Tag Archives: Birthday Lists

Four things in my head.

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Sometimes I spend so much time in my head that I don’t put those thoughts here, on the blog.

I mean, I carry a notebook around with me, I leave myself voice mails about great stories to share. I even turn to Rob every now and again and say, “Oooh, I have to put this idea on the blog… please don’t let me forget!” (um, that never works by the way.)

So, in one big swoop, I’m going to list (mmmm…lists…) the happenings that are my life these days, which I mean to blog about, but don’t, and take photographs of and video of, but can’t share because

1) I don’t know how to use my stupid video camera; and
2) I can’t find the adapter for my point and shoot because it’s buried in a box somewhere that isn’t labeled, because, well, we moved recently and my world is a little more than disheveled and just above chaos these days. Which brings me to #1 on the list:

Packing up the last few boxes on Roncesvalles.. bitter-sweet

1. We moved. After a year of renting in our beloved Roncesvalles neighborhood in the West End of Toronto, we bought a little house less than five minutes away in what us Torontonians refer to as “An Up and Coming Area”… (ya, we’ll see). The house is wonderful though. It’s 115 years old. I’ve always wanted to live in an old house with creeky floors and now I do. Although we replaced the floors with new ones… that look old. Make any sense? But they still creek and I love that. We’re in full renovation mode though, expanding closets, painting, repairing things, growing our garden… we’ve been living on a mattress in my soon-to-be-office and out of old cardboard boxes and garbage bags. We complain about it every day… but I’m sure one day we’ll remember this shitty situation fondly. I’ll bet on it.

Our floors. Not bad, eh?

2. I quit my job as an editor for a women’s fitness magazine. I did that on April 29. I mentioned it last week, waaay at the bottom of this post. My last day is this Friday. And, since I’m still at work (right now, in fact) I’m going to save my post about quitting (or as a lovely reader pointed out, ‘moving on’) for another day. It’s only fair that I fully absorb, then share.

Rob took this shot in 2009.. we climbed the Empire State Building (um, took the elevator, really) at midnight. Stunning.

3. I was in New York City the first weekend in May to celebrate a friend’s engagement. It was a bachelorette party of sorts. Loads of fun. I bought Mark Jacobs rain boots for $28. Major score. I mean, if you’re going to wear frumpy rain boots, they might as well be designer, right? I’ll be going back to New York on May 21 to celebrate a friend’s 30th  birthday. All expenses paid. Private plane. A driver. Lavish dinners. I’m not kidding. Full post on that to come, promise x1000.

Marc by Marc Jacobs Rain Boots. $28. I plan to wear these in our new garden, watering the flowers, and dance around in them at some hippie music festival this summer.

4. I’ve been thinking a lot about the fact that my List’s expiry date (aka: My Birthday) is a mere three months away. Things that go through my mind are: Will I finish my List? Will I keep the blog? What’s on my next List?

Completely gratuitous Penelope shot. She's on our make-shift bed here, in the our new-old house.

There it is. Fully spilled. For now.

So, how about you… what’s new? Drop a comment or email me: originalsandyb {at} gmail dot com

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How badly do you want it?

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There is another item being crossed off my List in the next couple of days.
It’s a big one… but I say that every time, don’t I? I guess I do.

I’ll take pictures though. Lots of them, I swear.

This month I will be posting three new Birthday Lists from readers and supporters of this little ‘ol blog of mine. I hope you like them. I sure did. Although that’s not what these Lists are about – they’re not about you, me, them or us deciding if these Lists are “good” or not. Nope. Posting your List on this space is about putting your wants somewhere.

If you’re reading a List, then maybe you’ll see your goals in someone else’s words and realize just how badly you’ve always wanted to run across that nude beach or ride that motorcycle or write a book before your next birthday; if you’re writing a List, then you’re just being honest with yourself about the things you want, looking at the page, breaking your own rules to push your boundaries a little and then… action. The often missing ingredient in your own personal recipe is suddenly in abundance.

So, there it is:  the call out, once again, for your wonderful, fabulous, inspiring Lists – email me here: originalsandyb {at} gmail {com}

See you Monday, full List-post in tow.

In the meantime, here are some pictures from my 28th birthday. Just because. (Things I crossed off that year included travel to a hot country I’ve never been to; sell my loft; and move to my favorite Toronto neighborhood of all time – Roncesvalles. Done, done and done.)

every year, my birthday starts with a dose of bacon n' eggs + champagne, courtesy of rob. good guy.

then, a good dress (after my wedding dress, obvi.)

dinner at fat cat on roncesvalles. my favorite tapas bar in the city.

shock. rob surprised me with two tickets to see dirty dancing on stage. i'm telling you, birthdays rule.

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#6 on the List gave me ass bruises.

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my skates. since 1994.

A wonderful thing happened to me last month. My only regret? Not sharing it with you sooner.

The day started at 6:00 a.m. the morning I crossed #6 off my List and it was one of the most exciting things I’ve checked off since I hit the nude beach last year.

I skated competitively as a kid. I quit when I was 16 because being a teenager felt more important than jumping, spinning, gold medals and early morning practices. It was the first time I ever quit anything in my life. Apparently, I’m still in recovery.

Rob thinks that the “unfinished business” of my competitive skating career has left me scarred when it comes to follow through on other projects in my life – when I get close to success, I choke and sometimes I even give up. I give up. Ugh, I hate that in unspeakable terms. But sometimes knowing when to pull the plug on a situation – whether it’s a job, a business venture or even a friendship – is just as important as following through. Sometimes, it’s just better to walk away. But I have a hard time forgiving myself for taking that walk every time it happens.

“I should have…”

“I could have…”

“I wish I…”

“I regret I…”

Ah! Living in the World of What If – it’s a disease I tell you! How many times have you passed on a situation and then ruminated on your decision? I know I’m not alone on this – we’ve all done it before; the question is though, what’s the remedy?

I decided my dose would need to come in the form of lacing up skates at the crack of dawn and stepping on cold, fresh ice to make amends with this piece of unfinished business in my life. I needed to jump into it, toe-pick first.

It was glorious (graceful? not so much, but glorious, nonetheless.)

I felt like I was flying on that ice. My body just seemed to… remember. Call it cell memory – like riding a bike – but by the end of two hours, jumping and spinning just felt like it was what I should be doing right then and there.

The bruises on my ass, however, would have indicated otherwise. But I loved every fall, every crack of the ice under my blades, every opportunity to feel like I was going to vomit if I did just. one. more. spin.

Glorious.

Maybe I’ll never be an Olympic medalist – although, I will admit, Rob and I toyed with the idea of ‘what if I throw it all on the line and aim for the 2014 Games? – but maybe that path isn’t for me. Or maybe it is?

My friend Cristina and I (an ex-skater and a fellow yoga teacher) have signed our 29-year old selves up for six weeks of Saturday morning practices. Six weeks. That’s a whole lot of ass bruises, sore ankles and ice burn.

And you know what? I can’t wait.

(*PS – this is the video I’ve been trying desperately to upload – still no luck. But I didn’t want to delay on this news any longer!)

***

Joins the conversation – do you have a “regret” you’re thinking of remedying?

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Guest post by Not That Kind of Girl! Quite possibly the BEST stuff I’ll have on my blog all week. Seriously. My shit’s been lacking lately, I get it. Now stop judging me and just read this stupendous post already.

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I am utterly in a tizzy to have this bloggess extraordinaire all the way here from Not That Kind of Girl today!

I don’t have many morning rituals, except for making Lists, drinking copious amounts of coffee and reading blogs, all within the first 10 minutes of arriving at work. That said…

My mornings are as follows:

1. Arrive at work. Five minutes late, on a good day.
2. Frantically place my Starbucks (a Grande Americano) on my desk. Spill a bit. Freak out. Clean it up with a magazine (there are two-dozen strewn across my desk at any given time). Say, “fuck, fuck, fuck…” and then apologize profusely to my co-worker sitting in the cube next door for my filthy mouth. “No problem, love” she says. She’s used to it- she gets me.
3. Turn on the computer. Yawn.
4. Check emails, voice mails, BlackBerry messages and swig my lukewarm Americano.
5. Scroll my reader for my favorite blogs, especially searching for the musings of this gal, who whips out an incredibly stylish post 5x a week. This is one hard working blogger! In fact, TKOG is always in the top-3 blogs I read within the first few minutes of my day (true story). Hell, even my sister lurks her blog and has commented on it in recent weeks. For the record, my sister has yet to comment on my effing blog. But I digress. She’s just that kind of girl who is totally easy to have a crush on.

Let’s get to the good stuff, shall we?

***

Hey kids! It’s TKOG over from Not That Kind of Girl – here to guest post for sandyb who is, entre nous, one of my favorite bloggers on the whole dang internet. Sandy asked me to blog a list of things I’d like to accomplish before my next significant birthday, and while I was prepared to glibly spew a list of goofy accomplishments (learn to play the piano with my feet; punch a[nother] dude in the face, travel to Tuvalu, etc.), my dumb heart got in the way. You see, one of the things I most admire about sandyb’s blog is that she’s never afraid to get really raw – spill out her emotions and be totally, heart-wrenchingly genuine. It’s something I love about her not the least of all because I find it so hard to do myself.

So, with no further ado, here’s my true, honest, ask-me-about-it-and-I’ll-mock-you-fiercely list of ten things I hope to accomplish in the year and a half before I turn 25. (That said, I apologize for the tedious proliferation of writing-related goals. That’s the thing about dreams: they’re single-minded. They kind of have to be!)

Publish a story in Ploughshares or similarly prestigious literary journal. My biggest current project – the blog – is a work of non-fiction, but left to my own devices, I’m more of a fiction writer. Better sex scenes that way!

Write and publish my first book. For bonus points, afterwards, pitch and start writing my second book, which – if it turns out anything like I dream — will totally get me kicked out of a few bars (or people’s friggin’ lives).

Find a MFA program for creative writing that is a good fit for my goals and temperament, then start the frig out of it. Worst-case scenario: in two years I’m living in Iowa City. Best-case scenario: in two years I’m living in Iowa City.

Tell Matt Lauer face to face that I’ve had a crush on him since I was ten years old. Hopefully this will occur while doing a publicity tour for goal #2. But hey, if I just happen to meet him in a yogurt store – look, I won’t be complainin’.

Plan a kickass bachelorette party for a girl I love like a sister (and yes, my own much-beloved sister is a candidate for this). I’m thinkin’ burlesque photo shoot and then mud baths. Champagne may be thematized.

Whisk myself (and a companion!) away on a totally spontaneous weekend trip. I mean no-bags-packed impromptu. Preferably with someone I’ve met while not-packing bags. Doubly preferably a Count or Lord.

Engage in a grand, sweeping gesture of public nudity. Nothing more pressing to this one than the fact that I love to be, in the idiom of Ratbert, “naked, clueless and feeling goooood.” Plus, uh, feminist body-confidence stuff?

Plan and execute the perfect practical joke. I love jokes and can be an elaborate planner, but my inability to keep a secret has always crippled this life-long dream. I can’t even play “oooh, got your nose!” without giving up the dang jig.

Meet the man I’m going to spend the rest of my life with. Guess I have to work extra-hard on the other nine goals, kittens, because this one is almost entirely out of my hands. Unless dude is Matt Lauer, in which case, dude, I’m in.

Brush up on my Russian. It bums me out that I once was, if not fluent, then fluish. After all, the one marginal benefit to my utterly useless degree is being able to occasionally impress dudes with my linguistic skill, so why not resurrect four years of work from the drain?!

Dang, guys. Dang. It’s kind of horrifyingly scary to put your honest goals out there. I see what sandyb is up to with this goal listing – it’s emotional heavy-lifting. Though I vow to you, loves, never to be so serious again, I thoroughly recommend you at least once engage in a little list-making of your own. Why not add a few of your almost-too-serious-to-ever-speak goals to the comment section?

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