2013 Bucket List

 

That’s Bethie and me on New Year’s Eve Eve. We celebrated early this year.

2013 started off inauspiciously. Kyle and I barely beat the snowstorm home yesterday afternoon on our drive back from Kentucky. We had been invited to spend New Year’s Eve with some good friends, and even though the roads weren’t great, I was hoping we might go and then the headache and sore throat appeared. So instead of champagne and cute sparkly clothes, I fell asleep shortly after midnight, cradling my laptop and muttering about The West Wing (which I am currently insta-watching on Netflix). Me and my cold feel like we’ve gotten the New Year off to a less than promising start but I choose to believe we can turn it around. Last year, I made a bucket list, 31 Things to Do Before ‘13, and I crossed a surprising amount of them off my list. Not all of them and there were a few that should been easier to make happen but new year, new beginning. I’ve been working on my new bucket list for a couple weeks and am finally ready to share it with you. I’m upping the game this year and trying to do 41 things before ‘14. I know. You’re totally jealous of that super original thing I just did where I reversed the numbers and made it a title. I’m just that cool. Anyway, here’s my list for the year!

1. Commit to regular monthly giving.

2. Read 10 books that have nothing to do with school.

3. Learn to crochet.

4. Blue Jackets game.

5. Write my dissertation prospectus.

6. The Pencil Sharpener Museum in Logan, Ohio.

7. Take a road trip somewhere awesome.

8. Write a grant proposal (and get the grant!)

9. Perform a solo work.

10. Move to cheaper apartment.

11. Take a hike.

12. Write 300 blog posts.

13. The Hot Dog Bun Museum in Toledo, Ohio.

14. Write a book with Emily.

15. Teach a class I’ve never taught before.

16. Thrill-seek.

17. Play on a new beach.

18. Go to a wine tasting.

19. Haunted house.

20. Really utilize the public library.

21. Try out 12 new recipes.

22. Direct something.

23. Volunteer for a new non-profit. 

24. Learn how to make a cocktail.

25. Learn to play a song on the ukulele.

26. Try a brand new kind of exercise.

27. Photograph strangers. (For obvious reasons, this will involve their knowledge and consent.)

28. Get a tattoo.

29. Floss every single day for a month.

30. Buy a new couch.

31. Treat seasonal depression homeopathically.

32. Take a research trip.

33. See Buckeye Chuck make his Groundhog’s Day predictions in Marion, Ohio.

34. Try Somali food.

35. Learn how to parallel park really, really well.

36. Learn more about blog/web design and html.

37. Write a fan letter.

38. Renew my Red Cross CPR and First Aid certification.

39. Bird-watching.

40. Memorize the states and capitols.

41. Never text and drive again.

 

What kinds of things are on your list this year?

love, elizabeth

In-Auspiciousness

This may or may not be a real word. Whatever. It goes with the rest of this inauspicious New Year’s Day. Decided to stay in today and I’m really glad I did.

Tomorrow, the blogging and the real world begin again in earnest. Blog topics coming this week: a new filing system for the endless paperwork that sneaks into our apartment, seasonal depresison, a big pre-New Year’s fight Kyle and I had, and more…you heard me…MUCH more.

I know, I know. Riveting.

I’ll be checking in with all of you, blog-town so keep a look out!

Happy New Year’s Day!

love, elizabeth

My Year in Months

I’m going to be a big old copycat and steal this from all my favorite bloggers who have been writing great lists and sharing pictures to review 2011.

I picked twelve highlights…

January – Spent New Year’s in Louisville, Kentucky with our best friends.

February – We played broomball with our Young Marrieds small group.

March – Kyle saw the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.

April – We dyed Easter eggs together – something neither of us had done since we were little.

May – Kyle got hit on by a bartender.

June – I graduated with my master’s degree.

July – Spent a quiet July 4th, just the two of us and eighty million other people on the side of a hill in Worthington. There were sparklers.

August – Kyle and I were in Beth and Zach’s wedding.

September – We went apple-picking.

October – We became members of our church.

November – I judged a beauty pageant. Cross THAT off the bucket list!

December – I sat in the jury box for a courtroom trial.

Happy 2012, everyone! Be safe tonight.

love, elizabeth

31 Before ‘13

I know I’m not the first person to think of this but when I just couldn’t bring myself to draw up a list of New Year’s resolutions, I decided to try something else. So here’s my 2012 Bucket List. 31 things to before 2013. Some things made my list because I have to do them, anyway. Some things are on there because they seem easy or fun. Some things made the list because they scare the poop out of me. A few things overlap from my list of winter. I am resolved to attempt ALL of them.

31 Before ‘13

1. Get my solo-performance on its feet.

2. Successfully prepare for my comprehensive graduate exams.

3. Perform at a poetry open-mic night.

4. Read the chronological Bible straight-through.

5. Finish my PhD coursework.

6. Cook a new vegetable.

7. Commit to my one-hour system (see post).

8. Visit a weird museum.

9. Find five new uses for five old/recycled things.

10. Complete (at least) ten weeks of Weight Watchers.

11. Go to an Ohio State football game.

12. Learn to make a pie crust.

13. Take a vacation with Kyle to somewhere new.

14. Read ten books UN-related to school.

15. Visit five breakfast spots featured in Breakfast with Nick: Columbus.

16. Hike in Hocking Hills.

17. Watch all of Alfred Hitchcock’s films.

18. Attend the young women’s small group regularly.

19. Save money every month.

20. Write 300 blog posts.

21. Throw a party.

22. Take a haunted tour of something, using this map.

23. Celebrate Valentine’s Day in an out-of-the-ordinary way.

24. Present a paper at a conference.

25. Go to a Blue Jackets game.

26. Spend a day at the beach.

27. See a new band live.

28. Go on a blate.

29. Learn how to play a new board game.

30. Volunteer for a new charity.

31. Find and use a homeopathic treatment.

 

 

Source: istockphoto.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

So what do you think? What made it onto YOUR list?

love, elizabeth