I've been warming up to the idea of a life list ever since I started this one back in February. I've made a bit of progress and added a bunch of things so here's an update:
The Originals:
*Get something published, somewhere, eventually. Blogger doesn't count. UPDATE: should work stuff count? I wrote a press release the other day! But no, I think maybe it doesn’t count.
*Hike (some of) the Appalachian Trail. This was mainly inspired by my favoritest book ever, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
*Go back to Africa at some time for an undetermined amount of time.
*Learn to whistle. I used to know how, many many years ago, but I lost this ability when I got braces the first time around and it's been a good 10-15 years since I could whistle.
*Take some sessions with a personal trainer.
*Run a half marathon. UPDATE: I’m currently training myself to the point of hating running so that I can accomplish this one! The half is in less than a month!
*Learn how to drive a stick shift. UPDATE: D has promised to teach me. Yay!
*Understand wine, at least past the "Oooh yummy, red wine!" stage that I'm currently in.
More:
*Wear more of my jewelry and know how to accessorize. Right now I pretty much only wear my standby sterling silver jewelry...but I have so much other cute/nice jewelry that I bought at Target or a thrift store and have just never worn. Inexcusable.
*Scan old photos. UPDATE: I’m actually currently working on this, WAHOO, and will definitely share with you any gems from the pre-digital days
*Only eat lunch out 3 times a month during the week. I need to work on bringing my lunch more but I’m reserving a few times a month for getting together with friends during the work week for a fun lunch out.
*Answer all emails. I get a lot of emails that I read and then intend to answer but never do. I’m going to try my best to answer everything that comes to me, even if only to acknowledge that I did indeed receive the message that someone spent a bit of their time composing.
*Take another amazing vacation with D. I’m currently saving up in my special “trip fund” account and we’re thinking about somewhere foreign, maybe in February. The current debate: tropical vs. Europe?
*Purge my clothes every season as I rotate them. I have a bad habit of keeping clothes that I don’t wear, “just in case,” but I need to be better about letting stuff go. My major clothing purge over the last few months has really driven that point home.
*Take more photographs, especially of my family (when I’m home for visits and holidays and stuff)
*Call my Austin friends more
*Go to the Garfield Conservatory on Chicago’s west side. This was on my summer list and I haven’t accomplished it yet so I’m adding it to the life list as a reminder.
*Try harder to meet new people. Not sure yet how I’m going to accomplish this but I’m going to make a commitment to try.
*Pay off student loans by 2014. UPDATE: I think I’m gonna blow this goal out of the water due to a major windfall I have coming at the end of August. More on this later *crosses fingers*
*Go to Australia
*Learn to snorkel without nearly drowning. This has been a recurring problem.
*Take a bike trip somewhere. As in, bike to a place instead of taking a car, spend the night there, and then bike back.
*GIVE UP CAFFEINE ONCE AND FOR ALL FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Maybe putting it on my life list will actually make it happen.
*Go without eating out AT ALL for a month. D and I tried this a while back but definitely slipped a few times, especially when we were out in the city during the day and were hungry for lunch. I want to cut out all “nonessential” food purchases for a month just to see if I can do it...and to see how much money it saves!
*Ride an elephant. I really, really, REALLY love elephants. I want to ride one and get my picture taken doing so.
*Do a triathlon. Related: learn to do an open-water swim without completely losing my sh*t. I can swim in the sense that if you threw me off a boat I could keep my head above water and not drown for a while, but I’m not great at propelling myself forward for extended lengths of time. I can run and bike ride no problem, the hard part of doing a triathlon (for me) is the stupid swimming.
*Do a worm bin (or compost pile)
*Do all 50 Chicago walking cards
*Have a vegetable garden
*Read the classics. “Classics” is to be determined, perhaps in a later post. I read a lot of current fiction and nonfiction but I’m not particularly well-versed in the classics, which I think is shameful for this English major. I’m not going to suffer through the lame classics but I feel as though I should have read at least more of the greats than I can currently claim.
*Go to a baseball game
*Visit my sister in North Carolina
*See the Home Alone house in the north Chicago suburbs. Extra points if it’s covered in snow like in the movie.
