My friend Liz and I went out to lunch yesterday at Prune in the East Village. I love my friend Liz like crazy and I hardly ever see her. She lives about half an hour from me. Every once in a while we push, shove everything to the side and hurl ourselves to a restaurant or park bench and eat lunch. Otherwise I would never see her. There’s a lot of things like that–they mean a lot to you, and it feels like there’s a wall of China between you and making it happen, but the truth is, if you just change your schedule for a minute, or find a space you know for sure is legal, you can spend your money on new underwear instead of a parking ticket.

I ordered a skate wing w/capers and lemon and for dessert we split churros w/warm dark chocolate for dipping and she told me that she had recently made a list of the 25 things you would do if time and money were no issue. Number three on her list: knitting Who would make it to 50 she said and not know how to knit if knitting were number three on The List? She took a few lessons, bought some yarn and is now flying at making baby blankets, fingerless gloves and sweaters.
“I could knit you a three family home. I could knit you a whole new head of hair. I can do anything.”
It got me thinking. What’s my List?

1. I have another friend who lives in LA whom I miss like a right arm. I need to see her more. There is a book called the Happiness Project that says one hour of sleep is worth $60,000 to people on the happiness scale. I would rather see my friends than win the super ball or whatever that lotto is called.

2. I want Ferdinand to go to a school he’ll be happy at and thrive in

3. I want a bicycle helmet

4. I would love to not have a dusty, disorganized house and I would love to not be the one cleaning it. Ever. I hate cleaning, I am terrible at it, and I’ve done my time.

5. I want a paid creative staff for dinnerlist.com

6. I want a paid production team for dinner confidential

7. I want to learn more Italian

8. I want to have more people for dinner. (I get really nervous inviting people over–I worry that my house isn’t clean enough–the truth is it’s not that bad if you shove everything in the cabinets and they’re only here for a limited amount of time, what do they care?)

9. I want to have potlucks

10. I want to learn to be a relaxed mother (I’m not sure there’s hope for this but I’m writing it down anyway.)

10a. I wish I had a new skirt and underwear a person could be proud of