Bucket List

Rachel (my littler sister) and I have been working on our "bucket lists" for a few months now. I'm not quite sure how we ever got started on this idea of creating a list of things we wanted to do before we "kicked the bucket" but anyhow we have been exchanging ideas for quite some time. To get our juices going we watched the movie Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. It's an ok movie but I liked this line from the movie,

"When you die you're asked two questions, and your answers determine whether or not you'll get into heaven:

1. Have you found joy in life?

2. Has your life brought joy to others?"

I believe in some variation of this and think these are two great missions in our lives: to find joy and also spread it. In my list are of course the trips to exotic places, but I also wanted to keep it realistic and everyday things that help bring joy to my life and others. Adventures and memories are much more meaningful when they are shared with others. That's where you come in. I want to know whats on your bucket/life list! Until now I have only had a mental list but I think some good comes from writing things down. 1) I am more likely to follow through with them if they are written down. 2) Maybe someone who reads them also has this goal and would like to do something together and 3) It is incredibly satisfying to cross something off the list. So here is mine as it stands now. I may add more to it as time passes or get new ideas from all of you. I will definitely be blogging about any of my adventures and completion of any of the things on the list so keep posted about my progress!

1. Hike the Grand Canyon – go to Havasupai
2. Participate in the Empire State building run up or just climb up all 1,576 steps
3. Go ice fishing
4. Visit Jerusalem
5. Plant my own vegetable garden
6. Teach a college level course
7. Start a book club and read inspiring books
8. Fly an airplane
9. Become a foster parent
10. Do yoga on the beach to a sunrise/sunset (this would give an extra meaning to all those sun salutations)
11. Learn how to ride a motorcycle
12. Start or join a hiking group
13. Become a dog walker and get paid to do it
14. Write my personal history
15. Compete in a ping pong tournament
16. Build my own house (or at least part of it)
17. Breed dogs
18. Go bungee jumping (however, even the thought of this scares me to death)
19. Climb a tall tree
20. Create art out of unconventional materials
21. Recycle and become more green
22. Start a charity or an organization for a cause I feel passionate about
23. Start a family
24. Go to a costume party or better yet, host one!
25. Fly a kite
26. Go on a road trip with no predetermined destination
27. Drive in a convertible with the top down
28. Explore a ghost town
29. Go sea kayaking
30. Watch a meteor shower
31. Attend an air show
32. Be hypnotized
33. Coach a sport
34. Learn to play the ukulele
35. Have family rituals and traditions to celebrate holidays and important life events
36. Participate in a silent retreat
37. Join a disaster relief effort
38. Be a member in the audience of a TV show (I’m thinking the Colbert Report or the Daily Show)
39. Become a minimalist and live with less. Whittle my possessions down
40. Hike to Machu Picchu
41. See Niagra Falls
42. Participate in a pie eating contest
43. Participate in a large mass food fight ( preferably La Tomatina in Bunol, Spain)
44. Ride a unicycle
45. Collect Russian nesting dolls and nutcrackers
46. Visit an active volcano
47. Be able to donate an organ/bone marrow to save someone’s life
48. Go to a jungle
49. Visit the Kennedy Space Center and see a rocket launch
50. Witness the Aurora Borealis (northern lights)
51. Learn to cut hair and even practice on a real live male
52. Have a picnic in a really cool place
53. Go on a cruise
54. Go scuba diving
55. Go to the world cup
56. Create a bucket list scrapbook/journal documenting my progress