My Winter Bucket List

There’s 2 weeks left until Christmas! Technically, winter has not graced us with its presence, however LA will be receiving its first storm tomorrow. Thank God. In the age of the “Buzzfeed list” and following Unbrave Girl’s hilarious suit, I have decided to make a winter bucket list of my own.

1. Enjoy Neighborhood Christmas Lights 

I’ve probably done this activity twice in my life. And it’s cheesy as all get out. But I feel like nothing kicks off the holiday spirit more than seeing other people waste a vast amount of electricity on their lawns to compete with their neighbors and make strangers feel gooey and lovey inside. Seriously? I. Love. It. It will be my first time going to Candy Cane Lane this year and I hear it’s one of the best light displays around.

2. Play in the Snow

In SoCal, surfing is a religion. But what people don’t often think of when they picture California, is the amount of people who trek to the mountains for their annual dose of snowboarding and/or skiing. These activities are great, except that I’m an old fogie with bad knees who has to hit the lodge cafeteria after 3 hours. Or I fall a lot and cry.

This year, I want to build a snowman (Frozen, anyone?) and ride down a huge hill on an uncomfortable plastic sled. Maybe peg Kevin with a snowball or two because who says romance is dead?

3. Travel

I’m sure you’re thinking, “Isn’t this a travel blog? Shouldn’t you constantly be on a new vacation?”

Well. Being engaged has many perks. Having spare cash to travel is not one of them. Since Kevin and I have been wedding saving, we’ve had no fun (unless you count sitting on the couch binging on Netflix on a Saturday night because I do). However, if I could get on a plane this holiday season, it will be well worth the crossing off the bucket list.

But speaking of wedding planning… (smooth segueway)

4. I Need to Take Wedding Planning Seriously

My friends and family know me as slightly messy with a bit of a procrastination streak. While I call this lifestyle “creative chaos”, Kevin likes to call it “stress” or “anxiety”. This creative chaos applies to just about anything, but especially wedding planning.

Let me explain… First you look at wedding dresses and decide you hate tulle. But this is stressful, so you move to invitations and you spend 4 hours deciding if you like the burgundy invitations vs. the eggplant invitations. But to hell with it, let’s just do cream and lilac. Then you decide to pinterest ideas and, oh wait, tulle is actually really pretty and you decide you love tulle again. And then you go over your invite list again and realize you really don’t want your cousin’s flavor-of-the-month boyfriend to come, which will cause hysteria so you put the list away. And finally you come back to your senses and realize tulle is stupid. So the creative chaos ensues where I take on every project at once and ditch the decision making halfway, leaving me with half-fulfilled plans.

BUT NOT MORE! This season, and I’m using this blog to hold me accountable, I will hire at least 1 vendor and maybe put a dress on hold. But first, the Save the Dates.

5. DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!

Fake snow? Fancy outfits? HOT CHOCOLATE!? Need I go on…?

6. Volunteer

”Tis the season of giving and I realize my philanthropy has been slightly lacking. I try to give back every other month in some way, but damn that Netflix and its influence on my procrastination!

After watching The Walking Dead for 3 days straight, I realized I need to do some good in the world before the inevitable apocalypse comes and I’m dead and eating everyone. Some of the organizations I plan on checking out are Tree People and One Voice, as well as revisit Best Friends Animal Society.

7. Go Ice Skating

It sounds like a good idea, right? Go to a small ice covered in holiday chachkies. Pay upwards of $20 to rent ice skates for an hour. Enter the child-filled rink and lose your balance as a 12 year old whizzes past your wobbly, silly-putty legs. After you get the hang of it, make a couple of rounds and realize you’re over it after about 25 minutes.  Sounds glorious right?

And despite my sarcasm, I really hate missing out on it. Unless I cross off number 2 on my list, its hard for us Angelenos to feel the true winter spirit. Therefore, skipping ice skating around this time of year is sacrilegious.

8. Do Nothing

This isn’t new, actually. After a 12 hour work day, I might follow up with sitting on my couch for another 12 hours the following day. But then the guilt sets in. “Omg, you totally could have cleaned the kitchen, or write a blog post, or cleaned the litter box, or put on some pants”.

But this time, I want to be mindful and actually experience relaxation. So I guess when I say do nothing, I mean do nothing with purpose. No regrets!

9. Paleo Paleo Paleo!

About a year ago, I used to be a hardcore cavewoman following a fairly strict Paleo regimen. This lasted for a good 8 months before I went of the deep end and ate every pizza, candy, and ice cream cone in sight.

This year, I know where I went wrong and know what needs to be tweaked. My strict eating habits weren’t sustainable for long term health and now I’ve created a war in my body causing my “abs” to disappear and my skin to malfunction completely. I’ve learned to insert the healthy where I can and not feel like a jerk pig when I can’t. This season, it’s all about the Paleo Christmas dessert substitutions!

10. String Popcorn and Hang it on the Tree

I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do this! There’s no reason I haven’t strung popcorn other than I just keep forgetting about it. So if I write it down, I will accomplish it. Hoorah!

Anything else I need to add to the list? Comment below!