I Wanna - Part 2

I Wanna...Relax. Chill out. Be more easy going, less stressed out. LESS STRESS! Stress has probably been my biggest problem throughout my life. I've been stressed out since I can remember. I was 7 years old when I first remember feeling stressed out and it's been pretty constant since then. For the past few months, I've been focusing all of my attention on stress management. I even have a little biofeedback device to tell me when I'm in a relaxed state because I can't even recognize it on my own. I read, I write, I play my guitar, I sleep, I exercise, I have bubble Fridays, I learned to knit. I want to learn to walk slower, and in the rain. I want to play more. I want to day dream more. I'm learning and will continue throughout the rest of the year and probably the rest of my life.

I Wanna...Write. Well, blogging will take care of some of that. But I want more than that. Some of the happiest days I had last year were spent writing essays for a book that is being written my Suzette Standring. The great and ominous "They" say that if you want to know what you're meant to do with your life, you should ask yourself what you choose to do when you have no other obligations. Or you can ask yourself what you think about when you're brushing your teeth. For me, it's writing. I read books or journal when I have nothing else going on. And when I'm brushing my teeth, I'm running through all the ideas I have for things I could write. But do I write? No. Why? Because I'm an emotional basket case who has tortured myself into paralysis from doing what I love to do. I did the same thing with playing my guitar. Well I'm done. Done allowing that bitch in my head to steal my joy.

I Wanna...Speak French. Hubby and I took French classes all through 2011 to prepare for our big vacation to/around France. We studied and studied and practiced and got all ready. We went to France and spoke mostly French the whole time we were there. Then we got home and haven't spoken a word of it since. Ugh. All that work to just come home and lose it all? I don't think so. We have signed up for the next level French class starting on January 10th. French 4 here we come. And our wonderful French friend is super excited to help us read all the children's books we bought in the beautiful ancient bookstores I found in Lyon and Paris. Parlez vous Francais? Oui oui.

I Wanna...Donate. Yes, I wanna give money to charities. I'd also like to give time too but I'm already running short on that with all my big plans for the new year. Originally, I was thinking I would like to volunteer for a playhouse. I love seeing plays and musicals. One of my favorite things to do. And there are opportunities but they all ask for a long term commitment and I just don't know that I can do that right now. So, I'm going to pick a charity and Hubby is going to pick one and we'll start giving our money away. The nice thing about it is that both of our companies do a match so if we give, we make our companies give too. I've given lots of money and time to the breast cancer people. I'm done with them. I'm trying to decide between the MS Society or the Humane Society. Maybe both. Another benefit of donating? "They" say that people who give money to charities tend to become more wealthy than people who don't give. Win, win!

I Wanna...Save. While we're on the money subject---. I've always been a saver so it's not a huge stretch for me. I'm a planner through and through so saving is like second nature. But I do also love expensive shoes. This year, Hubby and I have vowed to simplify our already uncomplicated existence and just sock all of our excess money into savings so we can have and keep a little rainy day fund. Who knows, maybe I'll want to quit my job and be a struggling writer. Or maybe he'll get burnt out and need to run away for a few months. Then what would we do? We'll have the rainy day fund. I have a friend who calls it her "f&ck you fund" because if she feels like flipping her boss the finger and walking out the door, she can. Brilliant!

I Wanna...Do it NOW. I want to stop procrastinating. I'm not a huge procrastinator to begin with but I do tend to put some things off. Another thing I do pretty regularly is attach the "some day" statement to the end of a desire. I would love to write, some day. I would love to go sky diving, some day. I would love to learn to ride a motorcycle, some day. I would love to be fluent in a foreign language, some day. I would love to travel more, some day. Well, some day never comes if you don't sometimes make some day today. I started doing this in my own life a couple years ago and I'm getting better. I'm a work in progress. But I have learned to ride a motorcycle, I have been learning to speak French, I have travelled to some amazing places. Life is short and you never know when the sky will fall so you might as well live for today. Today, I'm writing because it makes me happy. Today, I'm playing my guitar because it makes me happy. Today, I'm going to hang out in a stinky old used bookstore because those are my favorite. If I want miracles in my life, I have to learn to act on my inspired thoughts when I have them or the enthusiasm will die and the magic will disappear. I don't want to be left wondering what could have been just because I was lazy or afraid to find out NOW.

#2 Goal for 2011

When I graduated from college, all I wanted was to take my dream vacation. "All" I wanted. Listen to me. It's like my dream vacation isn't much to ask for. It took me 11 years to complete my BA degree so I figured I had more than earned my dream vacation. My dream vacation was to travel around Italy. I had always been fascinated with that country for some reason. The language is beautiful, the food is my favorite, the culture is rich. What's not to love about Italy?

I got my wish. I spent a few months studying up on some basic Italian so I could get us around the country. We spent 3 weeks travelling and it was spectacular. We started in Rome, then rented a car and drove through Umbria and Tuscany, Viterbo, Greve, Pisa. Stayed a few days in Firenze and Fiesole. Then we ventured to Portovenere and wondered the Cinque Terre. We took a train to Milan for a bit of shopping then headed over to Venice to explore the waterways. We stayed in tiny little inns and ate in local favorites but strayed as far from the tourist attractions as possible. When I travel, I want to know what it's like to be of the region so I did what the Italians do and stayed where the Italians stay and ate what the Italians eat.

Shortly after our return, my husband decided he wanted to go back to college and of course his request was to take his dream vacation as a graduation celebration. His dream vacation is to travel across France. He graduated last year but we had too many other things happening to consider an international vacation at the time. Well, this year is going to be the year.

The #2 goal for the year is to travel to France.

You know what that means don't you? I get to learn to speak French. Oui! I took some francais in high school but didn't continue with it because I was more interested in espanol. Hubby took a bunch of French in high school though and always loved the language. So....we decided to relearn to speak the romance language together.

We signed ourselves up for a French 1 class at the local community college continuing education program. Class started on January 12th and will continue through mid March then we will have to see about francais deux. If all goes according to plan, we can surely make it through French 1, 2, and 3 before our trip. That should give us enough to have some elementary conversations with the locals and make our way through the country without presenting as the newest stupid americains to polute the country. I have to say that although the French have a reputation of being assholes, I absolutely love them. They're my kinda people. Kinda like New Yorkers. Love em!

We don't yet know where we want to go or what we want to do in France but we do know we need to find some great recommendations that do NOT include tourist activities. Are you French? Been to France? Do you have any kickass recommendations for us? Think hidden jems and accidental pleasant finds that no tourist would ever know to be as spectacular as it actually is. That's the kind of stuff I'm looking for.

The Great 2011 Adventure

My last post was about all the things I'm most proud of from last year. Well, I do have to admit that what I displayed there did not reflect ALL that I did and am proud of which makes it even more rewarding to me. This year, I have a new adventure planned and yesterday was the first step on the journey that will likely last all year long and quite possibly longer. But before I get to that, I suddenly decided that I want to give some of the other things I did in 2010 the attention and curtsy they deserve.



Hiking in the Redwoods





Golfing



Swimming bliss

Belly Dancing classes and bought my very own finger cymbals

I was taking lessons in the beginning of the year then put my guitar down for a few months and recently picked it back up again. That's my happy place. I tried to name her Lucille but hubby said that name is already taken by BB King. :(

Down 2 notches.

Japanese cooking day was a blast and oh so good

Totally and completely landscaped my yard (front, back, and sides)

I invented the Tortizza. Yummmmm!

I managed to read a few books last year too.

 

And now, for the pièce de résistance......drum roll please....

Hubby and I are taking French classes together. First class was last night. And if you're interested, our teacher puts her lessons for newbies on her French blog. I took one year of French in high school after taking 2 1/2 years of Spanish before that. I just remember it being so frustrating because I would get the two languages mixed up and speak Frenish which no one understood but me.

Last night we went through tons of stuff.

• Pronunciation
• Body parts by way of singing head and shoulders, knees and toes
• Weather
• Gender
• Greetings

I have a list of homework and a text book that I can't understand. I thought it would all come back to me but so far...no such luck.

A bit of the story is still missing though. I left out the reason for my lessons.

That's riiiiiight! If all goes right this year, I will find myself taking my next international vacation sometime during the year. It's about time too. It's been about 5 years since my last hop across the pond.

 

What great adventures do you have planned for the year? Losing weight, exercising, running marathons, going back to school, getting a new job, starting a business, facing your fears, something else?