36 Things: 1-9 ACES!

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This is me. 2013. This year I will turn 36 years old. 36 is the last year of the "mid-thirties" and it's only four years away from 40. I am excited to turn 40. It's sexy, 40. All mid-life and mysterious with emotion. Don't tell me it's not, let me dream of 40.

So what to write about in 2013 the year I turn 36? That's been on my mind these past few weeks. 2012 was so intense, so completely intense I couldn't even write it all down. I only wrote about 1/8 of what I experienced in 2012. That makes me sort of sad. I've even set time aside so I can write more about 2012, but I feel like it's slipping away already from my mind. Anyway, I hope to write more of 2013. Hooray!

Am I rambling?

Here's what I've decided to do this year: this week I am going to write down 36 things I hope to do/will do/scheduled to do in 2013 and those 36 things will become part of my written history this year. It's part wish list, part to do list, and I will use my blog to report back. Wouldn't be great if I was able to do all 36 things?

36 Things. That's what I am calling this writing challenge.


Here's 1-9:

1. Go with my mom to NYC and eat at Four Seasons. My parents have lived in St. Louis for the past three years as church missionaries, they will get home early summer. I've always wanted to eat at the Four Seasons for one of those few fancy opportunities life affords us and my mom is one person I would want to share that experience with. She's so fancy!

2. Meet the Darger Family. Though I have lived in Utah most of my life, I have only ever met ONE member of a polygamist/plural marriage family. He was my boyfriend's roommate in college. He had lots of lady admirers, as I recall, which I thought was curious. The Darger family is this wonderful polygamist family here in Utah, they aren't afraid to show who they are and why they believe what they believe. And if you know me, you know how much plural marriage interests me, and how I think of the arrangement between dedicated spouses as infinitely intriguing. So this is really exciting for me.

3. Take my children to Goblin Valley to march with the goblins and listen to the whispers of the desert. If I do this parenting job with my heart, my children will know how much I love the Utah desert. This trip is dedicated to my great friend Jason Zimmerman, who introduced me to the goblins years ago when I needed a distraction and who I will forever remember as the brave King of the White Mountains!

4. Pay off a credit card. Wah wah. I will not divulge how many I have for fear of Suze Orman-style hurt, but I am picking one of those plastic liars and I am decimating it with my hard-earned blogging cash.

5. Do a full day of temple work from 9 in the morning to 5 in the evening. I may have to stop for a temple cafeteria lunch break--Salisbury steak!--but otherwise, I want to work for more than just my usual 2 hours. This has been a dream of mine for a long time, now that I don't have nursing babies or a pregnancy-induced sickness, I feel aces! Let's do this work!

6. Drive Utah Highway 12 with Chup. Cry because it's the most beautiful place I have ever been in my life and it's been in my backyard and I never knew it until last year in June. Chup was working on a film and couldn't come with us to discover the changing terrain and splendor and glory. It's the best of all Utah environments rolled up in one scenic drive. Plus, we traded in our hunky SUV for a legit minivan and it's going to get awesome with gas mileage and moveable space!

7. Take my children camping BY MYSELF to the Rock Canyon campgrounds. Because my children see me and Chup do everything together, I think it's also helpful for them to see me being capable on my own. But really, this is about me, showing myself I am capable on my own.

8. Meet Levi S. Peterson. I don't know how, but if anyone out there can arrange this, will you email me? Anyone out there?

9. Persuade the Neon Trees to do a Rooftop Concert in the cradle of where their story started.
By the way, it started with a whisper...



10-18 tomorrow troops. Stay tuned!


What are you doing in 2013? I'd love to hear it! Also, any suggestions, recommendations, feedback about my list is welcome. Unless you are here to tell me I shouldn't dream of Four Seasons and paying off a credit card in the same year. Not every wish is logical, you know.


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p.s. This weekend Chup and I were the honored to be dinner guests at a Youth Village home for girls (8-12yrs) who have been severely abused and taken out of their homes by DCFS. We cannot stop talking and thinking about this experience. I hope to write about it next week in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Above is also me. 2013. Through the eyes of one of the 8-year old girls. I have to say, I love my hair.




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