Seriously. What?

An Everchanging Guide to This Life. A Refresher. Reflection? Whatever.

As the year winds down and my 20s come to a close (in about a week), I thought I would repost my bucket list.  A lot has happened this year.  Some of it heartbreaking.  Most of it awesome.  When my cousin passed away, it was a huge eye opener for me.  I realized I needed to get my shit together and get busy living.  I let go of a lot of my fears (not all of them) and started making stuff happen for myself.  I got a new job on a seafood marketing campaign and started a new adventure with a crazy bunch of kids who knew nothing about seafood.  It’s been a huge learning experience.  But it’s been fun.  Friends got married and I got to help plan their weddings/parties and I realized how much I love that kind of shit (note to self: THROW MORE PARTIES!).  I made new friends who are just as crazy as I am and of course, I was reminded how wonderful my old friends are (and still just as crazy).  I’ve hit some low points and did some things I’m not proud of but those bad moments are definitely helping me figure out who I am.  I am excited for my 30s.  I think it’s going to be a great decade.

Now…I’m going to start crossing some of this shit off my list.

1. Send a postcard a month to Tasha.

2. Find the most unusual bandaid in the world.

3. Kayak the Keys.

4. Backpack through Nepal.

5. Own my own house.

6. Read a book a month.

7. Learn religion. My own, of course…

8. Kiss a vampire.

9. See a hippopotamus in it’s natural habitat.

10. Be self-sufficient.

11. Brew awesome beer.

12. Run. A lot. And like it. 5k. 10k. 1/2 marathon.

13. Own my own business of something awesome, and it be successful.

14. Get a dog and name it Egon.

15. Watch at least one movie a a month

16. Make homemade pizza.

17. Find a maple bar in the South.

18. Fly fish in Hemmingway’s Pyreness.

19. Hike the Road to Santiago.

20. Backpack internationally. Alone. With a stranger.

21. Sail.

22. Deep sea fish.

23. Help build sustainable housing in underdeveloped countries.

24. Complete a sprint distance triathlon.

25. Change the world.

26. Watch all the Harry Potter movies. Wearing a cape.

27. More tattoos please!!!

28. Get into a bar fight.

30. Have a garden.

31. Bungee jump.

32. Live within my means.

33. Fall in love.

34. Build a house.

35. And a farm.

36. Own some chickens.

37. Learn to surf.

38. Drink the most delicious Hefeweizen in the world.

39. Read all of Charles Dickens.

Novels:       

• The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club
• The Adventures of Oliver Twist
• The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
• The Old Curiosity Shop
• Barnaby Rudge
• A Christmas Carol
• The Chimes
• The Cricket on the Hearth
• The Battle of Life
• The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain
• The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit
• Dombey and Son
• David Copperfield
• Bleak House
• Hard Times: For These Times
• Little Dorrit
• A Tale of Two Cities
• Great Expectations
• Our Mutual Friend
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood

40. Visit Istanbul and pray in the Hagia Sophia.

41. Drink beer with Monks.

42. View Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

43. Read all of Hemingway’s literature.

• The Torrents of Spring
• The Sun Also Rises
• A Farewell to Arms
• To Have and Have Not
• For Whom the Bell Tolls
• Across the River and Into the Trees
• The Old Man and the Sea
• Islands into the Stream
• The Garden of Eden
• True at First Light

44.  Read all of Haruki Murakami’s books.

• Hear the Wind Sing
• Pinball, 1973
• A Wild Sheep Chase
• Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
• Norwegian Wood
• Dance Dance Dance
• South of the Border, West of the Sun
• The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles
• Sputnik Sweetheart
• Kafka on the Shore
• After Dark
• 1Q84

45. Get healthy.

46. Practice yoga.

47. Get published.

48. Climb Mt. Rainier.

49. Visit the motherlands.

50. Get into the best shape of my life.

51. Coin a phrase.

52. Swim naked somewhere cold.

53. Build a cabin in the mountains.

54. Hike the Himalayas.

55. Catch a steelhead.

56. Learn four languages.

57. Visit:

• France
• Italy
• Germany
• Japan
• Nepal
• Spain
• Holland
• Belgium
• Denmark
• Switzerland
• Istanbul
• Nova Scotia
• Ireland
• Scotland
• England
• Czech Republic
• Russia

58. Get my passport renewed.  And never let it expire AGAIN.

59. Do a Spartan Sprint. Super. Beast.

60. Read all stories starring Sherlock Holmes, starting with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:

NOVELS

• A Study in Scarlet
• A Sign of the Four
• The Hound of the Baskervilles
• The Valley of Fear

SHORT STORIES

• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
• A Scandal in Bohemia
• The Adventure of the Red-Headed League
• A Case of Identity
• The Boscombe Valley Mystery
• The Man with the Twisted Lip
• The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
• The Adventure of the Speckled Band
• The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb
• The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
• The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
• The Adventure of the Copper
• The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

 

• The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
• Silver Blaze
• The Adventure of the Cardboard Box
• The Adventure of the Yellow Face
• The Adventure of the Stockbroker’s Clerk
• The Adventure of the Gloria Scott
• The Adcenture of the Musgrave Ritual
• The Adcenture of the Reigate Squire
• The Adventure of the Crooked Man
• The Adventure of the Resident Patient
• The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter
• The Adventure of the Naval Treaty
• The Final Problem

 

• The Return of Sherlock Holmes
• The Adventure fo the Empty House
• The Adventure fo the Norwood Builder
• The Adventure of the Dancing Men
• The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist
• The Adventure of the Priory School
• The Adventure fo the Black Peter
• The Adventure of the Charles Augustus Milverton
• The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
• The Adventure of the Three Students
• The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez
• The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter
• The Adventure of the Abbey Grange
• The Adventure of the Second Stain

 

• His Last Bow
• The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
• The Adventure of the Red Circle
• The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
• The Adventure of the Dying Detective
• The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
• His Last Bow

 

• The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes
• The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
• The Problem of Thor Bridge
• The Adventure of the Creeping Man
• The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
• The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
• The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
• The Adventure of the Three Gables
• The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier
• The Adventure fo the Lion’s Mane
• The Adventure of the Retired Colourman
• The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
• The Adventure of the Shoscombe Old Place

61. Kayak in the Pacific Ocean.

62. Visit Venice during Carnivale.

63. Pay off my debt.

 

I’m going to need a bigger bucket.

 

Things I Love – November

Cloches

These glass, bell-shaped covers are placed over individual plants to provide similar protection as row cover.

Things I Love – October

Sugar Cane Molds

These amazing pieces of decorative wonder have been showing up in houses all over.  Potterybarn sold them.  I even saw them in a German bar.  But these long, wooden votive holders originally acted as a mold in which raw sugar cane syrup could be poured. Once it dried, the syrup formed raw brown sugar cones, which was how sugar was once sold to consumers. The cones were easy to transport and store, and more refined sugar processing methods had not yet been developed.

Things I Love – September.

 

 

 

Birch Candle Holders.

Things I Love – August

 Vintage Treat Pedestals.

Teal Votives.  They almost looked like jadite.

 

Things I Love…In July.

I absolutely love Restoration Hardware, especially since they went steampunk on me and painted everything grey.  Two of my favorite things.  If you know me, you know I like grey and I like steampunk.  But what I really love is their new bedding collection.

I like the colors Mist and Fog.  Light enough to not seem like a rainy, Seattle day but dark enough to seem like a rainy, Seattle day.

Here is their quilt collection in Graphite.

I love old men.  Especially Sean Connery.  I love him all the time.  Not just in July.

Men’s magazines.  Where else do you get to see really hot guys and read really interesting things?

Things I Love…In June.

I love old things.  Here are a few I’ve been obsessing about this month.

Antique silver.  It’s pretty inexpensive on Ebay.  I think mixing and matching it together will be fun for parties and get-togethers.

I found a bunch of antique mason jars in the house we recently bought.  And so began my obsession with mason jars.  I also bought 12 on Ebay for really cheap.  I think they’ll make great centerpieces, candle holders, or decorations.

Apothecary jars have been steadily gaining popularity for awhile now.  They make great storage containers.

Octupus anything.  I want them everywhere.  I even found these great little earrings on Etsy.  I bought them for my mom.  She really likes them.  I’m pretty sure Nick won’t be down with Octopi everywhere in the house but maybe I can slip this shower curtain in.

Death Is Just The Next Great Adventure.

Dear Michael-

Not a day has gone by I haven’t thought about you.  Some days I’m okay and then some days, well, I’m still okay.  It’s not that I don’t miss you cause I do.  I wish I could have say goodbye, hung out with you one more time, hugged you again, maybe shoot the shit with you, get a drink with you…told you things.  I’m mad.  At you.  But at myself as well.  I’ve realized just how special you were to so many people and it just pisses me off that I never saw that before (how stupid of me to think you were only special to us).  You leaving taught me a lot.  Things I might not have learned if you hadn’t.  And everyday I think about whether I’m the person I’ve set out to be.  And I try harder the next day if the answer isn’t yes.  I dream about you a lot.  You’re always wearing plaid.  And giving me that smug smile of yours.  I’m glad for it.  I think it keeps me from being sad.  One last thing…if I leave this place earlier than planned, I can only hope to be as celebrated a life as you were.

I’ll see you on the other side.  Until then, keep heaven fresh and fabulous.

The Hunger Games.

I recently finished reading this trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  I think it’s quite possibly the best Young Adult series to date.  You really must check these.  Lots of adventure.  Some romance (which is nice because I think some books have too much romance) and the books deal with many relevant topics such as poverty, war, and privacy.