Bucket List

Here is my bucket list, started last November and continued today. Some of the things I wrote down are not necessarily practical or things that are likely to happen, but all of them are things that I would like to do (and have not yet done) before I die.

1. Get married in the temple
2. Go on a real honeymoon, stress free, away from everything
3. Have close, strong relationships with my kids
4. Adopt (I may not do this if I get married and have kids of my own, but it has been something I would like to do)
5. Have twins…I’d like to have a boy and girl
6. Have a son grow up to be taller than I am…I know that’s kind of random, but I would love for my son (when he comes home to visit or something) to pick me up and swing me around…yeah, it’s silly
7. Serve a mission with my husband when we’re older and our kids have all grown up
8. Go to all the countries in Europe (okay, well, at least most of them, like all the UK, Scandinavia, go back to France and Italy, Greece, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Germany…)
9. Cruise major European cities (particularly Paris) by night
10. Climb the Eiffel Tower. Up the stairs. It may take several hours to do it, but I want to do it someday.
11. Kiss my man, out in the rain, in Paris, preferably in front of the Eiffel Tower
12. Become comfortably fluent in French and Italian
13. See Raphael’s exhibit, especially School of Athens, which was closed when I went last time to the Vatican Museum.
14. Visit Jerusalem, the Galilee, Gethsemane, follow Christ’s ministry
15. Go somewhere on a trip without planning it—spontaneous departure, spontaneous experience, maybe even not bring anything and just buy stuff there
16. Visit the Seven Wonders of the World
17. Go to Australia/New Zealand
18. Go to Hawaii
19. Stay in a Vegas hotel for at least one night
20. Live abroad, probably in Italy, France, or somewhere in the UK
21. Read read read lots and lots of amazing books that I’ve started reading and want to read
22. Find joy in a career that I really love
23. Go hang gliding!
24. Go parasailing or paragliding
25. Become competent in at least one sport…but I’d have to be taught by a VERY patient person that I wasn’t at all embarrassed to play sports around, because I am really that terrible. And he/she would have to force me to do it.
26. Become a good runner
27. Learn to ski/water ski
28. Learn how to ice skate
29. Learn how to dance. I took beginning ballroom at BYU, but I’d like to learn more.
30. Go on a cruise
31. Go to an Olympic (summer or winter) event
32. Go to a concert of one of my favorite bands/artists
33. Go to a concert at Carnegie Hall
34. Study music at the professional level
35. Perform in a musical
36. Perform as a major role in a musical
37. Perform in a real concert (anything from community level to London Philharmonic)
38. Conduct a real orchestra or band
39. See all the musicals in the world, at least the good ones…and the ones that aren’t ridiculously scandalous…haha
40. See a musical on Broadway and in London, preferably Phantom of the Opera or Les Mis or another really amazing one
41. Own a house with a wraparound porch and a turret, and a weeping willow tree in the backyard
42. Have the rooms in my house be professionally designed, or at least designed well
43. Have a “library room”, for all the books
44. Have my master bed be a four-poster with canopy for extra privacy
45. Own a really nice grand piano (preferably Steinway or Mason&Hamlin) and have time every day to play it
46. Own a boat, or have a rich friend or relative to take me and my family out on their boat regularly
47. Own, or just be able to wear once, a really expensive but beautiful evening gown and the accessories to match (shoes, jewelry, purse)
48. Own a pair of Christian Louboutin or other amazing designer shoes
49. Own the X-men comic books
50. Own the complete Calvin and Hobbes comics
51. Streak my hair with purple or blue or something, just for fun
52. Learn to cook from scratch
53. Have enough money to eat healthy, natural foods and to have a balanced diet every day
54. Be healthy and fit, and truly comfortable with my body
55. Publish academic articles that I’ve written or contributed to in academic magazines, get my name out there
56. Publish a book that I’ve written, or enough poetry to compile into a book
57. Publish a musical piece I’ve composed
58. Knit and crochet clothing items to wear or items to display
59. Find the names of some of my unknown ancestors and get their temple work done
60. Write my autobiography to pass to my descendents (whether they want to read it or not is their choice).

"We live, we die, and the wheels on the bus go round and round." -- from the trailer for 'The Bucket List'