Five things.
It’s really quite simple.
Just put together a list of five things….five individual could-be-anything things that strike your fancy and that you would like to do, accomplish or attempt. Anytime I get asked that question, I always say paint more…but to be perfectly honest…I do that. I paint random things at random times….it’s not odd for my acrylics to be sitting on the table for days at a time. There is really little risk in it. Putting out there “paint more” is like saying “straighten my hair more” or “wear earrings more”….I don’t do it everyday but it’s not the oddest hobby to find me dipping in to.
So what are my five things? Well, I thought about it. I spent substantial time while pouring Vanilla Chex into my cereal and here is what I came up with….my short quad-squad of things at the bottom of the bucket list…
I want to play the piano. I’ve taken lessons from my mother. My first recital (mind you I am the only adult amidst the masses of eight year olds) was a complete and total disaster. Think bloody train wreck. I completely forgot the song so I just continued with the playing (while stifling a laugh which only made me look like I was having a seizure)…oh and I made up the notes as I went along. It wouldn’t have been so bad but I had to be sandwiched between two prodigys that win festivals and have early acceptance to Julliard.
SOooo….maybe I want to try again. In the privacy of my own home. No recitals.
I’d like to make a quilt. I have no idea how to bind or do free hand stitching stuff but I would really like to make a quilt that is just fun and happy. I want it to be one of those I-woke-up-and-its-cold-and-I-want-to-snuggle-with-my-boys kinda covers. I see loads of Pinterest and googling in my future with this one.
I’d like to go short. Jeremy calls these super-short haircuts….man cuts. But honestly, I’ve never been so brave. This might not happen right away but goshdarnit, I do believe Jeremy will wake up one morning to find a man cut next to him.
This one is two fold. First…I think I’d like to design a wallpaper line. Just for kicks. I like doing that kinda thing…learning something WAY out there. And the other ‘paper’ related item is to start writing a book of short devotionals or a kids book. I’ve always wanted to write a kids book and I bet I could knock it out in three days if I really focused.
Finally, I want to be come Katniss. No but seriously…cute jacket. And yes…this is my head photoshopped onto the Hunger Games archeress. I really want to learn how to shoot. And not just something dumb like an empty Corona light can hanging from a tree….I want to learn how to bring home dinner if need be. Not really (dressing a deer is a bloody mess.)…but I would like to be able to take out zombies…you know…if the apocalypse happens.
So that is my five things…not very exciting but fun to me….which is the beauty in this game….not everyone likes the same stuff, dreams the same stuff, wants to learn the same stuff….which makes us all pretty special. Basically we all get to be Cookie Monster in this great Oreo of life. Don’t over think that analogy. Just share what the things are that you want to do…
LOVE this question! Initially I thought I’d have to really think about what my list of 5 would be, but apparently not. So here goes (in no specific order)
1. Make sure everyone I love is introduced to the wonder that is a handknit pair of socks, made with love. This one could take some time….
2. Buy a property with the view to starting a boutique (very small scale) dairy, and produce artisan, whole, clean foods.
3. Run a half-marathon. I’m working on getting a 6.4km fun run under my belt first.
4. Write a book. I don’t know exactly what about yet, but I know it’s there, waiting for the words to become real.
5. Become more aware of the needs of my community and keep seeking where my place is in serving the people around me.
Thanks for this prompt Katie! Alison
You should go for it!! But I’m smiling b/c my Mom has quilted for years, i.e taught me to make 3 quilts; my sister goes to an archery range and taught my kids and I. I did the short hair in college to “shock” my parents. I don’t think they were shocked. And piano lessons – 5 years – horrible years, but I did learn to read music. And I did design a kids photo book for my nephew – best xmas gift b/c A is for Aunts, B is for Brother, etc…Thinking about my own list: reading thru the entire Bible, learning to play the guitar, running a 5K, visit the Grand Canyon via railroad, and research my husband’s family tree.
I tried to be brave enough to go short, ended up with a bob, still took ages to grow and I never felt that I’d been short anyway. Ahhhh hair why do you do this to us?
1. Teach pilates or yoga to people with arthritis, I have RA and it helps me so I’d like to help others
2. Have a fancy dinner party
3. Organize all my photos and get prints of the ones I always say I will
4. Grow veggies
5. Visit every continent
1. Learn to play the guitar. I want to be able to bust out a song around the campfire and impress everyone with my mad skills.
2. Learn how to speak French. Then travel to France of course.
3. Run a 5k. No walking.
4. Retire early and start my own business doing something I love. Not sure what that is just yet.
5. Take a trip once a year with my sister. Just us.
Get that haircut! I love it on you!
OOhh fun! BTW – I went the “man cut” route when I was younger and braver…and I can honestly say…don’t do it! It takes years of awkward growing out to get over. And a lifetime of “remember when” from family 🙂
My current bucket list:
1) learn to sew – though I sold my old sewing machine because I have no patience…it’s still on the list.
2) run a marathon – yikes
3) become a master baker. I want my kids growing up with memories of warm, wonderfully smelly kitchens
4) start an infant mom’s group in my neighborhood
5)have baby #2!
I had make a quilt on my list at one point. I did it, the piecing together I mean. It now waits in a box for someone to teach be to bind it together. It’s been 10 years in the box. I would like to step on a cruise ship and not go into panic mode, my hubby wants to go on a cruise one day. I’ve been working up to cruise ships by going on to boats. I should stop watching Titanic, I guess. That is a great jacket Katniss is wearing.
oooooh, fun!!! I’ve got 3 of my 5 right off the bat. (Yours are great, by the way)
1. be a blogger. I read tons and always think, “I could do this! I’ve got something to contribute to blogland.” But then never do it.
2. learn to play the drums. People always look like they’re having an absolute blast playing the drums and there are certain songs out there that just make me crave to be able to play along. If I could go back to the 4th grade when we were choosing instruments to play in band and I was choosing between the trumpet and the clarinet and chose clarinet by default because my thin, kermit-y lips couldn’t make sound emit from the trumpet, I would scrap both and go for the drums.
3. write a book of essays. My favorite kind of writing is nonfiction storytelling. I love storytellers and in my most brave moments I admit to wanting to tell stories in print someday.
4. i’m totally with you on the quilt thing. My mom has this quilt her grandma made with a white background and stars in a bunch of bright colors. It’s beautiful and classic and I want to make one!
5. be a school librarian! I’m working towards this mid-career change, currently and I am so excited to get there! I can’t wait to help empower kids with lifelong learning skills.
I love your list 🙂 I am a music teacher and always find it admirable when adults want to either take on a new instrument or become reacquainted with an old one. Have you ever thought about enrolling Will in piano lessons? Of all the regrets I hear from adults, it’s that they wish they never quit their musical instrument. This is a great statement for parents to remember–don’t let you child quit! Every kid wants to stop or take a break, but usually if you push through, they get over the hump and make beautiful music.
You seriously just crack me up…. made my morning.
Ooh, I love this one!
#1 Play the piano. Like you, I took some lessons (from my ex-boyfriend’s mother!), but never got as good as I would love to be. FYI, it’s not unusual for adults to take piano lessons (I know some who do), but it is unusual for adults to want to play at a recital, unless they are REALLY good.
#2 Learn something other than the piano. Guitar (oh to be able to jam with some old Van Halen in the privacy of my basement, of course!) or violin, or drums? Yeah, baby!
#3 Skydive. My family will try to talk me out of it, but I need to be committed! Literally.
#4 Go blonde. No explanation necessary.
#5 Go to France. I’ve always wanted to go, I have a passport, I may need some Euros?!
This is just off the top of my head, Katie this is a great idea. I see a new Pinterest board in my future!
I love your list! I really want to break the four hour barrier in my next marathon. This will be attempt #5 and the previous 4 haven’t gone all that well. For some reason I have it stuck in my head that I’m not really a “runner” until I break that mark. Which is insane!
http://jax-and-jewels.blogspot.com
Cute list a pics. 😉
http://happinessiscreating.com/
LOVE this. Nothing at the bottom of my bucket list ever gets stage time, thanks for giving the bottom some love, hehe. Also, man cut looks so good on you, you should go for it one day!
I am not sure of the things I want to do but I sure don’t want piano lessons:) Took lessons for 10 years and I can barely play out of a hymn book. And even thinking about piano lessons makes my stomach hurt and I start to sweat:)
Excellent post. Learning new things has been proven to stave off mental decline and alzheimers in older generations, so if you get started now, it can’t hurt! And in the south, quilting is a source of income. People pay big money for those things. Going with short hair is awesome, do it, (it’ll grow back)! It dries in five minutes, and if you cut it right, you don’t have to do a THING to it. Carpe Deim!!
Ohhh I love this. Okay, here are some things I want to do (I couldn’t think of five)…
1. Take an art class
2. Learn to cook
3. Become fully bilingual (French/English)
4. Learn to be more compassionate and make time for others
I saw the link on Facebook so I thought you had already cut your hair and I loved it!!! Your bucket list is super fun but I’m a tad bummed you haven’t man cut yet- it really suits your pretty face so I say go for it!!!
Fun! I have 5 things, but I’m not sure how some would be attainable, but I like to think about them anyway.
1. I really want to be a ball girl at a baseball game, major league, minor league, no matter. I just want to be a ball girl for a game.
2. I want to sew to earn money. I’d love to have an etsy shop, or even just make things to sell at a table at a fair.
3. I want a saw and a little workshop so I can learn how to build simple things like flower boxes, shelves, book cases, benches etc.
4. I want to learn how to take better pictures, I finally got a DSLR and am getting better, I am happy with taking pictures of my kids myself for their birthdays and stuff, but I’d like to learn lightroom or something similar to help take them up a notch.
5. I want to learn how to step. In college I always watched the sororities and fraternities and was fascinated. I love it and would love to be able to do it.
LOVE LOVE LOVE you hair pixi short like that!! You could totally rock it!!
I’d like to learn how to sew so I can make my own curtains and pillows.
I’d love to go kayaking.
I’d love to downsize and move into a smaller house and live more simply….smaller lawn, less house to clean, more cozy feeling.
I’d love to hire someone to do my hair and makeup every day!
I have two kids and would love to read more novels….meaning I’d love to find the time to read more!
Fun post! Here is my list 🙂
1) I’d like to buy a rental property
2) I’d like to start a family
3) I’d like to move down south
4) I’d like to learn how to cook (I’m bad, embarrassingly bad) 😉
5) I’d like to run a marathon
Shooting is awesome! My in-laws love it, and one of my brothers-in-law once dealt with the raccoon problem in his area by taking his bow and arrow to the raccoons because they were tearing up his cat.
Thing is .. one night he pinned a raccoon and it didn’t die. It screeched, pinned to the neighbor’s lawn, at just before midnight. Fast forward. The cops told my bro-in-law he didn’t do anything wrong (which was true- Aaron researched the laws in advance), begged him to clean up the neighbor’s lawn, and that the cop would quiet down the neighbor.
The coons never messed with my bro-in-law’s cat again.
I love this so much 🙂 Now you have the gears in my head turning… right off the bat: I want to play the banjo (I know, I know, it’s totally hillbilly.. but I love it!), and I want to purchase and renovate a home (not so far from reality, hopefully). Thanks for sharing this fun post, I really enjoyed it! 🙂
You look absolutely adorable in a cut like that!! Do it!! 🙂
Katie! You would look ADORABLE with a pixie cut. That photoshopped pic PROVES it. DO IT. I had a pixie cut when I was 20. I loved it (and it was SOOOO easy!) but… 20ish year old boys hate man cuts even more than 30 year old boys 🙂 so I grew it out. I, also, vow to go short one day (again).
Great list. I’ve followed along with your blog for a while now but never got the courage to comment. Being a die-hard sewer, I’d love to help you with the quilt thing – if I wasn’t on the total polar opposite side of the world! Feel like a quick trip to Australia? I’m sure a long haul flight with two wee babes and a pregnant belly would make excellent blog fodder! Ha – like a hole in the head would make good ventilation. All the best with crossing things off that list. I also enjoyed all your different facial expressions on the photos. I bet you didn’t even pose for any of them and just raided your image archives… busted!
When I was much thinner, I wore my hair pretty short – my family called it my East German swimmer haircut.
I also want to try my hand at archery. My father and his parents used to do it competitively (and win). I have always wondered if I inherited any of that talent.
I just learned to shoot a bow this month, my husband brought one home and taught me how. It is surprisingly fun. I told him now I finally have a shot at going to the Olympics in something if I just practice enough 🙂 Being in or actually even at the Olympics would be one of my five.
I think that hair cut looks really cute on you! I say go for it. 🙂
Mind you, these are in no particular order.
1) Write a children’s book, just like you.
2) Start a blog, this one… turns out is taking a lot more courage than I expected it to. I give you girls a lot of credit.
3) Paint watercolors for the world to see, not just me. I am such a chicken, I guess.
4) Fly to Paris for a weekend.
5) Quit my job and work from home!
Love your list! How fun!
1. I would love to be a real estate agent one day just so I could see inside houses. It’s a fascination of mine and I’m addicted to House Hunters.
2. I would love to train for a half marathon if I had the time to devote to it and learn to love to run. I currently hate it with a passion.
3. I would love to buy an old home with land and turn it into a B&B with my hubby. We would market it as a hunting lodge/B&B so that we could attract area hunters to stay.
4. I want to visit NYC for a whole week and see all the sights and not be rushed.
5. I want to own rental property/ vacation property in Florida one day.
1.) Run a 10k before I’m 30…or just be a runner in general.
2.) Be the baker of fabulous breads. (Then eat it all and go run off the carbs)
3.) Start a long lasting ministry at our church. You know…comparable to the “Ladies Guild”. When those ladies walk around the crowds part.
4.) Live in a Paid for House.
5.) Invest so well when I’m young, that when I’m old, I can go around and give money away all “Secret Santa” Style. How fun would that be!!
I have one of these lists at home but it is way longer than 5 things. I have a piano and a guitar but I can’t play them and would love to learn. My husband plays both beautifully and I have always imagined myself learning some Christmas tunes and us all jamming out around the holidays.
I’m with you on the pixie cut. I have an oval face and know it would not look awful, but it is so daunting. I also want to do it while I am pretty young (im 23) so it looks edgy and stylish rather than like soccer mom or grandma cuts. You could totally pull it off, by the way! Funny how hair can be so scary!!
Another for me is to take a trip overseas. We have planned to go to Europe next year, but it won’t feel like a solid possibility until tickets are purchased.
Thanks for sharing!
Go short! It would look so awesome on you (Plus short hair rocks when it comes to maintenance). Become one of us! Pixie cuts unite!
Those all sound awesome… I would love to see what your wallpaper line would look like! I would buy it! Here are my 5 things:
1. Run a 10K
2. Buy a sewing machine and finish all the sewing projects i have stored in my head!
3. Learn to speak spanish, fluently
4. Actually be commited to my blog and maybe one day publish it for everyone to see
5. Take my CrossFit knowledge and actually have the guts to do a Tough Mudder.
Now that those are written down… might have to start checking them off!
You are hilarious. These pictures made my day! You would totally rock the man cut!
These are 5 things I would like to do:
Learn another language to become bilingual (either French or Italian).
Learn to bake French pastries and bread (mmm macaroons and baguettes).
Learn to drive standard.
Buy a sewing machine and actually see something by myself.
Write more and take more pictures.
So you know what you have just made me realize? I need to pack my bags, move to France and blog about it! Lol
Here goes:
– I want to learn to quilt too!
– Go skydiving
– Ride a motorcycle (scared to death of this one but still want to do it!)
– visit Ireland, hopefully with my dad
– start working with stained glass again
Thanks for making me do this! I hadn’t put the focus back on me since having my son last year.
Great list! At the beginning of this year, instead of a long list of resolutions (that I never complete), my husband and I chose one word to inspire our choices this year: mine was “brave”. My 3rd brave act for the year was a “man cut” – and I totally 100% love it.
You can do it Katie! Life is too short to not make some big brave choices. And hair grows. 😉
This is so fun. I think about this stuff all the time. So here goes:
1. Learn to play the guitar. Would love to be able to pick it up around a campfire and bust out a song or two.
2. Speak french. Then go to France. Naturally.
3. Take a trip out of state every year with my sister. Just the two of us.
4. Retire early and start a business doing something I love. Not quite sure yet what that is. Since I’m still quite young I have a long time to think about so that is good.
5. Run a 5k without having to walk.
6. Meet Katie Bower and become bff’s. 🙂
I love a good list!
I do my list via vision a board-totally works for me.
My top five-
Obtain my PhD
Open a resale furniture/art shop in our (soon to be moving to)new home of San Diego
Build a green/eco friendly home-using totally recycled bits/pieces
Retire before 65, rent the eco house out, do the ’round the world trip for a year
Learn to crew (row) in a shell ( 8 person boat)-what an amazing workout!
First time commenter – I loved reading these because it actually got me thinking about what I would want to do…
1. I’d like to write a book – maybe a children’s book – something I know my kids would get a kick out of.
2. I want to be an international traveler… maybe even take the kids along. 😉
3. I’d like to eventually work for myself, but don’t ask me what I’d be doing… I’d have to figure that out first.
4. I’d love to try canning and really crafty DIY projects like quilting or something else. I know just the basics of sewing, so maybe I should learn how to sew better.
5. I’d love to take some kind of class for me – I’ve only ever taken classes for work or school, and I want to do something for the pure fun of it.
Let’s see, where to begin? In no particular order: learn to ride a horse, take up yoga for inner peace and flexibility, spend an entire summer in a house (not necessarily my own) on a beach, grow my hair longer than chin-length (maybe we can do a deal on the hair!) and go up in a hot air balloon. Hhhmm, if I put my mind to it, I could probably manage to actually do some of these! Thanks for the kick in the pants!
Great game!
1. Visit all 50 states (I only have 8 more to go!)
2. Host a Murder Mystery Party (costumes are a must)
3. Take a Macaron class in Paris.
4. Be an extra in a movie
5. Make Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon
Now off to steal other people’s list to add to my full bucket list of life! 😉
hmmm ok…
1. learn to play the banjo. I am notoriously NONmusical. Its essentially a completely different language to me.
2. Speaking of language – Id like to be fluent in Spanish. I used to be a ok conversational speaker, but never fluent. The funny thing is – my husband is a Spanish teacher. Its kind of a shame that I havent tapped that resource. (Heh heh…my inner 14 yr old boy is laughing at the “tapped that” reference)
3. Learn Photoshop. (FIRST Id have to buy it…)
4. Understand sports a little better. I don’t really like sports, but my husband and two little boys do…so I feel like I should try to relate there.
5. Be better at making time for myself. I feel so guilty when I do – and thats dumb.
That’s the most cruel and inhumane thing I’ve read in a long time. If you (or your family) want to take to a raccoon or any animal with a bow and arrow, that’s your decision, but it’s quite despicable to leave an animal in pain, dying a slow death like that. Regardless of whether the cops said he did nothing wrong, he morally did a huge wrong.
What a fun list!
1. I/We would love to build our own house!
2. I/We would love to have farm acreage!
3. I would love to start my own business (Have no idea doing what!)
4. I would love to see the architecture of Rome!
5. And as a totally “far-fetched” dream, I would love to have a job as a set designer on a movie!
Great list. Here’s my five.
1. Learn Spanish. I took it in high school but barely remember anything
2. Dye my hair red. I’m blonde and always have been, but I just want to be a redhead for once.
3. Go to Greenland
4. Ride in a hot air balloon
5. Learn to use power tools
1. Go to India
2. Learn to pick locks. Why? I have no idea, it has just always been interesting to me. And I’m good at locking my keys in the car…. Seems like a good fit.
3. Dye my hair. Scared. To. Death. Never done it, and I’m 33!
4. Adopt a baby from China. I taught English there when I was in college, have two kids in Mandarin immersion now, and always seem to be led toward China. And my daughter desperately wants a sister, but after three brothers her chances are not good!
5. Live downtown in a really big city for a set amount of time. Six months? A year? I’m a country girl, but would love being in the thick of things as long as I knew it was finite.
the headshot with the quilt is totally hysterical! im way to chicken to rock a pixie cut but i say go for it when #3 shows up.
I also want to go short, but I have curly hair. (Whomp whomp) I talked with friends about it the other day and of course Keri Russell of Felicity was brought up. My comment was, ‘that looked cute, right?’ which was met by their collective ‘uhhhh not really.’ So we shall see…
On to my other four: learn Spanish, tile a floor/backsplash/both, mow the lawn (at least once, haha), and find a paying job that I love.
Love this idea! My list has been kinda the same for awhile, but I took a big leap and moved away from home (from the northeast to the Middle East) so its given me a new confidence to challenge myself and those “someday i’d love to…” things don’t seem so far out there.
1. Learn French. I actually just started taking lessons and let me tell you, there is nothing more painful that listening to this Boston girl try and roll her “r”s.
2. Learn the piano, then the violin.
3. Learn ballet, and yes partly bc of the leg warmers and tutus
4. Learn to sail a boat
5. Run a marathon
Of course, I should probably also clarify that when I say “learn”, I mean “master”. I envision myself sailing to France for the weekend, where I start my morning pirouetting perfectly across a dance studio before catching up with friends at a little street side cafe then complete a marathon before heading out for drinks, where I play the piano to a raucous group of friends ala “midnight in paris” all before sailing home. You know, just you’re run of the mill weekend 🙂
Ok, first off I had a dream last night. In it, you and Jer and myself were like triplet BFF’s. We just were the jam. We were at some weird place with roller coasters and a school?? And I was feeling sick and you guys took such good, sweet care of me and my baby girl, Nora. So, now I feel like I really *know* you. It’s a good thing there are several states separating us, otherwise I’d be knocking at your door with homemade scones and expecting a play date.
Anywho, my list:
1) Make a quilt. I’m actually planning to sew all 4 of my kiddos a quilt for Christmas. This is a definite undertaking, because I have less skills than Sherry when she started out, on a sewing machine.
2) Buy a farm and own a big dog, a horse and a goat. That one is in the works.
3) Get into some kind of exercise that I love. Running maybe???
4) Have a library in my farmhouse, with all of Dorothea Benton Frank and Cecelia Ahern’s work.
5) Do one DIY project from start to finish, all by myself.
Ooh fun 🙂
1. Learn to play the piano.
2. Go to Paris someday (even though they don’t seem to like us anymore 🙁 )
3. Learn to knit and crochet, and actually make something other than a scarf.
4. Save mistreated animals, and have the money and space and time to do it.
5. Take an interior design course at a great school, and do it for a living.
You should def check out Diary of a quilter blog! Made my first quilt a few months ago by following her simple directions! I am now obsessed!
I finally went for super short hair after my son was born and I loved it so much that I’ve been wearing it short now forever!! Every once in a while I’ll grow it out to chin-length but am always happiest when it’s short! It’s just hair, so I say GO FOR IT!!! But maybe just wait until after the baby comes and the hormones have settled a little.:)
Leah: )
Here goes:
1) Learn to play the guitar.
2) Love to make a memory quilt but must learn to sew first!
3) Become organized!! I am organizationally challenged!!
4) Cotinue to learn American Sign Language and become profidient in it.
5) Become a better cook!!
By the way, I have one of those man cuts and I will never grow my hair out again!! It is easy to take care of when you are a single Mom and don’t have time to do much. That pixie cut looks AWESOME on you by the way!!
Great post. You should do the hair…totally cute.
5) learn to make clothing patterns
4) calligraphy – very old fashioned, I know
3) make travel a priority
2) take guitar lessons with my daughter
1) learn Irish dancing
Here’s my list:
1. Become a fluent Spanish speaker.
2. Learn photography skills.
3. Have my Grandma teach me to sew.
4. Be mentored by a “wiser” woman
5. Cut my hair shorter…not man cut short…but a cute layered bob. I’m chicken too.
I’ve had learn to play the piano on my list since I was nine. I’ve taken lessons a couple different times but never really played well. I decided now or never and figure I’ve got the next 50 years to learn and practice. I’m so glad I started lessons again. I love it!!! It’s so rewarding and it makes me do a happy dance
Great list and reminder to go for it! I think the haircut would be supercute on you… and it always grows back 🙂
I actually gave this some thought back when I turned The Big 3-0… http://paintbynumberdreaming.blogspot.com/2013/05/mid-life-inventory.html … and a few items on my list are:
– Learn to surf/stand-up paddleboard
– Swim with manatees and/or whales and/or mantas
– Keep learning to play tennis (hubs is a great teacher!)
– Host an awesome fondue party
– Go REALLY dark in the hair department
These are great dream starters.
1. I’d like to learn how to sail. Not sure how that will happen, but it could be a lot of fun!
2. I’d like to learn how to play guitar. Or how to play the piano with both hands doing different things. Oh, it looks so easy but it’s so hard.
3. I’d like to hike the Appalachian Trail or Pacific Crest Trail. Not solo, but maybe the whole way through.
4. I’d like to learn how to upholster furniture well. You know, well enough so that people think you bought it instead of it being home-made
5. I’d like to design and build my own green, energy-efficient house. Who knows if this will ever happen, but it’s a nice dream.
Ha, this is fun, Katie! Thanks for the dreaming. 🙂
Inspiring list! I love how you’re getting us thinking. In no particular order:
1) I do want to try long layers sometime. That would actually be a bold step for me. 😉
2) I want to own a real piano, so I can play it every night after the babies are in bed, and have them gather around me and sing in perfect harmony. 😉
3) Long-term…I’d love to become a lactation consultant or a doula or something baby/childbirth related, because I am obsessed. 🙂
4) It would be amazing to have chickens. I really have to convince my husband of this–and it will take more convincing than the piano. 🙂
5) I think it would be awesome to take on a whole-book challenge like Julie did in Julie and Julia. I have an awesome Williams Sonoma book on baking and also a Darina Allen Forgotten Skills of Cooking which would be good options.
Yay!
Dont go short. I did after a terrible breakup and my head looked enormous as in “it looks like the statue of liberty’s head from here darling’. It made me feel even worse and my friends still talk about it (and it’s been more than ten years!)
1. Finish the entire Insanity workout program (I’m in the first week)
2. We own a home, but I really want to own one in the quaint town next door to us. Oh to dream!
3. Make our garage functional and not just an enormous storage area.
4. Build a pergola and an outdoor gas fireplace in our backyard. I would LOVE to have an outdoor seating area.
5. Perform onstage again sometime soon. I just had a baby and I miss the stage!
Great list! Here are mine, in no particular order:
1) Drive cross country
2) MAN CUT for me!!!! Oh I don’t have the guts.
3) Learn how to build furniture
4) Be bilingual- French, Italian, Spanish, I don’t care!
5) I would love to own LAND. Wide open, run free land.
Feels good to declare. Thank you.
Ooh, I have a list.. In fact, I’ve had it for over 20 years. (Ha! way to show my age!)
1. Build a house. I don’t have to live in it; it’s the actual hammering stuff I want to do.
2. Run a race – 5k, 10k, I don’t care. This from a girl who would be caught instantly if Ted Bundy were chasing after me. (Showing my age again!)
3. Learn to play the guitar. I played flute for years, but I want to play a portable instrument you can sing along with.
4. Have a baby. (Checked that one off back in ’98)
5. Travel to Europe. (Checked off multiple times. Took a leave of absence from work and traveled for six months last year.)
I know, this list is partially completed, but I wanted to show you young’uns that you can fulfill your dreams.
You should go short! You look so cute in that picture with short hair. I might be biased because I shaved my head in the summer of 2012. I had always wanted to do it and never had the guts. It was fun. Don’t know that I will ever go that short again, but it was fun to do once.
https://www.facebook.com/GreenBeautyTeam
as soon as i read about your short hair idea i thought of this cut. stunning, short, hot..no guy could call this a boy cut!
Ooo fun! I love lists 🙂
1. Learn to crochet dish cloths – sounds silly, but they are the best, and I want to learn to make my own.
2. Learn to quilt the old-fashioned way, like my great-grandmother. No machine involved.
3. Grow my bangs out. I have a huge forehead, but dealing with bangs gets aggravating.
4. Grow an organic garden.
5. Switch over all my beauty/bath/cleaning products to homemade, all natural products.
I love this! You should definitely go “man cut”! I cut all my hair off (12 inches) in May and it has been UH-MAZE-ING to say the least. You could definitely rock the pixie!
Do it! All of it! I think those are fantastic! Especially the wallpaper.
quad = four, not five
You should totally cut the locks! You have the perfect beautiful face to pull off that cut!
You look good with short hair 🙂 every week for the past two months I’ve been saying I’m going to cut it all off but I have really curly hair and will probably end up with an Afro style.
My list:
1. Speak French fluently
2. Be a work at home mom
3. Learn photography (I actually joined a photography small group at church so we’ll see how that goes 🙂
4. Start a good blog which can earn me income. I’ve always wanted to write.
5. Cut my hair to something short and manageable. This baby doesn’t like how long it takes me to wash my hair!
This is great! And I’m totally with you on learning how to quilt. I’m in awe of some of the beauties I’ve seen online, so I guess learn how to use Grandma’s old sewing machine comes first.
I would also like to take an improv class. Not because I necessarily think I am funny, but because I took one in college and I remember sucking, I want to make up for that.
I want to ride in a hot air balloon. And not one that is tethered, I want to really fly!
I want to go to Easter Island. I’m totally fascinated with the statues and the history.
And the one I rarely tell anyone…I want to tell a story on The Moth.
🙂 Awesome exercise! Thanks!!
This is fun! Definitely try a quilt. I’m just finishing up my first one (a baby quilt) and it is surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. I procrastinate between each step, but then comment how easy and fast it was once I finish.
My 5 things are:
1. Learn guitar – I’ve had one for probably 10 years and moved it with my 6 times and I still only know three chords,
2. Learn to crochet – always something I’ve wanted to learn, but it is more appealing now that I have some downtime at my job.
3. Open an Etsy shop – need to just bite the bullet already… there will never be a perfect time.
4. run a race – 10K, half marathon… anything will do as long as I run the whole thing.
5.reupholster a chair – I have two chairs just sitting here waiting for me to get on this one already.
pregnancy brain = real, not fake.
xo – kb
I love that last one.
xo – kb
I love the sign language one. I knew a lot in my youth but now it’s all gone.
xo – kb
HAHA! I love that dream…mostly because I am not the one getting sick on the coaster (I developed motion sickness in my adulthood and it’s not awesome). And I am with you on the horse. I need a horse in my life.
xo – kb
I want to learn how to pick locks too! and hot wire a car!
xo – kb
Haha…tap that 🙂
xo – kb
Agreed! Poor thing ;-(
AWWW love number 6 🙂
xo – kb
Thought provoking post. Will have to give this some serious thought. 🙂 I do think that a short hair cut is on my list also.
GO SHORT! go short! GO SHORT! i had hair just past my shoulders for pretty much all my life. last year i cut it short, like short in your picture. i absolutely LOVE it and have found “my look”. i’m convinced now that so many people would look absolutely gorgeous with short hair. my husband wasn’t too sure, but i did it anyways and now he loves it too and says it’s very “hipster”. ha! 😀
let me clarify…i’m not a hipster at all. but i think they look pretty cute!
My mom is a music instructor and she encourages Yahama music for those at Will’s age…so we looked into that…unfortunately, the closest one is 45 minutes away. So I think that soon, he will start with my mom…but I don’t want to push too hard too soon…better to just encourage that love of music right?!
xo – kb
OMG I totally agree on your last one. Every. Single. Day I want to do that.
xo – kb
I love when you have ridiculous photoshop stuff like this. It makes me smile. Love you KB!
1. Sew more. I am a pretty accomplished sewist but I somehow spend more time thinking about sewing and buying fabric than actually sewing it. I finished hand-piecing a quilt this past month and I need to start a new one–I love a hand-project to do a little in the evening watching TV….I hate cutting out and prep–I need to spend a weekend cutting out and I would sew it from there.
2. Quilt the 3 quilts I have sitting –I like small tasks and basting and quilting are not small projects–they are work–and I hate making that big commitment –once you start you kind of have to keep going with it.
3. Clear out my basement–I have not moved in over 10 yrs and there is a LOT of stuff accumulated down there I could either sell or give away.
If I sold it, I’d be able to buy more fabric that I would not sew. Right now my fabric has it’s own bedroom upstairs and a playroom in the basement….that’s probably excessive.
4.Spend less time on the computer and more time on something….anything else.
5. Read more. I used to be a major reader and then a few years with a lot of work-distractions made me lose that habit–no time—and this year I’ve re-discovered that pleasure–and I try to make room for it every day.
I love the hair! I have threatened to do that to mine, especially on a bad hair day, but my husband calls it “old lady hair” ;(. I think he is thinking more of the “shampoo/set” which that style is not. Haha! I would also dance in a chorus line of a Broadway show and become a doula/birthing coach. Just for starters…
Love this!! It’s probably the highlight of my day. And you should totally rock a man cut someday!
1. Finish college even if it takes me forever…
2. Learn to knit
3. Get a man cut! {Don’t know how I’ll ever be brave enough, but it’s been my dream too!}
4. Write a book
5. Learn to play guitar
Katie,
I have thought for a long time you should write a book! But not just a kids book- you have an amazing talent for pulling people in and captivating them with the things that happen every day. Your birth stories in paticular are fabulous! Maybe you should write some fiction loosly based on your own life. Change peoples names of course- anyway as an avid reaser myself and a girl who just flew through your entire blog from beging to present- im saying. Be a writer, you already are one!
I live in Paris. We like you. Don’t worry and feel very welcome! 🙂
Um you would look fantastic with the short hair – do it! It will always grow back!
Here is my list:
1. Complete a Marathon (all 26.2 miles)
2. Make my kids each a quilt for their graduation gift from the t-shirts their great-grandmother brought them back from her travels.
3. Travel to Paris with my husband
4. Think and speak positively (most) of the time.
5. Go Skydiving
You could totally rock that short hair! And for the record, it’s a pixie cut. Not a man cut. And my man thought he wouldn’t like it either. Turns out I feel more beautiful with short hair than I ever have in my life.
Also, you’re amazing. Thanks for sharing your life like you do. It’s inspiring.
First off, short hair isn’t man hair, lol! It’s chic, sassy, sexy, classic and totally rockin’!! I LOVE my short hair SOOO much! I get so many compliments on it all. the. time! 🙂 It just feels amazing and every day is a good hair day. I didn’t go as short as your pixie picture but pretty close. So do it one day…hair grows!
My list:
1.Design my own cosmetics company
2.Learn to draw, I can only do stick figures at best
3.Work on more crafts. I love having my own craft room but I never have enough time to really work on much unless I’m on a deadline for making something. It’s a mess but it’s my mess 🙂
4.Have my own photography business. It scares me big time! I love doing sessions for free, crazy I know but I have a fear of charging and taking the fun out of it.
5.Be “Martha Stewart”! I’ve always wanted to me a homemaker. To stay home and clean, organize, cook, craft, garden, party plan all day is my dream :)Maybe one day!
I have just cut my hair! I feel liberated and free. You should try it! Why not? Worst case….it grows out.
Oh my gosh, Katie! I’m so glad to learn I am not the only adult to make a complete fool of myself at a piano recitalwhich featured mostly children. I had 2 songs to play and couldn’t even make it through the first one due to this overwhelming fear/anxiety that manifested itself by making my arms heavy as bricks. Needless to say, I got maybe 4 notes correct then plunked a few more keys before ending my one and only public piano performance. Oh well!
I got a “man cut” once (a pixie) and now I look back and think “WHY?” I’ve been growing my hair since and it is superly long. 🙂 But I think it would look cute on you 🙂 My husband was not a fan either though he didn’t tell me until I was growing my hair back out again. Aw.
I completely agree! What is better than music? 🙂
Thanks for inspiring us, I’m in my 40’s and wish I had a bucket list when I was your age or younger. It’s much harder to check things off as you get older and into the daily grind of life. My BFF created a bucket list for herself at 40, and has managed to check quite a bit off. She also signs all emails with Dream It, Do It (even had DIDI put on her custom All Stars!) so she won’t forget that dreams can become reality.
So here’s my list, as of today:
1. Learn a second, and third, language; preferably French and German
2. Buy a second home by water. Beach, river, lake, doesn’t matter as long as it’s near wetness.
3. Travel Europe extensively
4. Start a blog about the home, kids stuff I do before it’s too late
5. Read more. You’d think this would be an easy one, but between work, home, kids, dogs, grad school, and exhaustion, I don’t read nearly as much as I would like.
I know. I actually took classes in college and then learned from a deaf teacher after college but it is one of those things if you don’t use it, you lose it. I can still do some and I sign with my special needs nephew who has made up his own signs during his 15 years so that can make it confusing sometimes. xo-P.S. So cool that you and Sherry are pregnant at the same time!!
No no don’t get a man cut… I love your gorgeous long hair!!
I am sooooo glad you wrote this post! This totally got my gears going and was the kick in the pants that I needed to jump start some things that I would like to accomplish. I will be turning 34 in December and decided to come up with a list of things I would like to accomplish during that year.
1. Learn to Sew
2. Start my food blog
3. Volunteer with a service organization
4. Get into a fitness routine…and really stick with it
5. Run a Half Marathon
6. Find a sophisticated new hairstyle
7. Take a girlfriends/sisters trip
8. Wear a Bikini
9. Revamp my whole wardrobe a la What Not To Wear
10. Complete the Certified Meeting Planner (CMP) Examination
* And yes, I totally realize that #2 could be counterproductive to #4, #5, and #8. LOL
Thanks for the motivation! 🙂
Wow we have some of the same things.
*I too would love to learn piano or violin/fiddle or even another language
*I also have to make a quilt on my list. I have made a simple chenille blanket I saw on pinterest but it was far from the preciseness a quilt needs. Odd b/c I don’t even really like country stuff…well unless it is in an actual farmhouse, then it is acceptable.
*I have also been considering a kids book lately b/c I can’t find one that deals with some of the behavior topics I want to read to my kid. Luckily my cousin is extremely artistic and I could get her to illustrate it but where exactly to begin. ugh
*and shooting an arrow would be so super cool. I thought of being Katniss for Halloween but don’t want anyone to know I liked those teen novels 🙂
*I also really want to go on a hot air balloon ride
*start an etsy shop to sell something. But what would I sell? that is the question.
Fun! Here is my list. I have had it for a while…
1. Be a blood donor – done. I still do it as regularly as Im allowed
2. Get drivers licence – done
3. Learn to play golf – done. But it wasnt as fun as I hoped it would be
4. Learn to sail – tried it and got some seriusly bruised knees and lost my appetite for
5. Parachute. Well Im a lot older now and I agree with myself that I will never ever do this.
And I see that I need a new list…. Thanx for the inspiration! I will get on it!
I scrolled through this post just looking at the pics while i was on the phone with my sister. Let me say that without reading any of the text, there is NO WAY to tell what this post is about. It made me laugh, try it yourself.
I say def. cut the hair! I had hair to my elbows and one day, I just chopped it all off. Like pixie style/PINK hair cut and I freaking loved it! I got a lot of compliments on it and it felt so liberating! Down side, my husband kindly said I had cut enough off. I’ve started to grow it out again but man, it was such a time saver and I felt so “edgy” and “stylish”. Two words that never come to mind when I speak about myself.
SO # 1…. you should go SHORT! I just did and loooove that it takes me 2 minutes now to do my hair 🙂 But on a totally unrelated note… I follow Sherri’s blog too and am SUPER excited that you two are both expecting. PRECIOUS!!!! Love your blog.
I love this… and I have a lot of similar ones as others!
1. run the Marine Corps Marathon. I am very involved in the VFW (youngest member by 42 years!) and I really want to spend a good portion of my life supporting vets. 2. knit a baby blanket or blanket in general 3. become a nurse 4. travel to Greece 5. go on a long vacation with my husband
It’s a little scary how excited I got to see your comment back to me. I honestly feel like we are BFF’s. Well, maybe SBFF’s (second best friends forever, since I know Sherry is your first). Anyway, YAY on a horse. BOO on motion sickness.
PS I want to know exactly how loud you screamed and how high you jumped when you and Sherry found out you were pregnant together. 🙂 My SIL and I were pregnant together and long story short (it was a looooong labor) we ended up having our babies on the same day, four hours apart. We were the talk of the labor ward, since my name is Ruth Anne, her name is Maryanne, we have the same last name, both have red hair and both had baby girls. It was like going through customs every time a nurse came in, making sure she was giving the right meds to the right person. 😉
PPS You’re welcome for that story. I know it totally made your day. Maybe I should add write a book to my list.
PPPS Do you know if you’re having a boy or girl??
Still waiting!
xo – kb
I kinda want to be you in my list of dreams:
1) I’d love to have a blog – with actual readers that actually makes money
2) I’d love to DIY about 200% more than I do
3) I’d love to be a stay-at-home working mom doing something creative instead of being gone-all-the-time-stressed-out-working mom.
Then in the realm of BIG dreams:
1) live in France with my family for a year ( I actually do speak fluent French)
2) travel the us in an rv with my family
3) become a buyer for Anthropologie who had to be in France half the year
Ok that was fun, thanks!
I think it’s great you want to make a quilt! I had the same urge a few years ago, and be warned…it’s addictive! I’m now a quilter, and it so much fun! Some advice, though…be careful of some of those Pinterest and online tutorials…most of the people who post them have no idea what their doing and shouldn’t be posting tutorials. As someone who knows how to quilt, when I come across those bad tutorials I get very frustrated thinking about unknowing DIYers out there who follow the bad instructions only to have their quilts fall apart in the washing machine. There are some great quilt blogs out there, and the tutorials you find there will be sound, but the best thing to do is take a beginning quilting class at a local quilting shop. They are pretty inexpensive, really fun, and very informative. Good luck with everything!!
On the hair cut… Have you heard of St. Baldrick’s? People raise money for childhood cancer research by committing to shaving their head (actually a very short buzz cut). You could raise so much money with your blog readership! Then you get to go through all the phases of short hairstyles as it grows back out. Surely Jer wouldn’t complain too much if it were for a good cause!
I donated when my friend did the shave, but I haven’t been brave enough to do it myself! If you’re brave enough to go for the “man” cut, I wonder if you’d consider St. Baldrick’s!
I love the bucket list ideas. My list is short, so far I just want to learn to roll a kayak. 🙂
Great list!
I think you should try the short hair at least once in your life 🙂
My list:
– finish all my works in progress that are sitting on my sewing table / knitting area
– grow my hair really long (I’ve always had it just past my shoulders or shorter)
– travel to Europe
– re-do the kitchen (make it my dream kitchen)
– get more chickens (we have 6 right now and a rooster)
Aislynn
I have many top of the list things so here are the near future randoms
1. Finally go to Fiji
2. Have a fashion show
3. Take another draping class
4. More fashion illustration
5. Design and make my perfect blazer.
I’ve made one before, so here’s mine…
1. Learn to make clothes.
2. Run a 5k, become a runner!
3. Buy a house.
4. Become a marketer.
Anddd last but not least
5. Become a mom.
Your to-do-five-things list is great because it is realistic I suppose… I’d like to repeat some of things of yours like to learn how to shoot and to design a wallpaper line (why not I might be cool designer as you). And 3) I’d like to learn how to be a DJ (as my friends tell me I have nice ear for music); 4) to buy a horse; 5) to go to Australia… But these are first things that came into my head…I have many more…and you too, I believe. How about writing 10-to-do list?
I did the man cut at the beginning of summer, and I LOVE it. I regret not doing it a long time ago. It is a totally trade off of everyday ease to more frequent cuts. I hate spending time getting ready in the morning, and I love my stylist, so for me its a great trade off.
Piano and quilting are both on my list. As well as have a booth in a craft show, and adopt a baby!
Thought of you when I saw that Wendy Bellissimo did a collection for JCPenney and they have some kee-yoot boy stuff! Girl stuff too, actually, since the little tadpole might be a lady. Pretty much everything is on sale for under $30 right now.
love how you put the pix of you in here! wallpaper design–so random but sounds so cool!
Ohhh…I love the RV one. I would totally do that.
xo – kb
Very cool!
xo – kb
Gotta check it out!
xo – kb
I love this! I’m going to spend time reading the comments to get inspired later. My husband and I play a game on dates. If money were no object and fear of failure was out of the way, what would you attempt? Interestingly our answers rarely involved lots of money but mostly just the fear that it wouldn’t work. Then we give each other permission to “go for it!”
Hair: if anything, you try it once, it’s fun for awhile, then you appreciate your long hair like nobody’s business!
I love that idea!
xo – kb
Idea is great and I support it fully.