Lauren Life List Vol. 3

Read 50 books in a year
Do 1,000 random acts of kindness

Attempt to never buy another bottle of water again (Beginning 8/7/2010)

Live, for a measurable amount of time, in a foreign country

Have a family vacation spot that we go to every year

Go with my father to Italy

Host Thanksgiving

Decorate a home to my complete satisfaction

Build a library
See the Grand Canyon, Glacier National Park, Yosemite, Niagara Falls, Yellow Stone, Arches National Park, Death Valley, Grand Teton, Red Wood Forest, and Zion National Park.

A lot of things on my life list have to do with travel. Most of it involves traveling abroad, but there are so many things to see within the US. My freshmen year of college I took "Geology of Nat'l Monuments" which was a thinly veiled way of getting the non science people to take a seemingly interesting rocks for jocks course. The best part was the lecture portion where we took notes while slides of the awesome national parks flashed in front of us. I was not born in the roadtrip generation. We didn't go from national park to national park and we certainly didn't camp (ok, once, but we left a day early). These places are bizarre and breathtaking and I want to experience them. 

I saw the bottled water goal on someone else's life list and I thought, "wow... what a challenge." Bottled water is incredibly convenient, but also incredibly wasteful. I have a a few water bottles, one Sigg, but I manage to forget them in various places all of the time. This live goal is about being mindful. There could be situations where I have to buy some water in a plastic bottle, but I want to reduce that need, and instead of it being my first thought, turn it into my last resort.

A lot of my life list goals are long term or things that may only happen when I'm much, much older. I have to keep reminding myself that these goals do not need to be completed in the next month or the next year or the next 5 years. I'm always looking for an opportunity to have an adventure, to cross a goal off my list, but I don't want them to become chores or unmanageable and I don't have someone sponsoring my life list like Mightygirl does so I need to learn patience - maybe that's another life goal as well. Patience. I am excited, though, about what will be and it's fabulous to have things to look forward to.