52 things for 2014

Here is my list of 52 things that I plan to do this year.  Overall the idea this year is to live with a more deliberate intent about what I’m doing.  I would like to continue adventuring and having fun outdoors, as I did last year.  The difference between last year and this year will perhaps be to make my outdoor adventures a little more educational.  I want to hike…..and be able to identify some of the various mushrooms and plant life that I see.

1. Be supportive of Lili
2. Be supportive of my dad
3. Be supportive of my sister
4. Take Lili to Texas
5. Make more art
6. Write in my journal
7. Create in my collage journal
8. Go to the gym 2x a week on a regular basis
9. Go to the gym 3x a week on a regular basis
10. Go to the gym 4x a week on a regular basis
11. Go meatless for 1 week
12. Go gluten free for 1 week
13. Drink more water daily
14. Eat more fruit
15. Eat more vegetables
16. Lose 10lbs
17. Lose 20lbs
18. Lose 30lbs
19. Participate in a 5k
20. Be a badass mofo
21. Go to the coast 12x
22. Go to the coast 20x
23. Go hiking 5x
24. Go hiking 10x
25. Go inner tubing at Willamette Pass (went to HooDoo, same diff)
26. Go inner tubing on the river
27. Go to the rockslides
28. Go crabbing
29. Go fishing
30. Go camping 3x
31. Go camping 5x
32. Go camping 1x in Southern Oregon
33. Go camping 1x at the coast
34. Get a tattoo
35. Keep pushing myself to learn and excel at my job
36. Go to the Portland Zoo
37. Go to the Oregon Coast Aquarium
38. Go to Multnomah Falls
39. Go to Crater Lake
40. Go to The Nightmare Factory
41. Go on a tour of something
42. Get tan (a little, but it count)
43. Take more Horsehead pictures
44. Read a new book series
45. Discover a new great place to eat
46. Learn a new delicious recipe
47. Make more handmade crafts and gifts
48. Have an awesome Halloween costume
49. Have an awesome work Halloween
50. Pay down debt
51. Do more stargazing
52. Learn to salsa dance

Cheers to setting goals and working hard to achieve them!  Cheers to 2014!

End of year note:  I lost some steam at some point over the course of 2014, but I was a lot more focused on supporting Lili emotionally, so I’m okay with that. In 2015 I will need to find a balance between being available for my daughter and meeting my own needs and taking care of myself.  Balance, balance, balance.

2013, I bid thee adieu.

Goodbye old year and hello NEW!  2013 was full of huge life changes and was so amazingly awesome that I truly cannot express the magnitude.  I was perfectly perched on the scales between heavy personal strife and wonderful joy.  I experienced so much change, so many challenges and definitely accomplished my hefty goal to go on more adventures!

Over the course of the year I made a conscious effort to work harder at looking on the bright side of things and giving the silver lining the appreciation that it deserves.  I was already a pretty positive person overall, but sometimes would get bogged down in depression and I wouldn’t always see the good.  Lately depression for me wouldn’t mean that I was sad, or that I had a negative attitude, it typically meant I just would feel a little bummed for no discernible reason.  It also meant that I couldn’t really be happy either, I would just be flat.  I just WAS.  Bleh.  Meh.  Eh.  Whatevs.  Bah.  Basically numb or a gentle listless or unsettled feeling.  It’s a little difficult to describe, but it sucks.  It happens.  I can’t really control it, I can just try to control how I react to it.  This year, I was successful in my endeavor and though I was aware that “it” was there, simmering away beneath the surface, I didn’t allow myself to succumb.  The cyclical depression that I always feel in the last quarter of the year is still totally there, I can feel IT lurking in the shadows…but I am working to manage it and manage myself.  

Pro tip for werkin’ it in 2014: look at things, do things, feel things, experience things and think positive or profound thoughts.  When you experience something great, run a mental list in your head of whatever grateful thoughts you can think of.

Example:  See this picture?  I took it, with my iPhone the other day at the coast with my daughter.

Here are some thoughts that were running through my head as I stood overlooking this scene:

This is a majestic sight to see.  So beautiful.  I’m alive.  I am so lucky to live in Oregon.  I’m so glad to share this with my daughter.  I’m so excited to have such excellent coast weather lately.  I’m so blessed to be in a life position that I can just pick up and go to the coast for the day, on the fly.  I’m so glad for technology and how it allows me to capture memories that I’ll look back on fondly.

In writing, it’s freakin’ corny.  But if you are in the habit of doing this, and you really give yourself to that moment, it will feel profound and wonderful.

My plan for this upcoming year is to continue LIVING life and reveling  in everything I possibly can.

52 Things for 2013

Per the example of my friend Dina, I’ve made a 52 things list.  Here is a list of goals for 2013.  (I cheated, but only a teeny bit)  Since this is a first-time thing for me, I’ve stayed somewhat practical.

1. Start a 52 things list
2. Start a blog
3. Lose 20 lbs
4. Lose 30 lbs
5. Start doing crunches and ab exercises
6. Start using resistance bands or hand weights at home
7. Camp 5x or more (gone 2x)
   
8. Camp 1x in Southern Oregon
9. Camp 1x at the coast
10. Organize my camping gear
11. Unpack
12. Get rid of a lot of stuff
13. Make the family room a usable space
14. Go to the coast with Lili and the dogs 10x (have gone 20x)
15. Hike Spencer’s Butte 10x (have gone 4x)
16. Go on 6 picnics (4 more to go)
    
17. Get a tattoo
18. Pay down debt
19. Go on more walks with Lili
20. Be supportive of Lili
21. Keep pushing myself to excel at my job
22. Go to Disneyland
23. Go to the Portland Zoo
24. Go to the Oregon Coast Aquarium
25. Go to the Wild Animal Petting Zoo
26. Get tan
27. Go dancing at least 2x a month
28. Take more Horsehead pictures
29. Read more
30. Eat more salad
31. Eat more fruit
32. Start drinking 4 water bottles a day
33. Go meatless for 1 day
34. Go meatless for 1 week
35. Go meatless for 1 month
36. Go to a concert
37. Go to the theatre
    
38. Participate in a 5K
39. Dress nicer
40. Join a gym
41. Go to the gym 4x in a month
42. Go to the gym 10x in a month
43. Go to the gym 15x in a month
44. Go to the gym 20x in a month
45. Stay boyfriendless for the whole year
46. Discover a new great place to eat
47. Make more handmade crafts and gifts
48. Write in my journal more
49. Make more collages in my collage journal
50. Have/make an awesome Halloween costume
51. Have an awesome work Halloween
52. Finish a 52 things list

Boom! Let’s DO this!