I really really really want to do these things

A couple days ago, I read this chick's bucket list and was inspired to write my own list of lifetime goals and dreams, then was inspired further by the giveaway I could enter for some great trips by publishing my list (you can too, click here).

Its intimidating and liberating to spout off my dreams to everyone, but I'm going to suck it up and do it anyway, so here goes:

1. Travel the world with my family. I feel connected to Ireland and want to go back. I want to roam around France, visit the Egyptian pyramids, walk barefoot on a sunny beach in the Caribbean and dive into a pool fed by a waterfall in Hawaii. 

2. Swim in the ocean.

3. Publish a book.

4. Help my daughter learn through experience by traveling, meeting and spending time with amazing people and doing a whole bunch of cool stuff. 

5. Live someplace open where I can be at peace and feel safe letting my daughter, my dog and my cats run around, but not too far away from cool people and lots of fun things to do. I'd like to raise alpacas someday, because it sounds like fun, and they are super adorable. 

Ummm, right?

6. Go to Alex Grey's Chapel of Sacred Mirrors in New York.

7. Learn to weave on my grandma’s loom. 

8. Go on a horseback ride with my mom.

9. Hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

10. Climb Long’s Peak with my dad and my sister. (I'm scared but just look at THAT)

11. Learn to play the piano. 

12. Take lots classes. I love to learn, I really want to continue my education throughout my life, for practical purposes and of course for enrichment. And if someday I become Dr. Rachel, I’d be okay with that. ;-) 

13. Make a difference in the world. I want to find a cause I really feel passionate about and spend a good part of my life doing that. 

14. Research our family tree and discover the stories of the people who make my family so amazing.

15. Become a minimalist in terms of material objects. 

Wow. I didn't even realize how much I wanted to do these things until I took the time to sit down and think about it. How easy it is to let my dreams slip past me in my day-to-day existence without making strides towards them. Give yourself some time and make your own list, I'd love to hear some of your lifetime goals.


Further information on the giveaway:


This is my entry in the Just Ask Bucket List Getaway Giveaway. Just Ask offers a breast and ovarian cancer screening and is encouraging people to share 15 things that I want to enjoy in my lifetime as a reminder to be aware of my health. Want to enter? Head over to TodaysMama.com to get the details. 

sweet revelry

This week I won a dozen cupcakes from Revelry Cupcake Company. Autumn, owner and talented baker, let me pick from a list of tempting flavors. I chose the "Boston Cream Pie" cupcakes.

They were super yummy - vanilla cake with pastry cream, topped with chocolate ganache.

I also ordered two of Revelry's gelato pints - decadent coffee milk and dark chocolate. Rich and creamy, perfect. Thank you Revelry for an amazing week of sweets!

You could be the next contest winner! Follow Revelry's blog or like Revelry on facebook for notifications on the next contest. 

remembering my great grandma

All of our regular routines came to a halt last week when my great grandmother died and we headed to Kansas to gather with our enormous family and pay tribute to her long life. She lived 96 incredible years.

She was born in 1914, the year that the First World War began. She grew up in the same small Kansas town where she died. My great grandmother was married and raised four children during the harrowing years of the Depression. She has so many great - grandchildren I can’t even count, but I never realized that I was one of so many all these years, as special as she made me feel. 

She baked amazing apple pies and loved to paint, sew, travel and spend time with her family.  I’m so glad that Amelie got to meet her great-great grandma last year. Ammy was just a baby, 8 months, and my grandma was so excited to squeeze and kiss Ammy's little chubby feet.

Ammy's Great-Great Grandma Otte, with Amelie and me last year

I’m missing her now and feel so lucky to have loved her all these years.  

busy bees

The last couple of months have been super busy in our house. With the school year starting, I was back to my part time job (at a local private, non-profit high school). The first taste of fall has us rushing around the house and yard, finishing the zillion projects we had so zealously started at one point or another in the summer. Along with my mom and sister, I participated in my hometown's fall festival, Broomfield Days. It's been crazy!! Here are some moments I captured on camera.

Open gym for tots at the rec center's gymnastics area. Ammy had a blast with her good buddy Junior. 

Tekka (our goofy dog) took us to Dog Daze at the Broomfield Bay. He didn't like the swimming much but he sure had fun running around with all the other dogs.

My mom, sister and I hosted a booth at our hometown festival, Broomfield Days. It was an awesome experience and I had so much fun working with my mama to get all the visors and headbands put together. And, as a result, my monster wear army grew.

My sister, Mindy, and me bright and early that morning.

Me with my assistant and daughter, Amelie.

My mama, Mindy, Ammy and me manning the booth.

My husband , Jeremiah, brought Ammy to Broomfield Days

Our Ammy is a toddler now, running, climbing, singing and talking. She learns something new every day.

Amelie likes to do yoga in the kitchen.

The cosmos like the late summer.

Ammy and I went to the zoo with my mama, our neighbor Monica and her grandson (Ammy's buddy), Junior.

We're spending more time in the backyard now that the evenings are nice and cool.

Jeremiah is starting the big job of landscaping our front yard.

Jeremiah broke out the Halloween decorations today. At first I thought Ammy might get scared of them. As it turns out, she thinks they are pretty alright.

Pointing at the bat hanging from the ceiling.

 I'm sure there is plenty more, but this is the story the photos tell...