Four years ago I wrote a Life List, 100 things I wanted to do in my life. I would encourage everyone to write a list like this because it is so great to return to my list again and again and see what's changed. In four years I've crossed twelve items off my list and I'm working on a few others as we speak (I'm looking at you, number two). I like to also think about what I'd change on my list.
In list, in process
Number one on my list is to have more children. I wrote this list around the time of Shira's first birthday and she was so easy and lovely and snuggly. I might have still been drunk on that magical baby smell, whose to say. I still want to have more children (on late nights talking over a glass of wine, Matty and I still talk dreamily of having five kids), but my feelings are starting to change a bit. I'm thinking more realistically about what it would mean to have more children while either in midwifery school or as a new midwife (one day!), and it just doesn't feel doable. I've got two pretty great children and now I've got my start as a student midwife, and I just can't do it all. My desire for more children is still there so it's not coming off my list. It might just be one of those things that always stays a possibility.
I've pretty much given up on #64, finding a way to make beans so delicious that Matty will eat them. I added this to my list originally because it's a real struggle in our house to find food that we can eat together as a family. Adding beans and legumes to our dinner table would expand our dinner options (and would reduce our food budget), but I think it's a lost cause. I even added black beans to brownies once and he refused. Sometimes you just need to admit defeat.
I've pretty much given up on #64, finding a way to make beans so delicious that Matty will eat them. I added this to my list originally because it's a real struggle in our house to find food that we can eat together as a family. Adding beans and legumes to our dinner table would expand our dinner options (and would reduce our food budget), but I think it's a lost cause. I even added black beans to brownies once and he refused. Sometimes you just need to admit defeat.
My list, this summer
I thought I'd revist my list this week for some inspiration for the summer ahead of us. I probably won't take any vacation with Matty (#9) this summer, or run a 10K (#45), but there are some exceedingly doable experiences I could cross off my list. I'm going to start with making my own ice cream (#81), developing a yoga practice (#67), walking somewhere every day (#30), and hosting a fabulous dinner party (#57) (who wants to join me?).
Have you ever wanted to write a life list? This is where I originally found my encouragement to make m own. Do you already have one? What can you cross off this summer?
Here's my original list, if you want some inspiration:
Have you ever wanted to write a life list? This is where I originally found my encouragement to make m own. Do you already have one? What can you cross off this summer?
Here's my original list, if you want some inspiration:
100 things I want to do in my life. In no particular order.
1. Have more children
2. Become a midwife.
3. Master pie crusts
4. Spend one year in Israel
5. Learn to knit sweaters for my girls
6. Write my grandmother’s story
7. Go sailing
8. Create a workable household budget
9. Take a vacation with just my husband. Anywhere. Before the children are in college.
10. Write a blog
11. Plan a weekend away with my best girlfriends
12. Build a Habitat for Humanity house
13. Attend a film festival
14. Dance again
15. Take a cooking class
16. Complete the fast on Yom Kippur
17. Make a quilt for Alyce and Shira to share on the couch
18. Visit a haunted house
19. Get a dog
20. Go to Greece with my mum
21. Learn a group sport
22. Take Alyce to her first dance class
23. Visit the Museum of Natural History in NYC
24. Learn Hebrew
25. Bake my own bread every week
26. Learn how to take a great photo with a great camera
27. Take a first-aid class for kids
28. Get a bicycle
29. Help my girls prepare for their Bat Mitzvahs
30. Walk somewhere every day
31. Live in NYC
32. Keep a small garden alive for an entire season
33. Get that root canal done that I’ve been avoiding
34. Find a babysitter and go on long date with Matt
35. Learn how to can things like jam and tomato sauce
36. Take a sewing class
37. Attend a fabulous party
38. Rent a house on the beach with lots of friends and children
39. Join a CSA
40. Attend a writing retreat
41.Visit a good nutritionist
42. Eat French food in France
43. Attend the Final Four with Matt
44. Paint some furniture red
45. Run a 10K
46. Learn Talmud
47. Have a picnic once a week between May and August
48. Eat Italian food in Italy
49. Attend a regular yoga class
50. Create a birthday list so that I never miss the birthday of someone I love
51. Fly a kite
52. Sew a dress for all the girls in our house (myself included)
53. Explore castles and churches in England with Nicola
54. Learn to make tortellini from scratch
55. Find a the perfect pair of boots
56. Take my children to the ocean
57. Host a fabulous dinner party
58. Learn to speak French again
59. Plant a garden filled with tulips
60. Volunteer my time with mothers-to-be and mothers who need some extra help
61. Attend a concert in Central Park
62. Take a wine tour in France63. Paint a mural
64. Find a way to make beans so delicious that Matt will eat them
65. Teach Alyce and Shira how to ride a bike
66. Build a tree house
67. Develop a yoga practice
68. Learn to cook with hot peppers
69. Spend time on a farm
70. Take a road trip with just Alyce
71. Take a road trip with just Shira
72. Take a road trip with just Matt
73. See Regina Spektor play live
74. Hang my pots from the kitchen ceiling
75. Find the perfect breakfast tea
76. Write a poem
78. Visit Amsterdam
79. Prepare for my own Bat Mitzvah
80. Read Harry Potter to my girls
81. Make ice cream
82. Swim in the Mediterranean
83. Overcome my fear of spiders
84. Then visit a rainforest
85. Write a letter to everyone who is important to me and tell them how much I love them
86. Learn to play chess
87. Volunteer at a museum
88. Make a Sunday brunch ritual
89. Read ten biographies
90. Organize my recipes
91. Take a drama class
92.
93. Find the perfect black dress and pearls
94.
95. Win a costume contest
96. Climb a tree
97. Save for rainy day
98. Spend an entire day in bed
99. Stand in a waterfall
100. Say thank you everyday
Be well!
xo
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