2013 Bucket List

So each year on January 1st most Americans create a New Years Resolution or two…I could be completely wrong, but given my own experiences and watching my friends and family, this is just a set up for failure.  Everyone always says the same crap:  This year I am going to…”lose weight”, “quit smoking”, “save money”, “stop swearing”…whatever, fill in the blank, they are all pretty standard, and I’d say that 99% of them fall through by January 15th.  It is for this reason that I don’t believe in New Years Resolutions.

Instead, I prefer to make a “Yearly Bucket List”.  This is a much better option because instead of cringing every time I think of what I can’t do, or what I have to do, I get to look forward to all the fun things that I GET to do!! This year, many of the things on my list have to do with visiting and spending time with family and friends that I haven’t been able to find time for recently.  Another big portion of my list is making time for the simple things in life that I have forgotten how much I enjoy. So here’s my list…and I’ll likely do a quick post on each of the things on my list as I get them going!

• Visit all the Wineries on the CT Wine Trail – There’s 24, so I have my work cut out for me, but I think I can do it, but I already have a couple of trips planned, and I have a handful of wine drinking friends that will support me on my mission!

• Visit my Gram and Gramp in Iowa -  I try to make this happen every year, and have been mostly successful.  I already have my ticket booked, so I’m pretty excited!
• Visit Texas – I’ve never been to Texas, so this is a double wammy for me!  I’m actually going to visit with some New England friends who have moved down there, but I’m also pumped because it’s going to be wayyyy warmer there than it is in New England, not to mention the fact that I’ll get to discover a whole new state with a good friend!  Again, ticket is already booked for this one, so it’s in the bag!  (I guess you can say I started planning my 2013 bucket list a little early!)
• Visit Colorado – My bestie is living out there, has been for over a year now, and for a while I didn’t go out because I selfishly hoped she come back east, but looks like thats not happening any time soon so I better make some plans to get my ass out there sometime in 2013!  Can’t wait for late nights filled with drinks, great stories, and new shenanigans!
• Finish my “50 Hikes in CT” book!  Last year this item was on my Bucket List for me and my boyfriend to do, but we lost some steam and subsequently broke up so that never ended up happening.  Sooooo I’m totally going to finish it this year, even if I have to do it myself!  I’m not giving up on the dream!  Plus, the book has special meaning to me because it was given to me by my best friend’s late father.  I think he’d want me to finish what I started here!

1. Oak Grove Nature Center, Manchester  completed April 16, 2012
   
2. Great Pond, Tariffville completed in 2012
   
3. Larsen Sanctuary, Redding completed June 2, 2012
4. Mount Tom Tower,  New Preston: completed January 19, 2013
5. Gillette Castle, Deep River: completed on January 20, 2013
6. Greenwich Audubon Sanctuary, Greenwich, CT completed June 2, 2012
7. Hurd State Park, Middle Haddam
8. Case Mountain, Manchester completed in 2012
9. Rocky Neck, Old Lyme/Niantic
10. Wadsworth Falls, Middletown
11. Nayantaquit, Hamburg
12. Pine Knob Loop, Ellsworth
13. Day Pond Loop, Moodus
14. Sunny Valley, New Milford
15. Northwest Park, Windsor Locks completed in 2012
16. Newgate Prison, Windsor Locks
17. Chatfield Hollow, Clinton
18. Soapstone Mountain, Ellington completed in 2012
19. Bluff Point, New London
20. White Memorial Foundation, Litchfield
21. Penwood State Forest, Bloomfield completed April 21, 2012
22. Mount Misery, Voluntown
23. Gay City Sate Park, Hebro completed June 24, 2012
24. Green Falls Point, Voluntown:
25. Wolf Den, Danielson:
26. Collis P Huntington State Park, Redding completed June 2, 2012
27. McLean Game Refuge, Tariffville
28. Great Hill, Haddam
29. Mount Higby, Middletown
30. Northern Nipmunk, Westford
31. Natchaug, Hampton
32. Bullet and High Ledges, Voluntown
33. Westwoods, Guilford
34. Ragged Mountain Loop, New Britain/Meriden
35. Devil’s Hopyard, Hamburg
36. Chauncy Peak and Mount Lamentation,  Meriden
37. Heublein Tower, Avon
38. People’s Forest, New Hartford
39. Macedonia Brook, Ellsworth
40. Bear Mountain Loop, Bashbish Falls
41. Windsor Locks Canal, Windsor Locks/Broad Brook completed in 2012
42. Seven Falls, Middle Haddam
43. Mansfield Hollow, Mansfield completed in 2012
44. Cockaponset, Haddam
45. Tunxis Ramble, Thomaston, Bristol, Torrington & Collinsville
46. Bolton Notch Railroad, Manchester to Bolton completed in 2012
47. West Peak and Castle Crag, Meriden
48. Housatonic Range, New Milford
49. Sleeping Giant, Willingford, Mount Carmel
50. Ratlum Mountain and Indian Caves, New Hartford

• CAMP!  I wanted to camp so bad last year, and it was on my bucket list…and I crossed it off in the most shameful way possible…sleeping in my tent at my friends lake house after a night of drinking…LAMEEEEEE.  This year I actually want to camp, CAMP!  Now I just need to find someone to come with!
• Finish my second round of p90x!  I did it once last year, I got in great shape, lost some weight and felt awesome!  Now here I am holding some extra “holiday weight” (which is a really nice way of saying I got lazy and fat again), and I’m MORE than ready to take it off!  Tomorrow I’ll be finishing up with week one, which means 83 more days! whoop!   Complete 3 consecutive months of 5 days a week of Bootcamp:  I’ve decided to change from p90x to bootcamp.  I used to go, and now I want to go back…I figure 3 months of 5 days a week of bootcamp would be just as beneficial as 90 days of p90x!  Plus, since I’m paying (alot of) money for it, I wont skip out!  HOLLER!
• Finish a book – how lame is it that I actually have to put on my bucket list “finish a book”…I start them, but then I don’t finish them.  It’s horrible.  I’m lazy…I just want to finish one damn book!
• Start and Complete my 2012 scrapbook!  Each year for as long as I’ve lived I always have made a scrapbook, and 2012 is the first year I’m really lagging on!  I gotta get my act together here, get my pics together and put my book together!  I don’t know why I’ve been dragging my heels here because its actually something I really like to do, but I have and now that its a full year’s worth of work I realllllllyyy don’t want to do it!  But, I gotta!  (I mean it’s on the bucket list, right?)
• Carve a pumpkin!  The past couple years I’ve been saying I want to carve a pumpkin, but I never do…this year is my year.  It’s going to be amazing!
• Run a 1/2 Marathon:  It won’t be my first, but it will be my first in a while.  And this year I have the perfect motivator!  My sis is going to do it with me (and maybe my cousin too! whoo!!).
• Write 50 Letters:  I think the art of handwritten letters has really gone down hill…people just don’t do it anymore, HOWEVER, everyone still appreciates it!  I mean who wouldn’t be happy to get a hand written letter in the mail.  REAL MAIL, not text, not email…a physical piece of paper that is in the mail.  No string attached!  I’m going to brighten peoples’ day 50 times!
• Do a “Family Dinner” at least once a month:  A few years back, a couple of my friends and I would do “Family Dinner” (aka a home-cooked meal around the kitchen table) once a week.  My goal for 2013 is to do it at least once a month!

So that’s what I’ve got so far, but I think I’ll keep prettttyyyy busy with all of that!  Wish me luck!  and good luck to all of your that have New Years Resolutions!  Hopefully you can follow through and make yourself the person you want to be!