Ep 116: From Quickies to Bucket List 'Minis' with Lori Blachford

Sometimes life gets so full of hard that you forget you're even allowed to want something light. That's where Lori Blachford found herself after seven years of caregiving and loss, and it's what led her to start snatching up small, slightly unpredictable experiences just to feel alive again.What started as "bucket list quickies" got a necessary rebrand and became bucket list minis, a practice of saying yes to the weird, doable, low-stakes things right in front of you and building a list of things you've already done instead of things you're still waiting to get to. In this conversation, we talk about blacksmithing classes found on Craigslist, piano lessons that may or may not summon Elton John, and a garage that somehow contains both hot steel and denture molds. But underneath all of it is something I think a lot of people will recognize.Topics Covered:How seven years of caregiving led Lori to the idea of bucket list minis.Why minis are opportunities you snatch up, not goals you write down and wait on.Ross Gay's Book of Delights and how it shaped Lori's thinking about everyday joy.The piano lesson that may or may not have summoned Elton John.How Lori's brother with Down syndrome was already living the mini philosophy before she had a name for it.What it feels like to build a list of things you've already accomplished.Holding joy and grief at the same time, and why that's not overindulgent.Here are some actions you can take, whether you have 5 minutes or 50:If you have 5 minutes, check out the article that Lori wrote for dsm magazine:https://dsmmagazine.com/2026/01/13/think-small/If you have 50 minutes, brainstorm a short list of 5 minis you could snatch up in your own life. Remember, don’t overthink it and don’t try to make it something grand or overly time-consuming. The point of the whole exercise is to simply let yourself try something new. Just go do it!Connect with Lori!Lori Blachford is a journalist whose words have carried her from news reporting to magazine editing, from grant writing to ghost writing, from marketing to community building, from corporate to academic to nonprofit work. In other words, she can write her way out of (and, more often, into) anything. She is the former Chair of Magazine Journalism at Drake University and a current second-grade reading mentor at Howe Elementary School in Des Moines, Iowa. Email: [email protected] ______________________Contact French Kissing Life PodcastDM us at @shawnnarstiver on Instagram or FacebookConnect with Shawnna Stiver on LinkedInEmail us at [email protected] Until next time, muah! ______________________French Kissing Life is sponsored by Ampersand Copy and Content. Ready to convert browsers into buyers? If you want to master your messaging, stand out in a saturated market and become a crushed-on, go-to brand, contact us today!Website: https://ampersandcopyandcontent.com/Email: [email protected]