Do you ever feel like you’re standing on a precipice and rather than trepidation at falling over all you feel is invigoration at the opportunity to jump? Perhaps I’m being overly optimistic but that’s how I’m feeling these days. 2012 was, as years go, pretty damned good — somehow, all of its struggles made it better rather than worse — and my heart is telling me that 2013 is going to be even better.
Before it starts I wanted to post my updated life list. A few items have been scratched off, even more have been added at the bottom, and I’m already working on making a few of them happen in the new year. Let’s do this!
The List
Have my art in a gallery. For sale. To the actual public.
Run a 1/2 Marathon. Goal: Detroit International Half, October 2013
Run a Marathon.
Compete in a Triathlon.
Dead Lift more than my own body weight.
Open that Studio I’ve Been Dreaming Of.
Take Yoga Classes with a Certified Instructor.
Jump off a boat into really deep, dark blue, crystal clear water like no one is looking.
Meet the Dalai Lama.
Be able to retire early, but don’t for love of what I do. – Working on it.
Read the Baghavad Gita. – Completed
Travel to India.
Visit an Ashram.
Vacation in and around NOLA.
Visit a Backwoods VooDoo Shop.
Eat a goat.
Read the Koran.
Build a Brick Oven in my Backyard.
Bake Artisan Pizzas in the Brick Oven in my Backyard.
Sew a Beautiful Quilt I Can be Proud of. – Completed: 7/6/11
Eat Pasta in Rome.
Learn to Speak a Second Language.
And then a Third.
Visit a Mosque.
Visit a Hindu Temple. – Completed: 9/30/11. I even participated in a Garba. So. Much. Fun.
Eat Gator. As in Alligator.
Drink Absinthe.
Publish a Book. Or Five. Working on it.
Find Out What Town in Germany my Family is From. Drink Beer There.
Photograph 100 Female Farmers. Working on it.
Attend a TED conference.
Speak at a TED conference.
Take Burlesque Dancing Classes. – Completed: 7/11/11
Take a Ceramics / Pottery Class. Or ten.
Make a Useable Pickle Crock.
Make Homemade Root Beer.
Earn a Doctorate.
Win a Major Photo Contest. Like The National Geographic.
Celebrate a Mostly Handmade Holiday Season. – Completed 2011.
Go a full year without consuming refined sugar.
Vacation with The Man in a small, secluded cabin in the winter.
Own a Family Milk Cow.
Make all of our own dairy products.
Appear on National Television.
Watch a Bull Fight in Spain.
Found a Non-Profit.
Eat mozzarella di bufala in Italy.
Start A Farming Podcast Series
Start A Food Politics Podcast Series
Journal Everyday for a Year
Learn to Shoot Film
Learn to Develop Film
Publish a Photo Book
Learn to Make Movies
This girl brings bacon into the world. 
Renae December 27, 2012 at 7:26 pm
So much to love here … I think the 100 female farmers project is awesome. Is that, perhaps, the photographic book?
Diana January 2, 2013 at 2:24 am
I’ve not declared it publicly before — you know, because that means I have to follow through with it — but, yes, I’d love to make the female farmers photos into a photographic book.