I wanted my head to be in the game today, I really did. After all, one’s birthday is a rare creature, and I fully intended to grab mine by the horns and ride it for all it’s worth. However, this blanket of summer heat with its cicada underbuzz has lulled me into a daze that not even a fresh supply of Illy can penetrate.
I wanted to recap my birthday list from last year, to share the happinesses that have come from living with intention—the surprising taste of bruschetta topped with chocolate shavings and olive oil, Natalie’s rapt smile as I read through Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, a vertical strawberry patch flourishing on our balcony, pen-pal correspondence with a long-lost friend. I have loved challenging myself with each little adventure, but I can’t find the focus to lay out a whole year for display right now.
Ergo, all I have for you now is Birthday List version 3.0. Soon, I’ll have some camping stories spruced up and ready to share. Sooner than that (I hope), I’ll reclaim my brain power from the sultry weight of July. For now, though, I simply have a new year sprinkled liberally with hopes:
~ Host an all-tapas dinner party
~ Get lost in a field of sunflowers
~ Read a novel in Italian
~ Get over my nervousness of playing piano in public
~ Complete an unfinished project
~ Cook an entire meal of Indian food
~ Face a fear
~ Organize a night out with girlfriends
~ Keep my beloved two-year-old mint alive all winter
~ Write a poem
~ Make friends with my midriff again
~ Help the girls start their own Daily Dose of Beauty lists
~ Learn how to make tiger bread
~ Conquer the subjunctive tense once and for all
~ Reach for something that feels impossible
~ Call up another mom from the girls’ school to arrange a playdate
~ Make pickles from scratch
~ Instigate a knock-down, drag-out, rocking-awesome living room dance party
~ Publish something
~ Invite guests over at least once a week
~ Teach Natalie to read
~ Surprise someone with kindness
~ Laugh so hard I cry
So many great ideas on this list! You will have a wonderful year, I am SURE of it 🙂 Especially if you are working on any of the above! (also, love: cicada underbuzz)
Happy Birthday!!! I think July is doing us all in with the heat and, at least here, the storms. I love your list! So great. I am daunted with inviting people over once a month let alone once a week! I am impressed with you! Hope you have a lovely day. I certainly am glad that you were born. The world is a better place with you in it!
Hooray for birthdays! I hope yours is at least as fabulous as you. Love and hugs.
I frequently have knock-out awesome dance parties in my living room! Too bad no one else dances with me. Boo on them! :] Happy living through july – and august, and beyond!