"41 before 42" — three months left

Baking Pecan Pie, courtesy Kirsten Akens 2016

Counting down the months to my 42nd birthday. And once again running through my "41 before 42" list. I still can't believe it's 2016 already. I just took down my Christmas tree!

Anywho ... notes added and italicized where I've started or completed an item.

Read on, friends.

• 41 Before 42 •

  1. Choreograph a country line dance (and see if Barb will teach it at Cowboys) — I've picked the song I want to use. Time to start working.
  2. Plant and grow garlic — Hmmm. Not sure this will happen. Can I plant in the spring?
  3. Watch every episode of MASH — G's watching with me, and — SUPER EXCITING — my parents bought us the entire collection for Christmas so we're moving faster now that we don't have to wait for the library. We're into the second disc of the third season. 
  4. Try aerial yoga and/or aerial silks — Done! May also take some local classes this spring.
  5. Plan my next trip to France (perhaps running a retreat at Little French Retreat)
  6. Attend a Switchbacks match — Ugh. Missed out because I wasn't paying attention to the calendar. Next year!
  7. Try kayaking — Done. Not just once, not just twice, but three times. I've learned how much I love water sports.
  8. Learn barista basics — Done! And I wrote a story about it too. Find it here, in the premier issue of Springs Magazine.
  9. Plant flower bulbs this fall — Also missed the ball on this. Maybe I'll get some in-house early bloomers.
  10. Take a birding and/or bird banding class — Pitched a story on this, so hoping for it to happen in early spring.
  11. Continue to reduce my wardrobe, a la Project 333 — Progressing. Gonna post another update in the next week or so.
  12. Take French language lessons
  13. Read at least 75 books — To date: 63 books done, re-read one, and in progress on four.
  14. Take classes on how to use the manual functions on my DSLR camera — I'm actually looking at purchasing a new, much smaller and lighter camera to use on my travels, so this goal may shift some over the year.
  15. Have at least one item of clothing tailored to fit
  16. Learn to bake croissants — Done! The fabulous Stephanie from Steffi's Bakery & Confections taught me. Now I gotta make them on my own at home.
  17. Get will and living will in order
  18. Have a bouquet of flowers in the house, fresh once a month — I've had flowers in the house about every other month. I'm good with that.
  19. Attend a fest in Telluride — I had this on the calendar and then we had some family issues that meant I had to cancel. Perhaps in the spring...
  20. Take performance driving lessons
  21. Add a piece of original art to my collection from an artist I have not yet met
  22. Stay up once all night until sunrise
  23. Perform at a poetry slam/open mic
  24. Learn to bake French macarons — My croissant-baking friend is going to help me with this as well. Lots of baking this winter!
  25. Attend the Santa Fe Opera — Going, again, on the not-gonna-happen list. Missed the summer season. Sigh. Next year.
  26. Be involved with a stage show in some way
  27. Bake a fruit pie, with homemade crust, from scratch — OK, I have NOT baked a fruit pie yet, but I did bake a pecan pie from scratch (see photo proof above). Thanks, again, to Stephanie. (See #16.) I learned a ton, and I'm planning to tackle a fruit pie later in the spring.
  28. Visit at least one new-to-me museum — Visited Taliesan West in Scottsdale. Absolutely beautiful. Also, visited the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. Visited the Portland Museum of Art in Maine; Ministers Island in New Brunswick; the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia; the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax; and the Sherbrooke Village Museum in Nova Scotia. Also the Pinball Museum and the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia.
  29. Watch one new-to-me movie and one classic film a month — Saw Pitch Perfect 2! (Laughed and cried.) Tomorrowland, and Mr. Holmes. Also watched Frances Ha. At the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival earlier this month, I viewed the classic A Woman Under the Influence, as well as a bunch of New Mexico shorts and the documentary The Seventh Fire. G and I re-watched all of the Hunger Games movies, and then went and saw the final one in the theater. (So good!) Others we've seen: Spanglish, Packed in a Trunk (doc), Her, and The Way.
  30. Play Settlers of Catan — Found friends who have the game and want to play.
  31. Stay at the Beaumont Hotel in Ouray
  32. Take an oracle card-making class — Took the awesome Inner Alchemy Fire Cards class, taught online by Mindy Tsonas.
  33. Research and read more about walking the Camino de Santiago — Picked up a few books and watched The Way.
  34. Travel (again) with a girlfriend — Travelled to Santa Fe with two girlfriends. So much fun. Visited Brush Creek Ranch with another friend. (Story on this trip ran as the cover piece for the November/December issue of Springs Style Magazine.)
  35. Fly a kite
  36. Send postcards to friends once a month just because — Doing.
  37. Try fly fishing — Ah! Done! And enjoyed more than I expected.
  38. Visit Shambhala Mountain Center
  39. Do a Georgia O'Keeffe tour around New Mexico (Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, etc.) — No tour yet, but I did get back to the O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, and saw a great O'Keeffe exhibit at the New Mexico Museum of Art.
  40. Do a not-just-head-shot photo shoot (with Becky)
  41. Get off my ass already and pitch the nun story to Oprah Magazine

Other accomplishments not on this list: Tried archery for the first time. Played paintball. Rode a horse. Stayed at a dude ranch. Learned to stand-up paddle board. Hiked a chunk of the Appalachian Trail. Learned to make tortillas with Chef Mica at the Santa Fe School of Cooking. Sat a few rows away from George R.R. Martin as he honored Gena Rowlands at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival. Acquired a ukelele for Christmas and have started online lessons. Indoor rock climbing — top-rope and bouldering — a few times a week. Learning, slowly, to walk a slackline. Taught my first two yoga/writing workshops. Started working on a documentary. Learned to make sauerkraut at The Brinery and cheese at Zingerman's while visiting Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the first time.

What's on your to-do-that-you've-never-done list for this month or this year?