A Drop In The Bucket

Most of my friends and family know that I am a fan of lists, lists that range from ideas to memories to chores to dreams. As the new year came and went I was too busy to come up with a list of resolutions and so I made a short-list in my head and tried to remember to get more sleep and eat less salted chocolate. Then there are even bigger lists, the kind of lists that are too long to remember and too extensive for a post-it note. Do you know the kind of list I am referring to? The bucket list.

I have several friends that have started bucket lists and for some reason, it is all too daunting for me to begin to write down everything I will ever want to do and so instead I came up with something a little easier to wrap my brain around.

Monday is my 24th birthday and so as I set my sights on new year, a new number, and another birthday I came up with this:

24 Things I never thought I would do:

1. Sail around the world with Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu

2. Live in New York City

3. Go to graduate school

4. Get my nose pierced

5. Run a marathon

6. See Amartya Sen speak in person

7. Attend a Presidential Inauguration

8. Ride on a camel

9. Cliff Dive

10. Eat squid polenta

11. Go on an African Safari

12. Attend my college graduation with speaker First Lady Michelle Obama

13. Work along side founder of TOMS Shoes, and live in a beach house in Santa Monica with 9 other girls

14. Tour Ghandi’s House

15. See the Pyramids in Egypt

16. Hold babies in orphanages all over the world

17. Have multiple art shows

18. Jet-ski before a wedding

19. Learn to play the violin and meet the best there is: Natalie MacMaster and Mark O’Conner

20. Star gaze on deck 6 in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with all my best friends

21. Adopt a love for Pho (and master chop sticks)

22. Go to a yoga class

23. Listen to country music more than never

24. Remember to wear my retainer every night and become an avid flosser 

24 Things still to do:

1.     Learn to play the guitar and be able to sing like Dar Williams (Dream BIG!)

2.     Learn to knit big chunky scarves

3.     Be fluent in more than one language (preferably French and Arabic)

4.     Road trip across the United States

5.     Travel by train

6.     Learn to do a perfect hand stand (a cart wheel could be cool too)

7.     Learn to sail

8.     Trapeze

9.     Refurbish an old beach house

10. Run a marathon on every continent

11. Go camping–the real kind of camping–not the fake kind

12. Travel the world for an entire year

13. Learn the ins and outs of all the Adobe programs (easier said then done)

14. Start up a small restaurant (you know who you are and we know what it will be)

15. Mountain Climb: base camp Everest (not to the top, just the first camp) & climb Kilimanjaro (the whole thing)

16. Zip line through a rainforest 

17. Learn to tap dance

18. Ride in a hot air balloon

19. Have my own gallery and studio space with lots of light and deep sinks

20. Live in a foreign country

21. Work: for a small NGO and a big wig organization

22. Learn to drive a stick shift–essential for travel purposes

23. Make a difference on a global scale (we are talking Hilary Clinton style)

24. And of course the big stuff (eventually)–Marriage, kids, house, la, la, la.

It's a start...a drop in the bucket. This cup is for all the Pisces out there and for everyone who has helped me celebrate another year. Cheers.