100 things

some call it a bucket list, others 100 things to do before i go. whatever it is, here is mine (and, by the way, i am appropriately listening to dreams by neil diamond as i write this):

1. learn to play the guitar
2. play my favorite songs and sing along without fear or shame
3. speak another language, preferably spanish since it's in my blood
4. own a house with a huge porch where my family and i can gather for hours on end to read, play games, sing, talk and just be
5. own a house with a large kitchen and attached dining area that we name "el corazon" because it will literally be the heart of the house
6. host weekly sunday dinners for family and friends (and anyone else who wants to join us)
7. renew my wedding vows to e with elvis officiating
8. work in education
9. care for my mom as she gets older
10. travel through europe
11. become an athlete
12. mentor a school-age child
13. start a reading club for kids who don't get read to at home
14. learn how to knit like a pro
15. start a jump rope club and double-dutch every day
16. take up rollerskating
17. run, walk or rollerskate a half marathon and/or marathon
18. run a 5k
19. smooch my honey in the tunnel of love on a gondola ride in venice (italy)
20. regularly volunteer in a soup kitchen
21. find the perfect spot to spread the ashes of my sons, c & a...sweet babies who died much too soon
22. practice yoga and meditation daily
23. take a photography class
24. learn how to swim
25. donate my hair to locks of love
26. earn a master's degree
27. learn how to sew my own clothes (no more floods for this tall lady)
28. grow a bountiful, year-round, garden
29. finish a crossword puzzle on my own (no nyt's for me...any crossword will do)
30. live on a farm
31. reduce my water usage by at least fifty percent
32. get electrolysis
33. change my diet to follow mypyramid
34. watch gone with the wind
35. take annual family vacations
36. spend six months at yosemite and hike all the trails
37. go skinny dipping
38. buy one luxury item
39. gift luxury item to random person on street
40. assist with a homebirth
41. find my family in mexico
42. give away large sums of money
43. send my children to college and watch them graduate
44. help build a house for a family in need
45. take a becky bloomwood tour of london
46. learn a new word every day for a year and use it correctly in a sentence at least once
47. accept, without hesitation, a friend's request to be a surrogate (this stems from my true love of pregnancy and the joy of giving birth, along with my own battles with mother nature . i won't give my eggs but i will gladly carry a baby. knowing i have had a thirty-three percent success rate, i doubt this will ever happen which is why i will add another dream to my list)
48. visit all the national parks
49. finish my kid's scrapbooks
50. wear a wedding ring again
51. bicycle through napa...indeed, a wine tour
52. sport a pixie cut
53. become a vegetarian
54. stay in one of those water huts in bora bora

55. buy a custom made bra
56. interview my mother and mother-in-law
57. host a coming out party for a friend
58. play the harmonica
59. jam with the Cherry's
60. visit all the historical sites in washington, dc
61. become a morning person
62. meet my first (and favorite) pen pal, ellery (remember bop magazine? that's how we met.)
63. participate in a three day cancer walk
64. knit hats and blankets for premature babies
65. have a homemade christmas
66. go back to central park with my husband
67. snorkel
68. take my favorite girlfriends on a retreat at sea ranch lodge
69. go caroling with the southwells
70. speak up when i see or hear someone being bullied
71. take my husband to his first concert, preferably neil diamond
72. ride a roller coaster at cedar point amusement park
73. read the harry potter books
74. own custom-made cowboy boots in red and pink
75. have a chocolate croissant at a cafe in paris
76. get a passport
77. grow enough pumpkins each year to host a pumpkin carving party for all our friends
78. take my son to hearst castle
79. see the pyramids in egypt
80. go to dollywood
81. pay back everyone who has ever given me money
82. start a family tradition of gifting a family the twelve days of christmas
83. send christmas cards again
84. sip a martini 11/21/10
85. join pflag
86. watch the ball drop in time square
87. learn the salsa
88. earn a blackbelt
89. attend an opera
90. wear sexy lingerie, and like it
91. influence the local school district to stop wasting food
92. visit my state capital
93. plant a tree
94. attend the los angeles book festival
95. leave my mark by finding the cause of the adhd epidemic in order to get kids off unnecessary medication
96. listen to more music at home
97. make someone smile or laugh every day
98. shower outdoors
99. dress fancy at least once
100. live near my gals in portland
101. dine at cafe gratitude
102. order a vodka martini, straight up, a little dirty

phew! this was much harder than it seemed. i have added much more to the list since i wrote it which is good since we should never stop dreaming. can't wait to read yours.