A Lovely Life List

November
7 94
comments

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.

link    Lists, My Life  •  94 Comments  •  November 7, 2011

Honor Roll

November
5 7
comments

Faber Castell from eric yeo on Vimeo.

Sometimes I come across something so cute/sweet/charming/funny/pretty/inspiring/lovely that I just want to share it with you. These are the things that have made my honor roll.

I also write for Babble’s Family Style blog. Here’s what I’ve been sharing there…

link    Honor Roll  •  7 Comments  •  November 5, 2011

Cocktail Party

November
3 31
comments

The holiday season is upon us, and with it, holiday parties. Do you have many occasions to dress up? I don’t usually, but this year is shaping up a little differently. Plus there are the usual family functions, like Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas (I like the idea of wearing a fancy dress, but toning it down a little).

What would you pull together for a fun cocktail party? I always love seeing how everyone pairs things differently. And as always, I’ll show you which ones I’d pick below. Continue Reading…

link    Let's…, Style  •  31 Comments  •  November 3, 2011

DIY Chalkboard Holiday Favors

November
2 24
comments

I was asked to contribute to her Holiday Guide by Emily Henderson, so I came up with this DIY chalkboard holiday favor. They look cute at each place setting, and you could use them as place cards too.

After dinner, your guests could write their New Year’s Resolutions on them. Then you, as party host, can impose your iron will upon everyone to make them pose with their chalkboards as photo props. Pose, unsuspecting party guests, POSE!

I think party favors can be a little silly sometimes. What do you do with them after the party? That’s why the holiday doodad is removable — so the favor can be hung as a simple chalkboard the rest of the year.

It’s a simple craft that doesn’t cost much, and doesn’t take much time (other than waiting for paint to dry). Want to give it a try? See page 228 in The Holiday Guide by Emily Henderson for a list of materials needed and the full instructions.

link    Crafty (& Handy), Holidays  •  24 Comments  •  November 2, 2011

Happy Halloween from the Gruffalo’s Child and the Big Bad Mouse

October
31 72
comments

Eleanor is still little enough to let Brandon and I choose her costume for her, but she’s big enough now at 2-1/2 to be excited about Halloween and the chance to dress up. August, being eight months old, goes along for the ride.

I had a hard time coming up with ideas for Halloween costumes this year. I don’t know why it took so long to settle on the Gruffalo, since Eleanor’s favorite books right now are The Gruffalo, and The Gruffalo’s Child, but E was all over the idea. With one modification: She wanted to be the Gruffalo’s child.

Happy to oblige, I set about figuring out how to make her costume. Because of course I was going to make Halloween costumes for both kids. No matter that I’m busier than ever, borderline overwhelmed with work as it is, and oh yeah… I have two kids now, not just one. And I’m not that great at sewing. And I’ve never worked with fake fur. And Halloween was coming up fast. And our house has been a hot zone with one of more persons here being sick for the last two weeks.

What? Awesome! Bring it on.

I started the costumes on Friday night. The fabric store had been pretty well picked over by the time I had gotten around to shopping for fabric. I had more than enough fleece for August’s mouse costume, but it was going to be tight for E’s. I started with the mouse so that I could get a little practice in, which helped. I made a few (mostly minor) mistakes that I learned from before starting on Eleanor’s.

I had a pattern for the costumes, but when I opened it and saw eight pages of instructions, plus confusing and tissue paper thin templates, I gave up on the pattern pretty quickly. The diagrams did help for making the hat though, so it wasn’t a total waste. I just held up the kids’ pajamas to get the sizing right on the rest of the costumes.

You guys, I did it. Yes, those costumes took hours upon hours, but it was worth it.

August’s pants were too short so I had to pull his socks up to cover his legs, but I decided he looked cute. Like Angus Young as a mouse.

Eleanor had been nursing a cold, and she exemplifies the worst toddler traits when she isn’t feeling well, so I was afraid she wouldn’t want to wear her costume. She refused to try on the hat when I asked her to the night before. She woke up feeling better though, and she wore the costume all day!

August is still pretty sick, so he stayed home with Brandon while I took Eleanor out to trick-or-treat. We had been practicing our Halloween etiquette at home (and teaching her the whole “smell my feet” song), but she gets shy and quiet around strangers so she just stood there and thrust out her bucket at each house.

August was out of his costume by the time we got back, but Eleanor stayed in hers all night. I think she enjoyed answering the door for people more than she liked hitting up the neighbors houses. She went to the door each time, yelling “hi kids!” and passing out candy. She did ask later though, “Mama, we trick-or-treat tomorrow?”

Being a parent is so good.

link    Holidays, Parenting  •  72 Comments  •  October 31, 2011

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