My Bucket List

On July 26, 2010, I published a blog post titled "My Bucket List."  Even after I published it though, I kept thinking of more things I want to accomplish before I die.  A girlfriend of mine emailed me early that morning saying she'd done a couple of items on my list, but many of mine were on hers too and she wanted to know how to help me accomplish some of my dreams.  Then, Annette Renee White, a Bucket Listologist, commented on the post.  She has an entire blog dedicated to her bucket list and she's inspiring others to live their dreams.  These two comments made me realize that it's not enough just to have a Bucket List; I must actually pursue the list, and over time, the list will evolve.  Because Little Merry Sunshine is supposed to be about what inspires me, I decided to devote an entire page to the realization of my life dreams.

So, once again, here's my Bucket List with a few new items.  As I check items off my list, I'll mark them off the list and share any stories.
1. Write a novel and have it published.
2. Travel to 6 of the 7 continents (I have no need to visit Antarctica).
3. Kiss the man I love at the top of the Eiffel Tower (sure, it's cliche, but so what).
4. Have a til-death-do-us-part happy, healthy and successful marriage to the man of my dreams.
5. Be a mom (being a step-mom or adopting kid(s) would be perfect).
6. Visit New York City. (I've actually been there twice for 2 1-day business trips, but I want to really SEE New York City - Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, Central Park, tour the United Nations, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, see a Broadway show, attend an opera a the Met, etc.)
7. See a baseball game at every major league stadium (I've been to two - Wrigley Field and Oriole Park at Camden Yards, well, three if you count the Old Comiskey Park).
8. Attend the Cubs World Series Championship Victory Parade.
9. Have my gardens featured in a Garden Walk.
10. Create a scholarship at my alma mater. DONE. December 7, 2012.
11. Visit the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian Pyramids, and Stonehenge.
12. Read the Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
13. Tour the Sistine Chapel and attend mass at the Vatican.
14. Take the ferry to Muskegon (rather than drive all the way to Watervale). DONE. August 16, 2013.

15. Cook every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
16. Attend a Democratic National Committee convention as a delegate.
17. Be an extra in a movie.
18. Run for public office.
19. Drive from Chicago to LA on Route 66.
20. Learn to snow ski.
21. Run and complete a 5K, 10K, and a half-marathon. UPDATE 5/28/11: I'm in the process of signing up for a 5K in October or November 2011 and starting to train. Just waiting on a date confirmation from a friend.
22. Lose 50 pounds by my 40th birthday. UPDATE 5/28/11: To date, I've lost 40 pounds. My goal is to reach 50 by June 16th (my birthday). I've got 10 pounds to go! Then it's on to the next 50! UPDATE 6/14/11: I will still be at 40 pounds lost on my birthday. And I'm okay with that. I'm 40 pounds lighter and healthier than I was a year ago.
22A. Lose 30 more pounds by Christmas 2011.
23. Visit the Grand Canyon and Mt. Rushmore.
24. Sky dive. REMOVED January 16, 2011.
25. Learn to scuba dive and dive the Great Barrier Reef.
26. Learn how to shoot a gun.
27. Ride a motorcycle.
28. Have my picture taken with a sitting President.
29. Have front row seats for a U2 concert.
30. Saber a bottle of champagne.

31. Ride a camel.
32. Sing karaoke (I even have a song picked out). DONE December 18, 2014.
33. Learn to play tennis.
34. Cruise the Greek Islands.
35. Swim with dolphins.
36. Donate blood again. (I've been terrified of doing this since I was in college and have a horrid fear of needles.). - DONE January 19, 2012! Thanks OCLHTK!
37. Stomp grapes to make wine.
38. Take surfing lessons.
39. Provide an entire Christmas (food, gifts, decorations, etc.) for a family in need (I always donate to Giving Trees, Toys for Tots, and/or the food pantry, but I'd like to do the whole thing for a family).
40. Ride in a gondola in Venice.
41. Toss out the first pitch at a Major League Baseball game (preferably the Cubs).
42. Have really pretty natural finger nails that I'm proud of (this requires I stop biting my nails). - DONE I last bit my  nails on August 11, 2010!
43. Have a cleaning lady.
44. Be 100% debt free. I will be 100% consumer debt free by my 40th birthday. UPDATE 5/28/11: I have 1 final payment when I get my paycheck in 2 weeks and then this will be done! DONE on June 15, 2011!!!
45. Earn 6 figures annually.
46. Eat in a 5-star restaurant.
47. Walk naked on a nude beach and feel confident in my body.
48. Live in a home overlooking the ocean or a very big lake (e.g., Lake Michigan).
49. Have a bowling score over 100 (although I might settle for a bowling score in the 90s).
50. Take a golf lesson.
51. Spend an entire day at the spa - massage, mani/pedi, facial, etc.
52. Take the train across country.
53. Dress in super sexy lingerie (and feel confident about it).
54. Milk a cow.
55. Find a pearl in an oyster.
56. Fly in a helicopter.
57. Ride the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel.  DONE - September 12, 2010!
58. Attend a space shuttle (or other space vehicle) launch at the Kennedy Space Center.
59. Go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
60. Have a tarot card reading.  DONE August 8, 2010!
61. Swim from the dock at Watervale to BooHoo.  DONE August, 17, 2010!
62. Learn to love sushi. DONE January 11, 2011!
63. Get a passport. Application complete 5/9/11! Will formally apply 5/12/11. DONE May 18, 2011! ARRIVED June 18, 2011!
65. Ride Bike the Drive.
66. Buy a house. As of August 1, 2011, I'm under contract! DONE September 1, 2011!
67. Travel to Paris, London, Madrid, Rome, and Florence.
68. Obtain a Firearms Owner ID Card. DONE August 18, 2012!
69. Take a class at an Ivy League University.
70. Attend an Odyssey Dinner Cruise. DONE December 2012!
71. Attend Jazz Fest in New Orleans
72. Tour Place de la Musique and ride the carousel. DONE July 18, 2012!
73. Drive A1A through the Florida Keys.
74. Visit the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont (yes, as in the von Trapp Family of The Sound of Music)
75. Visit and stay at the Tiny House Hotel in Portland, OR.


Here are just a few of Bucket List-type things I've done:
1. Get hypnotized.
2. Attend a Presidential Inauguration and Inaugural Ball (January 1997).
3. Appear on the Today Show.
4. Flown first class (on 2 different trips!).
5. Have a crazy whirlwind romance in an exotic locale (Honolulu in June 1994).
6. Paid the toll of someone behind me on the tollway.
7. Put change in an expired meter so a stranger didn't get a ticket.
8. Walk on fire.
9. Attend a taping of the Oprah Show.
10. Appear in two published books, including by my real name in the Acknowledgements of a New York Times Best Seller. (The books were The Book of Lies and Living Oprah: My One Year Experiment to Walk the Walk of the Queen of Talk).
11. Be friends with a New York Times Best Selling Author.
12. Tour the West Wing of the White House.
13. Have my picture taken with Jimmy Smits.
14. Have my blog named one of Chicago's Best Blogs by the Chicago Tribune and appear on the front page of the Tribune's website.
15. Move to a new city where I knew no one and had no job (May 1993 - long before the days of the internet).
16. Attend a Bears playoff game (January 1987).
17. Attend a Bears Superbowl Parade (January 1986) and multiple Bulls NBA Championship Rallies (1992 and 1998 for sure; there may have been another).
18. See Michael Jordan play for the Bulls live (multiple times against the Wizards in Washington DC, but never at the Chicago Stadium or United Center).
19. Have a pen pal.
20. Have my picture published in the newspaper.
21. Live in a hotel.
22. Surprise Nana for her birthday.
23. Watch the U.S. House of Representatives in session from the Visitor's Gallery.
24. Worked on a state-wide political campaign as a paid staff member.
25. Be the commencement speaker at graduation (I was the third in my family to have this honor).