My Life List

A list, in no particular order, of things I want to do in my life:

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01) Stand at the equator.

02) Make 5 different cheeses at home

03) Eat Sushi in Japan

04) Toss any underthings I’d be embarrassed about wearing if I got hit by the proverbial car

05) Sew an item of clothing that I am really proud to wear

06) Learn how to be a beekeeper and have a hive in our yard

07) Be conversational in Spanish

08) Sleep in a castle

09) Take a trip away from home for 6 months or longer

10) Travel route 66

11) Take a last minute getaway trip somewhere I’ve never been with little-to-no planning and little-to-no packing.

12) Interview all my siblings about their childhoods and their current life, loves, hobbies etc. – capture a “lifeline snapshot” of them

13) taste 100 kinds of tequila

14) Learn to make 100 different mixed drinks

15) keep a sketch journal and draw in it every single day for a year

16) draw or paint a portrait of each member of my family

17) ride in a hot air balloon

18) make a pin-hole photograph

19) Reduce my clothing to only things I love to wear and feel good in.

20) Learn the NATO phonetic alphabet so I can say things like “whiskey tango foxtrot” and easily clarify words and letters over the phone when needed.

21) Do 50 unexpected kind acts in a year

22) Read more about and better understand theological / philosophical thought. (so far: A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine; God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens; Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig; now reading: The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker)

23) Make a low-fi mini-movie about something fun or interesting

24) Find the perfect pair of red cowboy boots

25) Drive to Memphis in a convertible and visit Graceland

26) Re-learn the violin OR learn to play the accordion

27) Design and print fabric pattern

28) Organize my contact lists into one electronic easy-to-manage file

29) Learn to make glass beads

30) Show my artwork in 50 different galleries

31) Make at least one print a week for a year

32) Make a zine

33) Design and make a calendar tea-towel and sell it on Etsy

34) Stay in Yosemite National Park Lodge

35) Photograph and write about my 10 favorite places in NC

36) Design fun paper masks (blogged: mood boards, sketches, color ideas, finished masks; on Flickr; downloadable templates: Strange Bird; Knumb Skull)

37) Make homemade valentines for all my friends and family one year (post 1, post 2, post 3, on Flickr)

38) make pickles from produce grown in my garden ( on Flickr)

39) Organize my spice rack (some before photos; some after photos)

40) learn at least 3 new eye makeup styles (cat eye or Julianne Moore, classic smoky eye , colorful, peacock-y eye, )

41) Visit every State in the USA

43) Learn to better mingle and make small talk with strangers at parties

44) Organize my recipe collections

45) Get rid of all uncomfortable/ugly shoes in my closet

46) Learn to oil paint

47) Make a lovely, cheerful tablecloth for the dinning room table

48) Refinish 6 chairs for our dining room

49) Practice skillfully/joyfully accessorising. (wear more belts / find new ways to wear scarves / have fun with jewelry and find new ways to wear the jewelry I have) Celebrate by posting on wardrobe remix twice a week for a month

50) Conquer seasonal gardening. Create a garden calendar with reminders for planting times. Explore heritage and regional seed varieties that work better with seasonal challenges of my area.Have a flower or plant growing in my garden at any time of year, any season that I can pick and put in a vase.

51) Throw a birthday party for Sam and raise money for suicide prevention.

52) Wean myself from using auto settings on my Nikon. Focus on improving my digital photo skills.

53) Visit all the farmers markets in a 100 mile radius of my home

54) wriggle my bare toes in every color of sandy beach there is (gold, white, pink, black, green, red, orange, purple, rainbow)

55) “Never say, ‘I’m too old for that’”

56) apply for regional artist grants

57) Find the perfect shade of red lipstick for me. (Learn to enjoy wearing lipstick/ditch the “I feel like I’m wearing a giant stop sign on my mouth” feeling.)

58) Go meatless for a month

59) Create and produce a graphic novel

60) Visit Cuba, stroll the streets of Havana and visit  the bar where the  classic daiquiri was invented

61) Stay in an ice hotel

62) Have a big wedding anniversary party. (We never had the “big” wedding/gathering and it would be a great excuse to have a huge party.)

63) Fight some gender stereotypes. Find at least three things that might be seen as supposedly “male” that I don’t know how to do and learn how to do them. (change my oil, grill a 14 lb turkey on a rotisserie charcoal grill, I need some more ideas here, this thought’s unfinished)

64) Make a list of top 25 fun “day-trip” things to do around Winston-Salem and share them online or make a zine about them

65) Try 200 blends of tea (make a top 50 list) Ongoing list here and on flickr here

66) Embrace the word “y’all” as part of my heritage and as an excellent, female-friendly alternative to “you guys”. (So far I’ve started using it in texts and on FB.)

67) Make 100 beautiful things and document how to make them on my blog. ( 1: Scrap Fabric Wreath )

68) Drink a glass of local wine in each of the top 10 winemaking countries of the world: Italy, France, Spain, Australia, Chile, United States, Germany, Argentina, Portugal and South Africa

69) Host chocolate tasting

70) Be able to do 25 regular push ups and a fair amount of pull-ups without stopping. (I’ve been informed my previous goal of 25 was not really possible. My research so far shows that “The minimum a female Marine must complete are 15 seconds on a flexed arm hang”, which is required instead of pull ups. Humm.)

71) Create a coloring book

72) Throw a fancy dress-up party themed around “bathtub gin”, 1920’s/1930’s and speakeasies

73) Illustrate a children’s book

74) Master 100 vegan recipes (a list  of what I’ve done so far)

75) Make everyone on my birthday calendar feel special on their birthday, somehow (cards, notes, small gifts, etc). Birthdays should be important and celebrate who that person is and what I appreciate about them, not a chore. I always start each year with the best of intentions and then fail. I need a new “plan” to make this happen, somehow.

76) Become a confidant and articulate writer. (This blog is one way to work on this)

77) Pick five things I loved to do as a kid but haven’t done recently and revisit them (Inspired by The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin)

78) Keep a daily gratitude journal for six months. (updated: currently blogging a photo gratitude journal every few weeks)

79) Do a 100 Demons project of my own, in some form (inspired by Lynda Barry; In her book One! Hundred! Demons! she mentions reading about a “painting exercise called One Hundred Demons” at the library, cites “a hand-scroll painted by a Zen monk named Hakuin Ekaku” as her example, and references “The Art of Zen” by Stephen Addiss.)

80) Integrate fitness into my life more. Find a workout or other physical activity I love. Find the time/motivation to workout daily in some way. Explore new fitness programs like yoga or pilates.

81) Remember to use “the good silver” more often. Celebrate the small moments and use objects rather than hoarding them.  (blogged)

82) Try acupuncture.

83) Have a salon gathering or participate in one.

84) Stop to take those photos I always “drive by” in life. (blogged)

85) Have a moonlight picnic on my rooftop looking out at the treetops and fireflies.

86) Become a pressure cooker ninja.

87) Learn to whistle using my fingers.

88) Punch someone in the face (or at least know how to); Take a self-defense class.

89) Move closer to a minimalist lifestyle, reduce unnecessary belongings. Turn off the urge to own things I don’t need.

90) Try roasting my own coffee

91) Work to organize my photo archives and digitize my paper photo albums.

92) Finish digitizing and creating an online collection of the pieces of my family history that I have.

93) Make Kombucha

94) Learn to make the trinity of condiments ( Mayo, Mustard and Ketchup)  from scratch. (inspired by this LA Times article about homemade mustard)

95) Roadtrip the Kentucky Bourbon Trail (and visit the Moonbow at Cumberland Falls)

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Inspired by Maggie of MightyGirl. You can read Maggie’s list here and tips for making your own here. I plan to update my own list as my life goals change by adding new items and revising or removing items at will. Some of the items on my list were sparked by other’s lists, some are my own ideas, but all are things that I feel will add to my life experience in positive ways and that’s pretty much the only rule I made for myself while creating this list. I think Karen Walrond puts it best: “Even if we don’t accomplish everything on our lists, just by attempting some, our lives are bound to get a little more interesting, right?”