A book a week

I officially declare my "read one book per week" goal to be in process! 

This week I read Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson, set in the English countryside. It's all about relationships, with a bit of old fashioned manners and such. It was a fun read! I'm going to do my best to choose books from BBC's Top 100 Books list for my weekly reads, so I can slowly check off two goals at the same time. 

Whoops! I just looked up BBC's list and I've only got fourteen books to go until I've checked that goal off. I may have chosen the wrong list to work my way through- most of these books are old news. Perhaps I'll just finish it off and then set a new literary goal?

On another note, I've decided what I want to do with my square frame that I picked up this week! I know how I'll be spending my Memorial Day weekend!

My Life List

My life list!

*I reserve the right to add, edit, or remove goals from this list whenever I feel like it.

Family Goals

1. Geocaching with my miniature man.

2. Classic movie marathon

3. Watch our favorite sports team play live.

4. Play in the rain.

5. Color run with punkster.

6. Have a mother/son photoshoot. 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 down!

7. Bury a time capsule.

8. Make a model airplane.

9. Visit a history museum.

10. Paint N's room.

11. Build a bird house.

12. Teach him how to be a gentleman and how to treat a woman.

13. Spend a winter night in a hotel with a pool so the kid can swim.

14. Have the kid's caricature drawn.

15. Take the little man bowling. 12/2015

16. Sign kiddo up for dance/swim/riding/etc class.

17. Do something the spawn has always wanted to do.

18. Journal for when N is little.

19. Lay in the grass in the summer. This is a fun one! We like to do it on the regular. :)

20. Go rock climbing (real or facility).

21. Plan a fishing trip.

22. Wake N up in the middle of the night and go to an all night diner for breakfast.

23. Plan an event for every holiday.

24. Explore local places we've never been. 

25. Get up early and watch the sunrise.

26. See both our favorite bands together.

27. Pick out, buy, and train a puppy. 

28. Buy him his first suit. 

29. Visit a college in every city we ever visit together. **I'm thinking I'm nixing this one.

30. Go to one professional game for every sport we can think of.

31. Look through old black and white photos of our relatives together. 

32. Continue my gene pool. Umm... See: Magoo.

33. Lead N through a hedge maze.

34. Make a bucket wish list come true for N.

35. Write a letter for N for his 18th birthday.

36. Go to the dog park to admire the dogs together.

37. Be an example: Show N that you can do anything you want with hard work.

38. Watch N go to college.

39. Go horseback riding.

40. Go snorkeling in the ocean.

41. Go snow skiing/snowboarding.

42. Fly a kite.  Attempted & flopped in a big way, 08/2015

43. Try archery.

44. Take N to Medieval Times. 08/2015

45. Teach N how to write. 

46. Paint together with N.

47. Read a classic together.

48. Create a family crest.

49. Watch the entire Star Wars collection.

50. Teach him to iron clothes and sew on buttons.

51. Camp in a tent in the backyard. 

52. Create a paper mâché volcano and blow it up.

53. Adopt a senior doggy.

54. Write handwritten letters together.

55. Visit every local museum.

56. Be a godmother.

57. Be a foster parent or adoptive parent.

58. Babysit someone's kids for a weekend.

59. See a play on Broadway.

60. Write a list of qualities N should look for in a woman.

61. Raise N to be a Happy, Healthy, Confident, Cooperative, Responsible, Faithful person.

Physical Goals

1. Take a personal defense class.

2. Run a seven minute mile.

3. Run a mud-run.

4. Run a fun run with N. 

5. Fast for 24 hours.

6. Become skilled at skiing. 

7. Live a healthy lifestyle.

8. Run the Disney princess half marathon.

9. Learn yoga.

10. Bike across the country.

11. Run through Hell, MI when it freezes over.

12. Run a mile in my underwear.

13. Run a 5k together.

14. Run a marathon.

Foodie Goals

1. Cook a Thanksgiving turkey that I shot.

2. Eat a lobster in Maine.

3. Cook 30 recipes from 30 different countries in 30 days.

4. Raise my own food.

5. Catch, clean, cook and eat a fish.

6. Bake a soufflé successfully.

7. Eat at a revolving restaurant. **Technically accomplished in Duluth, during my childhood.

8. Eat at an undersea restaurant.

9. Order dessert first.

10. Drink only water for a year.

11. Make my own pizza from scratch.

12. Create my own barbecue specialty.

13. Create my own kitchen sink cookie recipe.

14. Make homemade ice cream.

15. Develop a signature family recipe.

16. Eat a meal overlooking the Colisseum.

Personal Growth/Learning Goals

1. Sew a quilt.

2. Earn my bachelor's degree.  05/2012

3. Write a grant and get it approved.

4. Grow in my faith.

5. Learn to play the accordion.

6. Write a blog and publish 100+ posts.

7. Read a book each week for a year.  1-12/2015

8. Take a motorcycle class.

9. Send a care package to a soldier.  Uncle Slimmy's 2013 & 2015 Afghanistan tours.

10. Take a first aid course.

11. Earn my master's degree. Check, check! 2016
12. Pass the speech Praxis. Check, check, check! 8/1/16!

12. Read the entire Bible in one year.

13. Do something nice for someone who will never find out. Accomplished! But to be continued...

14. Come up with and check off one goal per friend, per year.

15. Go on a missions trip.

16. Learn how to change a tire/change a flat, if necessary.

17. Read half the books on BBC's Top 100 Books list.

18. Take a gun safety class. Check, check! 07/2016

19. Take a concealed weapons class. Check, check! 07/2016

20. Learn to sew.

21. Learn to ride horseback with skill.

22. Learn to decorate cakes.

Professional/Financial Goals

1. Publish a story.

2. Sell artwork I've created.

3. Become a speech language pathologist.  I'm on my way! Praxis to go, CF to go, August, 2016!

4. Find/publish Pea Soup.

5. Become financially self-sufficient.

6. Become debt free by 2020.  Looking less and less likely, considering current, continued debt accumulation.

7. Start an investment account.

8. Prepare a will.

9. Own a home.

10. Pay off my mortgage by age 50.

Home Goals

1. Create a comfortable home.

2. Plant a tree.

3. Plant a garden.

4. Be green.

Travel Goals

1. Take a spontaneous weekend roadtrip.

2. Take a trip where N's favorite movie was filmed.

3. Take dad and N somewhere special.

4. Go zip lining at Whistler or maybe in Tennessee. 

5. Stay in a cabin on a lake for a week.

6. Visit a big city for a weekend.

7. Go camping a minimum of one time per summer.  2014, 2015

8. Visit all 50 states with N.

9. Get in the car and drive with no plans.

10. Climb a mountain.

11. Hike the Appalachian trail.

12. Go to a Sarah Addison Allen book signing.

13. Go water skiing/wake boarding.

14. Attend a rodeo.

15. Go to NYC together and walk in Central Park.

16. Go to the Winter Olympics.

17. Visit 30 NYC landmarks.

18. Cruise Greece.

19. Stay in the south of France for one month.

20. Shop on the Champs Élysées in Paris.

21. Spend Thanksgiving in NYC.

22. Visit the Smithsonian.

23. Go on a trip by myself.

24. Make a travel nap of all the places I've been and all of the places N and I have been.

25. Attend a unique small town festival.

26. Visit a ghost town.

27. Attend a cirque du soleil show.

28. Attend a cultural festival.

29. Attend a gay wedding.

30. Visit lighthouses/volunteer to be the lighthouse keeper for a summer.

31. Attend a three day music festival.

32. Visit Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. 

33. Ride a cable car in San Francisco.

34. Visit all US national parks.

35. Spend a weekend in a cabin in the woods.

36. Take N to visit Santa in Lapland.

37. See the Hollywood sign.

38. Camp Bestival.

39. Go to Sea World.

40. Take N to Sandusky or Cedar Point.

41. Visit Rita and Sharky with Jess and N.

42. Visit Houston.

43. Go to the children's museum.

44. Visit the Eiffel Tower at night.

45. Go to Talladega.

46. See New England in the fall.

47. Spend a summer in a lake house.

48. Go to Chincoteague for Pony Penning Day.

49. Go to the top of the Empire State Building.

50. Visit Graceland.

51. Go lobster fishing in Maine.

52. Sleep in a castle.

53. Mennonite my way.

54. Go on a cruise with N.

55. Go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras.

56. Drive Route 66. 

57. Go to a Montana ranch for a week of vacation.

58. Go to a big medieval fair.

59. Go to Disneyworld.

60. Visit the Colisseum.

61. Stay on a plantation in the South.

62. Go to every county fair in Indiana.

63. Stay at a bed and breakfast.

64. Go to Glastonbury Festival in England and see Stonehenge.

65. See the aurora borealis.

66. Places to visit:

          A. US National Parks in West roadtrip: Yellowstone, Death Valley, Zion, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Crater Lake & Glacier National Park.

          B. PEI

          C. Coast to Coast US South roadtrip: GA, AL, TN, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, CO, NV, CA.

          D. Multnomah Falls, WA

          E. Mt. Rushmore, SD

          F. Gum Wall, WA

          G. Hoover Dam, NV, AZ

          H. Statue of Liberty, NY

          I. Grand Canyon, AZ

          J. Antelope Canyon, AZ

          K. The Wave, AZ

          L. Yosemite, CA

          M. Hollywood Walk of Fame, CA

          N. Moaning Caverns, CA

          O. Glass Beach, CA

          P. Ice Castles at Silverthorne, CO

          Q. The Road to Hana, HA

          R. Waianapanapa Black Sand Beach, HA

          S. Las Vegas Strip, NV

          T. French Quarter, LA

          U. Niagra Falls, NY, Canada

          V. Times Square, NY

          W. Olympic Games, any location

          X. Sundance Film Festival, USA

          Y. Up Helly Aa Fire Festival, Scotland

          Z. Mardi Gras, USA

Other Experiences

1. Get a professional massage.

2. Jump into a pool fully clothed.  

3. Have my caricature drawn.

4. Wear an itty, bitty, teeny, weeny, yellow, polka-dot bikini.

5. Wear a red string bikini.

6. Milk a cow or a goat.

7. Go spear fishing.

8. Ride a bike along a beach.

9. Watch a combine demolition derby.

10. See the Nutcracker.

11. Own a pearl strand necklace.

12. Go skinny dipping.

13. Ride an elephant.

14. Ride a camel. 

15. Go to the opera. 

16. Watch a Royal Ballet performance.

17. Have my fortune told.

18. Go snowmobiling.

19. Ride in a helicopter.

20. Go white water river rafting.

21. Go to a shooting range.

22. Sleep on satin sheets.

23. Find the perfect black dress.

24. Dress in expensive lingerie.

25. Fill up an entire coloring book.

26. Register as an organ donor.

27. Ride in a hot air balloon.

28. Add something useful to Wikipedia.

29. Send flowers to myself.

30. Go to the crosstown classic.

31. Go to a Bears game.

32. Attend an MLB game.

33. Wear dresses more often.

34. Cover my bed in rose petals.

35. Shear a sheep.

36. Watch every episode of How I Met Your Mother.

37. Build a sandcastle.

38. Watch a meteor shower.

39. Attend a dinner murder mystery.

40. Become a beekeeper.

41. Drive a tractor.

42. Go canoing.

43. Serve at a local shelter or soup kitchen.

44. Buy a motorcycle.

45. See a Broadway play.

46. Go go-karting.

Spartan Tough Mudder!!

Okay, these are two separate things. First of all, I have a gigantic life list, and I feel like I need to organize it before I should publish it on here, buuuuuuut.....I'm not feeling that right now. In the meantime, Michigan State University and the Michigan Tough Mudder 2014! Two separate goals, both currently in the works, so I'm slapping them together for the convenience of this evening!

One of my major goals in life is to be totally self sufficient, in every way, especially financially. I don't want my son to grow up to be a spoiled little twerp, but I don't want him to want for anything. That means -- duh, duh, duh, DUH -- GRAD SCHOOL!!! I am currently the proud holder of an undergraduate degree in speech pathology, but that amounts to nothing without a graduate degree. Can't get my Certificate of Clinical Competence (sounds fancy, right?) without a masters under my belt, aaaaand my top school just offered a place in their program for me! No big deal! (But totally a big deal!!! I CANNOT CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT!!! Seriously, I could die of happiness right now!) So, yeah, Bud and I are going to be Spartans. Better go buy some green and white clothes! I'll probably be talking about MSU for the rest of my life, or at least the rest of this summer, so I'll spare you all the gory details for now.

New story: the Tough Mudder Michigan 2014. This is a fairly new development for me (actually, older than my acceptance letter from MSU!! Okay, seriously, I'm done now.) as I have a mama friend who is trying to get fit again after a recent addition to her family and mentioned the event, along with a "you should totally sign up! Me and Matt are going to do it! Etc, etc, etc," to which I responded with a "absolutely! No big deal! Count me in!" (And other exclamatory remarks of the sort.). I started running last week to  begin getting in shape, but haven't come up with many ideas for gaining upper body strength. It's not until September though, so at least I've got several months to work on that.

I finally just went through the website today with my workout buddy (who is also a party to the crime of convincing me to jump in over my head with this thing) to check out all of the obstacles and everything. It's CRAZY! Not what I was expecting. I always thought Tough Mudder was triathlon or something until she started telling me about it. You have to sign a waiver to participate (you have to do that for pretty much everything, but it seems way more serious for this shindig) -- I'll probably only make it a mile, MAYBE two before I die, but at least it will be a pretty exciting way to go.

I'm going to try to get a bunch of friends to sign up for it so we have a big team to get through the obstacles together -- main guy being rock star brother, Slim. If he's not deployed by then, he said he'd drive up to do it with me. Ka-CHING! I know who my battle buddy is going to be! I'll have someone to drag me through the obstacles while I sit back and relax. Haha! Just kidding..only, sorta. My brothers are both awesome -- I made what may have been the Greatest Worst Decision Ever while four months pregnant with Little Buddy and went hiking with them and our mom to our favorite bluff at the Indiana State Dunes. Oh my gosh, we went up the blowout and down the other side to the beach, and I like to died! We hung out at the beach for an hour or two and then were headed back up the blowout back to the trail and they literally towed me up the bluff! I felt like a watermelon. And a tomato. And a pumpkin. And a large, overly warm, overly winded maniac. BUT!, I made it out with my life, thanks to my sweet, grumpy, chivalrous turd brothers. Yep, they'd both be great partners for one of these dealios.

Beachhouse Blowout -- thanks for the help, guys!

In all their manly glory

Has anyone ever competed in a Tough Mudder? Was it as equal parts scary and fun as it looks? I'll really have to get my act together to do a decent job with this! Grad school? One and done. Tough Mudder? Not so much!

The Very Beginning

Welcome to the beginning of my brave new life!

Wow, this blogging thing is already intimidating! So, let me get right to it. I have intended to start this blog up since January but was stumped when it came to the title. I just couldn't come up with something that seemed to fit, and of course NO ONE can concentrate on writing a blog post with the absolute wrong name floating through her cranium! Or maybe that's just me? Anyway, I decided to keep it simple with something that seemed to describe exactly where I am in life and how I feel about it.

I am starting my life fresh- giving myself a blank slate. Everything that I am experiencing is new to me- I have always been a positive person, but I have never been brave enough to make the decisions I am now. Just a bit of background, for this first post, I graduated with my bachelors degree in speech language pathology, several years ago. If I'd had any sense, I would have immediately enrolled in a graduate program (a masters degree is a requirement for certification in this field of study); however, my partner at the time didn't want me to continue. So I didn't. I didn't take ownership of my life- I allowed someone else to do that for me. While I do sincerely regret that decision, I am doing my best to bravely turn things around.

I have a son who was born in January of 2013, and there is nothing more important to me than breaking the cycle he was born into and showing him how to grow, learn, and love sincerely and selflessly. It is my belief that there is no better way to teach than by example, so I am choosing to make my own happiness, show love to those I interact with, and treat my life as the grand adventure that life is. I heard a quote recently (I'm not sure who authored it) that went, "My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived and let me watch him do it." I love that! What better way to show a child how to view and interact with and love the world around him?! I want my joy of life to overflow, contagious. I want my son to love and wonder and strive.

Anyway. Adventures are the best way to learn. Plus, they make me happy! And that's what life is all about, right? I'm moving forward and upward, and I'm taking my son along on my journey. I will chase my goals and dreams, so that my son learns to chase his own goals and dreams!

While I wishywashed (if you don't like people using words like that, I can already tell you that we won't be friendlies) around trying and failing to come up with a blog name, I DID come up with a pretty extensive list of life goals. Some are big goals, and some are small. Some may take twenty years to accomplish, while others have already been checked off (I added to a previously existing list- one life goal was to become a mother. Check!).

I'm not certain how to go about presenting my bucket list on this site. It still needs to be organized/categorized, but I will save that for another day. I guess my next post (if not about some goals I'm currently working on) will be in regards to my life list (not a fan of the term "bucket list"- it makes me feel as though I'm going to drop dead the following day).

Here's to building my very own wonderful life!