Purposeless Living

So, I just read thisthis article on purposeless living. It was interesting for me, considering the thought that I've put into purposeful living in the past few years. I want my life to have purpose! However, I agree with this guy in that I don't want to be enslaved by my goals. I want to enjoy the process of achieving my goals, yet at the same time feel that I am challenging myself enough to actually be developing personally. Can I trust that some growth and development will happen to me even if I'm not focused on goals, or do I need to push myself somewhat? What are the signs that goals have enslaved me, instead of my goals being tools directing me on a path to living a focused life?

The List- Year One

Tonight is my wedding anniversary. Jake and I have reservations at Restaurant Eve. So, I'm through just over the halfway point for the timeframe for my Things to Do List. I'm feeling the need to re-vamp it. I don't think I ever took doing a pull-up seriously, for example. I also feel that I've done a lot of the "easy" things on the list. I feel the need to add some things that I can accomplish quickly so that I get some quick sense of achievement. I do think I'm on track to do a number of the other things if Jake and I get our house-buying in (Number 22 on the list). Once that one's out of the way, I can look into a new couch and a dog. That'll be more off of the list.

I feel that the list is stagnating a bit. I'm getting bored. Hmm...what do I need to do to make things more exciting?

Here's a mini-list I could start work on:

List of things to do before we move out of our apartment!
1. Go eat a cupcake at Bittersweet in Old Town.
2. Go back to the Tiffany Tavern to see another Open Mike night.
3. Sing kareoke at Rock It Grill- and get another thing off the big list!
4. Get rid of any clothes I don't wear anymore and donate them.
5. Take a water taxi or a boat ride off the end of King Street.

Tomorrow night, Jake and I are meeting with our agent to put an offer on a different place we saw on Sunday. It's another foreclosure and the bank's reduced the list price to draw in offers. They'll probably get a bunch of them...Jake and I will probably offer above list again and not put contingencies in. The last place we bid on went to some people willing to fix the basement on their own. The whole place needs carpet/flooring as well as a paint job before we move in, but we'll do that on our own. You all should see the paint on the walls of this place...it's like a mint green next to a pink next to a dark purple. It's craziness...and will have to get fixed. Still, I guess it isn't as crazy as this place I saw that had yellow and burgundy stripes painted in the living room. What are people thinking?

Huh.

I came acrossthis post from Ripon's mayor. I guess Boca Grande has been buying up properties since last fall at least. It sounded more sudden and recent to me when I talked to people back home.

I'm getting antsy for Jake to do something with Blue Lava

So I decided to pull a few Wisconsin pictures myself and put them up here for your viewing pleasure:

So I just realized right now that I can add this blog list thing.

And, it shows the last time the blogs have been updated!

C'mon, I've Got Dispirito! Two years ago? You can make it back to the top of the list with a single post!

;)

House Hunting

The house we bid on went to some other people. Bah. So it's back to the house hunt this weekend. Ugh. I'm ready to be done. I can't wait to have moving over with so I can settle in and do some projects. I'm feeling stuck in a rut at this point.

A list of the books Art Garfunkel has read!

Check it out!

http://www.artgarfunkel.com/favorites.html

Next time I'm looking for a book suggestion, I'll see if Art Garfunkel has read something good...

At least there aren't any snakes on this plane...

So, I'm writing this as I'm stuck on the plane in Milwaukee airport. We've been here for over two hours sitting on the runway. Ugh.

Anyway, Sarah and Emily told me that I need to update my blog, so I figured I should make the most of my time while I'm here. I'll at least try to be productive. I could be reading my book, but I'm a bit tired of that, so I'll just work on this.

First off, don't fly AirTran! They suck. They'll hold you hostage on a plane for hours and let water from the air conditioning slowly drip on you. Yeah, it sucks...

In other news, we had a fairly good weekend back in Wisconsin. We got to see Matt Troitter on Thursday night at Summerfest. We drank lots of beers and went to watch Gomez. Matt stumbled around and couldn't stand on the benches while we were watching the band, but he was full of fun as always. One of the best things about Matt is that he's always ready to dance and party.

On Friday, Lelani and I made a cake for Maria's B-day. We made a tree out of food coloring and frosting to decorate the top. Maria and Rexx came over in the evening and we played Yahtzee.

Saturday morning, Maria, Rexx, Jake, and I went to the flea market in Princeton. I ate a cheese roll at the Ho-made Egg Roll stand (Maria wasn't sure it would still be there...I knew it had to be!). I also saw some painted spoons. I was tempted to buy a spoon with an eagle painted on it for work. I didn't though, as I've probably spent an embarrassing amount of money on spoons so far this year. It's getting to be a problem.

We all went to the Sub Shop in Ripon before heading to Alison and Justin's wedding. The subs were tasty- I'm glad to see that the place is still in business. I like it when the little local guy survives. I heard some news while I was home about a bunch of buinesses in Ripon being bought up by the same company (Boca Grande?). I wonder what'll happen there.

Alison's wedding was a lot of fun. Beer, good weather, and lawn games...who can complain? I also appreciated the short ceremony. Sometimes I think that ideally someone would have just asked me and Jake, “Do you?” and “Do you?” and we both would have just said, “Sure thing...” and it all could've been over with.

In semi-related news, I learned that my great-uncle (who is a pastor) randomly resigned recently. He hasn't talked to anyone in my family, so no one is exactly sure why. I say more power to him. I asked him to officiate our wedding, but he turned me down. I always thought he was a fairly cool guy- you know, not as preachy as preachers could be- which is why I wanted him for our wedding. I can totally understand wanting to get out of the God business. My fantasy is that he's given up on religion.

Okay, they're telling us that we'll be able to take off soon...we'll probably get home three hours later than expected. Ugh.

Later...at home...

On Sunday, I saw Sarah and Emily. We had lunch at Laredo's, hung out around Em's apartment, and got some custard at Michael's. The flavor of the day was Elephant Tracks, which apparently is just PB cups mixed into chocolate custard. What's the point? None of us got the flavor of the day.

Sunday evening, we went to Jake's Aunt Lolly and Uncle Dennis's place outside of Waunakee. They're building a house, so a lot of things were unfinished there (including bathrooms...). The piece of land they have is huge...I think Dennis said 85 acres. It was really beautiful out there. They had a lot of family over for food and conversation in their garage. Jake's cousin Nora and her boyfriend Jeff were back from NYC, too. They told everyone that they plan to get married some time next year.

My mom was a pain while we were home. She did a lot of yelling in the car because we got stuck in traffic in Milwaukee (there was a fuel spill on the off ramp we needed to go on to get to the airport). My mom has a knack for making stressful situations even more stressful. She needs to learn how to chill out. Really. Anyway, being around my mom reminds me of how I need to learn to control my own stress levels. It also reminds me of why I'd never want to move back in with my family...

Well, it's been a long day. I'm going to wrap this up and try to relax for the next hour or so before going to bed.

Bah, work tomorrow... :P

I would have included pictures in this post, but I'm feeling lazy. Maybe I'll steal some later once Jake puts them on blue lava.