I've been thinking a lot about Life Lists or Bucket Lists (made popular by the Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman movie). With 36 quickly approaching, I'm feeling the pressure to stop talking about certain things that I want out of life and start accomplishing them. If I were to make a Life List or a Things To Do Before I Die List, it would be ridiculously long. So, I decided to start smaller. I've put together a 100 Things to Accomplish Before the Age of 40. With four years ahead of me, I figure I can choose 25 items to accomplish per year. Some are big, some are little - all are important to me (or at least seem very fun!)
The list is divded into categories.
Adventure
1. Indoor skydiving
2. Take a private ski lesson (become proficient in skiing moguls)
3. Take a surfing lesson
4. Add 5 Colorado 14ers to my list climbed (Already climbed: Mt. Elbert, Mt. Lincoln, Mt. Democrat, Mt. Bross, Grays Peak, Torreys Peak, Mt. Bierstadt, Mt. Sherman)
5. Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro
6. Groom a horse
7. Go rapelling
8. Take a winter survival skills class
Family
9. Adopt a dog from an animal shelter
10. Camp with my kids in Canyonlands, UT
11. Take my kids geocaching
12. Create a family journal
13. Go to a sunrise Easter service at Red Rocks
Food
14. Try ten new fruits
15. Try ten new vegetables
16. Make and eat crispy kale
17. Discover what my signature cocktail could be
18. Learn to eat bananas
19. Eat a raw diet for a week
20. Create and perfect an amazing smoothie recipe
21. Cut Diet Coke out of my life completely
22. Make fresh mozzarella cheese
23. Make homemade chocolate covered caramels w/sea salt
24. Make my own croissants
25. Make my own crab bisque (that tastes like restaurant bisque)
Health/Fitness
26. Run a 5K (The last one I ran was in St. Louis in 2000 - 10 years is too long between races)
27. Run a 10K
28. Run a Half-Marathon (Indianapolis Mini-Marthon, 5/7/11 OR Colorado Colfax Half, 5/15/11)
29. Run a Marathon (Rock and Roll Denver Marathon, 10/16/11)
30. Wear out a pair of running shoes
31. Take a Bikram Hot yoga class
32. Complete one full P90x cycle (The farthest I've ever made it without losing interest is 9 days)
33. Lose 20 pounds
34. Get up every day for a month at 5 a.m. to run
35. Do 100 situps a day for one month
36. Take a trampoline class
37. Do a 5 pull-ups
38. Get a facial (Can you believe that I've never had a facial)
39. Swing for one hour straight (I hear it's amazing for the abs. And I love to swing anyway.)
40. Take a trapeze class
Hobbies
41. Sew a skirt that I will wear (Not some jr. high-sewing project-looking thing, but a cute skirt!)
42. Read every classic book
43. Knit a sweater (With all the knitting that I've done, I've never knitted a sweater)
44. Learn how to take great pictures with a good DSLR camera
45. Start playing the piano regularly
46. Become fluent in French
47. Learn conversational Spanish
48. Give only handmade gifts for one year (holidays, birthdays, etc.)
49. Paint a picture to hang in my house
50. Learn to fold an origami rose
51. Eat a fish I caught myself
52. Make a quilt
53. Make my own sugar scrub
54. Try a Glass blowing class
55. Listen to every epidsode of This American Life since it started in 2005
56. Read all of the greatest books ever written
57. Take up cross-country skiing
58. Load all of my CDs onto my iPhone
Personal
59. Have dinner with 5 great friends (Sounds easy, but getting people in one spot is a challenge)
60. Have one date/week for one month with my husband
61. Hear Yo-Yo Ma perform live
62. Get over the guilt that I feel whenever I say "no" to something
63. Establish traditions with my kids/family that will last a lifetime
64. Identify someone who has inspired me the most in your life. Let him/her know this.
65. Connect with 5 teachers from your past schools – college, high school, junior high, etc. Let them know how they have shaped my life.
66. Visit 10 art museums by myself
67. Purchase a print of my favorite piece from each museum
68. Get a second tattoo
69. Organize my house
70. Make or find the perfect perfume that my kids will remember me for
71. Buy the painting I've been eyeing for years
72. Give $10,000 to a charity whose work I find meaningful
73. Figure out a way to raise the money from #72.
74. Bargain for a major purchase and feel confident that I got a good deal
75. Own a bracelet made of sea glass
Travel
76. Go on a meditation/yoga retreat
77. Take a beach vacation with only a swimming suit and sundresses packed
78. Overseas travel (I haven't been overseas since 1997 - it's been too long!)
79. Weekend at a world-class spa
80. New York City Broadway shows weekend
81. Go whale watching in Hawaii
82. Visit Australia
83. Visit Machu Picchu
84. Stay in a lighthouse on Lake Superior
85. See the Northern Lights
86. Stay in an over-the-water bungalow in beautiful Bora Bora in the French Polynesian islands.
87. See Letterman or SNL live
88. See the polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba
89. Camp in a Fire Tower (Spruce Mountain Fire Lookout Towerm, Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming)
90. Hike the Inner Canyon of Black Canyon of the Gunnison
91. Hike The Narrows of Zion National Park
92. Backcountry camp in Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness - Page, AZ
93. Camp at at least ten of Colorado's Top 50 Campgrounds (http://www.greatoutdoors.com/published/colorados-top-50-campsites)
Work
94. Discontinue web design in my business
95. Finish novel #1
96. Finish musical
97. Submit novel to publishers
98. Submit Musical to competition
99. Have at least 5 articles published in new outlets
100. Turn my part-time freelance career into a full-time freelance career after the boys are in school
BONUS ITEM
101. Make a new list to accomplish before I'm 50!!
