Bucket List

I keep seeing things about people's bucket lists and thought I'd try my hand at my own list... While I don't have a terminal disease like the viral lists that have been popping up in my news feed, I figure it's always good to have goals, and to not be afraid to dream a little bigger (darling).

• Travel More
• Europe
• Visit the Louvre
• Go to Greece
• Ride in a gondola in Italy
• See the Tower of London
• The Coliseum in Rome
• The beaches in the South of France
• Drink wine in a Cafe in France
• Visit the island my grandmother was born in in the Azores
• Visit Ireland
• Stonehenge
• Australia
• Sydney Opera House
• The Great Barrier Reef
• The Outback
• High Five a Kangaroo
• Spend significant time staying in New Orleans
• Go back to the Big Island of Hawaii
• Go to NYC 
• see a play ON BROADWAY
• Central Park
• Statue of Liberty
• Radio City Music Hall
• Middle America
• meet some awesome internet friends I've made over the years, I'd love to see you in person at least once or twice in my lifetime.
• Pacific Northwest
• Seattle
• Portland
• Chicago... and taste test the difference between Chicago Pizza and New York Pizza and declare a winner once and for all.
• Write a novel (or maybe finish one of the many I've started)
• See Green Day in concert
• Take a digital photography class and really learn how to use my camera to it's abilities and become a better hobbyist photographer.
• Find a career that grows me, instead of just having a job to pay the bills
• See the big waves at Mavericks
• Find new favorite places
• Sing Karaoke with Taylor Swift
• just seeing if you're paying attention
• Go to a Spurs basketball game, a Cowboys football game
• Learn how to decorate cakes/cupcakes beyond my current skill levels
• Have a house with a library/art studio in it
• pay off credit card debt, so that my family isn't stuck with extra bills
• goals can be responsible ones too 
• Learn to be spontaneous (Can you do that? Is it like planning to be unpredictable?)
• Learn to truly forgive, forget, and let go of old drama

I know this list is far from finished, and some of the goals are loftier than others, but what's the point of having dreams if they have to be based in reality? 

I plan on adding to this as I come up with more ideas and crossing off items that I complete as time wears on. 

Blogaversary

Hey friends and faithful readers... it's that time of year again, can you believe this blogging journey is about two years old now? Okay, for me is seems longer, I almost posted that it has been a four year long journey... and not because it feels like it's been dragging on, but because it has become so much a part of what I do. I think the past couple years have marked the most consistent journaling I have ever done in my whole life... and while I may not post every event or thought that crosses my path, I do get a lot of it out.

Over the past year I've started chronicling my dreams, posting album reviews, recipes, and working on monthly updates about what has been going on in my life along with other posts about current events. I feel like I've given deeper insights into who I am now, and maybe a map of who I'm becoming as a woman in her early 30s who is still trying to find her place in the world.

In the past two years I've had close to 6,000 hits on my blog, and while that may be far from viral, it's still a voice in the blogosphere, people...strangers care about my thoughts and opinions and while that can be intimidating, it's also gratifying.

I suppose now is the time for my yearly wish list or resolutions to carry me into 32.

Over the past year and a half I've maintained a monthly "wrap up" journal style post, I'm not sure I want to continue that beyond this month. I do enjoy looking back at all the fun I've had, however it's beginning to feel forced and I can see that my writing style is suffering. I want to write about things that matter (not that having fun with friends/family doesn't matter) instead of just spewing a laundry list of diary entries that only my closest friends care about. I haven't ruled it out, I'm just thinking about making some changes.

I want to really learn how to use my camera and be a better amateur photographer (I hesitate to use that title, because there are real talents out here and I just want to better my hobby). I want to be creative and make beautiful things and I don't want to be limited because I only have basic knowledge.

I want to fall back in love with life, right now I feel like I'm treading water and that I need to create some new adventures and experiences before I drown. I'm not hating anything right now, I wouldn't even really say that I'm depressed, I'm just bored and apathetic, and that really needs to change.

Ideally I'd like to lesson my social network addiction, I feel like it takes up too much of my life, and for what? What do I have to show for the hours upon hours that I spend playing on facebook or twitter? I don't my presence to vanish, but I think it will be better if I'm not so connected all the time. So far I feel like I've done a decent job of not being logged into twitter or Facebook while I'm at work and my productivity levels have increased exponentially. It's amazing how much time is wasted on things that are really not that important (not that keeping up with friends and family is unimportant, but when I'm at work, I really should be focused on what I'm being paid to do, like a grown up would do).

New Year's Resolutions

It's a little early to start talking about New Years' Resolutions, I mean we're not even a 3rd of the way through December yet, but it's never to soon to start making goals and doing what you can to make positive changes in your life.

Last year I feel like I did pretty well on the resolutions I made, and I liked them so much that I'll probably continue them throughout 2013 and beyond. What's great about them is that they aren't major lifestyle changes, like giving up carbs or caffeine... but just things to grow me as a person. I've compiled a list of 10 items that I'd like to work on over the next 12 months and I'm ready to share them with you.

1. Take the time to appreciate the small things.
2. Practice patience and empathy (especially when someone is trying to test my strength).
3. Find new music
4. Go on as many adventures as possible
5. Take lots of pictures of pretty places, both near and far from home
6. Go to the gym more (this was the one I failed at last year)
7. Write more (while I didn't really work on any short stories this year, I blogged quite a bit more than ever before).
8. Engage the Internet trolls a lot less
9. Make sure my loved ones know how important they are to me on a regular basis.
10. Make time for my friends that don't see as often as I should, ditto for family.  If you make time for me, I will find a way to make time for you.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy 2013 and that if you make resolutions that you are able to keep them.  If you do not have goals for the coming year, that's okay too, just do your best and make time for the things that make you feel better as a person and make sure you tell the people you care about them how you feel, you never know how much longer you will have them.

Until next time Cheers!

 

Girl Blog 3 of 3: A New Wishlist

Happy Anniversary Blogger, its been a year already and I think its appropriate to celebrate with a new wish list. My first post on this site was My Wish List and while a lot of these wishes are still hopes I have for the future its time for a new list.

My hopes for women haven't changed, if anything I hope that in the years to come we won't have to still be fighting the same battles our grandmothers fought for equality, reproductive freedom, and won't be judged on anything but our own personal merit.

A lot has happened since I posted my wish list last year, it was a chronical of my thirtieth year in many ways... and with the year winding down for me (my birthday is Friday, if you want to send presents I'm totally on Amazon.com) I thought maybe this could be a New Year's Resolution type post. Not just wishes for the population as a whole, but more localized.  The way I want to live 31.

• Don't sweat the small stuff.
• I know its totally cliched, but I get so caught up in making things that don't matter in the long run matter in the present that I lost sight of what really is important.
• Chill on the out of control spending
• Do I really need that sweater in 4 different colors? Will two or {gasp} one suffice? Do I really need it at all?
• Write More
• Whether it be here on the blog, or short stories, or in a journal, set the pen to the paper and get the words out.
• Appreciate EVERYTHING
• Good times, bad times they all have their lessons to teach.
• Experience the Out of the Ordinary
• Take chances that I wouldn't necessarily always take. Who knows where it could lead.
• Don't Be Afraid to Say No
• I know this almost contradicts the one that I posted before, but this is more in the sense that I tend to overload myself because I want to be able to do it all. Sometimes I need to sit back and either let something slide or let someone else handle it. I don't need to be in charge all of the time. I can share the reins.
• Cultivate Positive Relationships
• Sometimes people are in your life for a season, sometimes a few years, sometimes a lifetime. Everyone you meet has a specific purpose in your life, even if its just a small encounter, who knows where you might find inspiration to do the next big thing.

I think that these are all do-able goals and I look forward to tackling the new year.