the Hope List and favorite decisions of 2013

I miss having an outlet. I find that blogging is very different for me than journaling. When I blog, I feel like I don't have to have a chronological progress. I don't have to enter everyday where I left. I can start where I need to begin. It's a place where I have space to share my backstory and I can explain myself without having to explain myself. I know that I don't have to commit to a particular expression with my journaling, but after years of journaling, trying to do it a different way can sometimes feel wrong and disorganized to me. I decide to start and stop in various journals for various different things, when all I want is to communicate with myself and to others. I don't know what I'm doing. But I don't necessarily feel that much pressure on myself when I blog.

I wanted to write a list of things I want to do in the next couple of years. Things that are important to me so it wouldn't just float around my head and reappear or feel scattered like my journals do when they're strewn across the floor or hiding in various places in my room. My hope is to continue to look back upon this list and to add to the list.

Blogs are easier to edit than journals and penstrokes are. I like that. (I also look at my blog a lot more compulsively than my journal. it works out. really).

I don't do resolutions, so instead, this is my "Hope List".

-- get my analog camera fixed so i can shoot film again
-- land a steady farm opportunity
-- work towards being a homestead
-- find my niche with the dress project and finish it
-- continue to invest in North Carolina friends
-- get back to creative writing
-- finish Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
-- continue to read fiction
-- finish my first semester of community college
-- work on and improve how i present my art
-- buy a used iPod or CD player, Lord, I miss music on long commutes!
-- get a vehicle that runs on veggie oil
-- learn and get accustomed to biking like a pro in the streets
-- acquire a pocket knife
-- acquire extra warm socks
-- make iota chi patches to give to friends
-- continue to use my savings account for goal setting
-- continue my gratitude journal
-- sell what i have and unclutter my life
-- move into a home that feels right
-- establish a "rule of life"
-- have lots of adventures!
-- to live in grace for myself and confidence of G-d's love, even in seasons of silence and depression
-- play instruments again
-- read a few of the books on my amazon wishlist


My favorite investments and decisions of 2013 
-- buying my second-hand high quality rainboots for adventuring. I used them all the time. They help me in my morning walks to the bus stop and my hiking at the state park and they are sturdier than all my other shoes and one of my favorite colors. :)
-- allowing myself to get away and visit friends
-- making finding a church home a priority