Inspired by my best friend, Bren…and yes, her list was so good I might copy some if they fit in with my wishes for a better me. 

My goal as of late has been to rid my life of material items that don’t bring me happiness or aren’t useful to me in some way.  In doing that I have emptied my life of things and have looked forward to filling my life with… well, LIFE!  Not exactly a bucket list because my bucket list is full of things that I hope to look forward to and won’t be plausible til I’m older and wiser (and richer), but for me this list will be about moving toward positive change as well as pushing me out of my comfort zone.  And maybe it’s a little cheaty, but I feel like I had this mental list and there are things on it that I’ve been able to accomplish  so I’m including those too as it’s an ongoing project. And Bren you were so organized, so thanks, it helps me set this up easier!

 

Exercise/Health

1. Continue to train for and run/walk/jog in my first 5K

2. Do one of the offered classes at the gym, 12 times (6/12)

5/11 went back to spin class and it was awesome!

5/14 ooh Pilates was great – could be a regular Thursday morning thing… AND I did my full regular workout afterward!

5/18 did spin again and abs workout after. Might try the yoga next week.

5/20 Yoga! Intermediate yoga. I can’t believe it and I’m so proud of myself because I was much more flexible than I thought and definitely stronger. I got myself into one legged chair pose pretty well. 

5/21 Pilates again and it was great – mini ball this week vs the big ball last time.

6/2 Pilates – didn’t know there was one on Tuesdays. It kind of interferes with the farmer’s market though so I’m trying to juggle that.

3.  Make it to the top of the 1st column on the rock wall and ring the bell

4. Get past my fear of riding my bike in the street with the trailer and make it all the way to the Farmer’s Market at least one time

5. Walk the kids to school every day that it is not poor weather for 120 days  (5/120)

6. Lose 30 lbs, but aim for losing 40 lbs and maintaining once I get there

7. Go for a physical

8. Stop being chicken and go back to the dentist

9. Take swim lessons again

10. Put sunscreen on face every morning, even if it’s raining, for 30 days (10/30)

11. Take probiotic/flora balance pill for 30 days to see if it helps (27/30)

5/11 so far so good – i feel great

5/20 over halfway done and this has changed my life. I can go confidently about my life

5/29 yeah this stuff’s changed my life. I should buy stock.

12. Bike to the gym one day, by myself, without the trailer. Just to see if I can do it. If I have energy left, stay at the gym and workout. If not, no biggie

13. Run a mile on the treadmill

5/12 and I could have kept going, so maybe I’m finally going to kick asthma in the ass

14. Run 2 miles on the treadmill

5/14 tantalizingly close!!! I am so so proud of myself and my crap ass lungs for hanging in there with me. I think they are getting used to surviving with less air or something lol…as if they are independent from me right? LOL I did 1.87 miles and then cooled down. Ah, SOON

5/19 HELLZ TO THE YEAH! I ran 2.3 miles with  only 2 small breaks for water…

15. Hit over 200 SPM on elliptical

5/13 that’s right, I hit 210 strides per minute while doing an interval on a level 8 resistance. Not too shabby!

16. Run 3 miles on treadmill

17. Sign up for a 5K and run/walk til I finish no matter how long it takes me.

18. Go to sleep before midnight for 5 days in a row (0/5)

Recreation (and pushing comfort zone!)

1. Ok, I WILL try paintball once to make my husband happy and to say I got pelted with little balls

2. I hate bugs, but I will go camping and deal with it because my family seems to really want to go camping

3. Go go-karting with friends and fam

4. FINALLY take those motorcycle lessons I have been talking about up at the college

5. Go snowmobiling again

6. Build a snowman

7. Dive from the diving board, even if it isn’t graceful

8. Cast a fishing line just once, even if I catch nothing

Community

1. Check out every single playground/park that we have in Roseville.  Whether we stay and play in it will be up to the safety and integrity of the things there, but we have MANY MANY beautiful playgrounds available and I should utilize them all. 

2. Visit the water park in Rocklin that I always see on the way to the cupcake store.

3. Continue my visits to the farmer’s market in the whole foods parking lot

5/19 I have gained “NORM” status at the Farmer’s Market LOL. 

4. Make it a point to join my in-laws for the farmer’s market at Denio’s

5. Go with my mom to the farmer’s market in the Sunrise mall parking lot which we’ve heard is fabulous

6. Join freecycle and begin sharing the wealth 5/5

7. Take a leap and sell my jewelry and photographs in the local boutique that contacted me. I think I am worth it and will give it a shot at least through this Christmas. 5/6

8. Call and get involved in the Great Roseville clean-up

9. Organize all of the items I have been storing all year for the Socks and Gloves Program.

5/24 I cleaned up the entire close that these items resided in. It looks fab and I did organize all this stuff. It’s nice to see what I have and what I still need.

10. Donate all unused hygiene items to Salvation Army (already in suitcase to go, just have to drop it off)

5/29 Went this morning to drop it off and they were doing a coffee and breakfast handout before letting people do their shower day so it was perfect timing

11. Take the kids to the Discovery Museum now that Sean is old enough to appreciate it

5/19 OOH in looking for my old passport I found free admission tickets for this – summer plans are underway

12. Get tickets and do the Polar Express train because I think pretty soon it’s gonna be too late to impress Zach with it

13. RAK 10 strangers in big or small ways (0/10)

5/21 We have been freecycling and I don’t see that as a RAK necessarily, but in two of the bags I did include extra goodies.  Well maybe these are RAKs, but I want to do specific ones not related to freecycle

A Little ME Time

1. One consecutive (or nearly consecutive) hour a day for reading for 30 days (5/30)

2. Unplug from the internet and phone world for one week…and obviously will update that at the end of that week LOL

3. Do not fall asleep to the tv, just turn it off…for one week (this is hard to imagine!) (3/7)

5/11 it was late, nothing was on, we turned it off…it was really really hard lol

5/29 I have been so exhausted these last few days I just turned the tv off  and went to bed…not before midnight though so i can’t cross that one off LOL

4. Get a pedi or massage once a month for 6 months (1/6)

going for mother’s day 5/9/09 with Trish

5. Learn to use hairsticks 5/5

6. Do the “Mad World” photography project that I’ve been thinking about over and over again for months now.

7. Drink a cup of tea every day (6/1001)

8. Read some of my old poetry

9. Write some new poetry

10. Take a photo and blog about it.  Do this 60 times. (0/60)

11. Write a blog entry every day for a week straight (0/7)

12. Read the much hyped about Twilight Series

13. Read the entire Harry Potter Series

14. Buy a season of Broadway musical tickets

15. Buy tix to local theater small productions and take the boys because Zach seems to love theater just like his mommy and daddy – he wants to be in the musical next year at school. 

Family & Friends

1. Resurrect Friday Movie Night at least 2 times a month (1/66)

5/23 – Harry Potter. Figured we better start watching it now so we can see it when it comes out in July!

2. Plan a boys day for Matt and Zach at least once a month for 6 months (0/6)

3. Plan a boys day for Matt and Sean at least once a month for 6 months (0/6)

4. Plan a date night/day for Zach and me at least once a month for 6 months (0/6)

5. Plan a date night/day for Sean and me at least once a month for 6 months (0/6)

6. Plan a date night for me and the hubby at least once a month for 12 months (2/12)

5/29 we are going out of town to see old friends and we’re not taking the kids. It may not be a one on one date, but it’s just us two

6/3 we had a great time on our date seeing old friends – ended the night with breakfast at Denny’s at 2 a.m.

7. Have my in-laws and mom over at least once a month for dinner and games for 12 months that has nothing to do with a holiday or special occassion (1/12)

5/22 i’m counting this day – it was our anniversary but we weren’t celebrating it with them, we just wanted to have them over to play games and have dinner.

5/29 well I invited them over, so we’ll see what the answer is lol – the answer was no as my ILs were out of town, but my mom came over and I got the fire alarm to go off because of the grease that got spit up on the burner coil (broiler)..joy.

8. Plan a family outing at least once a month for the 4 of us for 3 months (1/3)

5/20 we are planning to try to take the boys to see Night at the Museum and UP – if we do early bird specials we’ll be able to do both. Maybe we’ll plan some lunch afterward. Maybe an indoor picnic.  Can’t do outdoor. I got eaten alive by mosquitoes last weekend.

5/24 We did the night at the museum early bird special today! We did our indoor picnic last night, but that was part of Zach’s budget day.

6/3 – we are going to see “UP” on Thursday

9. Let Zach plan a day for our family on a small budget

5/23  http://allingoodtime.wordpress.com/2009/05/24/were-on-a-mission/

10. Reinstate YES DAYS once a month for 6 months as long as it is absolutely free (stuff we have in the house or can do in the community) (0/6)

11. Find a way to get together with my cousins on my mom’s side… we’re not as close as I wish we were.

6/3 I got back in touch with one of my cousins and we have sent out a FB invite for us all to get together next month. I haven’t heard back yet.  I also am trying to track down two of my other cousins.

12. Hang out with GB, my cousin on my dad’s side.

13. RAK 10 of my friends with something I make or buy (0/10)

14. Plan a girls weekend…if we can afford it and our children will let us leave…we should take it!

15. Plan as many get togethers as I can. I’m getting lots less shy about this and am so happy to meet up with many friends from the past and present.

5/21 well actually since this list began I have gotten together with a few people and some were a surprise too.  We have plans for next weekend to meet up with more we haven’t seen for a VERY long time!  what do you know, we CAN be social, honey!

5/26 met Diana for lunch today – great meet up, good grub and what do you know, they were bull’s horns not devil horns LOL

5/30 hung out with friends for Toto’s pizza for lunch, went to Michele’s get together and afterward headed to Pier 23.  Awesome weekend making new friends and hanging out with old ones

6/3 – TRYING to go out to the Bay Area in a couple of weeks, meeting up with friends. HOPING!

Food

1. Learn to cook 5  new meals (6/5)

5/6(cook yourself thin cheesy lasagna with mushrooms and veggies)

5/8 ok i’m not counting this as one, but I cooked a lasagna that was ‘normal’ for Matt and it turned out so good that my mother-in-law said “that’s good” and it is HER original recipe so that is HIGH PRAISE!

5/18 ok, this is not really COOKING per se, but it was a new recipe and I dared to share and i think it turned out yummy. It was a tweaked tuna lettuce wrap recipe from Cook Yourself Thin – and a cucumber side salad for crunch. It was a hint of Asian with rice wine vinegar and sesame oil/seeds – delish!

5/21 not a recipe (so i guess not counting lol) but I made a yummy flatbread pizza today. whole wheat pocketless pita, spread with pesto, skim mozz, mini bell peppers, sun dried tomatoes, and 2 types of mushrooms. SO good!

5/23 grilled teriyaki pork and grilled pineapple – brought my mom some – devoured and delish

5/24 Chicken fingers made with cornflakes seen on Cook Yourself Thin – interesting… not sure if cornflake flavor is something I can get past. 

5/28 Tomato, Basil, Fresh Mozzerella and Balsamic on Ciabatta.  Grilled it up and it was darn tasty!  A sandwich may not count as a meal i learned to cook LOL but I’m not giving up.

5/29 Making teriyaki kabobs tonight – have it marinating right now – mmm

2. Use slow cooker to cook one meal per week for 6 weeks (1/6)

5/5(Lentil Soup – thanks for the recipe Shauna)

3. Discover 10 new restaurants/eateries (1/10)

   5/5(El Parian – Mexican food – reminded me of El Faro’s, but nothing will ever be El Faro’s except El Faro’s…old El Faro’s with the authentic chips)

Finances/Important Stuff

1. With the exception of my husband’s student loan, be debt free.

5/11 REALLY really close to this one

5/18 even closer – just 2 more to pay off

5/27 Victorious on the credit card debt! We have no more credit card debt. It’s beautiful.

5/29 Aggressively paying off loan hoping to be done by the time we go on cruise in August then we can CELEBRATE our freedom with our vacay!

2. Build our savings back to where it was

5/29 in order to aggressively pay the loan and be done really soon, this has to go on the back burner. 

3. Get to work on redoing my will

4. Invest in 401K

5. Buy into stock option plan at Matt’s work

5/20 found out the open enrollment for this is happening now. Not doable now, but next OE is in 6 months and we’re going to try to aim for that.

6. Revise the budget after some crazy stuff passes here

Travel

1. Go with my mom to Denmark to see family I have not seen since I was in high school with a couple of exceptions that came to the states a handful of years ago.

2. Take the kids for a Legoland, Disneyland, San Diego vacation.

3. Visit Bren and the family and see their new home!

4. Visit Erin and see Cheese Chain when he arrives…don’t know if she’d want me there for the birth since I’m sure that room will be crammed LOL

5/20 i’m realizing that this list is helping me just live my life more fully. I know that is its intention, but I’m surprised at how awesome it feels. Almost like Jim Carrey in Yes Man LOL!  I say this because we did talk about visiting and we are making an actual plan to do so when he arrives!

5. Go back to New York and have a proper long visit this time…

6. Go to Disney World

7. Go to Hawaii

8. Have a get together with old friends at the Zoo or Discovery Museum or Exploratorium

9. Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge

10. Visit Alcatraz w/the kids

11. Go on a proper boat ride that doesn’t involve spreading ashes or saying goodbye of any kind

5/20 does the cruise count? I believe it should!!! But then again I know Matt wants to take a boat out on Folsom Lake someday, so maybe I’ll leave this one unchecked for him

12. Go on an Alaskan cruise

5/14 we are making reservations for this – departing in August before school starts again for Zach. I am SO STINKING EXCITED

5/20 BRENDA’S FAMILY is JOINING US!!!! I get to go on vacation with my best friend.  We’ve been friends for 22 years and this will be like our 3rd vacation together (Santa Cruz, Vegas) but our first as married family women

Odds and Ends:

1. Finish this list… because I’m a mom and I don’t have time to finish it in one sitting lmao

5/21 even though my very last one is not a goal, but a hope – I think my list is finally complete As complete as an ever changing journey can be.

2. Continue my decluttering until I have decluttered every corner of this house and given away anything that doesn’t make me happy and isn’t useful to me or this household. 

5/20 making SERIOUS progress on this.  Big nose is gone.  He waved goodbye to us today … I’m gonna miss that big ass dog.  We got him at Target for like 59 bucks back in 1997 before we had kids.  I’m really procrastinating on doing my closet though. I’ve been through lots of stuff, given away or sold most everything useless in several other rooms… now the big one is left LOL.

6/3 – I have taken a tiny break because it’s making me a little sad and I want it to be a happy thing. 

3. Become part of a theater production again, even if it’s just blocking and painting sets.

4. No more paper plates, plastic cups, or plastic utensils.  Use real items everyday for 30 days. (27/30)

5/20 I’m so proud of us.  At first it was a super conscious effort and now it’s a couple of “whoops” moments and soon it will be second nature.  We are going to reward this by getting ourselves some proper glasses (Matt has been using Zach’s plastic color changing cup from Discovery Museum) and utensils. 

5/24 even Zach is really getting on board and conscious now  

5/29 treated ourselves to a new set of utensils and freecycled the old ones.  We had those since we lived in O’side 12 years ago.  I thought we were worth the new set for $12.96 LOL

5. No more bottled water (will finish what I have)  use only Brita filter or straight from tap fountain water at the gym for 60 days (27/60)

5/20 working on finishing up the water we have left. Have been making sweet tea for Matt and have been using tap/Brita water for myself

6. Ok, ok, I think I have to seriously start planning this 20 year reunion for high school don’t I.  Will seriously get to work planning it. 

7. Shred all things unnecessary

8. Make myself a pair of earrings  – I’ve made everyone else amazing earrings that won’t hurt the ears, it’s my turn to have some lol

6/2 made some cute earrings – I have a feeling that they match the ones I made Trish though LOL

9. Find my compassion and then find my voice

5/21 this is sort of cheating because it’s something I specifically want to do tomorrow about an incident that happened tonight. I will not just ‘let it go’. I will start from a place of compassion and if there was no reason for the actions that took place I will begin whooping ass and I’m not joking.

5/24 I confronted him – he apologized in a roundabout way – and I found that voice and I was proud

10. Buy 15 handmade items – for myself or for gifts – to support the crafting community that I am a part of! (0/15)

11. This is my final “1″ thing on the list and I refuse to write something specific because I want this to be that place holder where ANYTHING miraculous and awesome can happen if I just push myself to do it.  There are so many things this list is pushing me to do and my life is feeling really full because of it. I wouldn’t dare lock myself in by writing one final thing to complete I have more than 101 things I want to do with my life…

5/29 Went to the Oriental Market today.  It was a biggie for me, so I just wanted to write it down.