Things I Would Like To Do In 2008
If 2008 is going to be a better year than 2007, I need me some goals. You can call them resolutions if you want to – I call them goals. Little things that will make 2008 better, more fun, different. So in 2008 I would like to:
- be happier than I was in 2007
- swim on a regular basis
- flee the country more than once After honeymooning in France I am finally able to cross this one off! And boy have I been waiting to do that…
- have work pay for a journalism course I have applied, but I am waiting to have them confirm This is really happening. I will begin on August 13. This autumn I have 12 days of trying to upgrade my journalistic skills – and work is paying for it.
- make a baby September 29, I am crossing this one off. Not because we have accomplished making a baby, but because this is something that I have realised is so out of my hands and despite it still being something I would really love to do in 2008, having it on this list will not make me breathe any easier, will not make me put any less strain on myself. Baby will come when baby wants to come.
- be tied fewer days to my bed because of a bad back than in 2007 (+10) No days in bed because of a bad back.
- not have to visit my chiropractor as often (see above) Lots of visits to chiropractor, but as long as it means fewer days in bed, I’m okay about it.
- swim in the ocean west of the country and east of the country – never mind the water in the middle 28/7 I am back from a wonderful weekend on the country’s west coast. It was so fantastic and lovely and unbelievably relaxing and I got to swim in the ocean not once, not twice, not thrice, but an endless number of times. And in case you ask: The ocean on the west side of the country is way better than that on the east side. Sure it is my opinion, but trust me on this one.
- kayak more than the 4 kilometres I did in 2007 As of July 13 I have kayaked 10 kilometres in total this year. I hope to do more, but should the weather keep me off the water for the rest of the year, at least I outdid the kilometres of 2007.
- see the sun rise while I’m on the water with my sweetheart
- see my boyfriend hand in his dissertation May 9, a day to never be forgotten. NEVER.
- get teary-eyed when he’s told it’s passed I didn’t actually cry on June 23 which surprised me, but hearing the panel telling him it was passed was still fantastic.
- get married August 23 – it rained and rained and rained, but I married the man of my dreams and that’s all that matters.
- find comfortable “hike-ish” shoes that I want to wear every single day I bought boots in mid November which I wore the rest of the year. Does that count?
- start running (and this time for real)
- write some of all my ideas down (note to self: use moleskin)
- buy organic Even if I didn’t buy anything organic for the rest of my year, I would still say I had reached my goal.
- cook at least 5 cookbook meals
- read more books than last year (I should be able to read 16 books, right?), one should be Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth when it comes out
- get a library card and use it
- finally invite people over for our housewarming
- cook my brother something that will impress him
- write a short story that isn’t about my childhood and youth
- dance a night away with J I will cross off this one now. Maybe we haven’t exactly danced an entire night yet, but we have danced a lot – at our wedding, at other people’s weddings – and I feel it’s time to say “check” and cross off.
- attempt to only drink two cups of coffee a day at work September 7 and this is working out smashingly. I am not only cutting down on the coffee but have given up on the gross machine coffee and is now drinking mostly tea and rarely more than one cup of instant coffee a day at work.
- curl up on the couch and finish a book in a day
- try my hand at freelance writing
- eat healthier
- buy myself at least one piece of jewellery
- eat at a Michelin star restaurant
- visit my childhood friend in Rome
- end the year with at least 4 pairs of trousers in my closet that I actually like and want to wear
- watch Lost season 3 with J That didn’t take very long. Now all we have to do is wait for season 4.
- be praised at work for a project that’s mine all the way through Yep! (And it felt mighty good)
- add to my cake repertoire
- see my name in print October 6, I am crossing this one off. I was thinking about freelance writing when I wrote this one, but since my name appears in the colophon of two publications (as editor), I am now no longer able to say I haven’t seen my name in print.
- buy The West Wing
- find a present for J (30th birthday, PhD) that’ll make him love me even more and make him promise to never ever leave me The espresso machine (we call him Silvio – he’s Italian and corrupt) was the perfect gift. And since we now already have an espresso machine, we are asking for a (red, what other colour would do?) Kitchen Aid for our wedding. If we don’t get it, I will have to buy it myself.
- be genuinely happy for them when girlfriends give birth Two births this spring, one in the autumn. The autumn one is not a close friend, so as of today – July 17 – I am crossing off and stating that I have reached my goal. I was genuinely happy. I was also jealous, but you can be both.
- tell someone what I’m thinking and not what s/he wants to hear
Updated: March 24, July 17, July 28, August 26, September 7, September 29, October 6, December 29.
