list 4 - 28 goals, aspirations, dreams and wishes for the next year

Today is my 28th birthday. Thus, I thought it was only appropriate for today's list to be about what I aim to do, accomplish and dream in my 28th year of life.

1. keep going to the gym. on a regular schedule... that means more than one a week.
2. roll down a grassy hill.
3. participate in another art or photography show.
4. learn how to cook at least five things that I'm really good at and can make from memory.
5. visit somewhere new in the U.S.
6. visit somewhere new internationally.
7. not wear my hair pulled back in a ponytail or bun every day. just 6 days out of 7.
8. tell my family I love them more.
9. tell my friends how much they mean to me more.
10. get a handle on the 10,000+ emails in my personal email account (we won't even talk about how I'm 136% over the capacity limit on my work email...)
11. find a church that I love going to. and actually go.
12. find a book club. or maybe start my own.
13. make a new friend.
14. spread my wings and fly.
15. keep brownie sundaes down to once a month. or maybe once a week.
16. complain less.
17. smile more.
18. make strides toward fitting in my favorite winter white wool pants.
19. enjoy happy hour on a sunny patio more when the weather calls for it.
20. lay off the BlackBerry. especially at dinner. or in bed. or when in the company of others. but probably not in meetings. especially boring ones.
21. be less judgemental.
22. try something that really scares me.
23. read a lot more.
24. write handwritten letters.
25. keep up blogging.
26. not include a note about the weather in every Five for Friday entry.
27. make my family proud.
28. make myself proud.

List 3 - Absolute Necessities in my Life

(a list in photos)

List 2 - Things I Don't Understand

1. Why people who are not disabled use the handicapped turnstile on the Metro. While it is almost twice as wide as the normal turnstiles, it takes anywhere from 15-30 seconds longer to get through, especially if you're right behind another person or there's someone coming the other way. This is something I wonder every day when I see walking commuters, without any large luggage or bags or strollers or anything other than a small work bag, lining up at this turnstile. Perhaps this is one of life's grand unanswered questions.

2. Looting. Reports coming from Chile are that people are not only looting essentials, but also things like flat screen plasma televisions. Really? I can't imagine what kind of person would do that. How is that in anyway beneficial to you and your fellow countrymen when your home and city have been destroyed by an earthquake and you're stealing a TV. This may also be one of life's unanswerable questions.

3. Littering. Every day, I see people read the little freebie daily newspaper on the Metro and drop it on the floor or leave it on their seat. Why couldn't they carry it off the train and put it in one of the many trash or recycling bins in the station? Laziness I suppose, which may be the answer to number one as well (but probably not number two).

4. Complaining. Why do people complain? Are they looking for sympathy? Are they looking to just get something off their chest? Are they just a negative person, the glass half empty type? I especially don't understand people who complain about things that are totally within their control to change.

5. Perhaps the biggest mystery: why does coffee taste so much better when you buy it from Starbucks/Dunkin Donuts/McDonald's/7-11/a random vendor on the street than when you make it for yourself at home?

List 1 - Places I Want to Travel

(in no particular order)
Istanbul
Paris
Spain - all of it
Provence
Bologna
Florence - again, because I fell in love the first time
Badlands National Park
Boston
Buenos Aires
Hawaii
Bali
Thailand
Australia
UNESCO World Heritage Site in Petra, Jordan
Costa Rica
New Zealand
Prague
Budapest
the Dalmatian Coast
Capri
Iceland
Las Vegas
Maine
Montreal
Quebec City
Vancouver
Alaska
French Polynesia
Cape Town
Arches National Park
Montana
Canadian Rockies
Iguazu Falls - Brazil or Argentina side
Ireland
London
Morocco
New Orleans
Savannah
Charleston
Annapolis
Philadelphia
St. John, USVI
Burma
Galapagos Islands
Easter Island
San Francisco
Portland

This list could be, seemingly, endless.

List Love

I love lists. I love the satifying feeling of crossing off. Checking off. One of my favorite blogs, Hula Seventy, decided to do a 52 lists project - basically blogging a list a week. So I'm jumping on board. Every wednesday. Just because, well, I love lists!

PS Thanks to this cool site for list ideas