Not on The List....

        After a few months of contemplation I got my second tattoo on Friday! I wanted to get a bird to represent Matthew 6:25-26. I was looking online and found Artista Blog as well as this lovely little sketch. It was exactly what I had in mind! 

       I went to Cannibal Graphics and Curtis did an awesome job. It even hurt a lot less than my 1st tattoo. 

       I called my ultra-religious, conservative, anti-tattoo mom and let her and my dad know that I had gotten a tattoo and got the expected response. She heard the word "tattoo" and pretty much stopped listening, only expressing how she didn't get why I would want another one and questioning how many more I was going to get - This was the response I expected. Then I got a call from her today... and at the end of the conversation she brought up the tattoo. She wanted to make sure that I knew that she wasn't mad at me for getting the tattoo (I did), but that she just didn't understand tattoos. I was finally able to explain why I got the tattoo and to my surprise, she understood and liked the meaning behind it. Definitely didn't expect that. 

#8 - Wear a miniskirt/dress & feel fabulous in it!

          Like most women, there are things about my body that I am not fond of. I wouldn't call myself "fat", but my body type would definitely fall into the "curvy" category. My weight has always been an issue with me. I've been on countless fad diets: The Cabbage Soup Diet, Boiled Egg Diet, South Beach, Atkins. Open up my medicine drawer and there are almost-full bottles of diet pills, purchased in the hopes of a quick fix, but cast away after 2 or 3 days of using them. I could never get used to the jittery feeling or the guilt of taking the easy way out rather than doing what I knew would work: cutting back calories and exercise. 

         But here's the thing that frustrates me - I eat healthy. My meals consist of steamed veggies, grilled chicken or fish, and salads. I don't drink soft drinks - only 2% milk and water. I don't snack on junk food and never really have. I have had these eating habits my whole life and I don't see how I can eat less calories without just living on celery and water. 

         I have a pretty active job - I'm not sitting at a desk all day - so when I come home from working all day, the last thing I want to do is go work out. Plus I have a hard time motivating myself when I work out alone. In college it was easy to work out, there was a gym on campus and there was always someone around that would want to work out together. Now that I live with 2 roommate with different work schedules, it's harder to coordinate work outs. 

  I love fashion and shopping, but I am fed up with not being able to feel comfortable or look good in certain clothes. My legs are my biggest problem area and although I made a personal breakthrough this summer by wearing shorts in public (and not just around the house), I am still not to the point where I am willing to wear super cute short dresses and skirts. I am ready for a change.         

         I'm crossing my fingers... with this gym membership I just got, who knows, by Spring I might be posting a pic of me in a new mini dress... 

         

#27 - Take a Picture a Day for 1 year.

Sad Day/Happy Day all rolled in one.

#27 on the List was to take one picture every day for 1 year. My thought process on this was to document different points of view I had for 1 year of my life. I also thought it would make a fun coffee table book by the year's end. 

Happy Day: I bought a new computer this weekend. (Background story - My laptop was stolen at a house party I hosted 2 years ago. For the past year I have been using my work laptop for personal use.) I was super excited & spent about 3 days uploading all my CDs. Then it was time to transfer all my photos. This is where the Sad Day comes in. For some reason (I think it was certain restrictions my employer put on the laptop), I was unable to copy all my photos from one laptop to the next. Then when I tried to just email them all to myself, none of the pics showed up. In the process of it all, the files had all been corrupted and I lost all my pics. :( 

I am going to start #27 over on my 25th birthday in December. I am actively going to search out photo opportunities rather than just using some random picture that I took at work during the day. I don't want to look back over the year and see 85 photos of roof shingles. My life is so much more than my job. So much more than climbing on roofs everyday. My photos will reflect that.

#22 - Own a Convertible

When I was 14, one of my friends who was 16 would drive all of us girls around in her convertible. It was a cherry red Chrysler Le Baron. The car was as old as us and destined to fall apart at any given moment. You couldn't turn the engine off, unless you wanted it to stay off for at least an hour. But at 14, those things don't matter. The car was magic.

We would pass guys on the highway, and 9 times out of 10 we would hear them honking and whistling - Every 14-16 year old girl's dream. Boys were able to see how cool we were, hair blowing in the wind, singing along to the radio at the top of our lungs. Without the top down, we were just ordinary girls.

It is 10 years later, and I can't shake the desire to own a convertible. I have grown up and no longer want one to gain attention from silly boys (although a little flirting is always fun). I want to have that carefree feeling again. Wind in my hair, singing as if the other drivers are my audience. No longer seeing my vehicle solely as a means of transportation, but as an adventure in itself.

#13 - Explore a Cave

Every road trip I have been on, no matter what the destination, it seems as if there is always a big billboard advertising a cavern. I always poke fun at these tourist attractions. I can just picture the type of people you would see at the caves: a group of 23 screaming school children running around hyped up on sugar because they spent all their lunch money on gold nugget shaped candy from the gift shop, senior citizens wearing trucker hats adorned with pins from their many stops on Route 66, a newlywed couple in their 30's with matching fanny packs and mullets.

I imagine each guided tour is lead by one of the locals, dressed head-to-toe in khaki (think Steve Irwin), megaphone in hand. The guide tells illustrious stories of bandits hiding from the law and the children's eyes grow wider and wider as they dream of finding the hidden loot. The guide shows only the safest areas of the cave - the other (more exciting) areas would be too dangerous, someone might slip and fall and get their hands dirty...and that would be too much of a liability. The formations are lit with green, blue and red lights and there is a handy-dandy guardrail so you don't lose your step.

This is not what I mean when I say I want to explore a cave.

I want to explore a cave the real way. No electricity, no guardrails, no walking single-file behind 15 other tourists. I'm talking using the walls and the stalagmites as my handrail. The only light coming from flashlights being carried by the few people in my group. Yes, my tour guide is a local, but not a schmuck getting paid minimum wage for reading a script. My guide has no script. He laughs at the mere thought of it. He tells no folklore, rather he shows us the spots where he and his friends used to play Indiana Jones and set up booby traps when they were younger. And at the end of our journey, we don't see a red EXIT sign - we see a pool of water. We go for a swim and make our way back to daylight.

That's what I call an adventure.

Tossing Aside Monotony

I often find myself caught up in the hum-drum cycle of life.

Wake up. Work. Come home. Watch TV. Sleep.

I live for the weekends when I should be living for each day.

I have noticed this is the same kind of life most of my peers are experiencing as well. I am at a point in my life where there is much expected of me and if I do not fall into the same complacent lifestyle as everyone else, then there is something wrong with me. Gone are the days of irresponsibility and freedom from the 9 to 5. Two weeks paid vacation and retirement funds are what I am being conditioned to find important.

Eyebrows raise when I say I hate my job. "But you have it so well, " They all say. "You are making good money and you even get a company car!" My happiness can not be measured by free gas. I need to find my place in this world - where I am contributing something of value to society besides being the model citizen that pays taxes on time.

Although I would love to just quit my job and become a hippie, I am in touch with reality. There are bills to pay, food to buy, and no national health care means I have to have my own health insurance.

Somehow I have to get myself through this rut. There needs to be something to break up the monotony. Something to entertain my mind and keep myself always on the lookout. This is what I call "The List". Some may compare "The List" to a "Bucket List". Although it does have some similarities it serves a different purpose. I did not create...Scratch that - I am not creating the list (it is in a constant state of editing) with death on the forefront of my mind. Rather I am creating it with life as my focal point. The List is my way of injecting little bits of fun/accomplishment/value into an otherwise normal day. There are some superficial things on The List. Some go deep and have the potential to be life-altering. I am going to go at it one day at a time and see where it leads.