Archive - Lists RSS Feed

Sightseeing on a Vespa

Something kind of amazing starts to happen when you make a life list; You start start doing the things you’ve always wanted to. Some people attribute it to the Law of Attraction (and the like), but that’s a little too woowoo for me.

I think it’s more about making yourself think about what’s important to you, and in taking that step, you’re more likely to work toward your goals. You’re also more likely to say yes to things. I had assumed that Brandon would be the one I’d go sightseeing with (and I still want to go with him), but the opportunity came up last weekend, I was available, and I went for it.

Jules and I arrived at the Ace Hotel for Camp Mighty, and noticed the cute red scooters out front. That’s a life list item of mine, to go sightseeing on a Vespa. (I know that technically the scooters weren’t Vespas, but I’m using the name as one would say Kleenex instead of tissue.) ‘Maybe I’ll do that one while I’m here,’ I thought. I also thought that it probably wouldn’t actually happen.

The next day, we had a bit of a break from all of the mightiness in the afternoon. I mentioned that I was still thinking about the scooters to Keryn, whom I had not known before Camp Mighty, and she was in. We were trying to figure out when the best time to go would be. I could feel myself slipping away from spontaneity and trying to plan it. “There’s another break tomorrow, but it’s supposed to rain. My flight doesn’t leave until 3 on Sunday…” Then in an uncharacteristic move (for me, at least), we decided to just go do it. Right then and there. We called the scooter rental company, and 20 minutes later, we were on our way.

It was amazing! (And now we each want one.) Thank you, Keryn, for helping me check off something super fun from my life list. Thank you, Jules and Andrea for being so supportive. Thank you, Maggie, for the mighty life list inspiration, and thank you also to Laura, for being an instrumental part of making Camp Mighty happen. Thank you, Brandon, for watching the kids so that I could go to this fantastic event in the first place.

Have you made your list yet? Get on that.

A Lovely Life List

This isn’t a bucket list. These aren’t things I need to cross off before I die. Will I ever accomplish everything here? Probably not, but that’s not the goal. This list exists simply as a collection of things I would like to do in my lifetime. If writing them down helps me focus, and in turn helps me achieve some of them, the list has served its purpose.

A life list should never make you feel guilty for not accomplishing something! It should serve as a compass, opening you up to experiences that you may have discounted otherwise. A few items have been crossed off (and a few new ones have been added) because I started this list last year, inspired by Maggie. I hadn’t shared it until now, but my hope is that by sharing this publicly, I may hold myself more accountable and achieve more. I tend to do well with public lists.

Experiences

  • Live in another city for a year
  • Take an extended vacation
  • Host a traditional Thanksgiving dinner
  • Shake the President’s hand
  • Have a completely natural labor and childbirth
  • Go sightseeing on a Vespa
  • Teach a craft project to a group of kids
  • Karaoke in front of a crowd
  • Attend a costume party in a costume I’ve made myself
  • Raise chickens
  • Spend a week without electricity
  • Host a baby shower
  • Organize an event
  • Surprise someone in a big way
  • See a tree that I’ve planted grow to maturity
  • Keep a houseplant alive for at least a year
  • Grow tomatoes from seed
  • Try fencing, complete with the proper gear
  • Be completely debt-free (mortgage included)
  • Help build a home for charity
  • Take belly dancing lessons
  • Hit a home run

Sights

  • Look out over Paris from the Eiffel Tower
  • Cross the Brooklyn Bridge
  • Cross the Golden Gate Bridge
  • Visit The Farnsworth House (Mies van der Rohe)
  • Visit the Robie House, Fallingwater, and revisit Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio here in Oak Park
  • Take the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s River Cruise
  • Step out on the ledge of the Willis Tower Skydeck
  • Cross the Canadian border, eh
  • Visit Brunelleschi’s dome
  • Visit Japan when it’s pink with cherry blossoms
  • Have a cheesy photo taken of me holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa
  • Tour the country in an RV

Just Plain Fun

  • Make a dollhouse for Eleanor
  • Picnic in the park
  • Finish a paint-by-numbers painting
  • Ride a roller-coaster with my hands up
  • Wear a ridiculous hat to an event
  • Dress up with friends for a showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show
  • Experience weightlessness
  • Drive a school bus
  • Write a song
  • Beat the classic Super Mario Bros. game
  • Learn how to solve a Rubik’s cube
  • Wear a sequined dress to a party
  • Serve homemade cheesecake to guests
  • Coin a phrase
  • Turn a perfect cartwheel
  • Have the Thriller dance in my repertoire

Family

  • Have another baby
  • And another
  • Make a video montage of Eleanor’s first year
  • Make a video montage of August’s first year
  • Hear Eleanor say “I love you”
  • Hear August say “I love you”
  • Take Eleanor to pick a doll and spend the day at American Girl Place
  • Take Eleanor to high tea at the Drake
  • Take August to some equally “boy” events (rodeo? demolition derby? monster truck rally? I’ve gone to all three.)
  • Take the kids sledding
  • Visit a state fair as a family
  • Give the kids a tour of my favorite paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago
  • Cart the kids around town in a cargo bike
  • Take the family to Disney World
  • Go roller skating with Eleanor and August
  • Have an adorable family photo taken
  • Have a new adorable family photo taken (the family has expanded since the last one)
  • Celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary
  • Read Charlotte’s Web with Eleanor and August

Home

  • Paint every room in my house
  • Paint all of the trim in our house
  • Live in a house with a lovely entryway
  • Make every room in our house exactly as I’d like
  • Gut an old fixer-upper house and completely remodel it
  • Make the outside of our house as cute as the inside
  • Make a fairy garden for the kids
  • Have a library with a rolling ladder
  • Hang a real painting above the sofa (not a print)

Style

  • Only wear lovely undergarments
  • Ruthlessly edit my closet down to only my favorite things
  • Determine a wardrobe’s essentials, then buy them in the best quality I can
  • Find my perfect shade of lipstick
  • Sew a dress for myself that I would actually wear
  • Wear perfume regularly again

Skills

  • Learn how to yodel
  • Identify twenty constellations
  • Learn how to use my camera in manual mode
  • Earn a belt in a martial art
  • Perfect my turn stop on skates
  • Play the guitar
  • Drums
  • Ukulele
  • Learn to swim
  • Read 100 classics
  • Have a conversation in French

Professional / Career

  • Publish a book
  • Be a keynote speaker
  • Have a monthly column in a magazine
  • Collaborate with someone on a kick-ass creative project
  • Start some sort of creative movement (like a chain letter but more fulfilling)
  • Meet Martha Stewart
  • Meet Jonathan Adler
  • Redesign Making it Lovely
  • Launch a magazine
  • Sell my designs through a nationwide store
  • Art direct a photo shoot
  • Name paint colors
  • Design wallpaper
  • Judge a design competition
  • Create a proper portfolio for myself
  • Mentor somebody
  • Launch my decorating service
  • Decorate someone else’s home from top to bottom
  • Make enough money to support my family
  • Make an appearance in five forms of media (book, magazine, television, radio, internet)
  • Have my home featured in a Domino-like magazine

Projects

  • Take a photo every day for a year
  • Start a tradition
  • Choose a good cookbook and cook every recipe in it
  • Give only handmade gifts for a year

I fully expect this list to change as time goes on.

Revisiting the 30 Before Thirty List

Yesterday, I celebrated my thirtieth birthday. I’m truly looking forward to this next decade, and I think my thirties will be the best years yet! So now that my birthday has come and gone, it’s time to see how I did with my 30 Before Thirty list. I had given myself six and a half months to do everything.

I finished all of these…

  • 1. Visit the Modern Wing of The Art Institute of Chicago. (Done!)
  • 2. Dye my hair red. (Done!)
  • 5. Stop drinking soda. (Done!)
  • 6. Lose 20 pounds. (Not drinking soda should help.) (Done!)
  • 8. Sew a dress for Eleanor. (Done!)
  • 10. Donate some of our books to the library. (Done!)
  • 11. Cook Pad Thai from scratch. (Done!)
  • 12. Organize the catch-all closet in my office. (Done!)
  • 13. Get good at applying liquid eyeliner. (Done!)
  • 14. Print the bajillion photos I have stored on my computer and put them in albums. (Done!)
  • 15. Alphabetize our CDs and finish putting them into sleeves. (Done!)
  • 16. Landscape the front of the house. (Done!)
  • 17. Make an origami paper crane. (Done!)
  • 18. Visit the Farnsworth House by Mies van der Rohe. (Done!)
  • 19. Learn how to use my camera in manual mode. (Done!)
  • 20. Find my perfect shade of lipstick. (Done!)
  • 21. Decide for good whether I want a tattoo or not. (Done!)
  • 22. Pay off my credit card. (Done!)
  • 23. Make a video montage of Eleanor’s first year. (Done!)
  • 24. Have a date night with Brandon at least twice a month. (Done!)
  • 25. Grow tomatoes. (Done!)
  • 26. Have an adorable family photo taken. (Done!)
  • 27. Sing along perfectly to “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”. (Done!)
  • 28. Take Eleanor to the Shedd Aquarium. (Done!)
  • 29. Reduce (or eliminate) my reliance on paper towels. (Done!)

I didn’t finish these…

  • 3. Finish redesigning my Smart & Lovely portfolio. (It’s in progress.)
  • 4. Launch my design service. (I need to finish the portfolio first.)
  • 7. Repaint my office. (I’m going to wait and see how the white trim looks first.)
    * 08.16.11: Done!)
  • 9. Clean out the basement. (It’s getting scary down there, but we’ll get it done.)
    * 11.02.10: Done!
  • 30. Paint all of the trim in our house. (I made progress, but the dining room took forever.)

But here are a few things that I did finish in addition to the items on my list…

Along the way, many of you made 30 Before Thirty lists of your own (and many variations thereof, including a 30 Before Seventy list by a 67 year old woman). That just makes me incredibly happy. After a weekend spent concentrating on achieving dreams and goals, it seems fitting to wrap things up today. Next, I’m going to have to get going on my life list!

What Home Means to Me

I’m honored to be kicking off Pin it Forward today. I’ve been using Pinterest for a while, and now they have partnered with sfgirlbybay for this event. There are ten groups of participants, and each day one blogger from each group will write about our theme: Home.

What is home to you? To me, it is…

  • Surrounding yourself with your things that make you smile. ()
  • Having a cozy spot to curl up with a book. ( )

  • Having fun with paint. (*)
  • Covering the walls in a favorite pattern. (*)

  • Being a little cheeky. (*)
  • Taking chances, even when you’re not 100% certain. (*)
  • Adding grace notes. (*)

  • Keeping a space to work, and a place to be creative. (* *)

  • Tending a garden. (*)
  • Having fun with family. (*)
  • Setting aside space for a little one to get lost in their imagination. (*)

That’s what home means to me.

You can see my original board (along with others that I’ve created) on Pinterest, and be sure to follow along with all of the Pin it Forward participants to see what home means to them. Tomorrow you can visit Brigitte at Covet Chicago for her take, and let’s thank Victoria and Pinterest for organizing Pin it Forward!

Five Things That Inspire Me

My time in the Blog it Forward lineup has come, and today I’m sharing with you the things that inspire me.

Femininity

The unapologetically pretty. The confidence and strength of owning one’s femininity.

photograph by Eleonore Bridge

Pattern

Cute fabric. Crazy vintage tablecloths. Bold wallpaper.

Mirabel wallpaper by Romo

Color

That color in between pink and lilac. Charcoal gray. Olive green. Pumpkin orange.

photograph by 11nightmares

Lettering

Awesome fonts. Beautiful handwriting. Enviable calligraphy. Striking initials.

Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische

Flowers & Foliage

The ruffle of a peony. The fuzzy softness of lamb’s ear. The delicate flutter of petals against a flowering tree branch.

photograph by the Blah, Blah, Blahg


Thank you, Victoria, for organizing Blog it Forward. The baton was passed to me yesterday by make something, and now let me pass it on to max and ellie for tomorrow. Also, be sure to check the full Blog it Forward schedule, as there are ten blogs participating and sharing their inspiration each day!

Page 1 of 212»