Happy New Year!

Here are a few things I want to do in 2009

1. Start my own garden: I'll have to get to this this spring sometime.

2. Attempt to bike to work when I can: I'll wait until the days are a bit longer and warmer to do this. Hopefully, I can work out a way to do this a couple of times a week. I'm also hoping that it won't take me that much longer than waiting around for the bus, etc.

3. Shoot a gun: I know this is a weird one for me to have on here, but I want to know what it is like to do it once at least. Maria, do you think we can plan to go shoot clay pigeons over Thanksgiving? If not, I'll have to find a range to go to so I can try it out. I think doing it in Wisco with Maria would be more fun as well as cheaper, though.

4. Learn to can: I think I'll try to get to this sometime this summer.

5. Get a dog: I think Jake and I will start looking in February.

A couple of these might replace items on my big list (which has an ending date of July 14th...yikes!). I'm actually not doing too bad overall. I didn't really expect I'd wind up doing 100% of what I wrote on that list, anyway. I wonder if I should make another big list once my anniversary is done or not. It is fun to look back and see that I have done a lot of things in the last year and a half or so; however, I don't know quite how I want to define the next phase of my life. If I had to guess, I would think the next couple years will be spent: a) settling into our house, making it efficient and sustainable and b) enjoying fun activities before actually having a family. Also, I purposefully didn't write anything too specific for career goals on my current (big) list, but I wonder if I should think about coming up with a new direction for the next list. I've furthermore been kicking around the idea of doing some sort of service vacation...like going to another country for a couple of months to build schools or something (anyone have suggestions on good programs to go through? I doubt I could commit to a year like you did, Emily, but I think I could make a month or two work). I need to find ways to make myself feel useful. My job definitely doesn't make me feel useful. I did start volunteering once a month with The Reading Connection, but I think I need more than that.

The ideas for this next list are all very vague, I know, but at least my first few goals above to start the New Year are more specific and time-bound. These other thoughts are just seeds of goals for another list, if I wind up doing one. What do people think? Should I write another one? Should I do a list recap this summer to talk about the highlights of completing items on the current list?

Survey Question of the Day

What's your favorite Christmas movie?

Should Candy's next holiday be an open road adventure or a return to "home"?

So, I thought about writing out day-by-day everything that we did in Costa Rica, but I'm feeling a bit lazy. The highlights were: learning scuba diving, doing a canopy tour, relaxing in the hot springs, and getting a massage at the spa. It was a lot of fun and made me really wish I could spend like an entire year in another country. I wish I had more opportunities to practice speaking Spanish and it would be nice to have a different sort of experience.

Here's a picture of Jake and me, near Volcan Arenal:



Here's a link to Jake's photo albums of our trip, for anyone who's interested.

I feel as though there is always a tension between wanting to be out on the open road, doing new things, and wanting to have the comfort of a place to call "home". What wins out? Sometimes I think I shouldn't get too comfortable because then I won't grow enough as a person, but on the other hand, it's nice to feel like there's somewhere I belong. I'm not sure how long it will take to make our house feel like "home", or if it ever will feel like it. I find myself still calling Princeton "home" now and again, and I wonder if there will ever be a point where I don't call it home. When does that happen? Does it ever happen?

This weekend, we actually spent some time sitting around the house. I feel like I haven't had a chance to do that since we moved in. It's been kind of nice. I still sort of want to just have a day where I sit in my pajamas the whole day long and just relax around the house, I think that might make it feel like I'm breaking the place in.

Jake and I leave for Wisconsin on Saturday. We're flying into Milwaukee and plan to have Jake's parents pick us up. We'll stay with them the first night and see if we can borrow a car from them. think we'll take our time getting to my parents' on Sunday, just to avoid any conflicts over going to church (like we did last year). We'll stay with my parents until sometime on the 25th, and then see Jake's family until we leave on the 28th. I'm not sure what we're going to do each day exactly, or which friends and family I need to pop in to see while I'm there. Maria won't be around this year, so that'll be a bummer. I want to go see Lelani and Jon so that I can meet Memphis, so that is definitely on the list.

Yay...suck it, Jenny McCarthy.

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