Coxsackievirus

I happen to have caught the most ridiculously named virus ever which feels like having 30 papercuts in the back of your throat AND the flu, plus I have posts to write for my summer internship here so things are crazyface around here.

It's almost time for the great day o' Life Lists! Is yours written down? What are you tackling first? Here's a great breakdown of how to make the ULTIMATE list if you haven't already.

Oh and I also have a guest post coming up next week that I'll be sure to keep you updated on. Once I write it. Which will be right after what I decide to write it on...

Keeper of the List

Ideally in my mind I would have a rugged leather notebook with beads hand-sewn from a faraway land that I only wrote in perfect penmanship, evenly spaced at all times with turquoise felt-tipped marker. And there would be glitter somewhere in there because there's ALWAYS glitter in my fantasies. I would never lose this notebook & it wouldn't have any scribbles or ink bleeds.

Now if you've ever met me, you'd know this is complete hogwash. I lose at least two cell phones a year, have ripped my way through more pants than I care to admit, (Most times while WEARING THEM- which either means I buy super poorly constructed clothing or my ass is The Incredible Hulk. None of my shirts have this issue so I'll let YOU decide.) and the glitter falling out of the pages would piss me off within a week.

This means that I have my Life List scattered throughout random notebooks, scraps of paper, my computer's bookmarks folder & buried deep within my brain. This is not good. How many goals do you think you'll accomplish with a half-hearted, "Hmm that seems fun, I should do that someday." I think laying it all out somewhere that you can easily see and be inspired is best. So here's some ideas & suggestions for WHERE to organize your Bucket List.

Your Computer:
Admit it. You're on this thing WAY TOO MUCH right? I'm not judging sista, my mac is currently snuggling in bed with me as.we.speak. So why not start a file called "Places I Want To Go" or "Things I Want To Do". (OR something infinitely more interesting- don't let my lack of imagination stop you.) It's so much easier to just throw inspiring websites in that folder as you're surfing. Then set a monthly date on your online calendar to peruse those links & update or plan as necessary.

• LaterThis sounds helpful for people like me just bookmark willy-nilly without any labels or folders.
• Use SUPER specific labels. Within my folder, I have labels like "road trip", "experiences", "travel", "business", "personal growth". Some of them overlap.

Inspiration Board:
Throw up some corkboard or go old-school & use tape. Either way find a corner or entire wall where you can stick photos, articles, doodles, lists, WHATEVER that will be your visual road map to the life you want. I personally plan on putting one in my bathroom. I'm in there at least a couple times a day right?

• Inspiration for your Inspiration Board... of Inspiration (Maybe I can get that word in here 8 more times?)
• Their Flickr group if you're the 'Less Words More Photos' type.
• An online version.

Traditional Pen & Paper Route:
Mini Notebooks you can throw in your purse or backpack:

I love how these are Land, Sea, & Air themed!

LARGE notebooks that you couldn't miss if you tried:

Seriously, what scribbles are you going to notice when you have a big-ass leather Pegasus on your desk?

and... oh. my. goodness. This is PERFECT. I need this & a sparkly turquoise pen STAT!

Maybe I CAN have my dream afterall...

Where do you keep your life list?

Make It Happen May- Embrace the sun!

From we heart it

Summer. SUMMER SUMMER SUMMERRRRR. I am in love with/obsessed with this season. I walked around today in a t-shirt. TEE SHIRT AND NO JACKET. It was weird, I felt naked. And you know what? I LIKED IT. The point of all this is that now I can start knocking things off my life list that are really best done in the warmer months.

So why not let that inspire you to add a whole new passel (I've been trying to slip that word in somewhere for MONTHS) of bullet points in your 'Things to do before I die' collection? And then throw on some flip flops (Apparently there are people out there that don't like flip flops. To that I say RIDICULOUS. Are your toes THAT sensitive? Do you also hold them during the scary parts in movies and tuck them in at night? Tell your precious tootsies to man up and BE FREE.)

So I'll be adding things like going to the farmer's market, water parks and a teddy bear picnic with my baby brothers. So I'm posting the summer-only portion of my LIST here for everyone to see. Now you can yell at me periodically if I haven't made enough progress.

*Go to the Cloisters
*Tailgate BBQ & minor league baseball game
*SplashDown Water Park
*Beer-b-que with friends
*Try at least three new fruits (Just had blackberries yesterday so 1/3 down!)
*Coney Island Mermaid Parade
*127 Sale (I need a partner for this one HINT HINT)
*Go lose my mind in this art store
*Beach bonfire
*NYC Street Fairs
*Make my own popsicles
*Camp in the backyard with my brothers
*Get an amazing tan without half my face peeling off two days later

That's all for now but I'm sure I'll add more the warmer it gets. What are you going to do this summer?

Why Not Wednesday

I accidentally skipped Why Not Wednesday yesterday because I was flying home to NY to help my aunt take care of her new baby. Life exploded in my face the days before I traveled including a ghost in my apartment and a weird fixation on eating Chik-fil-A that was so bad I tried to walk up a down escalator. Like, I was so loco with visions of chicken nuggets and waffle fries, I TRIED TO WALK UP A DOWN ESCALATOR. Everyone in Terminal A at Hartsfield-Jackson had a good laugh at that craziness... (And in case you were wondering, airport Chik-fil-A is gross.) So anyway, let's all agree to just pretend you read this yesterday okay?

I'm a huge believer in the life list. Do you have one yet? I do but most of the items on my list are great far-flung adventures that take money or planning. Or require certain conditions that I don't have right now. (Mostly sun, GLORIOUS GLORIOUS SUN THAT I FEEL LIKE I HAVEN'T SEEN IN YEARSSSSSSS.)

So this week why not make a mini- list of things that are easy to do? You don't have to leave where you live to experience something awesome and grand. I can't wait to one day take a cross-country road trip but I can have an awesome time in the zip code where I pay bills too!

Plus I know it makes me feel better about myself when I put easy things on my to-do list, because then I get to cross something off and pat myself on the back. Seriously- next time you're making one, add something like 'put the trash outside the door', 'brush my teeth' or 'eat chocolate' and see how much better you feel crossing a bunch of lines out. And is it just me or do you feel like everyone is getting their asses kicked by Old Man Winter? It's time to kind of give him the finger and get our sanity back.

So yeah, try adding things that are close to home:

• Try a new fancy coffee drink at the cafe nearby your job.
• Go to the park during the winter and make a snowman on the swings. Or just swing in the cold and enjoy not sticking to the seats.
• Plan a delicious garden. Feel free to over plant tomatoes and then send the extra to me.

Or something easy:

• Buying yourself the cereal that most reminds yourself of being a kid and eating a big bowl in front of Saturday morning cartoons (we recently introduced my little brother to the Fraggles and GOODNESS I missed that show).
• Paint an accent wall. (Okay so that's not really so EASY, unless you bribe your friends to come over and help you!)
• Make a new recipe in a cuisine that is not located on your continent.

And then do one of these homestyle list additions! Hey, if you're going crazy from the cold, make it summer in your house- crank the heat up super high for a couple of hours, throw on your bikini and eat some burgers and ice cream. I mostly say this last one because I'm at my parent's house and I don't have to pay the heat bill.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do this week yet, but I'll let you know when I do! I will after all be in NYC where it's super easy to find something to cross off a list. I also keep meaning to have a living room camp-out with my brothers so maybe we'll do that this weekend.

I'd love to hear or see your easy lists!

If you never did you should...

Inspired by Jodi from If You Never Did, You Should's sweet sweet giveaway and the fact that it's cold and I have the winter blahs over here, these pictures are of a really awesome spur of the moment getaway I once went on to Tombstone, Arizona. I am madly in love with Arizona and New Mexico and can't wait to get back there someday soon!


I think every self- respecting lover of cowboy boots and the Wild Wild West needs to stop by Tombstone for at least a day. We hit up the Boothill Graveyard first,which is right on the edge of Tombstone. I'm weird and think graveyards can be really pretty sometimes. (You won't catch me near one at night though...) But Boothill is truly gorgeous and filled with beautiful cacti and hand-painted grave markers. There are some funny and some sad, and you can easily spend hours wandering around looking at them all. They even give you a little booklet that tells you all the history known about each grave.

Yes, I'm rumpled and crazy looking, I had been in a car all day- leave me alone! Margarita's was my favorite grave for more than just the name. The story goes that Margarita was apparently a saloon girl (I think that's a nice way of saying prostitute) who was killed by another girl over a man. Law and Order Wild West Style y'all!

Then we went and ate at Big Nose Kate's Saloon for lunch. (She was Doc Holliday's main squeeze.)


It was yummy and had gorgeous memorabilia and art all over the place.













Also check out the Bird Cage Theatre*:

and see a ton more artifacts and fun things from the days when Tombstone was a bustling, wild, famous gold rush town. They also recreate the famous O.K. Corral gunfight with Wyatt Earp daily and have people in costume wandering the streets.

I have Visit the Helldorado Days festival and Explore Wild West ghost towns on my Life List now. So fun! Have you ever visited Tombstone or would you want to?

I think that If you never did, you should- visit Tombstone, Arizona!

*Is it weird that I always want to spell it THEATRE not THEATER? And why does the computer always tell me this is wrong??

The List

I have an idea. I've been hearing/reading/ seeing a lot lately about bucket lists, life lists, new year's challenges, WHATEVER you want to call them. These amazing collections of dreams and hopes chronicled in one place are so inspiring! I have one that I keep on my fridge which needs to be updated. And so every time I see someone post their list in their blog or talk about completing one of their items, it gets me excited.

It also makes me curious. What if someone has something on their list that I can help them with? Or that I want to do also? I'm impatient and don't want to wait for fate or the winds of coincidence or whatever you believe in to bring us together. What if we could all meet (hey, virtually counts!) and compare lists? And also cheer for each other, lend a hand if possible, or even just to read and be inspired?

I want that. In fact, it's on my list now. Yup, just wrote it.

So, how do we do this? Well you see... I have no idea actually. I haven't thought that far. I got excited okay?
This is where YOU come in. I want to celebrate the Summer Solstice (JUNE 21ST) as List Day. It's the longest day of the year and has 24 hours of daylight in the North Pole and 24 hours of darkness at the South Pole and this appeals to my balance loving Libran nature. What if we all pledge to post our Lists on that day? To cross something off on that day? I'll make a directory of everyone who is participating and we can surf around to each other's lists and leave encouraging comments, make new friends, and maybe find a partner in crime for one of our dreams.

So I am putting out a call for:

* People with life lists who would like to share with everyone!
* Someone who knows about making buttons or any of that other Web stuff that hurts my head that could make this happen in a prettier way.
* Anyone who can help spread the word about this- the more the merrier!

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