Hello and happy birthday to me. [Blogged while wondering if I’m really 27 or actually still 14.] As I get older, the faster my life goes by. I don’t know about you, but routines make it hard for me to find time to try new things. If on a Friday night I feel like I’ve kept my work and personal life balanced for the past five days, I’m ecstatic. But the truth is I usually have clothes all over my bedroom floor, the inside of my car is a disaster and I can already feel my emails piling up at work.

So to keep myself from being sucked into 365 days of routine, I’ve started making yearly bucket lists. “Cool, so like you have a trip to Africa and like buying a house on there or something?” Sure don’t. I have pretty simple to-dos on my bucket list. Go to a drive-in movie, try out a dance class, finish painting the ceramic Mr. and Mrs. Claus my grandparents gave me four years ago. And since I only got 46% of my 2016 bucket list accomplished in a full year (I did the math), simple is clearly all I can handle right now.

But simple isn’t so bad. After all, life’s most memorable moments are often the simple ones. Plus, just making a list helps me keep the idea of doing new things top of mind. And in a life where simple moments fly by, that’s enough to help me appreciate all my life’s to-dos. Big and small.

Cheers to a beautiful 2016 and an even more beautiful 2017.