2017 Bucket List : 35 Things I want Do, Learn and Visit

If you follow me on Instagram then you know that my resolution this year is to be more intentional. I feel as though I’ve been moving through life, but not actually living it. I want to start choosing to be present in every moment of life – physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. I want to start being deliberate with my time and choosing to use my time to do things that make me happy, not what other people want or even what other people expect. So 2017 is the year that I decide to live a purposeful life.

I was thinking the other night, “Awesome. I’m going to live an intentional life.” But intentionally do what? It’s easy to say to simply be happy. But what does that look like? So, I started doing what I do best. I made a list. 🙂

Things To Do

• Practice yoga….daily. I started doing yoga last year and it really helped me. I don’t do long yoga workouts or routines, but I usually just do 10-15 minutes here and there throughout the day. This year, I want to be more consistent and make sure I’m doing it daily!
• Read 100 books. (You can join our virtual book club here! While we won’t cover 100 books, we will read a new one each month!)
• Get outside more. Walking, baseball games, going to the dog park, visiting the farmer’s market…I don’t care. As long as it is outside.
• Go to the theater more often. I love the theater. There for a while we were going pretty often. This year I want to not only get back into the routine of going, but I want it to be a regular occurrence!
• Listen more. Stop talking. And just listen.
• Paint my nails. Ok, so this one might sound silly. But I feel better when they are painted. AND I joined Julep last year and I have tons of nail polish colors, 90% of which are still unopened.
• Get involved with local politics. I want to be informed, aware and part of the change that I would like my country to be. That starts at a local level and I want to get involved!
• Start waking up early. Or at least earlier. We homeschool and I work from home. Our schedules are pretty relaxed. I fully believe that if you are tired you should sleep, but I also would like to not feel like my whole morning is gone as soon as we get up.
• Develop a morning/night routine. I had a pretty good morning routine going for a while! But then for some reason, I wasn’t sleeping well and started sleeping later (see above) and so I stopped doing my morning routine. I need to get back into the morning routine and try to get one down for bedtime as well. And hopefully sleep better!
• Start a new peaks, pits, prayers & praise journal. This little thing made me so happy so I plan on doing another one!
• Eat healthier. Eat less carbs. Eat less soy (ok, so I should really just give soy up…) Eat less crap. Clean eating? Whole 30? I’m looking into it. 🙂
• Go back to college. I’ve been thinking about this one for a while now. When I went to college, I had no clue what I wanted to do. I stopped and became a stay at home mom. Now, I don’t need a degree for my job, but it is something that I would like to get just for myself. Plus, I’ve been telling Josh all about how he needs to go to college…lead by example right?

Things To Learn

• How to make candles. Why? I don’t know. I think it would be fun. 🙂
• French. I took French through high school and even knew a little before school from my father, but I’ve forgotten most of it over the years.
• All about herbs, holistic medicines and how the heck to grow them. We have a patio that would be perfect for some herb gardens! And I’ve been looking into getting a community garden spot this spring!
• How to do makeup. Because I’m 30. And because 12 year olds are running around with better contoured makeup then I could ever manage to do.
• Take a photography class. I take photos for my blog, but I’m still in auto. Even though I’ve had my DSLR for 8 years. Time to move on!
• Learn how to shoot and edit videos. And because I feel like if I don’t take the plunge (finally) to videos my little blog here will soon become a fossil…videos are in my future.
• How to use tools. After my divorce, I quickly realized that I don’t know how to do crap around the house. And that even includes the basics of tools. I bought a hammer. And probably a year and a half later I stopped using scissors as a screwdriver and bought a set of real ones. Please don’t judge.
• All about essential oils. I’m really into holistic and natural approaches. I actually thought oils were for the crazy and that there was no way that 2 drops of anything was going to make any difference for anything. But I tried it. And I was wrong. I can admit that. 🙂
• How to shoot and gun safety. Bet you didn’t think that this hippy list maker was going to say that huh? Haha! We went shooting once when I was younger and it was fun. We don’t shoot things – we shoot cans. I do think that everyone should know the basics of how to shoot and about gun safety. I want to take Josh with me. I want to know that heaven forbid he ever be at a friend’s house or in a situation where he see’s a gun he knows how to act and what to do.
• How to ride a horse. Here is another blast from the past! I took English riding lessons for about a year and my step-dad’s family had a pony named Mickey that I would ride bareback when I would visit. I loved it! What an amazing way to get some exercise, but relieve some stress.
• Get certified to scuba dive. Or at least how to snorkel and not breath in a bunch of water. I have big plans to travel over the next several years – I would love to explore the ocean too!

Places To Go:

• Iceland. Cold? Yes. Northern Lights? YES!! This is a major bucket list item. Fingers crossed it can happen in 2017!
• Go on a cruise. I’ve never been on a cruise! This one is already in the works. We leave in February!
• Indiana Dunes. I’ve lived in Indiana forever. And for some reason, I’ve never been to the dunes. I think it’s the perfect stay-cation.
• Kings Island. I used to go to Kings Island all the time as a kid. Josh has never been though. We’ve gone to Cedar Point several times, but not King’s Island. This year we will make it happen.
• Pine Lake. This is another Indiana place I’ve never been. And even weirder…never heard of! I actually saw it on Pinterest and had one of those ‘Are you kidding me? How have I never done this?’ moments.
• Chicago. This is one of my favorite cities. And it’s only a couple hours away. I don’t think I could ever get tired of the museums.
• St. Louis. I’ve heard good things, but it’s another place we just have never gone to. I don’t know why. It’s not too bad of a drive.
• Lollapalooza. Joshua is really into music. We wanted to go last year, but tickets were sold out. So this year we are trying to plan earlier!
• Salem. Josh says he is too old for dressing up and trick or treating now. So we need to find something else totally awesome for Halloween and I can’t think of a better place than Salem!
• New York City…in December. So I would REALLY love to be there for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or New Year’s Eve but those may not happen this year. But I do want to go at Christmas time and go ice skating and see the tree.

So….What is on your 2017 bucket list?