In lieu of 10 things Friday, I am doing this list. This weekend I turn 52. Today, I am flying back to Boston from Phoenix. I am guessing I had a great week- but since I wrote this before I left and pre-posted it, I can't be 100% certain of that. But I am ALWAYS optimistic. Anyhow, back to the upcoming birthday. Wow, where has my life gone to? I was just 40, wasn't I? No matter, loving life and don't feel the least bit old. So I am pre-posting this list-my bucket list for my 52cd year, so to speak. Let's see if I can come up with 52 things....
1-Visit at least 2 or 3 new states in the USA
2-Get back to Europe or maybe a new Continent!
3-Read far more than I have been during year 51!
4-Visit/call my mother more frequently and try to have more patience when she is making me feel like I am small and nothing important
5-Try my hand selling at a few more craftshows and
Get more items ready to sell at a few more craft fairs
6-Learn to let go of my routine a bit more and be more carefree-right now I feel like I need a day home on the weekends to do certain chores (like vacuuming and doing laundry) and I really don't. I like my routine but need to work at breaking it and keepinng myself stress free.
7-Bake a strawberry rhubarb pie from the rhubarb growing in my backyard-
8-Mail out some art projects for publication-something I never got to in year 51
9-Go the to Orono, Maine to watch a my college hockey team (which I am a fanatic about) play in their home rink. Also go to some other venues in the Boston area to see my college hockey team play
10-conquer 1 fear
11-Get a new iPhone since mine is over 3 years old and hardly able to be updated anymore
12- Pull out my hideous and ancient pink bedroom rug-that was there when we moved into the house 23 years ago and it wasn't new then- and get some pop in flooring installed
13-Lose 10 or 20 pounds and keep it off this time
14-Go kayaking a lot
15-Continue to be a good mom and a good wife-practice patience with my family and try not to hold them to too high of my expectations, forgive them when needed and spend happy time with them...remember, quality not quantity
16- Visit Acadia National Park and eastern Maine, the Canadian Maritime Provinces, The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Montreal and go to Northern NH where I used to vacation with my family when I was a kid
17-Get my Glacier National Park and Banff National Park trip all in order-then go and have a great time
18-Go to an Anderson family get-together if they have one this year (my dad's family down in Massachusetts) or visit my eldery aunts in their 80's and 90's.
19-Finish rereading Great Expectations and the Darwin book I spent most of January reading
20-Clean out some of my clutter areas of the house- especially organize under the basement stairs
21-I am hoping to see Maine play on March 16th of this year in the Hockey east semi-finals at the TD Garden in Boston
22-Use some of my craft knowledge to try different things or get into things I don't do enough like making jewelry, beading, sewing or making mosaics
23-Go to the Gardiner Museum in Boston
24-Go out to the Isles of Shoals, NH/ME
25-Learn encaustic painting
26-Learn how to enamel jewelry
27-Sew more...make a book or 2 and make some funky fabric
28-Try making my own clear stamps and also carving some stamps-have some I did eons ago but wish I had taken Balzar's Designs stamp carving class, it has motivated me to make some more just seeing what others have done on their blogs
29-Make what is important to me more time consuming than things that are not important to me
30-Experiment with more new recipes
31- Cook some more new chili recipes from my 50 recipes cookbook
32-Start my garden seeds inside this year.
33-Walk the beach more
34-Pick flowers from my other gardens
to bring inside-flowers make me happy!
35-Try a fried twinkie or a fried oreo
36-Go on a roadtrip all by myself
37-Have the patience to deal gracefully with situations I am having difficulties with.
38-Visit my 2 college roomates and hang out for a day with each of them (because we have so much fun when we do hang out)
39-Have fun and if I'm not having fun, don't do it!
40-Fight the I must buy it now spontaenous purchase temptation-it will be around at another time!
41-Go pick blueberries, strawberries or raspberries
42- Knit my ideas up, instead of just being started ideas or ideas floating around in my head. Like finish a few projects still sitting half done.
43- Eat less meat.
44-Continue with my French lessons. Maybe even take a conversation French class somewhere.
45- and so...Expand my knowledge and learn some new things. Take a class of some sort about something I don't know much about and spontaneously appeals to me. But something FUN! cake decorating? rug hooking? more Tim Holtz? learn to play with those craft supplies I have bought and hardly used because I don't know how to get the most out of them?
46-Eat more chocolate!
47-Exercise more regulary during the winter months.
48-Make a new friend.
49-Don't let chores I have to do become too mentally consuming and overwhelm me so I procrastinate...and then I rush around last minute trying to do them.
50-Go find the eagle at Merrymeeting again.
51- Go discover something new...spontaneously. A new place, a new thing to do...
52-Spend time with people I want to be around , do things I want to do, be happy, have fun and just love most every moment.
That's my list for this year!
And this week's Friday photo-
didn't see this but found this while searching the web...
it's a fun old postcard.
Make yourself a list-list making can be such a great thing to do-helps you focus your energy where you want it to be.
Thanks for stopping by!
