I celebrated turning 28 last Monday & it is always crazy looking back over the last year & all that it has held, all the good, bad, ugly, wonderful, scary, momentous, & beautiful days that created a year of life, my life. I am so grateful. It has been quite a ride! This last year of being 27 was such a GIFT. I was able to work with some of my absolute favorite special needs students & get them to graduation, I was able to bring our perfect, healthy, adorable MIRACLE of a baby, little miss Cora into this world, I was able to learn how to slackline up at our family cabin in between reading some amazing books including The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas & The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. I was blessed with another report of being CANCER FREE, I am 3 1/2 years clear at this point! Noah & I have gotten some good time together, a weekend away in Santa Cruz, & us as a family have spent a lot of time roadtripping to Oregon & to Southern California & back quite a bit. The girls are roadtrip ROCKSTARS. We have been able to spend time at Disneyland which always results in lots of flights on Dumbo & the “horseys” (carousel), this last summer was full of Pinecrest & cabin time, & this fall has been full of walks together as a family & me stepping into my current role as a stay at home mama. The holiday season is now reaching its end & I have absolutely loved it this year! Being 27 was RAD. Turning 28, according to my dad, sounds “respectable”. I think it sounds even more rad than 27 did! Noah & I frequently comment on how FULL our life has been in the 6 1/2 years we have been married & I am SO happy with that fact! I can only hope that year 28 for me is just as FULL of goodness & life.
With all that said, I thought it would be fun to make a list of 28 things that are good to participate/invest/get involved in/go do. Enjoy!
- The great outdoors.
- Get out there! Go find some local trails & hit ’em up!
- For you in our local area, check out: http://www.hikespeak.com/sierras/tuolumne
- For you in our local area, check out: http://www.hikespeak.com/sierras/tuolumne
- Get out there! Go find some local trails & hit ’em up!
- Local businesses.
- Supporting local is great for the economy, community connections, & just plain nice.
- Reading.
- One of my absolute favorite things to do. It is proven to be a huge benefit for any person, so take the time! It’s worth it.
- Locals, check out:
- One of my absolute favorite things to do. It is proven to be a huge benefit for any person, so take the time! It’s worth it.
- Community theater.
- The arts are thriving, even in small towns!
- Locals, check out:
- The arts are thriving, even in small towns!
- Rec sports.
- Getting to join up on a team (like back in the day) can be rewarding physically as well as build friendships & make connections outside of common circles.
- Find a creative outlet.
- “Most people believe creativity has something to do with the arts. Nonsense. Creativity is everything & should be intertwined in everything we do.” Says my husband.
- Express yourself through words, find a new creative way to cook the same old recipe, find a creative way to walk from your car to your job, organize your closet. Be creative!
- Take a class.
- One of our friends decided to learn the harmonica & is taking classes online, she loves it! I never knew there was so much involved in harmonica playing.
- Take a cooking class, photography class, underwater basket-weaving class, whatever! Besides learning new things, you could find out you have a real talent for something.
- Locals, check out:
- Volunteer.
- This is hugely beneficial for everyone involved! Ask just about anyone who has ever volunteered & see how it has impacted them.
- Church food closets, community thanksgiving meals, classroom helpers, homeless shelters, Operation Christmas Child, blood drives, libraries, the list is endless.
- Learn a new game.
- Pick up a card trick that you can show your kids & wow their friends.
- Buy a new trivia game to play with your family on “game nights” once a week.
- Pay it forward.
- Next time you drive through to get your cup of coffee, anonymously leave money to cover the cost of the coffee for the person behind you in the drive-thru. It will probably be a highlight of their day!
- Show kindness, bless someone, just because. Without getting any credit.
- Go visit a museum.
- Find out what your local museums are & check them out! They can be informative & fun.
- After you’ve checked out your local history, go on day trips, pack a picnic & visit other museums. Presidential museums, art museums, town history museums, etc.
- Play.
- Go build a snowman!
- Pull out your old Star Wars collection or Lincoln Logs & play.
- Just be a kid, no agenda. Enjoy doing something fun, just because.
- Drive to a new state.
- Figure out what states you haven’t seen, make a list & go!
- Start with the ones closest to you & work your way out.
- Disconnect.
- Turn off your cell phone, your TV, your walkman (just kidding), all handheld devices, computers. Take a whole day to just BE.
- Go out & hike, or stay in & read a book (a physical book with pages that you can turn & fold) & maybe just have a candle-lit dinner.
- Go all out & turn off your electricity & use candles, don’t use your microwave & go to bed when the sun goes down.
- We DO NOT disconnect enough. It is healthy to take breaks from the fast-paced, always connected lifestyle we lead in this world today. Treat it like a detox, maybe do a mini disconnect once a week or so. We do this & it is always worth it.
- Mentor someone.
- Start taking a look around the circle of people in your life & find someone younger than you who you could start mentoring, not as a “professional on all things life has to offer”, but rather just using your life as an example for someone to glean some wisdom from. The good & bad.
- Speak life into someone as you spend time with them. ENCOURAGE them & pull the best out of them. We all need advocates & people to believe in us.
- Locals:
- Research both sides of a political issue.
- Get informed on both sides of an issue. Be able to see where both sides are coming from & then hold an intelligent conversation with someone about it.
- Taking the time to form your own opinion after thoroughly becoming informed is much more grounded than basing it off of what everyone else is saying on Facebook.
- Learn a new skill.
- Have you ever wanted to learn how to crochet? Or how to build a bench? Or how to cook ratatouille? What about photography? Go learn how!
- Learning new skills can be intimidating, hard to do at first, but in the end can become really fun hobbies.
- Take someone out for coffee.
- Take someone out for a cup of coffee or tea, just to enjoy it & see how their life is going.
- Do it with no agenda other than spending some undivided attention with someone you care about. Put your cell phone away & don’t watch the clock. Just BE together. Let that time together be your priority.
- Write a letter.
- Go grab some paper from your kiddo’s backpack, or buy some fun stationery. Think of someone that would enjoy a handwritten letter from you, grab a pen & write!
- Sending handwritten letters is not common anymore, which makes it more significant, I think. It takes longer to write a letter then send an email, which makes you think more about what you’re saying. One of my best friends & I have send letters back & forth randomly over the last several years & it NEVER gets old. I bet if you wrote your grandma or grandpa a letter it would be such a gift. So go do it! It only costs a postage stamp to make someone’s day.
- Collaborate with someone to accomplish a common goal.
- When you collaborate with someone, they come up with ideas you may not have had & vica versa. You are able to get further in the process then you would by yourself.
- It promotes teamwork, resourcefulness, brainstorming, creativity & it allows for compromise to name a few.
- For example, team up with your spouse or friend to landscape your property. If you want to start your own business or new venture, sit with a group of people to brainstorm on how to do it & do it well. Plan a trip with someone else where you both have to come up with an itinerary that satisfies both of you.
- Plant a garden.
- Winter or summer, gardens can be had at all times. Even if you have an herb garden inside your home on a windowsill, it is still good to care for plants & watch them grow.
- Learning how to correctly care for plants can teach a person a lot about patience, awareness & shows you the fruits of your labors.
- Locals, check out:
- ucanr.edu/sites/Tuolumne_County_Master_Gardeners/
- Locals, check out:
- Practice joy.
- Intentionally smile at someone & be aware of their reaction.
- Wave at your neighbors as you drive through your neighborhood.
- Make eye contact with people in the grocery store & as you walk past them on the street.
- Be aware of the atmosphere around you & how your presence affects it.
- Be responsible.
- Choose to take responsibility rather than expecting someone else to do it for you.
- For example, pick up the trash you see in a park. When you go see a movie, put your trash in the container instead of leaving it on the ground. Put your bottles & cans in recycling bins.
- Overall, don’t expect others to do what you are capable of doing yourself. “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” -Ghandi
- Dance.
- Let loose! Let your body move. You can do this at home without anyone watching, or you can do it with others.
- Dancing is a great way to laugh, have fun, release energy, create memories, express yourself.
- If dancing is something you’ve never done or are uncomfortable doing, just give it a try! It’s something you may end up enjoying.
- Create something out of recycled material.
- Grab your milk cartons, egg crates, cereal boxes & pasta jars & make something usable or just plain fun.
- Go on Pinterest if you need to find some inspiration.
- It can be really beautiful seeing “trash” turn into something usable/fun. Doing it with your little people can be good in teaching them about being resourceful & creative.
- Break social norms.
- Back in college we took a class where we were asked to “break social norms” & so we went & stood in an elevator…backwards. It was so interesting watching people’s reactions to facing us instead of seeing our backs as we all stared at the door.
- Every culture has social norms & every culture is different. In that, we get so accustomed to the way “we” live that we don’t even think about why we do certain things.
- Go do something out of the norm for your culture! Go stand in an elevator backwards, think of something! It will be great. It’s freeing. Step outside of your comfort zone.
- Be teachable.
- Let yourself be open to receive from others. Don’t just keep your mouth shut if someone is telling you something you don’t agree with, try to listen to what they are saying. Evaluate it. Mull over it. If it still doesn’t agree with you, that is ok. But don’t shut everything everyone else says down immediately, give it a chance.
- Become childlike in your curiosity & desire to learn. Shake the staleness off & go find someone who does something AMAZING & have them teach you how to do it too.
- Glean wisdom. Sit under people who inspire you in different avenues of life. Find out their “secrets” to success & then work on applying them to your own life.
- Practice humility.
28. Find beauty in everyday life.
- Observe people (without being creepy) & find the nuances that make them, them.
- Look at the way buildings are designed, find the beauty in the strength & magnitude of their structure.
- Reminisce on what made you fall in love with your significant other. Think back to the process, what made your stomach flip when you saw them walking into the room, when you first remember the feeling of wanting to be with them forever. The beauty of each step of the process.
- Go on a walk right out your front door. Whether you live in a city, near the beach, in the backcountry or in a neighborhood, just go out & notice the little things. See how nature finds its way into our lives, even if it has to struggle to get there. Listen to the sounds around you. Smell the breeze. (Hopefully that is a good idea.)
- Just take it all in a reflect on the gift of living & how waking up every day is beautiful.
With that, I wish you a HAPPY New Year, a heart of reflection that sees the goodness in your own life this last year & hope for new successes & challenges that bring us higher & make us stronger as we move swiftly through this gift of life. May you be FULL of JOY overflowing. I know I am. My soul knows it full well & I REJOICE! Thanks friends.
Cheers,
Katie.
the jenks tribe 
Hi Katie. I’m enjoying your blogs. I like the 28 ideas…that must have taken some time. Good writing and pictures!
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