This is the year to grab life by the horns... what a silly saying. I imagine grabbing anything by the horns is incredibly dangerous.
My first goal is to become an Irish historian. I'll read every book ever written about Ireland, it's people, it's history and although traveling there every month or so might be an excellent educational attribute it certainly wouldn't be practical. So, I'll leave that part out (because you know that reading every book ever written about a country in a year is SO practical...)
I'll also perfect my baking skills and become a master baker. I'll work with hundreds of pies one week and then bake cake after cake after cake the next. There'll be weeks of cookies and I'll make pastries most people have never heard of as if they were toast. Over and over and over until I'm a certified professional. (notice losing weight has not been mentioned in my goals yet)
In my spare time I intend to become fluent in three languages. I'm already pretty good at English so that only leaves two to learn. I can speak and understand very broken bits of Spanish so that should be a piece of cake to pick up. Next on the list is the Irish Gaelic language. I think it'd be wonderfully fun and beyond fascinating to learn an ancient language that had practically died at one point and is now only kept alive due to the patriotism and resolve of it's people.
Lastly I'd like to take a few weeks off from the baking and reading and language learning so that I can travel across the United States, by car of course. If you're not staring at the mountains of Montana or the rock formations clinging to the road sides in Kentucky or the enormous trees in California as you drive through the land and you chose to fly overhead instead then what's the point really? You can hardly call flight "traveling across the US." I need to see the Grand Canyon and the red wood trees. I'd love to see glacier national park and the deserts of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Alaska is surely on my bucket list but I don't think I'll put that on the road trip itinerary this year.
What a fun year this will be! Let's get this party started!!!
O wow, Rivulet - I've just realised that the first State I ever visited is one you've never seen. My late sister had always wanted to visit Alaska and to see whales in their natural habitat and so I went with her as her carer (she was disabled and at the time I wasn't). Enjoy your 2015 party!
ReplyDeleteThat's funny and cool for you. I've wanted to see Alaska for as long as I could remember. I just love nature and Alaska is said to be America's last frontier. It's just so far away but I'll get there someday :)
Delete:D I love the energy of this post! I am also saying YES to more baking, traveling, and, of course, Alaska. I've been saving for Alaska since about a year back.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I don't think that word was in my mind when writing it but I did want it to be full of energy. Ah, Alaska. I'm jealous that you're saving. I haven't a penny... I guess I could put a penny aside for it. Yes to more baking, traveling, and reading :-)
DeleteA cruise to Alaska is on my bucket list, along with a road trip we are taking this summer to see Mount Rushmore....going to stop in Denver & Milwaukee along the way and see a couple of S.F. Giants games if we are able to save up enough money by the time we leave :) Sue
ReplyDeleteI hope your road trip is amazing. I drove across country shortly after high school. One of my stops was Mt. Rushmore. It was surreal seeing it in person. One thing I noticed that I loved was that mountains in that area sparkled. I'm not sure what was in the rocks to make them look glittery but I remember that I was in awe of it.
DeleteI can't wait - I have never even been to South Dakota, much less Mount Rushmore :) We are also going through Yellowstone where we went on our honeymoon 31 years ago so I am VERY excited!!! Sue
ReplyDeleteOh I want to go to Yellowstone! Your trip is going to be so awesome!
DeleteAnd as a bonus, if you learn Gaelic, you'll be able to read books on Ireland published in that language. Then you won't have to restrict your goal to those published in English.
ReplyDeleteooh good call! hehe, I actually hadn't thought of that although I imagine much more ancient Irish text is written in Latin that what one might find in the Gaelic language. The monks for how long were transcribing everything in Ireland and they wrote everything down in Latin I believe.
DeleteI've scrolled through some of your posts and I want to say that you have completely inspired me to find beauty in this rainy, cold, sunless day (I live in the south for a reason - sun!). I have 4 sons, all grown now, but I remember vividly those wonderful days when they were toddlers and we'd concentrate on the giving of the season. Hopefully you'll be better at teaching this to your son than I was; once mine became preteens and realized how much more their friends received we gave in a little to the commercialism of Christmas. It's a delicate balance, and once you move a little in one direction the balance does shift. Enjoy your family, enjoy your work - I imagine you are a calming factor during the shopping frenzy for those shoppers who aren't focused on the true meaning of Christmas.
ReplyDeleteWow, thank-you for the kind words. I work as a merchandiser so I'm not actually employed by the stores I work in but I do really enjoy helping the customers. I hope that I'm a calming factor to those I come in contact with. It's amazing isn't it how stressful the wonderful holidays are.
DeleteAnd balance... you've got that right. So much in life is a delicate balance and swinging one way or the other of that balance seems to be the easiest possible thing to do. I'll will try with all my might and that's the best I can do I suppose.