Traces of Me

For whatever reason Pax found himself looking at my artwork on my website and naturally followed the "not-so-subtle trail of blogs by Drea". He ended up at an old blog which I used to keep faithfully before and after we were newly married. I was quite surprised that this blog had survived my all or nothing habit of deleting a blog when I no longer used it. I'm glad it did, though, because I have always ended up regretting deleting content from the past. No matter how embarrassing.

So, I curiously followed his path and found myself reading through the archives of this blog. The words aren't so bad, but nearly all the art I posted there is cringe-worthy on a high level. I'm just grateful people continued to encourage me through all of it. ;)

By far the most fascinating thing I found was a list I made March 10, 2011 of things I wanted to accomplish in five years.

Here it is with commentary from today. ;)

01. Start a great story
(I have started a lot of stories, but I don't think I've started a "great" one yet.)

02. And finish it
(This is still something I haven't done, even with my mediocre stories.)

03. Have a baby
(I find this particularly comical/snarky because when I wrote this list, I would have recently learned that I was pregnant with our first child who would be born in October. Also, I have not only had one baby in five years, but two.)

04.  Finish 5 books from the library
(Nope.)

05. Read 12 books or more in 365 days
(I have definitely done this. Almost every year.)

06. Dance like a wild woman in a downpour
(I still think this is a great goal and I still have a year to do it.)

07. Sew something that I can wear
(YES! I have done this.)

08. Learn to cook 5 great meals that my family will beg for
(I have learned to cook a lot of things, but probably only two that my family "begs" for. Although, that's an exaggeration.)

09. Play the cello
(Yes, I have played my cello, but not nearly enough.)

10.  Paint a picture on a canvas that is bigger than me (wall maybe?)
(Sadly, no. Those canvases are expensive. And where the heck would I put something that big? We'll see.)

11. Leave the country
(Not yet. :c )

12. Go a week without cell phone/internet
(I'm not sure on this one. Probably not since the original post in 2011, though. Something to consider.)

13. Paint portraits of all of my loved ones
(I love that I made this resolution. I have nearly done it, but I'd like to start again.)

14. Go to Disneyland
(No.)

15. Fill a home with love and color
(We're almost there.)

16. Have an art studio with blue walls
(I do not have an art studio yet and when I do, the walls won't be blue.)

17. Learn how to make Hawaiian pizza
(Check!)

18. Cut video game out of my life completely
(I have almost done this one. I have certainly cut out the destructive ones from my own life and only play VERY occasionally. I'm very proud of this. I find it extremely fascinating that I posted this four years ago because since then I have had periods of time when I have played A LOT of video games.)

19. Sell 5 things I’ve made
(This felt like a HUGE leap for me at the time, and it's very strange to think how MANY things I've sold to people since.)

20.  Try Yoga.
(I love yoga!)