While I'm alive and kicking

I picked up this great little leather bound notebook a few months ago at the flea market.  When I got it home, I thought, "What am I going to do with this?"  Most of my notebooks contain random websites that I'll happen across or products that I want to try or years of old grocery lists or menus that I have made or have wanted to make or movies to see, etc.  Well, leather bound seems kind of permanent. 

One day, not long after I introduced the new notebooks to my mounds of old notebooks, I realized what its use would be.  I would start a bucket list (I hate that terminology, by the way).  Anything and everything that I could think of that I wanted to accomplish while I walk the Earth, I would write in that little book. 

When you write something down or share it with friends, then I think that you have more accountability. These aren't things that I will write and forget about, but are things that I will actually do.  I think we should all have a list of these things, just to remind ourselves that it's never too late to learn or do something new and exciting, especially if life becomes monotonous.  If you don't have one, I suggest you make some time and make one.  Better yet, pick up a leather bound notebook and start to write things that pop into your head, so you don't forget them.  I honestly believe that my list will change my life. 

 Things to do while I'm alive and kicking

(in no particular order)

1. 
   
   Complete a 5k
2. Complete a 1/2 marathon
3. Take (another) Viking cooking class
4. Get my master's degree
5. Have children
6. Grow a garden
7. Go to Paris
8. Take pictures at the Eiffel Tower
9. Go to Hawaii
10. Learn to sew and make clothing
11. Learn to play the guitar
12. Take a dance class
13. Go to the Oprah Show
14. Go on a road trip to multiple states
15. Deep sea fish in Alaska
16.  Ride in a hot air balloon
17. Take a photography class
18. Watch the sunset in Bali
19. Cook my way through the Gourmet Cookbook
20. Learn to speak French fluently
21. Enter a cooking contest
22. Own a coffee shop/cafe
23. Scuba dive
24. Own a home near the beach
25. See the Aurora borealis in person
26. Make pasta from scratch
27.  Turn down Johnny Depp's request for my hand in marriage (wanted to see if you were still reading!)
28. Have a drink at a pub in Ireland
29. Set foot in all fifty states
30. See a play on Broadway in New York
31. Have fruit trees in my backyard
32. Get an acupuncture treatment
33. Hike in the Redwood National Park in California
34. Spend the night in a tree house
35. Make the majority of the gifts I give (at least one year)
36. Catch lightning bugs in an old jar
37. Meditate on a beach
38. Renew our wedding vows on a beach surrounded by family and friends
39. Throw a kid party for adults
40. Have a girls only road trip
41. Eat maple syrup covered pancakes in Vermont
42. Have a slumber party
43. Sunbathe naked
44. See an artist I love in another state
45. Learn to belly dance
46. Play in the rain
47. Have coffee at a cafe in Seattle
48. Paint a picture
49. Go on the honeymoon that we didn't get
50. Take an overnight train ride
51. Visit the Hot Springs in Iceland
52. Design and cook in my dream kitchen
53. Learn to speak Spanish
54. Zip down a zip line
55. Go skinny dipping
56. Take pictures in New Zealand
57. Sleep under the stars
58. Have my fortune read
59. Dress up and go see a ballet
60. Take a picture a day for a year
61. Keep a diary for a year
62. Stay in a cabin in the woods for a week
63. Be part of a block party
64. Pay the tab of someone that I don't know
65. Throw a surprise party
66. Help a family in need
67. Get a tattoo
68. Write a book
69. Backpack in the Grand Canyon
70. Be a contestant on a game show
71. Help build a house
72. Walk around proudly in a bikini
73. Take dinner to someone in need
74. Host an outdoor dinner party
75. Climb a mountain
76. Knit something that I actually use
77. Volunteer at hospice/a nursing home/children's hospital
78. Be a vegetarian for a week
79. Go on a cruise
80. Gamble and win
81. Walk through Central Park
82. Win a contest
83. Ride in a submarine
84. Eat pizza in Italy
85. Stay at a Bed and Breakfast
86. Go for a mile run on the beach
87. Bike to an unknown location and have a picnic
88. Attend a stranger's wedding
89. Visit a volcano
90. Camp in my backyard
91. Pay off my mortgage
92. Pick fresh fruit and make a pie
93. Have my child/children pick a destination and go there
94. Stay on an island
95. Spin a glob, stop it and go to that destination
96. Become a nurse practitioner or specialized in nursing
97. Ring in the New Year in a new place
98. Hike the Inca Trail
99. Spend a day without computer, television or cell phone
100. Help someone achieve a goal off of their life list
101. Read every book written by one author

This list is subject to change and continue to grow.  I'm sure I'll run across things that I will definitely want to do that I have not thought of before, thus my little black book.  Hopefully, I'll start marking things out soon and then adding new things in their place!  Life is too short to wait for things to happen.  We are in control of our destiny.