To-Be's and To-Do's

Mom and I have talking about the one word we will choose as a theme for our lives in 2008. Mom chose "Vitality" and I think I have finally decided on "Create". Creating moments that I will proudly remember, creating beauty in every space I possibly can, creating gestures of love and acceptance to those who share my life so closely with me and to those who are still strangers, creating art, and creating lasting, deeply rooted relationships. I would like my life to be rich in every way of creating in 2008.

I was just thinking back to my childhood when my grandmother would give my sister and I brand new sketchpads or watercolors and encouraged us to create whatever we could dream up during summer vacation. I remember that Jenny and I loved to sketch designs for elegant evening dresses. However, I never felt that I had true artist talent because my sketched figures had monstrously disproportionate heads to their slender bodies with wide-set eyes and could have been easily cast as the aliens for the movie Independence Day. On the other hand, my sister drew beautiful high fashion, elegant women in flowing dresses that could have walked right off the page and onto the runway. She has always had impeccable talent at sketching and painting. Pure talent.

It wasn't until I started college that I began to realize that art can take so many other forms, and I mustered the courage to buy a sketchbook for myself again. I began to sketch and paint for my own enjoyment and expression. I would make colorful to-do lists with pastels and watercolors. I would even tack them up on my dormroom wall like a proud little kindergartener. :) I've slowly come into the realization that creating can take place on so many levels and one's style is constantly transforming as well as the way one expresses it. I know that I don't have flawless sketching technique, but I do know that I love watercolor pencils, swirling paints together on a wide open canvas, the field of graphic design, and snapping pictures that impeccably capture what I'm so inspired by in that very moment. That's the form that creating has taken in my own life.

Here's my list of must-do's for 2008:

1. The Lang Tang Trek
2. 14-day Trek to Everest Base Camp
3. Visit the Royal Chitwan Park
4. Paraglide at Sarangkot
5. Visit Bhaktapur
6. Paint, journal, and pray in the Garden of Dreams, Kathmandu
7. Run through Asan Tole in the early morning light
8. Watch the sunrise over the Himal from Nagarkot
9. Buy a clunky, cheap bike
10. Visit Bandipur
11. Spend a weekend in Pokhara
12. Visit the World Peace Pagoda
13. Bike to the Tibetan village of Begnas Tal from Pokhara
14. Buy colorful bead necklaces made locally
15. Buy locally grown tea
16. Book a hotel room in Kathmandu once a month
17. Treat myself to a high-end restaurant each month
18. Take a photo everyday. Capture something of beauty each day.
19. Live out the meaning of "Namaste" and truly wish it upon each person I great
20. Strive to take on each piece of the culture in its entirety
21. Set aside time to enjoy the beauty of mornings
22. Enjoy peaceful morning runs
23. Support local initiatives
24. Look deep for creative solutions
25. Cling to Scripture
26. Take a trip all by myself
27. Find more discipline in my life
28. To write everyday, even on a sticky note.
29. To run the San Francisco marathon in November
30. Strive to leave each place I visit better than I found it

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