32... +

I am a list person. I love lists. Indeed, I am the kind of person who could have lists of lists. I love checking things off of lists and making new lists. I have notebooks full of old lists and I love looking back and seeing all of the things I had to do and which things never got crossed off. It's a journal of sorts, comprised entirely of old To Do lists. You get that I love lists, right? So I can stop talking about it? Good.

So a few people that I check out have done these cool lists of things they want to do before their next birthday. Ideally this is done, you know, ON your birthday. Elise has 23 things to do before she turns 23. Andrea has been at this a while... first there were 36 things. Then she added 36 happy surprises. Now she is on to 37 things. (She really likes lists, too.)

Back in March or so I decided that I wanted to hop on this listful bandwagon. [When I received my degree in English they also handed me a license to make up words. Listful is an adjective which means lustful for lists. Useful, yes?] But in my brilliance I thought, "Oh, I'll wait until my half birthday and do a list with half things I have done since my last birthday, and half things I still want to do before my next birthday! It will be great!" What a super idea, right?

My half-birthday was April 20. But we had people staying with us, and then I was focused on the Avon Walk, and excuses excuses excuses. But today I decided that I still want to do it, and who cares about the timing. It'll still be fun. C'mon, it will be!

16 things I'm glad I've done since I turned 32:

1. Bought a house.



2. Taught myself to Venetian plaster.



3. Learned that fear is a stupid reason to not do something good.



4. Walked 39.3+ miles in two days.



5. Became Inspired.



6. Started this blog.



7. Faux-finished the bedroom walls.



8. Spent two weeks with the cutest nieces ever.



9. Became a WASSIMA chick with the coolest group of artists.



10. Taught myself to make some beautiful jewelry.



11. Made lasagna from scratch without my "Mamma Italiana" Nunzia (she taught me well; my father-in-law loves lasagna and said it was the best he'd ever had in his life!).



12. Met Anne Lamott.



13. Started a year-long project I'm excited about.



14. Readjusted to life in the U.S. Mostly. :)



15. Bought original art.



16. Found my Bulletproof Positive Attitude and started--finally--thinking of myself as an Artist. That's big, y'all.

16 things I still want to do while I'm 32:

1. Venetian plaster the dining room.



2. Have a housewarming party/open house.



3. Take a photography class.



4. Get my Etsy store up and running.



5. Finish all of my Inspired projects--even the Rusty Pickle book(!).



6. Make a handmade (sewn binding) book.



7. Register for next year's Inspired.



8. Visit my friends Kathy and Larry in South Carolina.



9. Organize my studio and hold at least two workshops or classes.



10. Find and buy curtains/window coverings/drapery/whatever you want to call it for all the windows in the house. (Currently we just have blinds. Jason is getting annoyed.)



11. Make a collage over one of the cheap wall hangings I bought at Ross to collage on.



12. Buy canvas fabric, gesso it, and paint on it. (Like this. Or this. Or this.)



13. Either learn to love the green that my family room is painted or re-paint it.



14. Send two cards per week for any reason whatsoever.



15. Have a garage sale.



16. Find and buy the following items for the house at less than retail: a stainless steel trash can that fits under the counter; a laundry hamper that goes with our master bedroom decor and holds more than two pairs of jeans; a spice rack for the pantry door.



17. Organize a block party.



18. (Once the gym I joined opens) go to the gym three days per week.



19. Come up with a plan to learn more Italian and start it.



20. Hang stuff on my walls for heaven's sake.



21. Make friends with someone who works in a frame shop and/or someone who works in a sign shop.



22. Outfit the guest bathroom.



23. Get new glasses and contacts (it's only been four years).



24. Get our China hutch repaired so I have someplace to put my mountain of pottery.



25. Get back to goal weight and/or goal size or just get the heck over it once and for all.



26. Design and create/build/assemble an art piece for our huge front window.



27. Get a bird feeder or three and keep it stocked.



28. Find a church I like attending and go.



29. Join--or start!--an active book club.



30. Sell three things on eBay (and/or Craigslist).



31. Write a letter to Nunzia in Italian that there is some possibility she will actually understand.



32. Keep a secret.

Alert Reader: "Now wait just a dang minute! I thought you said there were 16 things you still wanted to do while you were 32? So the math works out well, you know, like you said? Half done and half to do and all that?"

Oh, you're right. Hmph. I did say that. See, this is what happens when you write a blog slowly over several days while you're taking cold medicine and trying to figure out the HTML code to put photos side-by-side (within a list, no less). Well, I really do want to do all that stuff, so let's just call me ambitious, okay? Or 48. I don't mind. Let's do it!