2015 List

Things I will absolutely do: Okay, so I realize that absolutely doing these is in fact dependent on life circumstances, if the Lord wills and all that. Nevertheless, unlike some of the items later in my list, these depend primarily on willpower and cost little money. There's nothing actually stopping me from achieving them, save my own laziness:

• Read 40 books. 
• Finish watching Lost. The first time this came around, I was attending a college so restrictive that watching a movie with girl friends meant watching the Disney Princesses, because anything rated more than G was verboten. Now, ten years later, I've discovered it. I'm through the first season and enjoying it thus far.
• Watch The Lion King. I missed out on this movie when I was young, warned against its New Agey themes. Now that I'm nearly thirty, I think I can handle them. Bring it on!
• Watch The Shawshank Redemption. For three years my friends have been telling me how good this movie is. Time to watch it. 
• Start a habit of flossing four times a week.  
• Knit a hat. Also, knit some Christmas ornaments. I especially had my eye on some tiny sweaters, but this year I forgot about them until about a week and a half before the big day. This time, I'm starting early. If I get skilled enough, I want to knit the Jayne hat.
• Run a third half-marathon.
• Run at least 10 5Ks.
• Visit the following restaurants: Otto's Place in Galena; L'May in Dubuque; Magoo's Pizza in Dubuque; Bang Bang Pie in Chicago.  
• Bake challah. Bake my own bagels. Bake at least two different cakes. Bake a chocolate babka. 
• Make at least four new recipes.
• Produce something scholarly and academic.

Things I hope to do: These are bigger-ticket items, so to speak, things which I would love to do but depend on the involvement of other people and/or cost a substantial amount of money. I'll do what I can to tick these off the list, but they may not happen.

• Breakfast at the Donut Whole in Wichita, KS.
• Teach a friend to cook.
• Collect my grandmother's stories. Staying with my grandparents this holiday, I realized how many good stories she has to tell. She grew up poor in New England, with a gritty and courageous mom of her own. I would love to get these stories down before they're lost to time.
• Climb a 7th Fourteener. So far I've done Elbert, Princeton, Quandary, Shavano, Yale, and Belford. Time for another. I have my eye on Huron, Handies, San Luis, or Uncompaghre.
• Visit some place I've never been.

Things I want to do, spiritually: Drifting along in life is easy enough. Drifting along in my spiritual life is easier still, unfortunately. To keep that from happening, these are some things I would like to do to honour Christ and walk more closely with him. 

• Read The Prodigal God. Mom gifted this to me two or three years ago. I've been meaning to read it ever since, particularly because the story of the prodigal son is one of my favourites in Scripture. 
• Read through the whole Bible.
• Re-read Dante.
• Locate a copy of historical church prayers, or the prayers of the church fathers and mothers. Use these in my own prayer life.
• Practice Lent.
• Pick up volunteering again, on a regular basis.
• Live humbly and thankfully on what I have, purchasing no luxuries (e.g. chocolate) for a short amount of time in order to be grateful for the very rich blessings God has already given me.