My list...

I just finished a book about a woman who fulfills a "List of things to do before my 25th Birthday" list for a friend that was killed in a car accident. The title of the book is "The Next Thing on my List" and it's written by Jill Smolinski. I highly reccomend the book as it is a really good read.

Anyway, my point is that I was thinking about having a list like that. In fact, I wrote one. In true me fashion it is titled "If I die before I wake, I want to have enjoyed the little things..." and is followed by a list of 45 things that I want to do in my life just for the satisfaction of doing them. The second part of my list is "...and the bigger things that life has to offer" and contains a list of 15 things that will take travel, money or much effort to accomplish but are still not any less important than the small things. I was going to publish my list here on this site, but decided that I would rather celebrate my accomplishments by blogging about them as they get finished. To start, I want to celebrate what I have already accomplished in my life that would have made it onto my list had I made it earlier in life. So here are the things that I am proud to have done...

1. Graduate from High School. (I was the first in my family of three older siblings and one younger sibling to achieve this goal.)
2. Get a college degree. (I hold an Associate’s Degree in Accounting from Western Dakota Technical Institute, although it has never been properly put to use.)
3. Perform on stage in front of a sold out crowd. (I did this a few years in a row when I danced with Gypsy Black Hills Belly Dance at their annual “A Night at the Casbah” performance.)
4. Own my own home. (I am currently still paying on the mortgage, but we still technically own it and can do whatever we like to make it ours.)
5. Sing karaoke in a public place. (I have sang “Happiest Girl in the Whole USA” by Donna Fargo twice and been complemented both times on knowing an old song and on singing it so well.)
6. Take my family on a DisneyWorld vacation. (We enjoyed just that in January of 2008 and had such a wonderful time that we plan on going back in 2013.)
7. Help the lives of young girls by being a Girl Scout Leader. (One year as a Brownie co-leader and counting.)
8. Fallen deeply in love. (I have had the pleasure to experience love and its greatest depths.)
9. Become a mother. (I have completed this one twice, I am proud to say and am doing a pretty good job at it, if I do say so myself.)
10. Complete the Crazy Horse Volksmarch. (Did this once pregnant, and once with a lot of family members present.)
11. Win a dance competition. (My partner and I won first place in a Dance Competition with a belly dance routine that we choreographed ourselves.)
12. Wear pearls with my jeans. (I love the classiness of a set of pearls, even if they are fake, along with the comfortability of blue jeans and I do this one often.)
13. Take care of farm animals. (I have milked cows (both by hand and machine) and goats, fed lambs from bottles and slopped pigs. I have plucked the feathers from chickens, castrated bulls, sheered sheep and branded cattle. I was no expert but I have actually done it all.)
14. Had my picture in the newspaper. (Several times actually, mostly for belly dancing events that I performed at.)
15. Captain a charity relay team. (I was the captain, and chief fundraiser, of a team for the Light the Night Walk to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.)
16. Go to see a movie in themed costume. (I did this with a bunch of friends when the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies came out.)
17. Bowl a Turkey! (Three strikes in a row and I did it once. I was so excited, too!)

That's the start of my accomplishments in this life. Watch for more wild, wacky, sincere, and just plain fun things to be added to this list in the future. Having a list actually makes me feel like there is more purpose to my life...and that purpose is to enjoy the little things and then spice them up!!!