Friday, May 20, 2016

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 50th wedding anniversary





2 comments:

A. said...

i know a house that's going to be for sale where it would be REALLY easy to "be friends with your neighbors." :)

Great list!! I love many of these ideas - I hope you accomplish every single one. Start with the couple's massage. You both deserve that ASAP!

I also recommend Coach. Jon got me my Coach purse 3.5 years ago. I use it every day and it's still in great condition. That means cost per use so far is less than 20 cents a day!

Em said...

I love this list! These are great goals. I agree with A. about Coach. They last forever.

Also, can I come to your murder mystery dinner party? That sounds like so much fun.