Like many people, I enjoy Martha Stewart.  I won’t toss my hat into the ring to discuss the expanding network of Martha fans.  I’m actually baffled by how much people like to talk about how hipsters like Martha now, and this group or that group.  I’d tie a bow around that whole conversation topic and add it to the New York Times Magazine‘s “Meh List.”  But I do enjoy her projects, her magazine and hearing her interviewed on the radio.

What I really like about her magazine is her monthly list of things to do.  Making lists resonates with many of us.  I mean, unlike Martha, I’ve never put, “shear the sheep” on any list I’ve ever written, but that sounds really cool.  I also tend to not have my list contained neatly in one monthly at-a-glance.  Typically, I write my list sometimes on the calendar in the kitchen, sometimes on a pad of paper, or the back on an envelope I’ve fished out of the recycling bin.

It all started when I bulk ordered vanilla beans–the desire to create a monthly list.  I put a little reminder on my calendar to order them the next time I made an Amazon purchase. Fast forward 5 minutes, my beans were ordered.  I then made a not to myself to 1) make vanilla, another to 2) check said vanilla in November, still another to 3) package vanilla and finally, 4) mail vanilla to xyz friends for Christmas.* This many stepped, homemade craftiness was mingled with other notes to make yogurt, make brioche dough (another many stepped process) and mail out baby socks and birthday cards.  I thought, well, this is pretty cool.  I  mean, I’m not making bracelets from the hair of my horses, but I like this list, and since I can blog whatever I want, and in the fall all kinds of fun things start to ramp up, I should post my little list like Martha for millions of viewers to check out and maybe be inspired.

* Spoiler alert: some of you are getting vanilla as Christmas gifts…