handcrafted life plan part 5, again. The First List

So as part of my Mondo Beyondo dreaming class, I had to make my first list of dreams. We were told to set a timer for 10 min, and then just write what we want. And then we did it again, immediately, a second time. Once I (finally) got started, it was strange and awesome how all these dreams and wishes came pouring out of me.



Dream by jbelluch on Flickr


The class leaders dared us to share our lists publicly. So here's the first draft. More to come later, I'm sure. Because I'm a geek and found recurring themes in my crazy 20 minute scrawls, I organized them into buckets.

Live

• Live in a nice house in Dublin (Ireland), with our dogs
• Expand our house to have a separate room for Trillian to do school work, a bigger craft room for me, a luxurious soaking tub, a welding/torch space for me and TJ, enough storage for everything
• Go through our house top to bottom and organize it. Get rid of everything we don't need or use or love.
• Organize *all* my email Inboxes and be able to keep up
• Organize all of our photos. Make albums.
• Have a lovely, inviting, and fully organized craft room
• Have just a few really sharp high quality knives (instead of a ton of dull ones)
• Have a home in California
• Get weekly housecleaning
• Have a second home somewhere warm and easy to get to

Travel

• Go to Xmas Market in Munich
• Spend 3-4 weeks in Germany
• Spend 3-4 weeks in Australia & New Zealand
• Spend 3-4 weeks per year traveling somewhere interesting
• Visit Las Vegas for a weekend 3-4 times a year

Time

• Craft daily
• Spend one weekend in a (local) fancy hotel all by myself. Maybe take along some crafty stuff.
• Have time to communicate with far-flung friends (email, writing letters, etc)
• Have time to shop and cook without stress
• Minimize commitments and stay home, but still have some time to myself during the week

Work/$

• Quit job, but make enough income on side projects so we're not stressed out
• Make money on blogging, papercrafting, other projects @ home
• Provide amazing infant care to someone who can't afford it.
• Stop having that panicky stressed feeling most of the time
• Stop focusing/worrying about money
• Buy little things without worrying about money
• Write a successful book that makes lots of $
• Make lots of money without feeling like I'm working for it
• Hold and love and teach lots of babies
• Help people get what they want out of work-life balance.  Be a great example.
• Get paid to do papercrafting
• Become a professional organizer

Crafty

• Get cards or papercrafts published in a magazine
• Sell papercrafts without feeling hassled/stressed about it
• Make tons of awesome mini scrapbook albums
• Learn to take great photos and document our lives
• Learn how to do calligraphy
• Make gorgeous jewelry for myself and others
• Take magical photos of T doing ordinary things

Relationships

• Have close local friends.  See them often.
• Enjoy my time with family without feeling stressed about obligations or how things "should" be
• Love our dogs as they deserve to be loved
• Enjoy my marriage to the fullest
• Stop keeping score
• Become closer with my old friends who I don't talk to/see much anymore

Trillian

• Make sure she has an awesome childhood and grows up into a happy and secure adult
• Be her friend through life, as well as her mama
• Send her to the best school for her, regardless of cost
• Know with certainty her college expenses will be paid for
• Monthly photo shoot with a professional photographer

Me

• Be skinny and wear awesome clothes
• Run and like it
• Run a sub-30 minute 5K and like it
• Learn knife skills
• Find another book series I love as much as Harry Potter and read all of them, then read them again.
• *Want* to live a healthy life and eat right, exercise etc.  Not have it be a chore.
• See Pearl Jam live
• Speak fluent Spanish

Crazy

• Have a quail parade of 3-4 awesome kids
• Homeschool them part of the time (+private school)
• Be a drummer in a rock band
• Sing backup in a rock band

Yeah, some of those things even surprised me when I wrote them down, like I didn't know I wanted them ;)  I loved doing this exercise and then reading the list a couple of weeks later, because I had forgotten most of what was on it.  Obviously some of the items are more goal-oriented and doable, and some are just crazytown.  But that's why they're dreams, right?

I won't tag anyone to do this because it is personal, but if you decide to write up your own list, leave a link here. I'd love to read yours :)