Life List Update 2015
Each year, instead of making a resolution I like to go through my Life List, remove items I no longer care about, cross off things I accomplished, and add new things I want to do. Life isn’t static and neither are we–we change we grow. I’m not interested in being chained to a list I made once and never altered.
Last year a dear friend’s husband passed away and it pulled certain things into my life into sharp focus. I was working on updating my life list at the same time, and I became aware of how unimportant much of my list seemed. This year, it’s someone close to me who has a terminal illness and it has only magnified this feeling. It’s not that I don’t want to do any of these things, or that they don’t sound like the most fun ever. It’s that I know now. I know I have of what’s important, and that’s being with family and having conversations with friend, and enjoying the life that I have right now. I have just about all the things I want in my life. The goal is to enjoy it.
That said, keeping a Life List is a great way of having on hand a list of fun things to do when the opportunity arises, a list of goals to work on when you feel like you might need purpose or motivation, and is, overall, a good brainstorming exercise to breed enthusiasm for life and living.
- Own a wardrobe I’m proud of. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Take Isobel to the beach. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Have another child. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Grow a garden of poppies. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Visit the aquarium with Isobel MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Take an unconventional family portrait MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Take Isobel to Yosemite. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Sell my thrifted finds on Etsy MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Decorate Isobel’s big girl bedroom MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Visit Jose and Lupe in San Jose MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Create a thrifted dress-up chest MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Take Isobel to the library for story time MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Master a working menu for a year MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Pick out and carve Isobel’s first pumpkin MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Stargaze in the desert MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Take a whale-watching tour MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Redesign my website; host & maintain it MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Take Isobel to our local water park MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Visit my friends Dave & Stef in Reno MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Purchase my favorite childhood books MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Meet our financial goal so I can be a SAHM — MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Take a Mommy and Me swimming class MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Stock my garden with a village of gnomes – MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Meet Anthony Bourdain – MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- High-Five DJ Lance Rock MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, SORT OF!
- Back up all the information and files on my computer – MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Have another baby — MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Spend a summer devoted with day trips — MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Make pickles — MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Grow vegetables in the backyard–MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
- Make a list of daytrip destinations
- Take the kids to see the redwoods
- Take the kids to a warm beach
- Stay in a hotel in SF for a few days
- Visit NYC
- Take the kids to the Exploratorium
- Take the kids to the Planetarium in SF
- Take the kids to Delores Park
- Take the kids to Golden Gate Park Conservatory
- Have a weekend away with just Anthony
- Try Anthony’s favorite dim sum place
- Visit the basque restaurant again
- Try the new Thai place in town
- Eat some local Indian food
- Visit the Assyrian market
- Return to Alemeda flea market
- Pimp my closet
- Write eBooks
- Decorate Elias’ nursery
- Own backyard chickens
- Teach Elias to cook
- Teach Isobel how to cook
- Take a thrifting roadtrip with friends
- Sing with Stefalynda
- Learn to make his grandma’s black beans & chile mole
- Learn to make my grandma’s fudge sauce & carrots and wine sauce
- Create a Family of Isobel & Elias book
- Visit a local you-pick farm
- Participate in Family Kite Day in the mountains
- Bike the Virginia Corridor Trail with family
- Xerescape part of my yard
- Visit the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve
- Get business cards
- Get my business license
- Swim in a turquoise sea
- Participate in a drum circle
- Tour a European castle
- Teach Isobel to cook
- Teach Elias to cook
- Turn a wall into a photo gallery
- Learn to edit video
- Speak basic Spanish
- Walk on an English moor
- Research our family tree
- Have a family snow day with sledding
- Visit the UC Davis arboretum
- Have a campfire at the beach
- Plan a getaway to the cabin with friends
- Try on wedding dresses (since I missed my opportunity)
- Grow my own mushrooms
- Help a needy family have a bountiful holiday
- Cook a food for a homeless shelter
- Bathe in a hot spring
- See the Northern Lights
- Taste ice wine
- Try new cheeses
- Go camping
- Try Geocacheing
- Learn to work my GD sewing machine
- Have an English-style tea
- Walk on the Golden Gate Bridge
- Knit a fancy scarf
- Make homemade bagels
- Fly First Class
- Take family photos at the beach
- Create a coloring book for Isobel with my friends
- Sing a karaoke duet to Shoop with Stefanie
- Craft family Christmas stockings
- Learn to bake truly excellent bread
- Perfect my punch
- Prepare for the apocalypse
- Eat at a Michelin-starred restaurant
- Take a trip to NYC
- Record my Grandma’s life story
- Record Anthony’s Grandma’s life story
- Create a car emergency kit
- Explore the Tikal ruins in Guatemala
- Cook a campfire meal
- Become proficient at building a fire
- Learn basic and advanced embroidery techniques
- Crochet an amigurumi animal
- Plant a dwarf orchard in the backyard
- Learn to make preserves
- Visit Hong Kong
- Get a meaningful tattoo
- Make homemade ice cream
- Set up a compost bin and a rain barrel in our yard
- Visit the SF MOMA
- Hike Vernal Falls in the Spring with family
- Visit Japan and eat ramen
- Meet as many of my online friends in real life as possible
- Stay in a woodland cabin
- Explore the Badlands
- Visit a Viking museum in Sweden
- Visit a natural history museum
- Visit the Rosicrucian Museum
- Visit as many museums as possible
- Photograph my favorite local sites
- Throw my parents an anniversary party
- Renew our wedding vows
- Witness a huge lightning and thunder storm
- Host a dance party for Isobel
- Watch a caterpillar turn into a butterfly
- Grow a fabulous herb garden on my patio
- Visit San Juan Bautista Yard Sale Festival
- Fondue party!
- See Rifftrax live
- Contribute financially to our family
- Help Anthony get his game published
- Display my photography in a gallery show
- Visit a giant planetarium
- Look through an observatory’s telescope
(pinerest)
