Arround this time last year I compiled a bucket list of 1000 (yes,that's right,1000) fun things and experiences I'd love to try, be,or do.It just started out as a list of cool activities for me and my kids to try out that summer.It included fun things like running through a springler and swaping personalities with a friend for a day.But as I kept adding to it,more serious stuff surfaced,like enrolling for a martial arts class,starting a new online business in my spare time,trekking the Inca Trail,living debt-free and moving to a bigger house with a garden.I've copied that list in a nice leather notebook,but pretty much forgot about it once the school year started.
I am about to change this,though.I've only accomplished a dozen of wishes on that list in the past year,which,by anyone's standards,is a very slow rate!I mean,I'd like to be able to do stuff while I'm still young enough to enjoy it!So I was thinking of speeding things up a little and keeping you updated about it (it's easier to get more serious about fun if you are going to be accountable to others about it).
Here are a few of the things on my list that have been accomplished so far:
Wish #187:Start a blog
Wish #:Write a blog post about my list
Done!In fact,I'll be keeping you posted on this on a weekly basis(the whole accountability thing).
Wish #32:Have two dogs
That was the very first thing on my list that I accomplished by buying our second Cavalier,Lucy,last year.You can read about the story of our two dogs here.
Wish #99:Buy an elliptic stepper fitness machine and train twice a week
Wish #123:Go bowling with kids
We sure had lots of fun!
Wish #292:Have a foreign penpal
As a teenager,I had 15 Finnish penpals,same age as me.I missed the fun I used to have back then.LOL,I now have much more foreign friends than I could hope for on Facebook.The good part is that quite a few of them are not just names,but actual soul connections I haver meaningful communication with.
Wish #127:Have real long hair with blond highlights
I went from this:
to this,which is a version of me I like more and is closer to the haircolour I used to have as a kid
Wish #224:Leave inspirational notes to strangers
I 've been doing this systematically on Facebook every single day for the past few months
Wish #369:Visit one of my best friends,living in another town,whom I hadn't seen for 15 years
We did that last summer.I had my third son Alex with me.
We got to explore the town of Trikala,where my friend lives,
stayed in a fine hotel overlooking the central square,
got to meet and have a great time with my friend's awsome family (she has four beautiful daughters)
(son Alex,in the middle,with the three oldest girls)
and spent lots of quality time together,just me and my son.
Wish #244:Jump on a trampoline
I tried this a couple of times.
It was so much fun that if we had more space available,I'd definitely buy one!
Wish #396:Write to an author whose work I admire
Mission accomplished.
I sent an email to express my graditude for his inspirational work,and he turned out to be one of the most kind,encouraging,modest and inspiring people I've had the privilege of meeting online!
Wish #465:Befriend someone famous on Facebook
I've befriended the one and only Gala Darling.Of course.She's one of my Internet Superheroes.
Wishes # 526,#601 and # 571 combined
Last year kids and I spent our summer holidays in Siviri ,a seaside village/resort in Chalkidiki (my husband works as a tour guide abroad and since summertime is peak season for them,we end up vacationing alone most of our summers).
I had found a real bargain of a little house to lease for a fortnight there,a blue jewel of a tiny,two-storey place with a minuscule living room and two bedrooms and an equally minuscule garden.It belonged to a lady who could do with some extra money and so rented her own beach house for a couple of months every summer.I wish I had a photo of it,but I was between cameras at the time.
We 'd spend all day long on that beach bar depicted bellow,which was right across our vacation home
and when the sun set,we'd stroll up and down this waterfront
and then end up eating at a local taverna
When our nanny visited us there for a couple of days I had my wish #526:sneak out in the middle of the night and do something fun!Of course,I could have told the nanny about my plans and she'd be more than happy to look after the younger kids for me.But that wouldn't be sneaking out,right?So when everyone,kids and nanny alike,was fast asleep downstairs I sneaked out to join an ex student of mine and a couple of friends,all having summer jobs there.
It was a very beautiful night,a warm breeze was caressing my hair extensions and I felt very pretty in my strapless little black dress (bought at a ridiculously low price at a local shop) walking down that quay.
As I was walking by,someone greeted me.''Aren't you the lady walking that adorable Cavalier dog every morning?''It was Odysseus,the owner of one of the local fish restaurant 'Diamantis'.It turned out that he was a hunting dog connoisseur and had one of the oldest family businesses (since 1938) there.He offered to buy me a beer and discuss the joys and challenges of being an entrepreneur.Since that was my wish #601:Have a stranger buy me a drink (what?of course I've never had a stranger buy me a drink,I married too young and spent my entire '20's changing diapers),I took up on his offer.
After the beer and a very interesting exchange of business experiences,off I went again.There was a fantastic event at one of the local beach bars with fire eaters and jugglers and a band doing their thing,waves crushing at their feet,and as I passed by and mingled with the little crowd,I remember feeling that my sneaking out night had a touch of magic about it!
When I finally joined my friends in another bar I also had wish # 571 fulfilled: Wear a great dress,go out and have men gawp! It's nice making heads turn,I must admit that!My ex-student started teasing me that,since I was spending most of my time looking after either my kids or my business and I hadn't been out for fun for such a long time,I wouldn't even know what drink to order!The bartender,overhearing the conversation,made me one of the best cocktail drinks I had ever seen or tasted (a strawberry thing) and said it was on the house,''for the lady who's having a sneaking-out night''!So I had another stranger buy me a drink that same night!
I'll always remember fondly my ''sneaking out'' night,that's for sure!
Do you have a bucket list of your own?
If yes,tell me about a few of the things on it!
You don't?Why not?Go make one!It's lots of fun quaranteed!It needn't be as long as mine,even a dozen wishes will do!But you'll have to write everything down,just 'having them in your head' won't do!It has been proven that if you write your wishes down,they are far more likely to be fulfilled!So what are you waiting for?Make a list of some reasonable,some unreasonable and some totally crazy wishes!Nobody's either too young or too old to have their dreams come true!
photo from here
Love,peace and wishes fulfilled
Eirini
damn! I wanted to be the one to buy you the drink!
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