My life list

My Life List was first committed to writing in September 2011, inspired by Maggie and in preparation for Camp Mighty, though for as long as I can remember, I’ve kept a mental tally of “things I want to do someday”. It is a constantly shifting, brutally honest accumulation of my goals and dreams – both big and small. Having this list has inspired me to be, make, and do more than I ever accomplished before putting it into words. It unlocked me.

If you’d like to help me meet of my goals, hit me up! I’d love to hear from you. And if you don’t have your own life list yet, what’s stopping you?

    1. cultivate and maintain an herb, sprouts, and veggie garden
    2. learn to compost and make it a practice
    3. learn to run, and run a 5k
    4. Do the Run for Your Life Zombie 5k in 2012
    5. run a 5k without stopping
    6. run a 10k
    7. establish a meditation practice
    8. know the sources of our meat
    9. replace grocery store shopping with farmers market/independent butchers
    10. exercise habitually
    11. quit diet coke, replace it with water and tea
    12. cut back on processed foods
    13. write a book proposal
    14. get a book deal
    15. write my book
    16. publish my book
    17. book a segment or appearance on national programming as BAB
    18. attend TED
    19. climb machu picchu
    20. sail the greek isles and eat saganaki there
    21. throw a proper greek easter feast for my los angeles family
    22. do karaoke in tokyo
    23. learn to exercise moderation in my vices – {ongoing}
    24. visit bob marley?s home / smoke a spliff at his grave in jamaica
    25. pay off my student loans
    26. volunteer regularly
    27. take a private cooking class with and/or have dinner with Rick Bayless
    28. write $1m check to charity for auto-immune disease research
    29. remove money as a concern
    30. create an office space that cradles and inspires me
    31. experience pregnancy and childbirth
    32. attend a yoga retreat
    33. practice living in the moment, not focused on the outcome – {ongoing}
    34. rent a beach house in SoCal for a month in the summer, have a party every weekend
    35. re-learn to use a sewing machine
    36. become organized and learn to love it (or at least maintain it) ? {in process}
    37. own a brand new car
    38. establish my personal brand {that’s this blog!}
    39. hear a live symphony perform Vivaldi?s Four Seasons
    40. attend Loy Krathong, the sky lantern festival in Thailand
    41. set foot on all 7 continents
    42. set foot in all 50 states
    43. move my parents to SoCal in retirement
    44. wear a bikini in public with confidence
    45. hug a koala bear in Australia
    46. rescue my next dog from the street or shelter (or rescue a retired greyhound)
    47. get confident in photoshop
    48. spend a day at a spa in Bali
    49. meet and thank Anthony Bourdain for his inspiration
    50. eat at Per Se in NY
    51. see Peter Gabriel perform live
    52. see David Byrne perform live
    53. see Elton John perform live
    54. see Don Henley perform live
    55. see Sting (or The Police) perform live
    56. See Epik High perform live
    57. experience my natural hair color
    58. meditate in an ashram in India
    59. have dinner with Ina Garten
    60. volunteer at a no-kill shelter or with newborn babies at hospital
    61. take an african dance class
    62. take a bollywood dance class
    63. buy spices at a Moroccan bazaar
    64. stay the night in a castle, preferably haunted
    65. drink a guiness in ireland
    66. look for nessie in scotland
    67. see Edgar Oliver perform live
    68. picnic on a volcano in Hawaii
    69. do the ?Lost? tour in Hawaii
    70. produce a film
    71. fly a plane
    72. experience Zero G / anti-gravity
    73. take a trapeeze class
    74. swim with manatees
    75. make peace with my past – {in process}
    76. put experiences over material possessions {ongoing}
    77. eat fondue in the alps
    78. play blackjack in macao
    79. walk through cherry blossoms in Seoul
    80. hug big bird
    81. go apple picking and make a pie with the fruits of my labor
    82. make preserved lemons
    83. rent a flat in london or paris for a season
    84. hire a regular cleaning service
    85. hire a reliable bookkeeper/accountant
    86. go to david lynch?s nightclub in paris
    87. anonymously pay someone?s bill at dinner
    88. drive a vespa through the streets of Rome
    89. pay medical bills as they arrive, with no more debt
    90. take a girlfriends-only trip with stacie
    91. take a siblings-only trip with dawn, michael and kim
    92. visit Napa/Sonoma
    93. make pasta from scratch
    94. walk across the brooklyn bridge
    95. walk across the golden gate bridge
    96. see the aurora borealis
    97. attend the artichoke festival in Castroville, CA
    98. drive a sky-high highway ramp without panicking
    99. drive up the California coast to San Francisco, stop in Big Sur, Monterey on the way
    100. stand on a glacier
    101. eat at NoMa in Copenhagen
    102. help baby turtles to the sea for the first time
    103. visit the galapagos islands
    104. ride a zipline through a forest
    105. hug a chimpanzee
    106. see the Grand Canyon
    107. explore the pyramids in Egypt
    108. excavate at an archaeological site for a day
    109. eat at French Laundry or another Thomas Keller restaurant
    110. shoot a gun
    111. stay on a houseboat for a week or more
    112. change my entire outfit in a restaurant booth, Crocodile Dundee style.
    113. appear on NPR
    114. write a candid memoir
    115. properly frame the art I care about most
    116. write something, anything, every day (establish a regular writing practice)
    117. lose the 30lbs I gained last year. replace with strength and confidence
    118. complete my divorce
    119. book a feature film
    120. perform in a play again
    121. order everything off a menu in one sitting
    122. go sober for 6 months
    123. visit the Magritte museum in Belgium
    124. get a tattoo of Paco?s pawprint
    125. get a tattoo of Watson’s pawprint
    126. go back to Cinque Terre
    127. learn korean – {in process}
    128. do a buddhist templestay in korea
    129. marry again, this time for life
    130. experience pregnancy and childbirth
    131. Spend a season in korea (or move there permanently)

COOKING LIFE LIST (written 5/2013)

  1. croissants
  2. brioche
  3. pie crust
  4. mool naeng myun
  5. kimchi
  6. homemade dill pickles
  7. prime rib
  8. spanakopita
  9. great fried chicken
  10. sikhye
  11. shortcake
  12. madeleines
  13. homemade jam
  14. prime rib

These items were COMPLETED before I wrote this list, but would have belonged there anyway:

  1. see wild whales, in the wild – {check}
  2. speak at a conference – {check}
  3. get flown internationally for work – {check}
  4. visit london, paris, cinque terre, amsterdam, venice, south of france – {check}
  5. go vegetarian – {check}
  6. go vegan – {check}
  7. downhill ski – {check}
  8. snowboard – {check}
  9. swim with dolphins – {check}
  10. meet Rick Bayless – {check}
  11. book a segment or appearance on the local network news as BAB – {check}
  12. take UCB 101 improv class – {check}
  13. Get my SAG card – {check}
  14. Move ?cross country – {check}
  15. Fall madly in love – {check}
  16. Have a fabulous wedding – {check}
  17. Escape cubicle hell – {check}
  18. Have my writing published in print – {check}
  19. Get paid doing what I love – {check}

 

4 comments

  1. I started my own list on Go Mighty and started following you! I used Broke Ass Bride quite a bit in 2012 when I got married. Even though we waited nearly 10 years to do it, we were separated within 6 months and divorced at the beginning of this year. AND I fell in love again in the mean time. I feel like we are kindred spirits.

    1. Oh Robyn, thank you for your comment! Perhaps we ARE kindred spirits. I wish you so much happiness. Please come by often, and let me know how you’re doing! xo

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