I finally sang at karaoke and, indeed, I didn’t die. Not even of embarrassment! I did other stuff like eating dinner at a restaurant by myself and buying a house. I may be boring but it takes guts to buy a fixer. I’ve established that here, right?
Then last fall the boy took me to Hawaii with his parents and I flew over the ocean, something I was really nervous about. At the time I joked that if he took me to the all-you-can-eat fried shrimp buffet at The Sizzler, he would have officially fulfilled all of my childhood dreams. But I lied. I’d also need tap dancing lessons. Hawaii, fried shrimp, and tap dancing. This little girl dreamed big.
Maggie over at Mighty Girl created a Mighty List of 100 things to do before she dies, which is a familiar riff on the bucket list. Lots of people make lists (you should in particular check out Jess’ 30-while-she’s-30 and Amy’s life list) but Maggie’s is fun to follow because she has corporate sponsorship so she goes amazing places and tells you what she wore.
I started thinking about what would be on my list and looking at other people’s lists. It’s fun because I’ve already done some of the stuff that other people want to do. I’ve done a night swim with manta rays (terrifying and awesome). I’ve run a 5K and learned sign language. I’ve grown my own vegetables and made my own limoncello and held adult dinner parties. I’ve rewired a lamp, seen the Northern Lights, bought a house, and taken hip hop classes. Reading these lists makes me feel way better about my life, which has made me pretty happy so far but still seems boring to other people. I’m not a thrill seeker, so sky diving or bungee jumping won’t make my list, though I highly recommend going ziplining to anyone who hasn’t tried it. I had to consciously avoid putting things on the list that I thought I *should* do, like hang gliding. That doesn’t mean I won’t do it at some point, but I don’t need to do it before I die to feel content. Also, I love having toenails so running a marathon will never make this list. And why would I run when I can take Zumba classes?
A lot of this is aspirational stuff I’ve always dreamed about (Italy, manatees) and other stuff is more banal but somehow it hasn’t happened yet.
So here’s my Mighty List, in no particular order and still in progress:
Go to Hawaii (done 10/10!)
Unlimited fried shrimp at The Sizzler
Take tap dancing lessons
Spend an entire day making bolognese and homemade pasta, drinking wine, and watching The Godfather 1&2 with friends (I did something similar once and it was awesome).
Go to Italy (just done 09/11! ohmygod!)
Visit New York City
Refinish the floors in the house
Road trip of the States
Learn how to can food
Successfully make a boule of bread (mine are always flat)
Bike to a picnic in the park
Vacation on Isla Mujeres
Learn to walk naturally in heels
See Glacier National Park before all the glaciers melt
Learn to salsa dance confidently
Make a pie for someone else, which means not eating a single bite myself
Vacation with my mom
Pay off my credit card debt
Roast my own coffee beans
Learn to crochet
See the manatees in Florida (sea cows, how I love you!)
Learn to type without looking
Take piano lessons
See Machu Picchu
Set foot in seven continents
Croissants in Paris. Remember it fondly afterward with some International Coffee.
Kayak a major body of water
Complete the 3 day Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure
Take one of my nieces or nephews on an awesome trip
Make my own mozzarella cheese
Have a dinner party and not feel disappointed about how some of the food came out.
Happy hour oysters at Cafe Nell
Camp on the southern Oregon coast
Take a painting class
Learn how to swim, for reals (I *love* being in the water but I do this sad mashup between the breast stroke and doggie paddle and I’d be screwed if I ever needed to get somewhere quickly.)
Get my yard prettified enough to be featured on a garden tour . . .
Just a heads up: If you have “take a road trip to all the Sizzlers in the US” on your life list, there’s a trip planner on their site. Nothing is stopping you now!
