Bucket List Update

It has been quite awhile since I updated my Bucket List so I figured it was about time! If you remember, this started out as my 30 by 30 list, but since I am no longer 30... its become my Bucket List. Some of these are more realistic than others, some will be ongoing things that I work on forever. But having them in black and white helps keep me accountable and give me something to work toward.

1. Take a "real" vacation with my husband! Not just to the family lakehouse (though it is nice, It is not the same as really getting away together - ALONE!). ;-) -

DONE – Our Wisconsin trip in '09 was great. Also, for our 10year anniversary we went on a cruise!

2. I want to go to one (and only one) of the following: Colts game, Pacers game OR the Indy 500.... Those are huge Indianapolis things to do and I've lived here my whole life and not done any of them! * Changed to sporting event with hubby. So that includes the Cubbies. - DONE – Sallie took me to Pacers game (front row seats and all!) and Isaac and I went to a Cubs game in Cincy. And last year we got some tickets to a Colts home game at Lucas Oil Stadium!

3. Go on a trip with my "girls". We've been talking about doing it for years but none of us has had the money... but somehow we need to make it happen!! - Done... sort of. I want this to be an every couple of years thing. I don't think just one trip is gonna do it. But I did have a great trip with a couple of my favorite ladies in the fall of 2012. This summer I got to visit Savannah, Georgia with two of my college pals!

4. Watch a silent movie. I don't know why but I think it'd be really fun! Charlie Chaplain here I come! – AFI Top 100 - DONE - for my 32nd birthday my hubby planned this really great at-home-date that included a home-cooked meal (by him) and a silent movie on a projector screen. It was so great!

5. Going to a scrapbooking retreat with a group of my Scrappin' Sisters! This one will totally happen! Right girls?!? - DONE – we did a DIY retreat at the lake.

6. Take my older son to an amusement OR water park. He loved the carnival rides at the county fair... I know he'd love the kiddie area of Kings' Island or Holiday World... something like that. -

DONE – we went to Great Wolf Lodge. Still hope to go to an amusement park someday. ;-)

7. Get really good outdoor family pictures taken of us and the boys. I'm a photographer myself... but it is hard to do your own family's pictures! - DONE – I can't bring myself to spend a fortune on an expensive photographer but I am willing to spend a little by having friends do our pix, or by getting a deal on Groupon and so far I've been really happy with them.

8. Have my entire house clean at the same time. (I'm not saying I will do said cleaning... just that it will be done!) - Um, yeah. Not sure if this will ever happen but one can always hope! In the mean time I am working on developing a better routine for household upkeep.

9. Ok, please don't laugh or think I'm awful! I want to go skinny dipping! Though I'll probably have to do it alone because my husband does not do water.... DONE.  ;-)

10. Do some community service OR mission trip. I've kind of let stuff like that sit on the back burner since I had kids and I think it'd be good to give in that way again. DONE - family pictures for Sheltering Wings families a couple of times now.

11. I know this sounds lame but... I want to own a minivan. It is hard having two kids in car seats in a small sedan! It'd be nice to have my siblings be able to ride with us instead of having to drive separate cars! - DONE – love it! Thank goodness we got it when we did because now that we have three kids we could not all fit in the Cavalier together.

12. Feel comfortable in my own skin. Whether that includes losing weight, getting in better shape, or not... I just want to be able to look at myself and love me without being so critical of myself and pointing out all my flaws. - ** Its a work in progress. I think every pregnancy has given me more and more of an appreciation for my body even if I don't always like how it looks. Major milestone... I did a boudoir session last summer! Talk about empowering!

13. Get better at managing my time... sometimes I feel like I work all day and get nothing done! There has to be a better way! -I'm trying to get the hang of the FLY Lady thing!  Fly lady didn't work out for me... but I just finished reading Say Goodbye to Survival Mode by MoneySavingMom and I'm trying to use her tools to help create better habits and use my time and money more wisely.

14. Paint our master bedroom. It’s a fairly inexpensive way to change the look of a room and I think it’d help me to be satisfied w/ our hand-me-down furniture instead of longing for something new. - DONE – love it!

15. Get in touch with a few old friends that I haven’t talked to in awhile. I know that some friends are seasonal friends and aren’t meant to last forever… but sometimes it is nice to catch up with people that you’ve lost touch with too. *Done - I have been able to reconnect with some old friends via facebook.

16. Read a Jane Austen book. I loved the movies of her books and I liked The Jane Austen Book Club… I think it’d be fun to make an “all Jane Austen all the time book club” of my own! - this seemed like a good idea at the time... but I have a hard time reading books if I've already seen the movie. So I'm not sure this one is going to happen. ;-) I'll be happy if I can finish just one!! Maybe I will do audiobook?

17. Find a new Christmas tradition to replace gifts. Every year we’re overwhelmed with the amount of toys and stuff that our boys get from friends and family. I want to stop exchanging gifts within our immediate family and take a trip or have a special outing that we do together instead – I’m working on it. We have downsized our gift-giving some.

18. Begin home-schooling. I was home-schooled and while I think there are many advantages to doing it… I’m a little intimidated. I want to get organized enough to do it well. *DONE - Nate is in third grade. Our homeschooling style keeps evolving but no matter how we go about it, he is always learning. We are involved in a homeschool co-op and have lots of homeschooling friends in our church.

19. Decide if we are going to have more kids. When we got married I wanted four kids and Isaac wanted two. Well… after having one via unexpected c-section, and one vbac at home…one who tries my patience daily and the other who pulls at my heartstrings constantly… I’m not sure if I can handle any more kids. - DONE – Christine is the perfect final addition to our family!

20. Expand my photography business. I’ve kind of just let my business be primarily friends and family so far. But I’d like to take it a little more seriously and actually do some marketing and put my business out there for more jobs. I want to do this for two reasons: 1) I love taking pictures and want to improve my skill and a lot of that comes from experience. 2) It would be helpful to our family financially if I was able to bring in some extra income. **  I still have a few gigs here and there for friends and family and that is fine for now. You can see my work HERE.

21. Get all my completed scrapbook pages into albums! I have piles of pages that are stacking up that I have no albums to put them into! - When we staged our house a couple of summers ago I packed up almost all of my scrapbooking stuff and its still in storage. Been making Photobooks on Shutterfly lately. Not the same, but still good.

22. Finish reading through the whole bible with my husband. We got off to a good start awhile back and got out of the habit. Need to start back up and finish this time! - Totally dropped the ball on this one. But want to get back into the groove!

23. Go to a Hearts at Home conference. I’ve wanted to go for a couple of years now and have not been able to work it out. One of these days… it will happen! -

DONE - I have now attended the last three Hearts at Home conferences. Each year I seem to get more out of the experience than I did the year before. It is such a great thing to be a part of. I cannot recommend it enough. Great for moms of all ages and stages!

24. Find a way to show my husband how much I appreciate him. He is such a big part of my life and while he certainly challenges me… I think I take all the good things about him for granted sometimes. - DONE - or so he tells me! ;-) But naturally its an ongoing thing that I try to work on every day.

25. Help make some positive changes to the women’s ministry at my church. I think there are a lot of women who would benefit from some regular fellowship time where we can develop our relationships on a deeper level than what we can do on Sunday mornings.- I am resistant to work on this one right now. Its kind of been a difficult road with our church's leadership. We don't always see eye to eye as far as where we want the direction of women's ministry to go. Still hope to work on this goal in the future.

26. Go see Wicked (or some other live musical). I have always enjoyed musicals and haven’t been to many live shows lately. I’m one of those dorks who will sing along and annoy whoever is sitting next to me!! DONE - I went to Wicked with a few of my best girls last year. LOVED it!!!

27. Become involved in a mom’s group/play group of some kind. - DONE-ish. While we don't have anything structured set up, a few friends and I have been getting together pretty regularly for play/learn dates. I love sharing our lives together!

28. Write out our will. It is not a fun job. No one (ok, I don’t) looks forward to thinking about what will happen when their gone from this world. But it has got to be done.

29. Take a continuing education class for fun. I was looking in the paper a few weeks ago and there were a few that I am interested in: cooking, etiquette, sewing, how to build your photography business, and others. Maybe I could talk someone into doing it with me!

30. Read a book that my husband recommends (from cover to cover!). My DH and I do not have similar taste in books at all. I read mostly fiction with some fluffy self help or DIY books in the mix. He on the other hand reads mostly theological stuff that generally bores me!

New ones:

31. Complete a 5k. I am not aspiring to win one or anything, just think it would be a fun thing to do. 

  - DONE - In July my friend and I dragged my kids out on a Saturday morning and we all did the Color Foam Run together! And just a couple weeks ago a couple of us gals did the GloRun! It was so much fun! We weren't real competetive but we finished and had a blast!

32. Visit a foreign country.  I have visited a couple foreign countries when I was younger, but now I want to go somewhere as a family. I really want to go somewhere with my husband and oldest son.

33. See some of the Wonders of the World.

34.  Go to Disney/Harry Potter World. We're hoping to get a group together to go in 2016.

35. Climb to the top of a waterfall.

36. Take my family to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

37. Go to New Zealand and see all the Lord of the Rings locations.*I know, I am a big dork.  ;-)