hello, i'm 26.

If you follow me on any of my various social networks, you know that yesterday was my birthday.

I know you're jealous of my delicious birthday cupcakes (thanks LH!)

I was thinking about making this list of 26 things I want to do while I'm 26, and believe it or not, it's hard to think of 26 things. Then I realized I kind of already did this in my 12 in 12 post (which was excellent, by the way)... so I won't bore you with that again. I will say that some of those things have changed a little, so this is a fluid list.

That's okay.

So instead of giving you a bunch of stuff I've already said before, I'll just add a few things to my list (and maybe reiterate some important points from the original list...).


Things like: 

Say thank you more - in letters, in person, however. Show people I am grateful for them. We don't do this enough.

Run. Seriously, it's going to be that simple. This was on my 12 in 12 but I'm changing it, because I'm not going to put some qualifier of races or pace or whatever. I just want to run. I also want to swim a lot. I have had dreams about swimming lately, so I guess that means I need to go to the pool.

I guess on that note... I will follow my heart. The heart wants what it wants when it wants. Listen to it. Be happy.

Visit a new place. It's going to be a few new places, considering those trips to New Zealand and Australia. I sometimes don't feel like this is real life.

Start my master's degree classes. It's gonna happen. For no reason other than I want to.

Be more mindful of what I'm eating. No, I don't mean go on a diet, and I am not going to give up hamburgers or cheese or cake. I want to be healthy and happy and I don't think those two things have to be mutually exclusive. This really just means eat what I think sounds good but stop before I'm so full I have to unbutton my jeans when I walk in the door.

Read. Look, I can't be the only one with a million books in my house (seriously, I have so many) and I want to read them. I don't have cable anymore. I have time for books.

And because this one is so important (at least to me), I will post it again exactly as I did before:

Be better. Smile more. Be a better friend. Be smarter. Be caring. Be someone that people respect and want to emulate, just because you're you and they like you for it. (That sounds kind of Mister Rogers but I don't care.)

I think birthdays help you to realize how wonderful some of the people are in your life. I have some pretty amazing friends (you guys know who you are) and I think this sentiment from yesterday summarized how lucky I am to have made the friends I have made:

"...Just so you know, I celebrate you every day because you're an awesome woman, person and friend. So I just consider this another normal day of appreciating Lindsay, except now everyone else is doing it too."

I hope you all are lucky enough to have friends that celebrate you everyday for who you are, whether it is your birthday or not.

I will wrap this up with something another friend wrote to me yesterday: 

"Here's to another year of awesome trips, fabulous insights and taking life by the horns."