This month, over my birthday weekend in fact, I’m going to attend the Mighty Summit in the Russian River Valley, outside of San Francisco. To say I’m excited doesn’t cover it. A small, hand selected group of some of the smartest women in social media for a weekend of brain trusting and pampering? Yes, please.
Part of the deal with the Mighty Summit is coming up with a Life List. You know, like a bucket list only less grim. I have lists covering every aspect of my life, including a pretty basic list of places I want to travel before I die. But things I want to experience, talents I want to acquire? Nope. I have nothing of the sort.
So here, in front of everyone, is my Life List.
100 things I want to do before I die
- Live in Europe
- Learn to properly fishtail french braid my daughter’s hair
- Ride my horse bareback
- Swim in bio-luminescence
- Learn to surf. On a long board.
- Visit Hawaii. Stay in a hotel close enough to the ocean to hear the waves crash.
- Make crescent dinner rolls that rival those of my mother
- Have a dress custom made for me by a designer I love
- Ride a bike across the Golden Gate Bridge
- Publish articles for well known magazines
- Write a book. A good one.
- See aurora borealis from Alaska
- Attend a World Cup soccer game
- Go to fashion week. As a fashion reporter.
- Spend time in Greece
- Collect sea glass from 50 beaches
- Design a line of clothing for women sizes 10-14. Cute, stylish clothes.
- Attend the Tomatina food fight in Spain
- Finish a sprint triathlon
- Own a sports car
- Stay on a Caribbean island with my family
- Commission a painting of my children from an artist I love
- Own an original painting by Brian Kershisnik
- Get a tattoo {sorry mom!}
- Name an O.P.I. nail polish color
- Have sex with my husband on a beach
- Be in better shape at 40 than I am at 32
- See both of my children married
- Take a sleeper train across Europe
- Become fluent in Spanish. Again.
- Trace my husbands’ Eastern European genealogy
- Visit my grandmother’s childhood town in Iowa
- Ride a street car in San Francisco
- Attend an honest-to-goodness movie premiere
- Earn enough money to sustain my family on my own
- Read every book in my home library
- Go behind-the-scenes at the Monterey Bay Aquarium
- Have one massage a month for an entire year
- Visit every one of the bridges my grandfather designed
- Stay in Martha’s Vineyard
- Visit Cape Cod
- Own a pair of obscenely expensive shoes
- Drive a race car around a track, un-throttled
- Attend a Christmas Mass in Poland
- Meet David Sedaris
- Go on a cruise
- Fly Virgin Atlantic and sleep in a horizontal bed while flying across the Atlantic
- Become a talented photographer
- Spend an entire day at a spa, get every treatment available
- Eat lunch at a Parisian cafe
- Be an instrument in raising awareness of, and finding a cure for Lupus
- Renovate my kitchen
- Travel to every state in America
- See the ruins in Guatemala
- Visit the rain-forest in Belize
- See an elephant in the wilds of Africa
- Graduate from college
- Wear a ball gown. To an event of importance.
- Drive down PCH with my husband and kids
- Sleep in a castle
- Knit a sweater
- Own a stock portfolio
- Buy a house
- Learn to hip hop dance. Properly.
- Spend a day in a fashion house
- Own a horse
- Meet the Dixie Chicks
- Sleep on a warm beach
- Stay for the weekend on Ree Drummond’s ranch. No pressure Ree, I swear!
- Get 50 stamps on my passport
- Hear Cat Stevens perform live
- Take an art class
- Sleep naked
- Marry my soul mate
- Overcome my fear of open water
- Visit the Louvre
- Understand math. Specifically calculus.
- Become a mother
- Go running in Central Park
- Make a documentary
- Follow a sewing pattern all the way through, make something I’d actually deem wearable
- Learn to play the guitar
- Go scuba diving in warm ocean water
- Visit New England in the fall
- Take piano lessons
- Dance at a European discotheque
- Take professional makeup lessons at a M.A.C. store
- Run through the alps
- Canoe down the Amazon river
- Launch a cosmetics line
- Have lunch with Meg Cabot
- Teach my children how to serve
- Visit Stonehenge
- See a flying fish {Catalina Island Summer 2009}
- Feed a whole chicken to an alligator
- Take a boat tour of Venice, Italy
- Have an enormous, blow-out 40th birthday party
- Scuba dive to the ruins of a sunken ship
- Dye my hair Blond
- Go whale watching in a kayak
- R.V. across the United States with my kids
Do you have a Life List? I’m not kidding, this one took me five days to come up with. I didn’t take it lightly, I really pondered things I want to get accomplished in this life of mine. There’s really something to writing something down, committing it to memory and promising yourself you’ll get it done. 100 things really affords you the indulgence of dreaming big.
Do it, do it now. And tell me, what would you put on your life list?
Allison
I'm Allison, founder and editor of Petit Elefant. I run the gamut from granola to glamour and love everything in between. I think the beach is always a good idea, as is Diet Dr. Pepper; on ice. Sometimes I put out the fires and sometimes I start them. Sometimes I really do have it all together. Sometimes my children say otherwise. We just like to keep it real around here.
Looks like a great list. Tells us a lot about who you are by what you want to do. What town in Iowa was your Grandma from? I might have been there once.
Boone. She talked about it all the time.
I lived near Boone! It’s near Ames. I think they were even in our ward at church. We went to a drive-in once and it was either in Boone or Nevada. Fun!
You need one more item you doubled up on the 50 passport stamps… I love how you included things you have already accomplished … It makes the list more real over a time span
Aaack! Darn, now I’m going to have to think of another one!
I don’t have a life list, but I do have a 23 things to do before I turn 23!
by the way… Sleep naked! It is the best feeling ever!
I think that’s fantastic. I did the same thing when I turned 30.
Planning to sleep naked very soon!
I have a 40 x 40 list. http://mooshinindy.com/2010/08/15/forty-by-forty/
And I can help you with that photography one. And the crescent rolls. Have you been to Indiana? We have a big race track here, I hear it’s the biggest in the world. Four birds? One stone? Plus you get to see me.
I love the list. 40×40 is muy smart. See? Already working on my Spanish.
I have NOT been to Indiana, and my brother lives there. Seems like I need to take a trip. I’m not kidding, I want your help with photography. And driving at the Indianapolis 500.
oh that’s not asking for much at all! :) but definitely makes for an exciting life.
The first one on my list would be to meet Harry Connick Jr. (I have my priorities)
Well, I didn’t so much meet Harry as stand a few feet from him at his performance for BlissDom in Nashville. He’s cute in person.
I know, it’s a lot, but I intend to make them all happen.
:)
Well, my dear, if you’re headed to Indiana, you must stop by to see me too :)
THEN, when I visit you I can accomplish one on my list.. ride a horse {not like a pony, a HORSE}
I have several of the same as your list, but most important to me recently has been to visit my husbands home town, in Eastern Europe. {maybe skip over to Poland too :)
I didn’t know you lived in Indiana! Come ride Reuben anytime you want. Where is your husband from in Eastern Europe? I’m dying to go.
From Bosnia, his town is still war torn, but is looking better everytime we get to see new pics. My kids are learning the language {which I am excited about}, and I have be “dying” to ask you a couple questions too… do your kids know any of their dad’s language?
Oh, one of my best friends in high school came to the U.S. from Bosnia! I hear it’s beautiful and doing so much better.
My kids are so so with the language, but we’re working on it. I don’t want it to be lost!
I had been thinking about this very subject for a while now. I actually have a list and I posted it on my blog…http://stwarnercorner.blogspot.com/2010/09/100-things-to-do-before-i-die.html. I just love ya! You are my blogging idol!
Tami, you’re always so nice to me!
I want a tummy tuck too, and and and you HAVE to get a nursing degree. Do it!
Wow. You’ve totally inspired me to write my own list! Number 51 on your list made me realize something I’d like to accomplish…to write articles, give speeches and raise awareness of two things. First, organ donation. I’ve had 2 liver transplants and would love to pass on my own experiences. If I could inspire just one person to check the organ donation box on their license, my mission would be accomplished. And second, premature births. My daughter was born at 25 weeks and I would love to pass on what I learned from the experience.
It might be difficult to limit my list to only 100. I might struggle with that one or it may be one of those lists that is constantly “in progress”. Thanks for giving us a glimpse at your hopes and dreams!
Organ donation is close to my heart too Ali. I think if you accomplished nothing else in your life but raising awareness of it, and encouraging more people to donate, you’d change a lot of lives.
p.s. I think my list might go up to 125 by the end of the weekend.
Oh my gosh, I adore your list. Many, many are must-do’s for me too. Most importantly, when your meet Mr. Sedaris can I come along? He is my favorite!
(P.S. Tackling grammar is on my future list. How do you spell must-do’s?)
Marianne, isn’t he brilliant? Brilliant. Everything he writes makes me think. Love him.
Great list! Man, it might take me 2 weeks to put 100 things down. I need to do it soon!
It might. Mine took me forever, but you absolutely have to do it. And make sure surfing is on there somewhere!
Awesome list. You’ve never slept naked? Do it tonight and cross it of girl!
I am writing a children’s book about Christmas in Poland. It will be out in 6 weeks. Eeek. One of my things on my life list. Crossing it off when I see it in print.
I think I might! We’ll see…..
So exciting that you’re writing a book! I can’t wait to see the finished product. Congratulations.
I love the ‘so far’ part of the life list. Mine stands at 78 and I keep thinking of new things even as I’m crossing things off. I love the life-list strategy because it allows me to keep reviewing all the things I want to do, but also because the satisfaction of doing those things is compounded by the satisfaction of crossing off lists. http://ontheintarwebs.blogspot.com/
P.S. You can feed a whole chicken to an alligator at the Sriricha Tiger Zoo in Thailand and it costs $1.50 and is WELL WORTH IT. The entire Tiger Zoo is worth going to Thailand for. Doooo it.
I agree wholeheartedly. I think part of the fun is that it’s a work in progress, and I keep thinking of new things all the time.
I cannot believe you can actually feed a chicken to an alligator in Thailand. I knew I needed to go there for some reason or another……..
Mine is here http://elzabelz.blogspot.com/2010/03/life-list-version-1.html I’d definityely add the bioluminescent plankton-too cool!
What a great life list! I forgot all about Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, that would take up at least another 5 on my list right there…..
Just when you thought you knew a person, love your attitude! Just before going in the Navy many years ago, my Mom asked me 1 thing, don’t get a tattoo, so far I haven’t, anyway, my big one is to ride a motorcycle the length of the Pan-American Highway, Alaska to Chile.
Holy cow Dave, that would be amazing. I’ve had friends do the length of the U.S. which would be amazing, but man, all the way down to Chile! Do it.
Yep. Got mine – though not completed. I wanted to leave some room for the “oh, yeahs!” and the “OMGs!”
http://www.outsidevoice.net/2010/03/the-life-list/
I have racing on mine, too – have you looked at Bonduran in California? ;)
I think that’s the beauty of putting the “so far” at the end of my list. I don’t know what I might come up with in the future!
I clearly need to check out Bonduran if they do car racing for average people! Thank you.
I have a house on Martha’s Vineyard. Yes, really.
Just throwin’ that out there.
Umm Heather? I might totally take you up on that. For real.
Wow! What a great list! I came up with a similar list, 101 in 1001, but I am inspired by your life list to dream even bigger and compile a list. I think I will start working on it and see what I come up with. I might steal a few of yours, if that’s ok?! :)
And, I agree with the others, you really do need to sleep naked! It’s so comfortable and freeing!
Please, absolutely take from mine. And dream really big in some of them, you might surprise yourself with what’s possible. It’s a really inspiring thing to do. Post it somewhere you’ll see it all the time when you’re done.