Aug 19 2012

Karaoke and others

I’ve done a sucky job keeping up with this list :)  I have been working on some items, though!

Karaoke

I’ve completed one item.  A couple months ago I got up in front of other people and did Karaoke!  I have to thank my sister and husband for giving me the kick in the pants to get it done.

It wasn’t as bad as I’d thought it would be.  My husband agreed I shouldn’t give up my day job and go chasing stardom, but no one ran from the room screaming in horror so I’d say it was a positive experience.

This did get me thinking about putting myself out there.  The point of this goal was not actually karaoke – it was to be comfortable enough that I’m willing to make a spectacle of myself in front of others and not care.  I wonder what the next step would be?  I don’t see myself suddenly jumping on the stage at Open Mic Night…  but maybe one of these days I’ll manage to get through a game of Charades without spending the entire time giggling instead of miming.

Adoption

The most important bit of progress for my list is our adoption.  Like I said before, I am not sure how much detail I want to go in at this point…  but it is moving along.  We’re hoping to be done with our homestudy in the next couple weeks!  I’m beyond excited about this :)

Artsy Wall Painting

No, I haven’t actually done this…  but now I have plenty of walls to do it on!  We closed on a house in May and are in love.  The area is lovely and the house itself is perfect for us.  I’m overwhelmed just thinking about how much we need to do to really make the space reflect us…  but I’m in no rush :)

What’s funny is I always thought the significance of homeownership was the ownership.  The idea of having this sort of responsibility has always terrified me but I figured people did it so they could have a roof over their head that was theirs.  I figured there was (ideally) security in this as well as the freedom to do what one pleases.  That’s why I always figured I’d be quick to personalize everything about my space as soon as I’m able.

But now that I have a home of my own I feel like I was being very superficial.  The point of this isn’t to have walls I can destroy without having to deal with a landlord.  The point is the home.  We aren’t big entertainers but every time I’ve had people in my new home I’ve felt this wonderful sense of peace.  The joy I feel at having the people I love in my space is so different now compared to when we were renters.  I love looking at different areas and and imagining them in 5, 10, 15 years.  It’s not pride I’m feeling but peacefulness.  I’m very much a fan of the feeling :)

Now, if only I can embrace vacuuming/mopping my @%$@$#$^ white tile floors I’ll be all set.

Wine Appreciation

I looked in to wine appreciation classes and very quickly became very overwhelmed.  So, I’ve decided that before I can appreciate something I need to educate myself on it.  As a result, we split a bottle of something once a week and keep track of our opinions to get a better handle on what we like/don’t like.  I’m easily overwhelmed so the selection at an actual wine store was out of the question right now.  Instead, I’m relying on Costco.  Does that make me a dork?  I think it might.  Anyway, we’re working our way through the suggestions on http://costcowineblog.com/.  We’ve tried a Malbec, Pinot Noir, and Souvignon Blanc.  Next on the list is a Cabernet Sauvignon.

Mar 14 2012

Life Happened!

So I had this awesome plan.  Then, life happened!  Now, things are even more awesome :)

A few weeks ago my husband stumbled upon the Single Dad Laughing blog.  The author adopted his son and has written several heart warming posts about the experience.  This reminded me that it had been a while since I’d looked up the laws on Indian adoptions.  We’ve been ready to do this for quite some time, but the laws in India said adoptive parents had to be at least 30 so we’ve been waiting.

Well, they changed the laws this year.  The minimum age was dropped.  We’ve now officially begun the process.  I’ll leave it at that since I’m not sure yet how much I plan to blog about this process.  Needless to say, I’m so excited.  I know it’ll be a long process but being able to finally get started makes it so much more tangible.

This kinda turns that spreadsheet I previously blogged about upside down and on it’s side.  Things have been re-ordered and I might get rid of a couple vacations, but I’m thrilled for that and wouldn’t have it any other way.

But, for the smaller things…  I’m still making them happen :)  One of the goals I had was to give back, but I left it very open ended because I wasn’t sure how I’d get there.  I’m still not sure, but I feel like I’m going in that direction.  Tonight I began volunteering at a local community center, as a reading coach.  I am hosting a book club for 10 elementary school and middle school aged kids.  We’re reading Nothing but the Truth, by Avi.  The experience was pretty awesome.  I know I enjoyed it thoroughly and the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves as well.  I hope they are looking forward to next week as much as I am!

There was one thing during book club that particularly stood out.  The book is a modified epistolary novel, so we had fun bouncing from diary entries to letters to dialog to memos.  In one of the dialogs the lyrics to the Star-Spangled Banner are written out.  A girl in the group asked if she could sing it.  By the time she was done, everyone in the room was singing with her.  It was so incredibly touching to be a part of that and something that’s definitely been committed to my memory.

Feb 15 2012

I have a plan :)

Good news!  I wasn’t being completely unrealistic when I came up with my list :)

As I mentioned, most of the items on this list are things I can do fairly impulsively.  However, there are a lot of things I need to have a plan for.  I probably should not wake up one morning and decide I am going to take a cruise to Alaska.  So, I now have a spreadsheet.  It’s a pretty spreadsheet.  I’m holding off on sharing because I am kinda embarrassed by just how detailed and pretty it is, lol.

I think my method for creating a timeline is pretty sound.  I did a bunch of sanity checks on it – compared it against the budget, figured out about how old the kids we hope we will have will be, made sure everything was spread out enough that we wouldn’t have one or two ridiculously hectic years, etc.

At any rate, it is a plan and it is looking doable!  I’ve combined a few things, like I think a train through Europe would be awesome.  And, if I’m going snorkeling somewhere may as well swim with Dolphin there too.  I’ll write more details about each item on the timeline as I put more thought in to them.  What I’m focusing on right now is that it’s seeming like my wishes are pretty manageable!  And fortunately when I ran the timeline by my husband his only response was a wisecrack about not making plans past 2012.

I love having a plan.

Feb 5 2012

Edible Landscaping

This weekend I attended the Orange County/University of Florida IFAS Eco-Nomic Living Expo.  The Edible Landscaping lecture got me thinking about my vegetable garden goal.  Originally, my thought was to just plant something functional…  but now I’m getting distracted by all the shiny, pretty options :)

I’ve created an Edible Landscapes Pin Board to keep track of some inspiration photos.  Eventually I’ll need to narrow things down by what will actually grow successfully in Central Florida, but for now I’m just adding anything that catches my eye.

Jan 30 2012

BBC – The Big Read

I think I’ll take a stab at the BBC’s The Big Read Top 21 for a portion of my reading goal.  There will be more to the final list but I think this is a good start.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell

Jan 30 2012

AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies

I’ll use this post to mark movies as I see them.  It looks like I am starting having seen 22…  but I may go back and rewatch some of the ones I saw when I was very young and don’t remember.

# MOVIE YEAR
1 CITIZEN KANE  (June 9, 2012) 1941
2 THE GODFATHER 1972
3 CASABLANCA  1942
4 RAGING BULL 1980
5 SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN  1952
6 GONE WITH THE WIND  1939
7 LAWRENCE OF ARABIA 1962
8 SCHINDLER’S LIST 1993
9 VERTIGO  1958
10 THE WIZARD OF OZ  1939
11 CITY LIGHTS 1931
12 THE SEARCHERS 1956
13 STAR WARS 1977
14 PSYCHO 1960
15 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY 1968
16 SUNSET BLVD. 1950
17 THE GRADUATE 1967
18 THE GENERAL 1927
19 ON THE WATERFRONT 1954
20 IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE  1946
21 CHINATOWN 1974
22 SOME LIKE IT HOT 1959
23 THE GRAPES OF WRATH 1940
24 E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL  1982
25 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD 1962
26 MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON  1939
27 HIGH NOON 1952
28 ALL ABOUT EVE  1950
29 DOUBLE INDEMNITY 1944
30 APOCALYPSE NOW 1979
31 THE MALTESE FALCON 1941
32 THE GODFATHER PART II 1974
33 ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST 1975
34 SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS  1937
35 ANNIE HALL 1977
36 THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI 1957
37 THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES 1946
38 THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE 1948
39 DR. STRANGELOVE 1964
40 THE SOUND OF MUSIC  1965
41 KING KONG 1933
42 BONNIE AND CLYDE 1967
43 MIDNIGHT COWBOY 1969
44 THE PHILADELPHIA STORY  1940
45 SHANE 1953
46 IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT  1934
47 A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE 1951
48 REAR WINDOW 1954
49 INTOLERANCE 1916
50 THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING 2001
51 WEST SIDE STORY  1961
52 TAXI DRIVER 1976
53 THE DEER HUNTER 1978
54 M*A*S*H 1970
55 NORTH BY NORTHWEST  1959
56 JAWS 1975
57 ROCKY 1976
58 THE GOLD RUSH 1925
59 NASHVILLE 1975
60 DUCK SOUP 1933
61 SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS 1941
62 AMERICAN GRAFFITI 1973
63 CABARET 1972
64 NETWORK 1976
65 THE AFRICAN QUEEN 1951
66 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK 1981
67 WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? 1966
68 UNFORGIVEN 1992
69 TOOTSIE 1982
70 A CLOCKWORK ORANGE 1971
71 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN 1998
72 THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION 1994
73 BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID 1969
74 THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS  1991
75 IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT 1967
76 FORREST GUMP  1994
77 ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN 1976
78 MODERN TIMES 1936
79 THE WILD BUNCH 1969
80 THE APARTMENT  1960
81 SPARTACUS 1960
82 SUNRISE 1927
83 TITANIC  1997
84 EASY RIDER 1969
85 A NIGHT AT THE OPERA 1935
86 PLATOON 1986
87 12 ANGRY MEN 1957
88 BRINGING UP BABY  1938
89 THE SIXTH SENSE  1999
90 SWING TIME 1936
91 SOPHIE’S CHOICE 1982
92 GOODFELLAS 1990
93 THE FRENCH CONNECTION 1971
94 PULP FICTION 1994
95 THE LAST PICTURE SHOW 1971
96 DO THE RIGHT THING 1989
97 BLADE RUNNER 1982
98 YANKEE DOODLE DANDY 1942
99 TOY STORY  1995
100 BEN-HUR 1959
Jan 29 2012

Rounding out the list

  1. Adoption part 2 (At friends’ suggestions, I’ve decided to split each adoption in to a separate item so I can check them off as I go.)
  2. Herb/vegetable garden part 2 (Splitting for the same reason as bove.)
  3. Visit every lighthouse in Florida
  4. Learn to actually speak Hindi instead of my broken English/Sindhi/Hindi blend
  5. Finish my wedding scrapbook.  The entire thing is done except for 1 page.  By the time I turn 40 I’ll have been married for close to 20 years.  That 1 page needs to get done!
  6. Crochet an afghan for me (I’ve done afghans before, but always as gifts.)
  7. Create something people are willing to pay for (software, an Etsy shop, whatever)
  8. Learn how to use a pressure cooker.  I feel like all other Indian women know how to do this but the thing intimidates me.
  9. Write a short story
  10. Learn to swim (I’m really embarrassed to admit that I can’t, lol)
  11. Swim with dolphins (using my newfound swimming skills from #38)
  12. Do a pay it forward act like the one described on Corner Perk Cafe’s Customers Pay It Forward.

And now my inner nerd gets to play with spreadsheets to figure out how I’ll make this happen :)

Jan 28 2012

Operation 40 by 40

Yesterday was my 28th birthday and it got me thinking. I’m a bit late to do a substantial 30 by 30 list and I think a bucket list is too open/flexible for me. And so, my 40 by 40 list was born.

There are a lot of things I want to do, but I also want to take this list seriously. I might be over thinking it but my plan is to let this list be a work in progress until my 30th birthday. Then I’ll get started with actually knocking things out. If I want to do something today but have lost interest in 2 years, that item should probably not be on my 40 by 40.  Giving myself some time will also give me the opportunity to actually plan how I’ll get everything done.

Here’s what I have so far.

  1. Adopt 2 children
  2. Meet my weight loss goal
  3. Run (not walk, not jog – run) a 5k.  Preferably a 10k, but since this will require a LOT of work for me I think a 5k is a more realistic goal.
  4. Be well in to Baby Step 6 of the Dave Ramsey program.
  5. Travel somewhere in Europe.  Need to think this one through a little better.
  6. Travel somewhere in Asia.  Need to figure out details for this one too.  Fortunately this one is already being planned and on the budget, so it is kinda cheating…  but it’ll happen after I turn 30 so I think it counts.
  7. Take a cruise to Alaska.  Preferably to see the Northern Lights.
  8. Read more.  I need to come up with a specific list – it’ll likely be a mix of classics, religious, non-fiction and who knows what else.
  9. Take a wine appreciation class.
  10. Learn and practice meditation.
  11. Watch everything on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies list.
  12. Take a classic Great American Roadtrip.
  13. Hike a portion of the Appalachain Trail.  Doesn’t have to be anything major, 5 miles or so would be perfect.
  14. Spend a full week in a cabin in the woods.  No leaving the woods for civilization and restaurants.
  15. Sing Karaoke.  Like, in front of other people.
  16. Cook a fancy schmancy 5 course gourmet meal.
  17. Take couples’ dance lessons.  I’m not picky about the type of dancing so whatever I can get my husband to agree to would be fine, lol.
  18. Go snorkeling
  19. Climb to the top of a mountain.  Something the equivalent of Katahdin, which tempted me when I lived in Maine but I refused to face my fear of heights and do it.
  20. Take a train.
  21. Do a DIY furniture repair/restore.
  22. Paint a wall using some fancy sponge, stencil, texture or whatever technique.
  23. Stay in a fancy schmancy hotel.
  24. Learn to throw pottery.
  25. Plant a tree.
  26. Do more giving.  I need to think this one through better.  A goal of mine is to start volunteering regularly this year, so hopefully whatever I do with that will help shape this.
  27. Plant a vegetable and herb garden.
  28. Get a fortune telling done.  Tarot cards, palm reading, whatever.