February Bucket List Update

I'm here today to give a quick update on some progress I've made on my yearly bucket list so far in 2015. If you'd like to read the full list or get some inspiration to make your own, go read my last post. After all, time is continuous. Just because it's January 1st doesn't mean a person needs to set some goals. Just because it's not the new year doesn't mean a person might not be itching to write out a fun list of things to see/do/accomplish. Lists are fun year-round. Here are the months in which lists are fun to write:

• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December

See? Lists are fun.

Here's some of what I've done so far from my list:

• Read fifteen fiction books. I've read two. 
• Read four nonfiction books. I've read one. It was the New Rules of Lifting for Women book and it is amazing.
• Cook a new recipe for Jeffrey six times. Once! I made some cheeseburger quesadillas. Mmm.
• See my sister's kids once every other month. I've seen her girls TWICE already this year! I still haven't seen my elusive nephew, but he's 18 years old so that's normal. 
• Go to six movies in the theater, one alone. I haven't been on my solo trip yet, but Jeff and I saw the Game of Thrones IMAX experience last weekend and it was so good! Each little detail and every little noise was so much bigger!
• Try the New Rules of Lifting program and track for one month. Success! I've tracked for just over a month, and I've been able to increase weight or progress the movement almost each time I've done the workouts from phase 1. I'm still sticking with the program, though my workouts are more often 2 per week than the 3 suggested by the authors. The objective is to gain strength and I'm meeting that objective, so it feels great!
• Write 10 thank you notes to friends and family. I wrote one. To my sister. For bringing her kids to see me. 
• Write in my journal once per month. I think I actually wrote in my journal like three times last month, which is a lot. I've been using the journal to reflect on the virtue study practice I'm engaged in and just to scribble. It's been a couple of weeks though, and I can hear it calling to me. Well, I can hear all the voices in my head that start to get louder and busier until I finally take care of or accept what's been bugging me.
• Eat at Eckhard's. Finally! We've lived around the corner from this highly-rated German restaurant for several years and never tried it out, since we heard it was expensive. It is pretty expensive. But the portion sizes are HUGE, the beers offered are impressive for our rural area, and the taste of everything we ordered was phenomenal. I had a baked salmon dish that ended up being like a big salmon wellington, wrapped in pastry paper and everything. So good! This was our anniversary dinner a few weeks ago.

The next things I want to focus on from the list are pushing myself to go to more group fitness classes for the camaraderie and challenge, more thank you notes, the language and hip hop podcasts, and continuing my core value/virtue study. This week's virtue focus is gratitude and contentment, so I'm sitting around appreciating what I've got and trying to resist some of my more consumerist tendencies. 

Blessings and love to all!

Screw Resolutions. Here's My 2015 Bucket List!

I don't do resolutions, because I don't like to fail so concretely. I fail softly enough on a day-to-day basis. I do, however, make a small bucket list every year, and I really wish I could remember where I got the idea. I know it was from another blogger several years ago, but google is not helping me out. Anyways, so this idea is not mine. No credit to me for this.

36 goals for 365 days! Like I already mentioned, I think of this list as more of a bucket list than a list of goals. I like to fill it with things that get me excited about the next twelve months. Some of the things are just for fun, like this year's plan to start and finish three cross-stitch projects. Some of them are fun but also push me a little outside of my comfort zone. I've got a goal to get to the movie theater six times this year (I think I only went twice last year! It's so expensive and I fall asleep hrmph.) to include one trip by myself. I have a ridiculously illogical fear of going to the movies by myself, and I've never done it. Gonna do it! Some of the goals are really not fun at all, but they're small things that I know I'll take pride in completing and will lead to a greater overall sense of fulfillment. The biggest example of this is my spring and fall cleaning goal. Groan.

I'll post my list here, and I'll try to check in on the blog every once in a while to report my progress. I've already gotten a few of my items take care of, and am feeling energized and optimistic about the new calendar year beginning!

1. Attend a session at Ekoji in Richmond once.
2. Go camping three times.
3. Go on one overnight trip by myself.
4. Read fifteen fiction books.
5. Read four nonfiction books.
6. Cook a new recipe for Jeffrey six times.
7. Teach a fitness class to someone.
8. Obtain my personal trainer certification.
9. See my sister's kids at least bimonthly.
10. Hand write three love notes to Jeffrey.
11. Go to six movies in the theater, at least one solo.
12. Go on three day hikes.
13. Walk the Noland Trail six times.
14. Track steps per week and miles per month with the Fitbit.
15. Get rid of three bags full of clothes.
16. Follow the core virtues practice twice through.
17. Spring clean in April, Fall clean in November.
18. Finish three cross-stitch patterns.
19. Complete my first quilt just for myself.
20. Try the New Rules of Lifting program and track for one month.
21. Write ten thank you notes to friends and family.
22. Visit Philly family.
23. Find and subscribe to a decent hip hop blog.
24. Participate in four races, at least one 10K or longer.
25. Walk down the driveway with Jeff twenty times.
26. Write in my journal once per month.
27. Obtain liability insurance for fitness instructors.
28. Eat at Echard's.
29. Visit three new breweries and three new wineries.
30. Try a comedy routine at an open mic night.
31. Visit the mountains in the fall with Jeffrey.
32. Consolidate daily stuff from the tote to the planner.
33. Download some language learning podcasts and listen.
34. Read a Rumi poem once each month.
35. Sew myself a pencil skirt.
36. Try two new yoga teachers.

I hope someone out there gets any kind of inspiration from my list!