My Bucket List

Recently, two of my dear friends (shout out to Em & A!!) created 40 x 40 lists, a list of 40 goals they want to achieve before they hit that milestone birthday.
At my “advanced” age, it’s too late for me to create a list like theirs, but it’s never too late to set goals (right?). They don’t have to be life-changing goals, they can be practical (one of my friend Emily’s goals is to get new storm windows); or they can be educational (my friend Amanda has a goal of reading five biographies); community-oriented (volunteering); or fun (traveling, trying new things). The options are only limited by your imagination! (Ok, and in reality, your wallet.)

Here’s my own bucket list, to be completed before I kick the bucket (which hopefully won’t be for a long, long, very long time):

1. Go on a family trip to Disney (preferably for Adam's 11th golden birthday)

2. Volunteer!

3. Learn more about our family tree 

4. Go somewhere warm in the winter before 2020 (Jamaica? Costa Rica? The Dominican?). *I would love for this to happen in 2017, but realistically—if we're buying a house (and possibly going to Disney in 2018)—we gotta ration the greenbacks.   

5. Grow a vegetable garden and eat tomatoes all summer long 

6. Go to Australia with Aaron

7. Visit all 50 states

8. Do the Polar Plunge

9. Get a couples’ massage

10. Run a half marathon

11. Swim with the dolphins

12. Go geocaching as a family  

13. Adopt a shelter animal (cat)  

14. Adopt a shelter animal (dog) *yes, I would love to have one of each.

15. Camp in the Boundary Waters

16. See Aurora Borealis

17. Go to Oktoberfest in either New Ulm or Lacrosse (but probably not in Munich, Germany, although that would be amazing)

18. Go skinny dipping at night

19. Hike in the mountains

20. Become friends with our neighbors! 

21. Own a kayak and a decent road bike    

22. Take a long-distance trip by train and experience what it's like to dine in the dining car and sleep in a sleeper car.

23. Stick to a disciplined budget. Use more coupons. Be more mindful of purchases.

24. Come to peace with my body.

25. Buy a high-end designer brand leather bag/purse (but find a good deal, because #23)

26. Break 160 in bowling (my current high score)

27. Bake something complicated and take pride in it actually turning out!

28. Start a once-a-month meal tradition (pizza night? Taco night? Cereal night? ha ha ha) and a 10th birthday tradition for the boys.

29. Step outside of my comfort zone and take on new challenges.

30. Kiss in the rain

31. Host a murder mystery dinner party

32. See a concert at Red Rocks

33. See Justin Timberlake perform 

34. See a Springsteen show

35. See Pink, Katy Perry, or Lady Gaga 

36. See a good country music band at an outdoor festival 

37. Try stand-up paddleboarding

38. Buy everyone’s meal at a restaurant (everyone dining with me at my table, not, you know, everyone in the entire restaurant)

39. Make a bowl on a pottery wheel

40. Take the boys to a drive-in movie

41. Read more classic literature!

42. Play bingo in a bingo hall

43. Attend a pig roast

44. Give blood

45. Take a CPR class  

46. Plant a tree

47. Send a care package to a soldier

48. Attend a luau

49. Go on a sailboat

50. Learn how to salsa, tango, or samba

51. See Wicked, The Lion King, or Book of Mormon on Broadway

52. Walk the Freedom Trail in Boston

53. Sample wine in Napa!

54. Tour the caves at Carlsbad Caverns National Park

55. Visit Zion National Park in Utah

56. See a bluegrass band in North Carolina

57. Go to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta  

58. Participate in NaNoWriMo

59. Learn all 10 constellations

60. Release sky lanterns

61. Celebrate our 50^th wedding anniversary