Winter Inspiration

Forgot to hit publish on this one, so it's a little late.  It's still winter, right?



It's a new season, which means it's time for a new list of things I'd like to accomplish in the next few months!

Here is the list, in all its winter-time glory:

Some of these inspiration items seem a little cliche and easy, especially the last one, but we take simple things for granted sometimes and don't stop, take a breath, and really enjoy them.  Here's what we'll be doing this season:

• Drink a caramel apple spice: I mentioned before that there are 2 hot drinks I can tolerate - pumpkin spice latte and caramel apple spice, both from Starbucks.  The caramel apple spice is a perfect sweet treat at the end of a cold day, or a perfect pick-me-up when the 2:30 blues hit at work :)
• Conquer potato soup: My mom used to make potato soup in the crock pot whenever we had snow days from school, or cold, lazy weekends with no errands or obligations.  It reminds me of home and those easy kid days where your biggest care is homework and which pair of Jams you'll wear that day.  Those were the days! Anyways, I've tried to make her potato soup, and failed.  Hers is a creamy, spicy collection of flavors, and mine was salty mush.  BLECH!  So I am determined to master it.  
• James Center: This is a Richmond tradition, where all the big banks and hotels downtown are decorated for Christmas, and a few of the courtyards are filled with lit Christmas trees and deer!  It's so festive and I dare anyone to come away without feeling the Christmas spirit!
• Star Wars marathon: Anyone who knows Dave knows he's obsessed with Star Wars!  Not in the Stormtrooper-costume-wearing-at-ComicCon kind of obsessed, or the internet-forum-arguing-whether-Han-shot-first kind of obsessed, but he loves these movies and whenever they're on TV, the channel does not change.  Usually when I walk into the room and see one of them on, I moan and promptly turn around, but I feel I need to throw him a bone and sit down to pay attention to the movies.  Who knows, maybe it'll be like Harry Potter and I'll end up liking them?
• Lazy snow day: I'm not holding my breath for this one.  We've had 1 night where the temperature dropped below freezing, so I'm not sure snow is in the cards this year :(
• Make a wedding Christmas ornament: I made one for my brother-in-law and his wife, and now I want my own :)
• Carillon and dinner: There is absolutely no excuse for the fact that I haven't visited the Carillon in the 7 years I've lived here.  It's time to change that.  It's also time to finally visit a restaurant we constantly talk about patronizing, but never do.
• Complete 3 projects inspired by Pinterest: I thought about committing to specific projects, but I'm going rogue instead!
• Vist Edgar Allan Poe museum: Another place I should have visited by now and haven't. 
• Finish wedding scrapbook: Should read "begin wedding scrapbook" :)  The only progress made so far is purchasing the album, paper, and some accessories.  I've put no thought into which pictures to include, but Bonnie, Crystal, and I are working on planning a scrapbooking day which will give me a deadline to pick/order pictures.  I need deadlines.
• Read 3 non-textbook books: This one didn't go so well in the Fall, and I had to sorta cheat and read a 22-pager.  Hopefully I won't slack off the same way this time :)
• Make a snow globe: I can thank Taylor Swift for this one.  And Pinterest.  How cool is it to make your own snow globe, where you can control what goes into it and which color glitter floats around?  Yes please!
• Watch "A Christmas Story": This one's the easy, cliche one.  Sometimes it's nice to watch "A Christmas Story" deliberately because it's a great movie, not just have it on in the background while wrapping Christmas gifts...but that's fun too :)

Dang, that's a long list!  Here's hoping we can tackle it all, while managing work and school at the same time! :)  Remind me why I changed it from a bucket list, where items must be checked off, to an inspiration list, which is more casual.  I'll forget and stress myself out to fulfill "lazy snow day" even if we have no snow.  Just shake me and snap me out of it, k?