So many choices!
Colorful rings at Refind in downtown Kearney, Nebraska.
Happy blog-aversary! Can you believe this blog is one year old? Wowza.
This whole shebang started over tofu because of two dear friends who believe I can do anything. I think. That’s how my friends make me feel anyway. So last April when I was hemming and hawwing over starting a blog in my 30th year, they said “There is no try, only do,” I think those were their exact words, so they put my ass to work and by the time the tofu stirfry hit the plates, I had a blog.
And so, yes, I still don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I make lists. I get most of the stuff done and I feel pretty good about it. Now it’s time to think about my 31st year of this wonderful life and what I hope to do in the next 366 days (2012 is a leap year, after all). Here’s what I think so far:
- get in the best physical shape of my life once and for all
- mountain bike with friends, with The Kid, for myself
- grow only pumpkins and pretty flowers in the garden this year
- attend the Easter sunrise service at Red Rocks
- visit the rumored Dunkin Donuts in Colorado Springs (can it be true?)
- climb more mountains. scramble more boulders.
- finish the Warrior Dash (and jump over fire like a badass)
- buy another piece of original art
- add belts in my wardrobe
- finally frame that USGS map of the Everglades (for the love of all that is holy)
- donate blood (because now I can)
- donate to public radio and/or TV
- visit NEPA (that’s northeast PA to the uninformed, it’s where I grew up) and go to a church picnic
- be a braver blogger: be more vulnerable, more transparent, more raw (but without the TMI)
- will someone PULLEASE teach me how to drive a stick shift?
- buy a pair of Frye boots (inspired by my friend Annie’s own purchase!)
I don’t have much beyond that. Yet. 2010 was really about conquering fears and self discovery. 2011 is about investing (even though for #reverb10 I said the one word for this year was RELAX, and I realized I just … can’t). So yes my 31st on God’s great and beautiful planet I will focus my time, energies, and monies on the stuff that brings me joy, casting aside the stuff that doesn’t and being OK with where the things and the people fall on either side.
Swimming and the powdery slopes of Colorado? Not for me, I have learned. Cable TV (buh-bye, Comcast) and memberships that no longer serve my needs (smell ya later, Blockbuster and the Longmont Rec Center). The stuff I love? Bikes, farmers markets, farm dinners, being outdoors, watching pumpkins grow, watching the Kid grow up, being a tourist in my own Colorado. I want fewer things but they are things that I value more deeply. Like good meals and good people. Health. Laughter. Wisdom. Honesty.
What else should I give a look-see this year?
Good list. I would like to be a braver blogger too (as brave as you already are), but it’s hard. As for the church picnic, Dupont is by far my favorite. I miss it every year. Once, when I was living in New Mexico, away from home for the very first time, John Paul mailed me a freezer full of pierogies from it.
For belt/wardrobe inspiration, try following http://kendieveryday.blogspot.com/ and http://goodlifeforless.blogspot.com/.
You CAN do anything.
Don’t stop believin’.
You can’t drive a stick shift?! I thought if you lived in Colorado you had to know how : )
Good list. I would encourage you to grow cabbage if only for how cute a vegetable/plant is. It looks like a little, green, smooth head growing out amongst big leaves. My fave!
I definitely get behind your third bullet point. What types of flowers will you grow? I am extending my several year love affair with lots of orange cosmos and I am going to try my hand at starting a patch of lavender. Fingers crossed! Have you ever purchased seeds from Baker’s Creek? You would love their catalog!
Great list! I’m definitely inspired to start a list of my own! While I depend heavily on everything electronic, I purchased a great journal that also provides room for sketching on each page. I haven’t touched it yet, but I think a list of this sort would be a great way to break it in. Thanks for the inspiration!
P.S. What original art do you own? That definitely sparked my interest as well!
@Jillian – I grew up with the Dupont church picnic and so it has a very special place in my heart
mmm pierogies. which do you like better : the Tomato Festival or Dupont picnic?
@Jenn – thanks for the Journey earworm. jerk. xoxo
@Jean – I grew up in PA so never learned and have had many unfilled promises by people to teach me. le sigh. hoping 2011 is the year!
@Annie – i am easily swayed by how cute vegetables are. would love to see what you and the manfriend have in your garden!
@Laura – I knew I would have one staunch supporter for pumpkins! They’re so pretty to grow. As for flowers, who knows. Probably some mix I pick up. I need a low-maintenance garden, would love to have cut flowers on a regular basis, and color. lots and lots of color.
@jude: i love journals. i often am scribbling in a notebook at work. and I have lots of scrap paper for my musings, lists, etc. Mt original art, is actually a print, so I guess that is not original huh? It is by Art & Ghosts and is called The Writer — a BW print of a bunny at a typewriter on a hill. Yep! That pretty much sums up the life of a writer.
Thanks SO MUCH for the support everyone.