11 Things and a Birthday

First off, some Christmas cheer…brought to you by my now 26 year old brother, Nic.

Happy Birthday Nic!!!

Tonight I was introduced to the Reverb10 site. They give you a daily prompt to reflect on during the month of December. In return, you write about your experiences from 2010 and what you would like to make happen in 2011. I love it.

BUT…I’m not so hot at the whole daily blog thing, and uh… it's already the 17th.. whoops! I do, however, want to chime in when I can, especially on the ones I feel I need to do (or, ok,ok…the easier ones).

This was the prompt from December 11:

What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life? (Author: Sam Davidson)

11 Things I don't need in 2011

1. Regret. Nothing too big here, you’re just reading about an indecisive person. I don’t need to hang on to regret in 2011 or live a life with new regrets…just decide and conquer! I think many of us look back and think “what if'?” It could be anything from what happened years ago to what we just ordered for lunch. No looking back, just keep on keeping on and make the best of it!

2. Impatience. Mmmhmmm. I think that will be something on my list of no-needs EVERY year. I think a lifetime of practicing patience just might be enough. Maybe.

3. Late nights. I am horrible. My husband is awesome. I will often try to go to bed with J, only to get up out of bed 15 minutes later. No more late nights. A 10:30 bed time sounds doable...but why is it so hard to keep?!

4. Stress. Obviously. Who needs stress? Let’s cut that out. I need to do what I can can and let the rest handle itself. Life always presents us with a certain amount of inevitable stress…but we usually double it just by thinking about it!

5. To compare. I don’t think I’ve made it a day in my life without comparing my life or my things to someone else's. Plus, Mr.. Internet here doesn’t help. He’s constantly stuffing us with things to compare ourselves/our kids (or lack thereof..sad)/our husbands/our houses/our shoes to. I must stop comparing, and start owning what makes me, me.

*cough*

Hi. My name is Miranda-Jayne. I have white hair, don’t have cute kids yet and work way too many hours each week. I haven’t lived in one house long enough to decorate as a newlywed and that drives me nuts. My neighbors probably think I’m nuts…and really loud. I can't afford to shop at Anthropologie, and probably wouldn’t if I was rich anyways...unless they had a killer sale. I don't know how to make my eyes “smoky,” use a straight iron to make curls or make a batch of cookies without eating the dough to save my life. I frequently walk out of the room and leave the refrigerator door open and sometimes I don’t wash my hair for a number of days and call it “conditioning,” when really I just want to sleep in for half an hour. And that's me. Some things I like and some things I’d change. But at the end of the day it’s still me.
There’s a start.

6. A tiny kitchen. Did ya see how I did that? I worked something into this list that I DO need, because I really don't need (or want) my tiny kitchen. Sneaky…sneaky!

7. A house. Turns out I’m already regretting #6! I really don’t need a house…we have everything we need. I would just like to live in the same living space long enough to put some of my own spice on it.

8. To hate the gym. Really, I’m an exercise science major…that should be my hog heaven. But, I still manage to find something…anything better to do with my time. It’s not out of total laziness, there’s just something about a gym that screams stinky funk prison.

9. Junk. First of all, where does it all come from?? Secondly, why do I think my life won’t be complete without it? Last week I couldn’t retire my favorite wrap sweater that was stained and balled up after too much wear…so I tried to repurpose it into a bathrobe (which ironically is what J said it looked like in the first place). It’s staring at me right now asking me to throw it away. I think I will tonight.

10. Wonder Woman Skills. Do I want them? Heck yes. Does it seem like everyone and their mom (especially my mom, haha) has ALL of them? Yeppers. Does it drive me crazy that I can’t even work on half of these skills as a semi-newlywed/person who should be getting the hang of this domestic goddess stuff over here (you try shopping for ingredients or buying any sort of craft thing…I was thrilled last week because I found scotch tape…nothing too glitzy…just plain old scotch tape that didn’t even have a dispenser;)? Yes.
I’m sure skills will come with time. And if they don’t, acceptance of things I just have no talent for will. Hopefully.

10. Facebook. Sure, it can be good for the occasional birthday reminder or high school reconnection…but do I really NEED to check facebook everyday? Nope. I think I could still reap FB benefits by checking it about once a week....now that I've just refreshed my FB page.

11. American Everything. It’s easy to become enamored with everything “normal” when not much around you is. I smell good pizza…I’m drooling. I hear English…I’m all ears. I need to suck it up and not be stuck like glue to anything that reminds me of home. We chose to live here so what should we expect? I should be able to go out on a limb more for things like food, customs, etc. Besides, I’m the weird one here!

Well those are my 11 No-Needs for 2011…I’ll tell you how they’ve changed my life next year. ;) Now it’s your turn to play along!

11 Things YOU don't need in 2011.....ready? Go!