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Life List: The Next 15

November 10, 2011 by Farewell Stranger ·

I’ve mentioned my life list before, and I’ve posted about the things from my list I’ve completed. Since we’re moving in a couple of weeks (ack!) and I quit my job (whee!) I figure this is a good time to dust off the list and see what I might work on after we move. Here are 15 things, numbered according to their spots on the master list.

3. Volunteer again.

Since we’re going to be in a new city, it might be a good time to look at volunteering – even for a one-off event. Good way to meet people, and would also force me (and my complete lack of any sort of sense of direction) to find my way around.

6. Attend a TED talk.

I do want to attend one in person, but I just came across TEDxWomen, which is taking place on Dec. 1 in New York and LA. I really want to figure out how to attend, but if I can’t you can bet I’ll be watching the talks.

9. Get in the habit of taking more photographs.

I really need to rethink this one, because it’s difficult to define the point at which this is done. In any case, a new place is a good opportunity to take some more pictures. Plus I have a spanky new iPhone 4S. Instagram, baby!

19. Really learn how to use a graphics editing program.

I’ve been using Pixelmator and, frankly, it bugs me. Time to find an alternative and see if someone (I’m married to) might be willing to walk me through its use.

24. Write something and have it published in a magazine.

I actually did this already and forgot to post about it. I had a piece on postpartum depression published in a local parenting magazine in October, which was very exciting. But I’d love to do another, so I’m going to get some ideas going and work up the nerve to pitch something.

29. Learn how to make a cup of tea – properly.

Because we’re in for a real Canadian winter, and I’m going to need tea.

Image credit: YaZzZz on Flickr

30. Have another child.

We’ll see what we can do about that.

33. Act in a stage play again.

I totally want to do this, especially after a recent Twitter conversation. Maybe there’s someone who’d be willing to let me be a reindeer or a shepherd in a Christmas play…

44. Improve my 10K personal best.

I need to get running again. Even if I freeze my buns off doing it.

51. Get my personal email inbox to zero.

I almost got this done while we were away last week. (That’s the beauty of a long car trip and no wifi.) I’ve got the system set up but I need to finish it and then use it more consistently. I’m sick of losing emails.

52. Get some form of exercise every day for 30 days straight.

But don’t hold me to it.

54. Get a colourful streak in my hair.

I did this one already too, but I’m hoping to get the blue put back in before I go. (Stupid dye fades so damn fast.) I would like to see if there’s a way to get this done so I can keep it, though. Hair extensions, maybe? (Anyone know?)

55. Give blood 5 more times.

I’ve got one counted towards that five, but I need to go again.

58. Get a tattoo to commemorate beating PPD.

I’m planning to go with a friend, and he and I were hoping to do this before I move. Maybe we’ll do it, if I can get my act together. Aside from all the packing and stuff, I do need to commit to a design. I saw this one recently and I’m thinking of something like it:

Isn’t that cool? I don’t want the bee (wasp?) but a bird silhouette where the bee is and my words (whatever those are going to be) where the z’s are might be just the thing. Got any tattoo pics you like? I’ll add them to my Pinterest board. At this point all ideas are welcome.

59. Help someone else with their life list.

This is a relatively recent addition to the list, and I really like it. I need to find someone with a list that includes something I can do to help. (Have a list? Anything a humble Canadian girl can help you with? Link please!)

So there you have it: 15 more things I can do to embrace this change.

What are your short-term goals and dreams?

***

This is my entry in the Just Ask Bucket List Getaway Giveaway. Just Ask offers a breast and ovarian cancer screening and is encouraging people to share 15 things that I want to enjoy in my lifetime as a reminder to be aware of my health. Want to enter? Head over to TodaysMama.com to get the details.

Filed Under: Happy things, Hello, Inspiration · Tagged With: Life list, lists, living life, running

Signs It’s Too Long Since You Ran

October 27, 2011 by Farewell Stranger ·

Until Wednesday I hadn’t been for a run for a while, despite very good intentions. Then a couple of weeks ago we went to the beach and I ended up in my running shoes in the water thanks to a certain 3-year-old who wasn’t listening very well, but that was a perfect excuse to replace my way-too-old runners and kickstart the process. Which I did, and thus I present you with:

10 signs it’s been too long since your last run:

Your sports bra is so well buried you practically have to excavate your underwear drawer to find it.
Your dog doesn’t even look up when you get your runners out, because he certainly wouldn’t think to expect he might be getting a run.
Your dog also doesn’t get up from the couch when you actually put your runners on because, well, see #2.
You have come to associate your running hat with covering up (bad) weekend hair.
You put your running vest on and it’s a little, um, tight around the hips. (Stupid vest.)
When getting your running vest out of the closet, you notice that your running jacket looks awfully clean, as though it had been hanging there for a while without being worn (or something).
You can’t find the shorter leash you usually use when running with your dog, so you take the retractable one instead. Meh, it works.
When you get to the trail, your dog goes absolutely berserk. (Yes, all right, it’s been awhile. Noted.)
Running hurts.
Despite the hurt, when you get going at a decent pace your thought process goes like this: “Hey, look at me! Not bad. This is practically a tempo run! WOO HOO! I OWN THIS TRAIL! Except… Gosh, it kind of hurts to breathe. What’s that, dog? Oh, you have to pee? Okay, let’s pause for a minute. I don’t mind. In fact, let’s just walk the rest of the route. It will be good for me to properly cool down. Yeah, that’s it…”

And then, possibly, when you get to the end of the trail you’ll feel like a bit of a wuss for having quit early because, despite the pain – and the pouring rain – the run felt pretty damn great.

Lesson learned. I can’t wait to go again.

Filed Under: Happy things · Tagged With: lists, living life, running

Impromptu Gratitude List, v1

October 12, 2011 by Farewell Stranger ·

After spending the better part of the last week totally cranky, I decided it was time to force the happy back. I’ve been better in the last couple of days (and thank you so much to those of you who have checked in on me) and would like to take the time to note some things I’m grateful for.

Last month I started creating a gratitude list every night in my journal while taking Karen Walrond’s Chookooloonks Path Finder course. I liked ending my day that way, but then things got busy and I stopped for a bit. And then last week during the crankies, when I particularly needed to find things to be grateful about, I couldn’t. Or maybe I didn’t want to.

In any case, grateful is better than grumpy so here’s an impromptu gratitude list to serve as my reminder to focus on the good.

My very clean and entirely clutter-free house. It was nail-breakingly painful to get it to this point, but I’m enjoying it while it lasts.
A very good number of showings on above-mentioned very tidy house, which seems like a good sign.
A dinner-time showing tonight while Connor was at my parents’ house, which gave my husband and I the chance to have an impromptu date night.
Parents who willingly and happily help out.
Finding a sale on jeans the same week I tore a very big hole in the knee of the only pair I have that still fit me.
Discovering I still fit the same size jeans (even when not well worn and stretched out), which I also take to be a good sign.
Chocolate ice cream (especially given #6).
Cozy spa socks at night.
Knowing there are people interested in our house but not feeling pressured to accept conditional offers at this point, giving me time to get over some of my sad feelings about selling this house.
My intuition, which has never been a terribly good compass for me but seems to be doing better lately. Despite the hugeness of this change, I still think it’s the right thing to do. And I’m trusting my intuition again when it tells me a certain job, which I may or may not get offered, isn’t the right one for me. If I get the opportunity I’m going to decline and trust that doing so will keep me on the right path.
Really amazing blog and Twitter friends. I must figure out what I did to deserve you so I can do it again in my next life.
A couple of days where my little boy was very cuddly.
Friends who bring me homemade cookies.
Having a puppy for a shadow, especially one who is typically daddy’s boy.
Being able to brainstorm an idea with my husband and plan a project around it. (Oh please, oh please let us figure out a way to make this work!)
Winning a blog design. Whee!

I’m going to go back to writing a list (even a short one) in my journal every night. Do you keep a gratitude list? Do you find it makes you more aware of the things you’re thankful for? I’m betting it will for me.

Filed Under: Happy things · Tagged With: gratitude, lists, my wish for you, perspective

Life’s Lessons: A To-Do About Lists

July 29, 2011 by Farewell Stranger ·

I would say TGIF but it actually doesn’t make a huge amount of difference to me these days what day it is. Still, I’m sort of glad it’s Friday, because I’ve learned some stuff.

My to-do list might have been ambitious this week.
That might be the reason you’ve had to suffer through so many not-really-a-post posts this week. And jokes about gorilla nostrils.
Sorry about that.
There are good reasons though!
I am now off my anti-anxiety med. (Ha! Take that, mean psychiatrist. I can so do it.)
That process has involved some side effects though. Things I’m not fond of.
Like headaches. Right behind the eyes. Pretty much all the time.
And sweats. For three nights in a row I woke up in what can only be described as a slip ‘n’ slide. (That might be TMI. Too late…)
Remind me not to use body butter the next time I’m trying to get off medication.
The nights are fine now but I’m hot ALL THE TIME.
I don’t like being hot.
I don’t like being jittery either.
But I don’t care (as long as I don’t stay this way forever) because I’m not sedated all the time anymore. Whee!
Another good reason is that I’ve been working on some stuff for Band Back Together.
And I’m also a contributor to something that will be making its big debut very soon. Very, very excited about this one.
Plus I still have a kid and, whaddya know, I kind of like spending time with him (and the husband) when I’m not feeling crazy.
So yeah, I had to let something go and I chose this dear blog of mine this week. Because I’m selfless like that.
Speaking of selfless, I may have spent some time reminding people to vote for me for this. So, um, please vote for me. Until August 3rd.

So that’s why I haven’t been doing my normal writing here, though I do have a couple of posts in my head that I want to write. Maybe this weekend. Then next week I’m going to BlogHer ’11 (wahoo!) and planning to participate in the #SummerBlogSocial.

How am I going to manage when I go back to work?! (Oh…my boss reads this blog. Just kidding, RB!)

Happy weekend, all.

Filed Under: Randomness · Tagged With: blogging, lists, living life, meds

Life Lessons for the Tired and Lazy

July 15, 2011 by Farewell Stranger ·

And now for something completely different…

This week has been good, and today has been good, but I hit the burn-out point at about 6:04 tonight.

I’ve been sick for a week now and I’m tired because I stayed up too late last night ~~supporting charitable causes~~ ~~saving the environment~~ playing on the Interweb, and then my darling child got me up during the night and then woke for good at 6 a.m. So it’s Friday night and I sort of have my crankypants on (fleecy pajama ones because I don’t care what the calendar says, it’s not summer!). But I’m in luck – Rach and Sara have a link-up where I can ~~rant~~ share what I’ve learned this week. Which happens to all be stuff I already know but maybe if I write it down I’ll actually learn the lessons instead of continually repeating them.

When I’m sick I need to either sleep or get up and have a shower. Spending half the day in my pajamas actually doesn’t make me feel better.
Staying up late and thinking it’s fine because I don’t have to work and can nap the next day is dumb. Because I don’t nap. So I just end up tired.
I tend to run out of patience a little faster – okay, pretty much immediately – when I’m tired.
I need to find some sort of toilet paper tracking system so we don’t keep having Toilet Paper Emergencies, which result in raiding the house for Kleenex boxes and late-night trips to the store.
I should not take my dog for a walk wearing plastic flip-flops. I’ve done this before and got blisters. I did it again today and have blisters and really sore feet (see above reference to crankypants).
Even when I don’t feel like it, I should pay my child sufficient attention because if I don’t it inevitably results in him throwing things around the room and then tackling me bodily and that, surprisingly, doesn’t make me any more cheerful.

And with that, at 7:49 on a Friday evening, I bid you good night. I’ll probably be asleep before 9, which is a good thing because I have the small boy on my own for most of the day tomorrow for the first time in a really long time so, you know, being tired would be a bad thing.

Wish me luck.

Filed Under: Happy things · Tagged With: lists, rants