adventure

Our Lifelong Bucketlist as Husband and Wife

/ lmbritton1011 / 2 Comments

Trevor and Cindy’s Lifelong Bucket List

We were sitting around a few nights ago and came across the movie Bucket List and decided to watch it. I had never seen it before, so I was curious to see what it was about. Mid-movie, the Man of the House and I decided to create our own Bucket List of things we both want to do throughout our lives. I think by combining them together it will help us mark more off the list. I’ll be interested in helping him complete his dreams and can always find ways to combine items in one trip or event. I plan to update this list as we add things or mark them off.

Things in BOLD means only one of us has completed.

Things in BOLD AND ITALICS means that we have both completed it.

ADVENTUROUS THINGS:

1. Skydive (Planning to do this in October 2014 for my birthday!!)
2. Deep Sea Fishing
3. Backpack across a foreign country (Hoping for Ireland on our 5th Anniversary.)
4. Smoke a Cuban Cigar
5. Scuba Dive
6. Earn our pilot’s license
7. Fly a biplane
8. See the Egyptian pyramids
9. Whitewater rafting
10. Dog Sled in Alaska
11. Swim with Dolphins
12. See all Old/New 7 Wonders of the World
13. Drive Route 66 from Chicago to California
14. Ride in a Hot Air Balloon
15. Visit all 50 states
16. Drive a NASCAR
17. Try skeet shooting
18. Ride a camel
19. Get a couples massage
20. Hike a tropical rain forest
21. Visit Yellowstone National Park
22. Stay in an underwater hotel
23. Visit every Six Flags Park
24. Disneyworld and Disneyland
25. Swim with Sea Turtles
26. Ziplining (We will be doing this in October 2014 on our Honeymoon.)
27. Ride a dune buggy in the desert
28. Milk a cow
29. San Diego Safari Park
30. Go to a Kentucky Derby race
31. See a manatee
32. See a polar bear
33. Niagara Falls
34. Yosemite Falls
35. Bourbon Street
36. Waitomo Glow Worm Caves in NZ
37. Universal Studios
38. See a Volcano
39. Mt. Everest
40. Mt Kilmanjaro
41. The Venetian Hotel in Vegas
42. Sea World
43. The Georgia Aquarium
44. Iguacu Falls
45. The Great Barrier Reef
46. Coral reefs of Florida
47. The Everglades
48. Go on a cruise
49. Walk through a corn maze
50. Mount Rushmore
51. North and South Poles
52. Navy Pier in Chicago
53. The Bucket List Bar in Bondi Beach
54. A hot air balloon festival
55. Brooklyn Bridge
56. Gateway Arch in St. Louis
57. Kennedy Space Center
58. Cadillac Ranch
59. Elvis Presley’s Graceland
60. Lincoln Memorial
61. Times Square
62. Great Wall of China
63. The Galapagos Islands
64. Vatican City
65. The Taj Mahal
66. The Eiffel Tower
67. The Tower of London
68. The Leaning Tower of Pisa
69. The Grand Canyon
70. The Statue of Liberty
71. The Sears Tower
72. The Northern Lights
73. The Pyramids of Giza
74. Stonehenge
75. The Sydney Opera House
76. Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament
77. The Colisseum in Rome
78. The Smithsonian
79. Central Park
80. Las Vegas Strip
81. Grand Central Terminal
82. The Empire State Building
83. Tour The White House
84. Machu Picchu
85. The Crossroads Museum, Corinth, MS
86. Mud Island, Memphis
87. The Memphis Zoo
88. St. Louis Zoo
89. Own a successful Cattle business
90. Prank a stranger
91. Be at the birth of all of our grandchildren
92. Find the love of my life
93. Have a family
94. Raise a happy and healthy child/children
95. Renew our wedding vows every ten years
96. Build a house
97. Fly an airplane
98. Fly a helicopter
99. Fly a jetpack
100. Get a bachelor’s degree
101. Get a Master’s degree
102. Get an Education degree
103. Write a book
104. Write a blog
105. Learn to surf
106. Ride a mechanical bull
107. Make a difference in a person’s life
108. Volunteer
109. Create a YouTube video
110. Serve a meal to those w/o on a holiday
111. Teach my child/children to read
112. Teach my child/children to swim
113. Teach my child(ren) to ride a bike
114. Tutor students
115. Kiss the Blarney Stone
116. Attend an NBA game
117. Attend an NFL game
118. Attend an MLB game
119. Coach our child(ren) youth leagues
120. Watch my children be baptized
121. Learn how to use a pottery wheel
122. Carve our names in a tree
123. Visit the Sistine Chapel
124. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
125. Mayan Ruins
126. Inca Trail
127. Eat Kangaroo
128. Japanese Tunnel of Lights
129. Meet Chuck Norris (Ha! Please know this was not my submission.)
130. Visit Normandy Beach

131. Monroe, LA/Duck Commander
132. Scenic tour of the Natchez Trace
133. Mardis Gras in New Orleans
134. Jekyll Island

135. Volunteer in a Children’s Hospital

COUNTRIES:

1. Fiji
2. Canada
3. Mexico
4. Monaco
5. Belize
6. Costa Rica
7. England
8. France
9. Italy
10. Greece
11. Ireland
12. South Africa
13. Australia
14. Brazil
15. Japan
16. Maldives
17. Switzerland
18. Portugal
19. Spain
20. New Zealand
21. Antarctica
22. Turks & Caicos
23. Bora Bora

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

1. Alabama (Obviously. We were born and raised here.)
2. Alaska
3. Arizona
4. Arkansas
5. California
6. Colorado
7. Connecticut
8. Delaware
9. Florida
10. Georgia
11. Hawaii
12. Idaho
13. Illinois
14. Indiana
15. Iowa
16. Kansas
17. Kentucky
18. Louisiana
19. Maine
20. Maryland
21. Massachusetts
22. Michigan
23. Minnesota
24. Mississippi
25. Missouri
26. Montana
27. Nebraska
28. Nevada
29. New Hampshire
30. New Jersey
31. New Mexico
32. New York
33. North Carolina
34. North Dakota
35. Ohio
36. Oklahoma
37. Oregon
38. Pennsylvania
39. Rhode Island
40. South Carolina
41. South Dakota
42. Tennessee
43. Texas
44. Utah
45. Vermont
46. Virginia
47. Washington
48. West Virginia
49. Wisconsin
50. Wyoming

What is on your bucket list? Have you ever created a bucket list with your spouse or significant other? Have ideas that we don’t already have? Please send them to me! I’m adventurous and determined to make my Man of the House that way!! (;

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Travel Bucket List

/ lmbritton1011 / 2 Comments

e0ae0b13fc6271285182d3d2ea7084b9 There are so many places that I want to visit and see. I have created a Life Long Travel Bucket List for myself so that I can keep them in order and prioritize as we plan vacations, etc over the years. I may be 23 years old, but I’m going to need the next 70 years to visit every place (;

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Read more about my travel bucket list over at Alabama Women Bloggers today!

 

Maybe I’m Old Fashioned? Part 1

/ lmbritton1011 / 3 Comments

So, I have recently realized that I am either an old soul or was born in the wrong era. Is there a difference? Ha!

Maybe it is because I am a mother and view the world differently than I probably would as a single-bachelorette-23-year-old. Whatever it is, I find myself wishing that I knew how to do things that probably never cross many American’s minds.

For Example:Sewing. I do not know how to work a sewing machine. Somehow I feel less of a woman because of that. Ha! This seems ridiculous to me because my grandmother and great-grandmother were quilters. Serious quilters. Every child received a hand made quilt for their first Christmas. I also received a hand made quilt for my 18th birthday. During my early childhood, they ALWAYS had a quilt project going on. I don’t particularly want to learn how to quilt as of now, but I cannot even tell you how to work a sewing machine. Embarrassing. So I ordered a desktop sewing machine in order to start learning how to make some pillow case dresses and ruffle pants (like the ones that I refuse to pay someone else $100 a pair of pants for.) FYI, you are free to spend your money however you please, but if you buy your child of any age a pair of pants for $100, I have judged you and will ask forgiveness for it later. I cannot make myself buy my 3 year old toddler clothes that she cannot be a child in. I have better things to do with my time than stress myself out controlling her and making her stay clean because I spent an insane amount of money on her clothes. I’d rather be playing and spilling ice cream with her. (; The thought of $10 worth of material on sale at Hobby Lobby makes me happy!

photo (2)Here is my new sewing machine!
 

I sit here now and wonder how come I never learned how to sew, considering how much my grandmother enjoyed it. Then I remember, it is because my mother and aunt were still around to help with those things; therefore, we were told, “get in the yard and play.” As amazing as that was for our creativity, imaginations, and bonding with cousins… it failed us in the aspect that other than clean house, we never learned domesticated tasks that are probably quite simple. How hard can it be to work a sewing machine? Surely it cannot be that difficult. I just have never been shown how to do it. I am determined to learn how to do this. I consider myself a pretty intelligent person. I’ve lined up a friend who is quite talented with a sewing machine and, after laughing, she agreed to teach me how. I’ll have to practice on a few outfits before I share a final product. (;

 
I am going to do a series of the different things I want to learn how to do that seem like forgotten knowledge or have been made unimportant by such a technology based society. A few future topics will be: canning; gardening; homemade jellies; and homemade biscuits. I may add to that list as I go!

2014 Bucket List

/ lmbritton1011 / Leave a comment

Wow. It truly seems like this past year went by faster than any before. Maybe it was all of the activity that kept us so busy!

This year in 2013 we:

  1. Celebrated our daughter’s 2nd Birthday!
  2. Purchased our first home (yay, no more climbing apartment stairs!)
  3. Participated in a Dragon Boat Race together! (I really wish there was a video.)
  4. Experienced the sudden death of a friend.
  5. Went on a family canoe trip.
  6. Completed an internship while working full time.
  7. I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree!!!
  8. Took our first family trip to the zoo.
  9. Bought a Welsh Pony for our daughter.
  10. Attended monthly youth rodeos for our daughter.
  11. Successfully (we think) planted our first flower bed together!
  12. Welcomed a new niece to the family!
  13. WE GOT ENGAGED!!!
  14. I volunteered to become a Girl Scout troop leader.
  15. Adopted our first Salvation Army Christmas Angel.
  16. Got a 12 week old Miniature Dachshund (long-haired, dapple) puppy for Christmas.
  17. I overcame an iron deficiency after 2 IV iron treatments.
  18. I am still battling an anemia induced B12 deficiency.
  19. Successfully potty trained our daughter. Hallelujah!
  20. Decided on/ purchased our first major appliance together: a Dishwasher.

Of course, we did the celebrating birthdays of multiple family members and friends (trust me when I say MULTIPLE); attended weddings and showers for those getting married; and of course showed up for every holiday get together with both sides of our family.

Did I mention that we have a two year old who has two speeds: asleep and wide open?

Maybe that list does not seem as busy as others, but it was very constant for us. And 2014 already looks busy!

With planning an upcoming baby shower in January for my best friend, a 3rd birthday party for our daughter in February, and then our wedding in October I am already tired. Ha! I feel like I should’ve went into a career involving event planning.

Throughout the last week I have been reflecting on this year, how it has flown by, all of the events coming in 2014, and like most honest people, the things I regret never getting around to or that I had hoped to do. I’ve decided instead of doing “resolutions”, I want us to create a Bucket List for 2014. I don’t want our end of 2014 year reflections to mainly be surviving or going through the motions of life. I want to accomplish more than that. I want us individually and as a family to be more adventurous, dedicated to one another, and accomplish those projects we keep procrastinating. Here are the things we hope to experience and accomplish this year:

2014 Bucket List for Our Family

1. Sky dive. Isn’t this usually on everyone’s “Life Bucket List”? I wanted to sky dive for my 18th birthday, but you had to be 19 without parental consent. There was no way my mother was signing a consent form allowing me to jump from a plane. I want to sky dive this Summer. Obviously, the toddler will have to miss this adventure.

2. Zip line through the mountains. We are going on our honeymoon in Asheville, North Carolina in October and have actually found a place to check this off of the list. Yay!

3. Spontaneous weekend Road Trip. I know that we will be going on our honeymoon in October and need to be budgeting for the wedding, but the honeymoon trip will be made without our daughter. We already missed out on any traveling in 2013 because I used every bit of my vacation and sick time from work to complete my internship. Even if we do a simple Memorial Day weekend trip to stay with friends in Gulf Shores, it will be a needed refresher.

4. Put down electronics and focus more on one another. You can find the inspiration and need for this in a previous post about becoming a Hands Free Mama.

5. Complete major outdoor projects. We really NEED to refinish/refurbish/revamp our storage building and build the pony a stable and put up a fence for her, so that we can bring her home from my in-laws house. She has already eaten a few young tree saplings. (Oops.) And I WANT to plant our front flower bed since we did the back one first. I know that sounds backwards, but the way our house was originally built, the back is the curb appeal view when pulling into the drive way. Hopefully we are going to be here for a few years, so I’m not trying to rush ALL of the projects and to-do lists. If we can get those three things done this year I will just be happy as a lark. (;

6. Survive our wedding. No really. Not because I am a bridezilla and plan to make it a helluva day for everyone, but because I want to hopefully have a stress-free planning/wedding day, and then have a great honeymoon trip. I want to have the plans made without procrastinating so that the day can just flow and happen. Surely that’s what every bride wants, right?

7. Invest more in our relationship. With both of us working full time and having a 2 year old, there leaves little time for the necessity of sleep, let alone time to invest in ourselves and in our relationship the way we should. If there is one thing I want to make a priority this coming year, it is to remember our relationship needs more. Even if we have a low-cost date night just once a month, that will be more than we accomplished in 2013!

8. Practice patience. I want to learn how to practice patience with our daughter as she is learning and growing and changing on us.I don’t want to miss a moment of it.

9. Let Go. Let go of the people and things in our lives that we cannot control and that we cannot continuously please. Letting go of how much effort I put into wanting to achieve an environment of “harmony” or “getting along” with the overly and unnecessarily negative people that are permanent figures in my life is a huge issue of mine. To be such a strong willed, opinionated, and minded person it amazes even me that I have such a problem with this. I cannot and do not want to remove them from my life, but the concern for their happiness/ approval/ “friendship” before my happiness has come to a halt. Hey, lessons have been learned this year!

10. Focus and invest 110% more on my daughter than I already do. I hope that we can develop a schedule of 2 nights a week that are ALWAYS devoted to crafts/ learning/ bible study with her. We already do those things, but this week might be 4 nights a week, next week just once, then 2 weeks might pass until it happens again. I want to get us on a schedule of consistent development and learning time.

11. Learn ABC’s by recognition. This one is for our daughter, as I hope you knew. (; She can singe her ABC’s 50 times in a row and never mess up. But we are still struggling with recognizing a majority of them on sight. By this time next year, I want to have made significant progress on this.

12. Pray more. I believe this is self explanatory. Before making major decisions in our lives, I want us to learn how to pray more and end up stressing less!

13. Live. We both want to learn to let go of obsessing with the little things or the stressors in life. Our daughter spills an entire glass of milk in the kitchen floor because she is truly trying to be a “big girl” and help, hey it is okay. They make towels and napkins for that. Life is about so much more than that.

So how was your New Year’s? Do you have any important resolutions or a bucket list for 2014?

Whatever your new year thoughts and plans are, I hope that you thoroughly enjoy life this year and all it has to offer!

From my family to yours, have a great 2014!