Start a collection

9) Start a collection: I used to collect baseball memorabilia when I was a kid. Now, I was a serious, serious collector and we had an entire room in our house devoted to this passion of mine. While I did get a little overboard, I really miss the idea of having a "thing" to look for when I go out. I already have an idea about what to start collecting (and possibly may have officially kicked this off) but I'll share more about that when the time comes.

I've always been one of those people that had something to collect. I'm not sure why. I think it takes a special mind to be a collector. It's the thrill of knowing what you want and then actually finding it. How often do we wish we could set our intentions and know exactly what we want and then have the chance of bringing it home after hitting just a few yard sales or thrift shops? Don't you wish you could say "Today, I want to find the mate of my dreams. They need to be 5 foot 10 and have green eyes and have a well paying job that they love and enjoy foreign travel and want x amount of kids" blah, blah, blah? Life doesn't work that way. I mean there is always the chance of finding exactly what you want all in the same package but more often than not, you're negotiating with yourself on what the "deal breakers" are. Having a passion like collecting ________ fulfills that need to be specific in knowing exactly what we want and not settling. If you know your comic book collection isn't complete without a certain issue of Superman then you may spend the rest of your life trying to find it. But what if the goal of your collection is to gather as many comic books as you can find with women on the cover? That opens up a whole new element of surprise and delight to your passion. You could spend hours doing research about the different covers that meet your certain criteria, or you could simply leave things up to chance. Which is more rewarding? Personally, I like that second one. Life doesn't always need to be so planned out. That mystery is exciting. Finding something you didn't even know was out there and wanting to add it to your life is a magical feeling. 

Are we still talking about collections? 

I really enjoy buying art. Let me clarify that. It's not the spending money part I enjoy, it's the finding the perfect piece that I just can't live without and adding it to my home. I appreciate the work that goes into making every single piece of art that I own. I enjoy going to local art shows and talking to the artists and hearing the stories behind why certain creative choices were made. My motto is simple. It doesn't have to be expensive, but it does have to be original. Don't get me wrong- there are some beautiful pieces that have been mass produced and would never be available to most people otherwise, those just aren't for me. I've come to terms with the fact that I'll never own an original Leonardo da Vinci sketch. This doesn't change the fact that I enjoy his work and appreciate his talent, but a print of the Vitruvian man just isn't going to make it on my walls. Everyone has their thing and original art just happens to be mine. I choose things for how they make me feel when I see them and I don't worry about if they match or if they'll go with anything else in my house. If I like it, I buy it, and make it fit. Well, try to anyway. That's the problem with a passion like this. I'm simply running out of room. My walls are quickly filling up and it's getting more and more challenging to make everything fit. Enter my new collection: original miniatures!

The same thrill of finding a new painting or mixed media piece is there, just in an easier to display format. I'm now scouring thrift shops and yard sales for original pieces of art that come in tiny packages. It's amazing to see the detail involved in these pieces. It's just as much work to create a painting the size of a quarter as it is the size of a magazine, if not harder! I love that I can designate a small wall to this and have plenty of room to add to it throughout the years. That part of me that enjoys a good search is fulfilled and the art lover is happy, too. I've already got five pieces to get things started. Two were tiny paintings I found at a thrift shop that are about 2" x 1.5", another is a drawing of a deer in colored pencil that I found at a Goodwill. It was drawn by child and given to his uncle with a delightful handwritten note on the back. I'll admit, that deer is a little bigger than I wanted, but the writing on the back made it a must have.  The last two were just sent to me by my favorite artist, my mom, and they are beautiful abstract paintings of Buddha and they give me much peace when I look at them. They are all different but each so beautiful and I've thoroughly enjoyed making this my new hobby. I haven't put them up on the walls yet but I know just the spot. My criteria for these pieces is simple: beautiful, original and must fit in the palm of my hand. The thrill of collecting something so random is that there is a possibility of finding something each and every day to fall in love with and bring it home for good. 

Cross another thing off the list!

9) Start a collection: I used to collect baseball memorabilia when I was a kid. Now, I was a serious, serious collector and we had an entire room in our house devoted to this passion of mine. While I did get a little overboard, I really miss the idea of having a "thing" to look for when I go out. I already have an idea about what to start collecting (and possibly may have officially kicked this off) but I'll share more about that when the time comes.

Morning Pages

I haven't posted a new blog in over a month. That doesn't mean I haven't written anything, it just means they weren't exactly finished. I currently have four posts in different stages of completion. I read through them occasionally, maybe add a new paragraph or two, and then I move on. It's a running theme, I guess. Start something, leave it incomplete, visit it once in awhile but then not take the next step. That was the whole reason I started this blog- to keep me accountable on promises I made to myself, yet here I am with already out-of-date posts piling up and nothing to show for it.

When I get like this, there is usually only one thing that can get me out of it. It's simple, but it really seems to help. Stream of consciousness writing. Julia Cameron teaches it in her book, The Artist's Way and she urges her readers/students to write something she calls "morning pages." Now, the criteria for morning pages is simple- three pages of longhand done first thing in the morning. You literally just wake up and start writing. Sometimes they make sense and sometimes they are just rambling. There's no editing and you don't go back and read them. It's your way of starting your day fresh by getting things off of your mind and clearing your head to allow creativity to come through. When I first tried them, it was difficult because I didn't know what to write about with sleep still in my eyes. Sometimes I would have trouble starting because I would still have pieces of a dream playing in my head or, even worse, nothing at all. I usually have music playing so if I didn't know what to say, I would start by mentioning what song was playing and then it would get me going and no matter how little I had to say that day, I would force myself to write three pages. Before long, I started writing three pages at night, too. It would help me clear my head and made me feel more relaxed. I kept these up for months and it was interesting when I would go back and read them. I paid attention to the things I mentioned over and over and that was another catalyst for this blog- pinpointing clear things I wanted for myself and for my life and going out and making them happen. 

Anyway, the whole point of mentioning this type of writing is that it makes you feel vulnerable. You aren't allowed to edit like you normally can when you express yourself and sometimes you read thoughts you never realized you had. I don't always let myself be vulnerable because you see things that you don't want to. But when you allow yourself to open up, you are inviting change in. What good is writing down thoughts and goals if you aren't going to do anything about them? You want to be a world traveler? Great. Buy a ticket. That's the only difference between a jet setter and someone who only dreams about seeing foreign places. Now, of course, I realize sometimes there are logistics and/or financial challenges involved, but you get my point. What recurring thoughts or goals do you have that you aren't following through with and why?

I had thought about just doing stream of consciousness writing here but I knew that would make me vulnerable because in order to do it "right", you're not supposed to think. Just write. But what if I spell something wrong? What if someone's name comes up that I don't want to mention? What if someone reads it and has a different opinion of me than they did before? Well too bad. This is my year of removing the "what ifs" and changing them to the "I dids." I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true. Technically these should be longhand but I'm just going to set a timer and type for 15 minutes and see what happens. I can't promise it will make any sense but I'm going to do it anyway. 

     Ludovico is playing right now. That;s not a surprise, because I listen to him just about everyday. Right now it's "Berlin Song" which has become one of my favorites. I heard it when I saw him in Vancouver but I didn't know the name of it. It's hard to find the names of songs without words because, well, you can't exaclty Google lyrics. I had a moment yesterday. It was beautiful. I always feel like my "signs" are musical. I've felt that since I was a kid. Music speaks to me in a language I understand better than anything else. Even though I don't play any instruments, music is a part of me and is always with me. I can't count the number of times I have been in situations where I wondered why I was there. And then I would hear a song or a a band that meant something to me and it would reassure me that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Usually it has to do with Counting Crows. I hear the most random CC songs in the most random places and I KNOW it's for me. That;'s weird. Anyway, I was in a funk yesterday. And I got this notice on my phone that the iTunes Festival in London was avialable and that you could listen in real time, for free. It was during my lunch and I was sitting at my desk working on a...less than cooperative Excel spreadsheet and I was listening to Bruce Springsteen's "Tunnel of Love" album. It was nearing the end and I decided to check iTunes to see if any artists were playing right then. Since they only have 2-3 artists play a day, I wasn't expecting much. Much to my surprise and sheer delight, Ludovico was playing AT THAT MOMENT. And I got to hear it live. And it was fucking beautiful. I only caught the last hour or so but it was breathtaking. It took me right back to that place I was in when I came back from Vancouver and it was amazing. About 10 minutes in, he played "I Giorni" which is the song that always gets me and I started to cry. At my desk during lunch. Onto my Jimmy John's. Ridiculous. It was so surreal but exactly what I needed. It's almost a joke with my friends when I share experiences like this because they happen so often. But do I notice it because I let myself be open to it or does everyone have this in their life only they don't talk about it? And if they don't share it, why don't they? I talk about Ludovico a lot. He comes up a lot these days. A few weeks ago Meredith posted an inspirational video on her FB page and Divenire happened to be the background music. She had no idea. Then last week I was with the other Meredith in her office. It was about 10:00 at night after a rough day and she had the "Jem" pandora station on. But about 5 minutes after I came in, Ludovico started playing. Now, he has no business being on that Pandora station since his music is not even close to hers but for some reason I happened to be there to catch it. Crazy. Speaking of crazy, my 1 second video today was showing off the new ios 7. I feel like I have a totally different phone. There are definitely some cool features but things look so very different. I was planning on getting the new iPhone 5s this weekend but I might hold out for awhile since this feels like a brand new phone and mine's still in great shape.

The timer went off and I'm following the rules and not going back and reading what I wrote. I can, however, see red underlines in my view so I know that paragraph is peppered with typos but I'm ok with that. I'll get things back on track with the blog soon, because things have been or are in the process of being crossed off the list and their is much to report! In the meantime, I challenge you to do morning pages tomorrow. Get up 15-20 minutes earlier than normal and give yourself this time to just let go. Don't edit, don't over think it, and don't write for an audience. What if you did it for a week? A month? A year? What do you think you'd find out about yourself that you never realized? Try it and this see if you notice any patterns. You might be surprised. 

Divenire

5) Get a "divenire" tattoo: Much more on the meaning behind this later.


Well, it's later! More importantly, it's officially crossed off the list.

I am a huge, HUGE, music fan and am always excited to get recommendations on different artists from friends. Last year, my friend Holly introduced me to the music of Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi. The second I heard his work, I knew my life had changed for the better. Every song was it's own piece of art and I felt myself go into a trance whenever I would play anything in his catalog. I was listening to songs on repeat for days and sometimes even weeks at a time. Now I'm usually pretty invested when there is music that speaks to me and I'll go on a kick where I listen mostly to that one artist but this was  unparalled. The way his music makes me feel is so overwhelming sometimes that I literally cannot do anything. I just sit. Then there are times when I need to put all my focus into a particular task and the second I put on my headphones I am in this productivity trance where I have zero concept of anything that is happening around me. It's good for getting work done but also makes my heart skip a beat when people come up behind me at my desk and scare the hell out of me.

I could go on for hours about the way I feel when I listen to Ludovico Einaudi's music but the next stage for me after I listen to an artist over and over is that I have to see them live. And it's an intense focus and priority of mine to make this happen. Now, this is easier with local bands or even bigger US bands but this was an Italian classical pianist I was focused on.  After months and months of waiting, I saw Ludovico was going to be in Vancouver in May. The next stop after that was San Francisco but, unlike most artists, he was not going to make a stop in Seattle. I was devastated. The SF show just did not work for my schedule and the Vancouver show (while only three hours away) was creating some logistical hiccups. I don't normally go to shows alone but finding someone willing to accompany me to Vancouver to see a classical artist wasn't exactly high on people's list of fun things to do over Memorial Day weekend. Not to mention that I couldn't just invite anybody to this. I knew it was going to be a magical night and it had to be shared with the right person. Someone who would get it. Hands weren't exactly being raised in excitement of sharing this experience with me! Second problem- my car was being an asshole that week and I wasn't really wanting to drive. Third problem- it was a holiday (for us)  and finding a hotel was proving to be a challenge. Things weren't looking good.

On the Tuesday before the show I went out to dinner with some friends and we were talking about our weekend plans when my lovely friend, Annie, mentioned she was heading to Vancouver that weekend to visit a friend. I mentioned my Ludovico sitch and, long story short, a trip and a free place to stay in Vancouver fell into my lap in a matter of minutes. I had no excuses now. All I needed was a ticket! A quick online search scored me a solo seat in the second row AND an autographed copy of his new album that I could pick up at the show. Jackpot!

When my friends dropped me off at the show I had this weird feeling before I went inside. I just knew this was going to be something I wanted to remember forever and I took my time taking it all in. I got my cd and my unbelievable seat and waited for the magic to begin. There is no greater feeling to me than those few moments between when the lights go out and when the performer(s) take the stage. The audience erupts into thunderous applause and there are goosebumps and excitement and knowing we are all going to be seeing something together that no one outside of those walls will experience is quite the bonding agent.

Ludovico and his ensemble took the stage and I closed my eyes. The second I heard that first note on the piano, I started to cry. And I didn't stop for two hours. It was the most overwhelming and beautiful experience of my life and from the moment I heard the music, I knew things were going to be different for me. At one point, he played Nuvole Bianche (the song that started it all for me) and then he played I Giorni and I was sobbing. Seriously. I let out a very audible gasp at the end of that song and the guy next to me looked at me like I was crazy but I couldn't help it. It was stunning and unlike anything I have ever experienced. It was perfect. It felt like falling in love for the first time. But it also felt like losing a great love and I couldn't tell if I was sad or happy or exactly what emotion I was experiencing. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders but I couldn't explain why. It was such an emotional night but I could say with much more certainty and clarity now that it was not only the best musical experience I've ever had but also one of the best moments of my life.

When I left that show and Vancouver I just felt...different. I felt inspired again to do all those things I've been wanting to do for years. I came home that weekend and I wrote, and wrote and wrote. Ludovico was my muse and was inspiring me to create and just do more. Enough spending time and energy on things that didn't matter, it was time to start really living.

I knew I needed to do something to make sure I always remembered that night and the rest of that weekend,  I listened to nothing but Ludovico Einaudi and the song Divenire was speaking to me. I Giorni is my favorite one but there is something about Divenire that I couldn't shake. And then I looked up the meaning of the word "divenire" and I got butterflies in my stomach. It means "to become" in Italian. Perfetto. As soon as I discovered the meaning, I knew I wanted a tattoo of the word "divenire" to remember this feeling forever. It was the perfect word for what his music inspires me to do- it reminds me to live, to take action and to become something more.

My dear, dear friend Dani visited me in Seattle last weekend and I told her the story and in typical Dani fashion, she said "Excellent. Let's go do it today." And so I did. What started out as a small tattoo of the word on my wrist turned into a large tattoo on my forearm. Talking it through with D, it just felt right. It was a bold statement and needed to be displayed as such. It took three rounds of drawings from my artist and 15 minutes of actually being inked and I couldn't be happier with it. Every time I see a glimpse of it in the mirror, I am reminded of that night and get those butterflies all over again.

I still listen to Ludovico every day and when I Giorni comes on, I always gasp for air the second it begins. It takes me right back to that incredible evening and literally takes my breathe away. Every single time.

The day after I got my ink, I found this quote from Ludovico Einaudi that summed up all the emotions I felt that night and reassured me that this was meant to be "It's only when we become aware or are reminded that time is limited that we can channel our energy into truly living." Esattamente.

5) Get a "divenire" tattoo: Much more on the meaning behind this later. 

The List

I've been working on this list for over a month now and every time I go to add to it I end up subtracting about five things at the same time. Is it really that hard to come up with 33 things I want to do this next year? Yes, yes it is! I want to have things that actually will impact my life in both practical and adventurous ways, yet still be compelling enough to write about. I have my notebook sitting next to me but I'm hesitant to open it. I want to test just how meaningful these things are to me. If they made it to the notebook but don't make it to the actual blog off the top of my head, then do I really care if I cross that off in the next year? Probably not.

Ok, enough stalling, here they are (in no particular order).

1) Take A 30 Day Writing Challenge: They say to be a better writer you need to...write. I've always enjoyed writing but aside from journals, I don't seem to write much these days. I found a writing challenge online that will take some discipline. It gives 30 topics and each day I need to write about that topic. For instance- writing about the best gift I ever received or writing about someone who fascinates me. This will actually be tough for me since I don't really make too much time for myself to just sit down but I think it will be fulfilling and I might actually learn a little bit about myself. 

2) Take an improv class: I've always been into improv comedy and mockumentaries and I am enamored with this art form. It's collaborative, unscripted and hilarious. Right up my alley.

3) Get my motorcycle license: aka "Sorry Mom"

4) Create a font out of my handwriting: I've always been told that I have cool penmanship and a few years ago I had a designer friend that helped me start...and then I never finished. It would be cool to have my own "Twingo" font if only to help cutdown on the headaches I get with my favorite writing utensils, Sharpies (ultra fine, please).

5) Get a "divenire" tattoo: Much more on the meaning behind this later.

6) Setlist Project: I collect setlists from concerts and as of right now, I have no way of displaying them. They are all in plastic archival sheets in a book hidden in my closet. I have an idea for displaying my most favorite ones on a wall upstairs but have not taken action. These are very special to me and they deserve to be treated like the other art I have covering the walls. 

7) Run a 1/2 Marathon: Ok, those of you that are reading this and are familiar with the "blister debacle of 2007" when I ran a full marathon probably think I'm crazy but hear me out. I grew up playing team sports (mainly softball) and I always hated running. Once I committed to doing a marathon with a friend, I had no choice but to get off my butt and run. The activity I loathed for so long turned into something I actually enjoyed. Fast forward six years (and one broken foot) later and I still miss it. Now, the thought of running a full marathon is not something I want to be a part of. But I can certainly do a half and if I put it down here I'm going to be held accountable. Boom. See you at the finish line!

8) Window treatments in my house: Get some! If you've been over recently, you'll notice that I have sheets covering the windows, held up with very attractive blue painter's tape. This is not ok. Especially when one of the sheets looks like a cover of those Magic Eye books where you cross your eyes and a picture is revealed. Lovely!

9) Start a collection: I used to collect baseball memorabilia when I was a kid. Now, I was a serious, serious collector and we had an entire room in our house devoted to this passion of mine. While I did get a little overboard, I really miss the idea of having a "thing" to look for when I go out. I already have an idea about what to start collecting (and possibly may have officially kicked this off) but I'll share more about that when the time comes.

10) Attend the Doe Bay Fest: I've tried for the last few years to get tickets to this intimate music festival on Orcas Island, Washington and never had any luck. Since I started this list, however, I was able to score a ticket (thanks Devon!) and I can't wait to write about it. 

11) Visit a new (for me) MLB stadium: This is one of those things that was on my list from college, except instead of visiting one, it was "Visit ALL" and while I have been to 10 or so stadiums, I have about 20 to go and need to get moving. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

12) Start a blog: Ok, so when this list came about, I didn't have the framework to how I was going to keep myself accountable. I've always wanted to start a blog and I was excited to cross that off my new list but incorporating this whole project into the blog seems to make the most sense and sounds the most fun.

13) Take a Radio class: I'm listening to Ludovico Einaudi (Italian composer extraordinaire) right now and my favorite song is on. I closed my eyes for just a second to feel the music yet my hands didn't get the memo so I continued to type. When I opened them up, I realized I wrote "take a rodeo class" which is just ridiculous. Anyway, if I could have one job in the world, it would be to host my own radio show. It's hard to shut me up and I have the perfect face for it. Cha-ching!

14) Develop old photos: As I was cleaning out my garage the other day, I found a box of about 20 rolls of film from college (??!?!). Most of them are probably pictures from baseball games and concerts but who knows what shenanigans were captured on the rest. I'll let you know how things develop...

15) Yoga Month: A few months ago I started doing bikram (hot) yoga. The first time I did it, I wanted to puke. But then I went again and it was a little better. Then I went a few more times and really enjoyed it. I stopped going for whatever reason du jour and really did feel much better when I was going regularly (at that time, it was every Sunday). The class I like is offered Tues/Thurs/Sun and I want to commit to one whole month of going. If I'm going to fulfill my dream of being in Cirque du Soleil I better get training!

16) Ride in a sea plane: Totally doable, especially in Seattle.

17) Take 100 photos of one subject: This is something I thought about doing years ago when I was in a photography class in college. I started but then a restraining order was filed. Apparently taking  100 + pictures of someone outside their bedroom window is frowned upon. Kidding, kidding...

18) Study "Spain" Spanish: I am obsessed with the Camino de Santiago and miss it every single day. It is a part of me and I have to go back in 2014. I would like to communicate more with the locals and my English isn't going to get me very far in rural countrysides with towns whose population = 1. Yes, I'm serious. Part 2 of this goal- make it on a Rosetta Stone advertisement!

19) Redo my yard: By "redo" I mean "do, for the first time." I moved in last year and have a tiny little yard that I have no idea what to do with. I love the look of nice landscaping but am a plant Dexter and need some help. So, I've enlisted a few friends and this will be happening. SOON!

20) World Domination Summit $100: In 2012, I was lucky to attend the second ever World Domination Summit in Portland, OR. It was a life changing experience learning how to live a "remarkable life in a conventional world." It was inspiring to hear stories from people all over the world about how they got out of "Cubicle Nation" and really started living their dreams. At the end of that weekend, each participant was given a $100 bill to go make a difference with. Donate it to charity, give it to a homeless person, start a business- the possibilities were endless. All they wanted in return was for you to do something special with it and to share your story with them. Here's mine: my $100 bill is still sitting in the unopened envelope, tucked away in a drawer and waiting for me to make a decision. I wanted it to be meaningful and I didn't feel the timing was right. I went back to WDS in July of this year and knew I was changed, but not sure how. This blog is one step but there is so much more I need/want to do and I'll come up with a remarkable way to use that $100, I promise.

21) Find an original copy of the Brandi Carlile album We're Growing Up: This one is going to take a serious amount of luck and persistence to find. There aren't many out there but if there is one in Seattle, I will find it. Now, I could always just look on eBay but I want to find it myself. In a thrift shop, at a yard sale or just steal one from a friend. Seriously, it's come to that. She is one of my favorite artists and I need to make this happen. This is the one thing on my list that very possibly won't get crossed off but I have good karma, especially when it comes to music and music paraphernalia, and I know I can manifest this into my collection. 

22) Document my art collection: I'm not sure how I want to go about this.  Collecting art is my favorite hobby and documenting it all could just end up being it's own blog but I don't ever want to forget the stories behind where my art came from. 

23) Visit my sister in Hawaii: For most of you, this probably doesn't sound like a big deal. But considering that I only found out about her last year, and have only seen her for two days, getting to spend a significant amount of time with her is huge.

24) One Second Every Day: I saw a Ted Talk by this man named Cesar Kuriyama and he did a project (which he eventually turned into an app for others to use) where he documented 1 second of his life every day via video. He would compile them all together at the end of each year and have these awesome videos that were only 365 seconds long. It was beautiful and inspiring and for some reason made me really emotional. I may be getting a late start for a whole year's worth of footage but I want to get going on this one sooner rather than later. 

25) Write a children's book: I got this idea a few years back when my dog got the hiccups one night. I immediately started writing this story in my head but <insert reoccurring theme here>

I never followed through. I will need some help illustrating this if I ever want to publish it but first things first, I need to get writing!

26) Go a full month without eating at a restaurant: Probably the hardest thing on the list for this extrovert! This goes for restaurants/bars/delicious Seattle coffee stops and anything of that sort. This will be the biggest test of willpower. I'm thinking February sounds like a nice long month to try this out ;)

27) Read 33 books: When I was a kid I would read anything I could get my hands on- books, magazines, cereal boxes, you name it. As I've grown up, my love for books hasn't diminished but the amount of free time I give myself to devote to this hobby has. Nowadays I read about a book or two a month but I always wish it were more. Now I'm committing to just that!

28) Come up with 34 more things: You didn't think this was going to stop in June 2014, did you?

29- 33) Intentionally left blank: I know there are going to be 100 more things I want to do in the next year and I need to be flexible. The best five make the list!

Alright, here it is. I'm looking forward to holding myself accountable to accomplishing the things listed above in the next 10 months. I'm a little behind and need to get to work!

Yours in follow-through,
-TW

Paper Cups and Orange Trees

I've had this idea for a blog for awhile. I just didn't realize it...or put the time into thinking it through. I'm a procrastinator like that. I get these grandiose ideas and never follow through. I'm not exactly sure why. When I was in college, I started a notebook of things I wanted to accomplish before I die. It was my idea of a bucket list- but long before there was a crappy Hollywood movie about it. I hate the term "bucket list" so I've always just referred to it as "that book of stuff I wrote down long ago that I'll probably never accomplish." There were some big things in there- make a guard at Buckingham  Palace smile, write a skit for SNL, have myself paged at Madison Square Garden and about 200 more. Through the years, I've managed to cross off a few but there were still so many left to accomplish. What is my problem? I'm a project manager. My weekday job is simple- make it happen.

I'd like to think that I lead a pretty exciting life but I know there is still so much more I want to do before my time is done. The problem, I finally realized, was that this list I made contained things that really didn't matter to me all that much. It was a list that if accomplished, would be pretty impressive to share with others but wouldn't be all that gratifying to me and my life. What about ditching that list and starting a new one? A new list of things that would genuinely make me happy and, more importantly, were realistic yet still playful and fun. Another problem I noticed was that there was no deadline on my original list. It was a generic "things to do before I die" list. I'm the type of person that needs a deadline. If you tell me I have five years to do something, I'll spend about four and half of those years thinking about it and finally taking action at the very end. If you tell me I have a lifetime, then time is unlimited and if I don't accomplish it today or tomorrow, it's not a big deal. I'm a little more grown-up now and know that a long life isn't a guarantee and I need to do the things that matter to me now.

In order to make this realistic, I needed a new deadline. I turned 33 in June and this is a list of 33 things I want to accomplish within the year. Some are big, many are small, but all are meaningful. Things that won't matter to anyone but me and I'm perfectly ok with that. The goal of this blog is to document my efforts in crossing off things on my new list and keeping me accountable. I'll tackle each of these items with the goal of doing everything by my 34th birthday. Some items will require money, some just discipline and others are going to require a little bit of luck.

My mom had a friend that came to visit her in Riverside, California (my hometown) and if you know much about Riverside, you know that it's not very exciting. It's not exactly a tourist spot but this friend mentioned a few things that he really wanted to see. Riverside is known for its citrus and is lined with orange trees. Apparently the tree that revolutionized the citrus industry is still in Riverside and is a historical landmark. The "World's Largest Paper Cup" also lives in Riverside in front of the building that was once the Dixie Corporation's manufacturing plant. Here were these two things that a newcomer wanted to see that I never even knew were in the town I lived in for 22 years. While focusing on accomplishing impressive things on my list, I was missing things right in front of me. The goal of my list is to look around and accomplish those little things that I've ignored through the years because they weren't exciting and didn't make memorable Facebook posts. The new list is much less sexy but much more fulfilling and I've toiled back and forth for the past month about what would make the cut. Some of the things that were on the list have already been accomplished in the past few weeks because I kept procrastinating starting this blog. Shocker.

Next Post: The List