Dropping a little alliteration on you to show off my mad literary skills. Seriously though, we know blogging is much less in my comfort zone than playing with spreadsheets, so thanks for sticking with me throughout this journey. If this is your first visit to the blog, welcome! It's hard to believe the 30s are almost finished and we'll be moving on to a new (and much shorter) list. Yes I said "we." I'm so thankful for all of the friends and family who have helped me complete items and motivated me to keep plugging along.
#268 do a different physical activity for 12 straight months (12 done)...Rocktober
Climb Time did a bouldering challenge during the month of October. Boulder routes (where you aren't roped in and only go so high) have different grades and the challenge was to get a total number in a single day. You could get a different shirt based on whether you totaled V15, V30, or V45. So for example, you could climb 15 V1s in a day or 3 V5s in a day to hit the V15 total. I typically can manage all V1s and V2s and have V3s, V4s, and V5s as projects to work on. This really ended up being an endurance challenge for me since I had to do a bunch of lower graded routes to get to my total. And I really wanted this colored shirt, which was the V30 level. So I picked a day where I didn't work on any of my projects, did a few V1s to warm up, then focused on an easier V2 that I just did over and over again to hit my total.
#210 sew something and wear it in public
We had a little costume party at the gym on Halloween and I decided to be a ballerina. I had grand plans for this outfit and really did work hard to make it happen, but it didn't go quite as planned. I got permission from Holly to cut up her high school prom dress since I thought the base would make a good tutu.
It turns out that it wasn't actually all that poofy underneath so I took the bottom third and sewed it up to make a second layer. Then I chopped off some of the satin part and sewed on some snaps. For the rest of the skirt I bought a whole bunch of tulle that I cut into strips and looped around an elastic belt I made. I really tried hard to make a top out of part of the dress, but nothing I was doing worked for being something I could actually climb in. For one thing, I am NOT the same size as Holly was her junior year of high school. And tiny little spaghetti straps were not going to hold up once I started climbing. In the end I just wore one of my tank tops with the tutu and added ribbons to my climbing shoes to turn them into ballet slippers.
Here's our fun crew: Duke Silver (Parks & Rec), doctor, ballerina, vampires (What We Do in the Shadows), Bert & Mary Poppins
James & Kinsey are members now so the kiddos came to hang out for a bit too.
#261 memorize the names of the walls at Climb Time
I've been a member for three years now so it seemed it was about time to actually know what more than a handful of the walls were called. They are:
Slab, Red, Jackson, Cave, Gunks, Seneca, American Fork, 65, Squamish, Fish, Font, Maple, Exit, New, Rifle, Smith Rock/Overhang, Yosemite, Rumney, Hueco, Bishop/45
My favorites are probably Slab and The Red. They're also both at the front where the benches are and we can have a nice communal hangout area.
If you haven't picked up on how great this place is yet, you really need to check out Climb Time Indy! If anyone's ever interested in coming to try it out, I get a free guest pass once a month and they also have Groupons occasionally.
#265 adopt someone or something
My coworker gave me a starter for Amish Friendship Bread. I faithfully cared for my little pet, made several batches of bread, and made starters for friends. He's hibernating in the freezer now in case I decide to start him back up in the future. I didn't quite perfect my bake on my loaves, but I had some pretty delicious results overall. I also apparently forgot to take a picture of any of my completed loaves.
#71 read The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi
My friend Leah was highly recommending this book and how life-changing it was, so I thought I'd check it out. The point isn't to make more lists or just simplify things in your life. She shares thirteen principles that break down how to help you
accomplish the Lazy Genius Way, as well as emphasizing how important it
is to start small. She also is on Instagram, has a blog & podcast,
and personally responds to emails. As a fellow Enneagram 1, her
viewpoint on how she approaches things really speaks to me.
"Here's your new mantra: be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't...to you."
"You can desire things that someone else doesn't. You can struggle with something that gives someone else joy. You can care about what matters to you even if it doesn't matter to someone else, and we can all lovingly and compassionately exist together in that tension. If you move through a hard season of life without naming what matters and what doesn't, you'll be crushed under the weight of other perspectives and expectations of what your season should be."
"Please don't judge others or yourself. Instead, high-five others for living their truth, regardless of how similar to or different from yours it is."
"Be kind to yourself- with your words, in your pursuit of who you're becoming, and with grace when you take it slow."
"First, never ever feel guilty about what matters to you...Second, you are enough. You can stop trying to be the ideal, future you, carrying a load you were never meant to carry. Let go of the working, the listing, the striving- all the things you're doing to deserve the love of the people around you. You are enough."
"And imagine this. We become a generation of women who are at peace with who we are, who encourage one another to move closer to our deepest identities and shed what's in the way. I'm all for that world."
#19 read The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
This was a nice short one that I could listen to the audio version of while I had to work on a mindless project at the office.
#212 knit a scarf for someone
I promised Lily several years ago that she would be the one who got this, but I suddenly realized I was quickly running out of time. For my first knitting project, it turned out reasonably well. I definitely got better as I went along, but I also got overly confident in my ability to be able to watch TV and not look as much at my actual work. Which resulted in mostly minor fixes, but I did have to go back and rip out seven or so rows to fix a hole and get back on track. She looks super cute in it though!
#208 spread Christmas cheer
Which is obviously done by singing loud for all to hear. : ) Lily and I are having our own weekly hangout since we aren't doing youth group in person with the rest of them right now. We had a fun Christmas party then ran around to the front of the house to surprise my mom with a Christmas carol medley. Lily also plays a mean kazoo if you're looking to book us for your future entertainment needs.
#273 memorize location of Indiana counties
After working in township government for half of my life and getting to know people from all around the state, it seems a little silly that I didn't have a better idea of where the 92 counties were. But here is my lovely state map!
#199 sell my guitar or learn to play it
A couple of my climbing buddies have given me crap about not being as thorough in completing some items as they think I should so I will just acknowledge right away that this one is a little iffy. Too bad! I randomly bought this guitar from a friend on my floor at college 20+ years ago but any time I feel very musically inclined (which isn't all that often) I head to the piano because I'd much rather just spend the time playing something where I'm already quite proficient. I did pull the guitar out of my closet and do a little refresher with some notes and chords. I enjoyed it so I decided I'm going to keep it for now although I may still sell it at some point in the future since my poor little fingers are usually pretty sore from rock climbing.
#87 read Living a Questionable Life by Josh Sousa
One of my friends that I support in his college ministry wrote this book about what evangelism looks like for those who aren't naturally gifted in evangelism (as we know, that's me).
"Jesus rescues all of us FROM something, FOR something."
"...when the church looks like a community loving each other like Jesus does and then sharing that love and generosity with the world, that is a church the world wants to belong to."
He talks about how important it is for you to be building relationships with others, learning their stories, asking questions, and living your life in a way that causes others to ask you about it.
"Remember, arguing people to faith rarely works...Giving an answer for the hope you have looks more like empathizing with them, but offering the hope of Jesus to help them feel hopeful. Offer them the hope of Jesus. Offer them the peace of Jesus. Offer them the joy of Jesus. Offer them the grace of Jesus. Offer them the love of Jesus."
Ok this is where I'm giving myself some grace working on my list in the midst of a pandemic. I have three freebies left to use to cross items off my list that I earned from various activities (from my Starbucks day and my Holly binder golden ticket & sticker rewards). But instead I can cross two items off if I move them to my 40 things to do in my 40s list. So here are the ones that I'm still hoping to knock out on my next list:
#130 go on a cruise
#135 fly first class
#150 go to the Indy 500
#162 go to the Kentucky Derby or host a Derby party
#197 go to a show on Broadway
#242 be in a real parade
I have a couple more items that I think will be hard to finish in time, so I'm waiting for the List Master to come up with another way for me to earn a freebie. I also have to come up with about half of my 40s list still, so keep brainstorming those ideas for me!
