List

I am not too fond of lists. It makes me tense to see a visual of all the things I need to do. However, having all these big and little things rattle around my brain makes me even more tense, so one of my goals for 2009 is to make more lists. I thought I would start with writing down 37 things I'd like to do in 2009. Why 37? That's how old I will be this year. Not yet of course, later this year. It seems like a good number to start with.

1. Smile more. I tend to walk around with my brow furrowed most of the time.

2. Set an appointment for myself to worry. I don't need to worry 24 hours a day. One hour should be sufficient.

3. Travel by train. I love trains.

4. Walk slower. I'm not in New York.

5. Ride a bike. I'd like an Orange one with a basket.

6. Stand at the beach and feel the ocean wash over my feet.

7. Eat lemon sorbet. It makes me happy.

8. Make time for friends.

9. Trust.

10. Soak in the sunshine.

11. Love the people I am with.

12. More spontaneous dancing.

13. Take pictures and not worry if they are good.

14. Explore.

15. Treat myself well everyday.

16. Make more lists.

17. Quit procrastinating.

18. Make my home beautiful for my family. Fill it with things and people I love.

19. Rid my home of things I no longer love, or no longer need.

20. Forgive. Including myself.

21. Save.

22. Let go.

23. Stretch my body, mind and soul.

24. Give more with out expectation.

25. Expect more miracles.

26. Ice skate.

27. Look at the world through the eyes of my children.

28. Sleep in when I can.

29. Go sledding when it snows.

30. Be goofy. Let people take pictures.

31. Pick a day and drive to California.

32. Experiment.

33. Throw a party. Maybe even two.

34. Take pride in my accomplishments.

35. Sit by the river.

36. Hug more people, allow myself a hug too.

37. Relax.

Golden Globes and Collages

Tonight I am missing the Golden Globes. I'm not a TV fan but it is a tradition in my family to watch awards shows. There are four "must sees" in my family. Awards shows, The Sopranos, Weeds and 'The Bachelor'. I suppose three must sees as the Sopranos are no longer on.

It is also a tradition to do a collage at the start of a new year. Being a procrastinator it's much easier to do this with my family, not so easy when I'm left on my own.

This year, we find ourselves separated. Me in Lyle, Sam in Switzerland. We're doing our collages via e-mail.

Sam:

"I brought poster paper back with me from Utah. I also brought several magazines, and with the loads of magazines I had here already, I am good to go.

I have invited two friends over for next Sunday to do collages, and have soup and salad. They are both American. I just met one of them over Thanksgiving. I didn't have any American friends here until recently. I had dinner with them on Thursday night. It's really nice to speak Americana. They commented on how nice it would be to have soup and salad for dinner instead of the typical French or Italian fare. I think I'll make chicken soup and a basic salad with corn muffins.

They have never done collages before. Cynthia is an attorney- super analytical, high achiever, extremely bright, perfectionist, conservative and granola-esque. She's beautiful, but she genuinely does not think she is attractive, and she hates her size 2 body. She has one son and is trying for another. She is the oldest of two children, and her dad died an excruciatingly long, painful death (four years of suffering) when she was 20. Her mom has MD and isn't doing great. She was born and raised in Utah, but her parents never did the Mormon thing. I'm very interested to see how she approaches the collage.

Dede is an artist- but works as a fund raiser at the United Nations. She is married to a French sommelier. She has had a lot of health problems in her 30s. They have no kids. She is in her early 40s. She has travelled a lot. Dede is a hard nut to crack. She is reserved at first, and then she drops bombs out of nowhere that make me laugh until I cry. I think she has lead a very interesting, non traditional life- which is why I like her, I'm sure. She is from Los Angeles, but she feels like a San Francisco gal to me. She is the youngest of 5 kids. Her dad was Nixon's estate lawyer, and her mom was the first female neuroscientist in California. She had a black nanny that raised her. I assume she will be more comfortable with the idea of collage, but you never know, right?

I love the stories and personal histories of people.

I laughed when I read your email. I never plan where I'll stick my pictures. I just "randomly" paste and adjust the pictures as I go- which is totally how I live my life. Not enough planning. I need to work on this, but not this year. :)

I have the collage I did eight months ago under my bed (I hid it when some people came to stay in our guest bedroom), and I'm not going to look at it until after I finish my collage- to compare. I suspect I'll end up with dogs in the middle, mountain and desert scenes, and bright, jewel colored, flashy objects all over. This is my consistent theme."

My mom:

"I just finished my collage--usually I get everything placed and then paste. This time I pasted as I went--it led me to a small crisis toward the end.

I'm not sure I like it--I never am at first. It takes living with. I can say no chairs this year, however, I do have two beds. I also went a bit overboard on spools of thread...sigh. I was very surprised to see I ended up with a Ganish sort of floating in the middle--go figure."

Me:

"I have borrowed a tiara from my Ava, the 5 year old daughter of my boss. It's purple with feathers on it. I love it an am wearing it now. Unfortunately, I do not have cable or satellite, so I am unable to watch the Golden Globes. I thought I could go down to the local bar, but am not sure how I would be received wearing said tiara and demanding the NFL playoff game be turned off so I can see who is wearing what on the red carpet. So uncivilized here.

Sam, thanks for the update. I so miss your writing and it inspires me to do more than a three second status update on my Facebook. I find myself thinking in the third person now. "Sara is having a delicious muffin" "Sara is wanting bacon" "Sara is moving the wash to the dryer". God help me.

My collage is still in magazine form in the back of David's car. I looked through what I had and it's all Wine Spectator and Gourmet Magazine. So, unless my goal for this year is to become a 300 lb alcoholic, I would do well to find a few others. One of the jobs my boss left for me was to discontinue all of her catalogs. "No problem" I thought. They have been gone less than two weeks, and now there are 87 catalogs that have accumulated on the kitchen table. They are mostly seed and farm equipment catalogs, with a few cute kid things thrown in. I have a feeling this year's collage will be a bit on the eclectic side.

I'm going to focus and get back to work. Right after I update my status on Facebook of course. "Sara is focused on work" Oh shut up."

Each year I my collage ends up with pictures of lemons. I'm not sure why, I don't eat lemons nor do I have them displayed in bowls around my house. My mom has decided to quit posting pictures of chairs. I have made a conscious choice to lay off the lemons, and found myself ripping out pictures of pears. Not sure what that means. The collage is not done, I suppose I'll post a picture of it later.