Life List

Some call it a bucket list. I call it a to-do list.

1. Publish a novel. (Really, any book would do, but I've always dreamed of being a young adult fiction author.)

2. Climb Mount Kilimanjaro. (It's the highest walkable summit in the world, I've been wanting to do it since I was 10 years old, and seeing it in person this summer cemented this dream for me.)

3. Adopt a turtle. (I have a slight obsession with turtles, but I've never had one because I don't want to buy one from a pet store. Instead, I've been looking into turtle rescue and adoption agencies for after graduation.)

4. Live alone. (I lived alone for seven weeks during the summer before my junior year of college. People told me I would hate it, but I actually enjoyed it. After living in a sorority house for two years, I would like to get the opportunity to live alone again before I start a family.)

5. Visit six continents. (Sure, Antarctica would be nice, but it's not a priority.)

6. Be published in a nationally circulated magazine. (Preferably a travel magazine, but again, I'm not picky.)

7. Run a half-marathon. (I hate running. In fact, I've never run more than two consecutive miles in my life. But my older sister is running a marathon next month, and I'd love to be able to do one with her one day.) [This item was originally a full marathon, but let's be real: I have no desire to do that. A half is good enough for me!]

8. Change someone's life ... for the better. (Cheesy, but true.)

9. Watch every episode of Law & Order ever produced. (So it's not as noble as my other goals. At least it's honest! I've already seen all 276 episodes of SVU, so I've made good progress!)

10. Need extra pages for my passport. (I feel like so many of these are travel-related, but hey, that's my passion. I'm currently on my second passport, and it won't expire until I'm 27, so I'd like to fill it with stamps by then.)
  
11. Be proposed to in a sweet and original way. (Please excuse the passive voice. And yes, this might be a little cliche, but I just love hearing adorable engagement stories, and I want a proposal I can brag about one day!)
  
12. Visit all 58 U.S. National Parks. (Although the National Park Service maintains 395 different areas throughout the U.S. and its territories, only 58 of them are designated as "national parks.") 

13. Watch at least 100 movies on the IMDB Top 250 list. (I'll probably see them all eventually, but this will allow me to pick 100 I'm actually interested in.) 

14. Be a Maid of Honor. (Abby, I'm counting on you! As your only sister, I fully expect this item to be completed within the next ten years. Thanks.)

15. Complete the "seven things to do at Mizzou" before I graduate. (Well, I missed the graduation deadline, but there are always visits, right?)

16. Read all 100 novels on the BBC "The Big Read" list. (I looked at several "best 100" book lists, and I finally picked this one because it was chosen by readers. Because of this, it contains a nice balance of literary classics, such as Jane Austen, and popular or fun reads, such as the Harry Potter and Princess Diaries series.)

17. Attend an SEC tailgate. (Luckily, my baby brother attends the University of Georgia, so this shouldn't be too difficult.)

18. Donate 30 gallons of blood. (If my calculations are correct, this is 240 donations, which would take me about 40 years. But I hope I'll be healthy enough to still be giving at 60!)

19. Swim with jellyfish. (Don't worry, I'm not suicidal. These jellyfish don't sting!)

20. Attend a football game in every BCS conference. (The ones at the top of my list are the Big 12, Big 10, Pac-12, ACC, SEC, Big East and WAC. The other BCS conferences - provided they still exist in a few years - are Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt.)

21. Visit 100 college campuses. (I know a lot of these have to do with travel, but hey! That's my passion. And these can only be four-year universities, public or private, just to be clear.)

22. Kiss the 50 at Mizzou. (If I don't do this by graduation, Guess I'll just have to come back as an alumna and hop that gate!)

23. See Les Miserables on stage again. (This is my favorite musical of all time. I saw it when I was six, and though I can remember certain scenes very vividly, I would love to see it again now that I'm older.)

24. See the following musicals (in addition to Les Mis, of course): Wicked, Next to Normal, The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Cats, The Lion King, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Into the Woods, Chicago, Evita, Miss Saigon.

25. Visit all 50 states. (I've been over halfway there for quite a few years, but I think my exposure to new states has plateaued since I got into high school. I need to get moving again!) 

26. Go skydiving. (Cliche, but a must-do!)

27. Have an actual "Where I've Been" map on my wall. (I'm imagining a large, beautiful, framed world map above my couch, but without glass so I can put little round pushpins in the cities I've visited.) 

28. Be featured on blogger {av}'s "Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder" series.

29. Visit Africa. (So I completed this before I wrote it, but it's been on my bucket list since I can remember. I even wrote about going to Africa in my college admissions essay. And I really just wanted to be able to cross something off my list. :) This item includes going on safari, which I've also had the pleasure of doing.)

30. Spend Mardi Gras in New Orleans. (I'll bring my own beads, thank you very much.)

31. Have 100+ followers on my blog. (Maybe even this blog! Or maybe I'll have to eventually upgrade.)

32. Take a bartending class. (I always thought I would be a bartender in college once I turned 21, but there is no way I would ever be able to tend a college bar. People are crazy! Now that I've left college life, I would learn to take a class for fun.)

33. Be bilingual. (I would really love to be fluent in Spanish, but any language would do.)

34. Attend a Super Bowl and/or BCS National Championship. (Football is my favorite sport, after all!) 

35. Attend a Final Four game. (The NCAA Championship would obviously be cool, but I'll take Final Four!)

36. Host a staring contest party. (Random, yes, but seriously - how fun does this look?)

37. Hike the Wonderland Trail in Mount Rainier National Park. (Perhaps I can combine this with my journey to complete #12 and kill two birds with one stone!)

38. Take a course from the National Outdoor Leadership School. (I'm partial to the Himalaya Mountaineering course, but I'm flexible!)

39. Participate in WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). (Because 1. It looks cool, but also 2. It would be an affordable way to travel to new countries!)

40. Complete a bike tour! (Minimum five days.)

41. Finish my high school scrapbooks. (I'm going to start forgetting people's names soon if I don't get this done!)

42. Read all the books chosen for Oprah's Book Club. (Yes, I realize this will be ongoing as long as the Book Club exists.)

43. Climb Half Dome. (Like #29, this is something I had already completed before I made this list. But, it was on my unofficial bucket list before I started this blog, and I did it in summer 2009! Woo!)

44. Complete a sprint triathlon. (Let's not kid myself, here. A sprint would be plenty long for me: half-mile swim, 12-mile bike ride and 3-mile run.) [Update: The actual triathlon I ran was even longer! Six-mile run, 12.5-mile bike and 6.5-mile kayak.]

45. Go on a Ger to Ger trip in Mongolia! (I got this idea from the travel blog Ott's World.)

46. Mountain bike the 165-mile Tahoe Rim Trail.

47. Drink a pint of butterbeer.

48. Complete Attempt a Man v. Food challenge. (I amended this item after I ate a plate of pancakes the size of my face in L.A. and was in a food coma for about four hours. I don't think I need to actually complete the challenge to get the experience.)

49. Go on a cruise.

50. Donate my hair one more time. (As of February 13, 2012, I have donated my hair for cancer patients three times. I hope to do it once more before I adopt a more sensible, "adult" haircut.)

51. See my name on the masthead of a national magazine.

52. Travel for my job (on a plane).

53. Work in a bookstore and/or library.

54. Get a master's degree. (I have no desire to get a master's in journalism—nothing so far has shown me I would need one—but I would like to go back to school for something eventually.) [In progress: Master of Library & Information Science!]

55. Hold a baby lion. (I think this dream mostly stems from my obsession with Alphie, my sorority's adorable mascot.)

56. Volunteer with animals. (At a shelter, with an international program, with potential pets, with exotic animals, for an afternoon, for a year - whatever!)

57. Receive a puppy as a present. (Aww.)

58. Swim with sea turtles. (So this is another one I did before I added it to this list, but oh well; I'm proud of it! When my family was in Hawaii for winter break my freshman year of college, we went snorkeling and I stayed out in the ocean for forever trying to find a turtle. And I found two! I floated above them for quite a while under they disappeared under a big rock. It was amazing.)

59. Watch a baby turtle hatch. (I'm completely obsessed with turtles. See Exhibit A.)

60. Watch the Carolina Panthers win a Super Bowl. (I know I have absolutely no control over this one, but a girl can dream!)

61. Be a godmother. [In progress: Just waiting for my nephew to be born! :)]

62. Read Harry Potter to my children.

63. Celebrate my birthday in another country ... again. (I was in Switzerland when I turned 18, but I'd like to repeat this item before I cross it off!)

64. Send a holiday present to a soldier overseas.

65. Go scuba diving.

66. Go to a train station and buy a ticket on the next train leaving the station. (Or do the same with a plane ticket in the airport, but that seems more expensive.)

67. Have ten visas in my passport. (Current count: 2/10 - Kenya, Cambodia.)

68. Attend an Olympic event. (Preferably gymnastics, but I'm not picky!)

69. Visit the St. Louis City Museum. (I know, I know, I lived in Missouri for more than three years. I should have done it then!)

70. See a movie at a drive-in theater. (How have I not done this yet?!)

71. Attend an opera.

72. Visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

73. Kiss the Blarney Stone. (Gross, I know, but a necessary tourist to-do.)

74. Read a David Foster Wallace book.

75. Swim in Devil's Pool at the top of Victoria Falls.

76. Witness the aurora borealis.

77. Attend a Cirque du Soleil performance.

78. Complete a Tough Mudder.

79. Stay at The Library Hotel in New York.

80. See the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia.

81. Attend Mass at the Vatican.

82. Win a Nest Book Club Challenge. (And by "win," I mean be one of the first five people to finish, not to just complete all the categories.)

83. Spend an entire day unplugged. From midnight to 11:59 p.m., I won't use my phone, computer, television, car, Kindle or iPod.

84. Ride a cable car in San Francisco. (I lived less than two hours away from the city for 11 years and yet have never done this!)

85. Walk at least 10 miles of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

86. Get a professional massage. [So many cheap massages during our honeymoon in Southeast Asia!]

87. See an arribada.

This list is a work in progress. I'll be adding new items frequently.