Three years ago, when I turned 40, I began my birthday list process.
Since then I've accomplished such firsts as hiking Pikes Peak, seeing my first print byline in a national magazine, skinny dipping, and kayaking. I've increased my reading from a book a week to almost two a week, and launched this new website.
I've learned that I will never check off every item on each list, but things that are important will float to the top and other unexpected opportunities will arise that I never would have thought up on my own as a result of opening to possibility (just last month I learned to chop wood!).
So, here we go again ... New list below. Order isn't important. (I've already checked off a few items — you'll get to read about those Friday.)
And for those new to all this ... You can read all about my lists, and the former ones, here. And how I did on last year's list here. (Bottom line, I love to try new things, and formalizing the process has helped me do more of them than ever.)
Take a gander at my list and let me know what would be on yours in the comments. (And, more importantly, what's keeping you from moving on them.)
• 43 BEFORE 44 •
- Take a hand-lettering course
- Eat outside on average two times a week
- Do a Georgia O’Keeffe tour around New Mexico (Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, etc.)
- Install and use an outdoor clothesline
- Watch every episode of MASH
- Read at least 100 books
- Continue to refine Project 333 to my own version of a minimalist closet project, to include purchasing a few pieces of sustainable and ethical clothing
- Attend the Santa Fe Opera
- Visit Meow Wolf in Santa Fe
- Hike Hanging Lake
- Stay at the Beaumont Hotel in Ouray ... and hike Blue Lakes while there
- Attend Judith Lasater’s Advanced Restorative Yoga teacher training
- Choreograph a country line dance
- Take a birding and/or bird banding class
- Take a surfing lesson
- Plan for and install "Garden 1.0" at new home
- Begin planning "Garden 2.0" for 2018
- Get will and living will in order
- Go off-the-grid, no-tech for an extended period of time
- Learn to make pizza, Roman Villa-style
- Keep up my #newrecipeaweek commitment
- Learn to play an entire song on my ukelele
- Plan my next international trip
- See the sandhill crane migration in March/April 2018
- Go storm chasing
- Go on a train trip
- Visit Best Friends Animal Society in Utah
- Plan and host at least four game nights with friends
- Revive Soup Night
- Learn to fix clothing (beyond sewing on buttons)
- Plan for a fun photo shoot
- Place freelance writing with at least five new publications (a mix of print and online)
- Blog one to two times a week
- Take a glass-blowing class
- Visit a new-to-me monastery
- Learn some fancy cake frosting skills
- Stay overnight on a houseboat
- Hike with Ollie and Stephen
- Take a basic embroidery class
- Train Finnegan to do a just-for-fun trick
- Memorize a favorite poem
- Begin a 'favorite poetry' journal
- Wear a watch regularly to reduce my cell phone dependency