10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6...

When finding a blog topic is tough, I sometimes make lists about things I want to write about.

Even that didn't work today.

So I'm going to write a post that is a list. A countdown list...

10 Things I'm Thankful For
Ryan
Sundance
My amazing friends
Sunny days in February
Books
Places where books live
My computer (most of my friends live there)
The color yellow
Chocolate (duh)
Merlot (double duh)

9 Places I Want to Visit
The Galapagos Islands
New Zealand
Australia
Puerto Rico
Bruges, Belgium
Machu Picchu
Iceland
Denmark
Whidbey Island, WA (there's a writer's retreat there)

8 Things on My Bucket List
Learn to play my guitar
Finish a book-length manuscript
Publish a book-length manuscript (or, you know, an actual book)
Take Ryan on a Scottish 'highlands and islands' tour
Walk 1000 miles this year (I'd better get off my behind)
Volunteer in Swaziland with my friend Maithri
Spend a month (or 6) in a cottage by the sea
Fit into the 'little black dress' in my closet (before it disintegrates)

7 Qualities I Want in the Next Man I Date
Humor
Intelligence
Social and environmental consciousness
Honesty
A sense of adventure
A love of camping, dogs, and my kid
Supreme kissability (AKA chemistry)

6 Famous Living People I'd Like to Meet
Maya Angelou (so I can show her my tattoo!)
J.K. Rowling (I want to know how she kept all those story lines straight!)
Elizabeth Warren
David Sedaris
Malala Yousafzai
Gerard Butler (I have to meet him in order to marry him... duh)

5 Things I Love to Do
Write
Read
Camp
Swim (and coach my Little Sinkers)
Hang out with my girl and my fuzzy boy

4 Things Guaranteed to Make Me Laugh Out Loud
Farts (I'm an 11-year-old boy at heart... sue me)
Carol Burnett re-runs
The Big Bang Theory
My brown-haired bestie, Mel, and my red-haired bestie, Anne

3 Pet Peeves
People who leave their shopping carts in the middle of the parking lot
People who litter
People who drive on my bumper when I'm going the speed limit

2 Things I Worry About (just two?!)
The fact that we're systematically destroying the planet
Factory farming and the government-sanctioned poisoning of our food supply

1 Thing I Want More Than Anything
The Triple-P (to find my passion, my purpose, and peace)

What's on your list?