A lovely life list

The purpose of the blog, or at least what I intended the purpose to be when I started writing, was to document what the wee crowd was doing; the blog was to serve as their baby book since.  While it does serve that purpose it also has become a place for me to share, vent, and ramble about being a mom.  In many ways a baby book would be much more accessible - Oliver and Henni could pick up their book and flip through the pages and quickly find when they got their first tooth, when they crawled... Although they can find this in the blog they will need to dig and, somewhere amongst the clutter of their mom's babble they will find whatever milestone it was they were looking for.  And who knows, maybe they will find the tales of their adventures and my chatter interesting as well.

All of this to say - this post is about me.


I have lists upon lists.  In fact, I even have lists of lists.  Almost every list contains the following line items: do laundry, put away laundry, groceries, and de-clutter (Davis has actually suggested just not putting these items on the list since they are just givens - givens like going to the bathroom (one would not put that on a to do list)).  On one of these lists is "write a list of things I would love love love to do."  The other night while reading one of my favorite blogs (www.makingitlovely.com) I saw that Nicole, the blogger, had posted her "lovely life list" there.  She described her list as follows:

This isn’t a bucket list. These aren’t things I need to cross off before I die. Will I ever accomplish everything here? Probably not, but that’s not the goal. This list exists simply as a collection of things I would like to do in my lifetime. If writing them down helps me focus, and in turn helps me achieve some of them, the list has served its purpose.  A life list should never make you feel guilty for not accomplishing something! It should serve as a compass, opening you up to experiences that you may have discounted otherwise.

Nicole inspired me to write my own lovely life list and thus be able to, finally, cross writing that list of my list of lists.  So, here it is - my lovely life list in no particular order (and with the caveat that the list will change over time):

1. Become fluent in a language
2. Have a clutter-free house
3. Run 10 miles
4. Swim 5 miles
5. Take an EMT course
6. Have an art studio 
7. Do art in said studio
8. Start something really fantastic
9. Hike to the top of something really beautiful (peak to be determined)
10. Live in a "Dwell" house
11. Spend a day at the spa and enjoy it (I spent a half day at a spa about 8 years ago and went crazy - I couldn't relax enough to enjoy it)
12. Write letters to everyone I adore and tell them why they are so special to me
13. Go to Tahiti
14. Go to St. Lucia and stay at either Jade Mountain or Asne Chasenet
15. Become awesome at merengue 
16. Become awesome at salsa
17. Get my captain's license, or at least become better versed at boating
18. Sleep an entire night (or at least more than 3 hours at a stretch)
19. Go on our honeymoon
20. Write a book
21. Become good at carpentry
22. Learn how to dress myself (as in put together an outfit (I do know how to put clothes on all by myself))

So why share the list here?  For one, research has shown when one publicly acknowledges goals one is more likely to achieve them (and hell yes I'd love to sleep more than 3 hours at a time while at the same time partaking in a spa day at the Jade Mountain resort while on my honeymoon).  The other reason is that the list can provide Oliver and Henni (and me) with a snap shot of who their mommy is and what she likes. (Being a kid myself and having a mom of my own, I know that sometimes this can get lost amist the chaos).

And here, just so there is a picture to this rambling, an oh so lovely place...