One of the things I want to share and maintain with this blog is my "life list" - that is, my to-do list of things I would like to try, experience, enjoy, and share before I leave this great big Earth. Here is my comprehensive list, always subject to change, and includes what I have already accomplished! Not only does writing, adding, and editing this list bring me great joy, the anticipation of these experiences also makes me excited . . . to be alive. So much potential, so much to do!
In no particular order:
- Wear a large hat at the Kentucky Derby
- Do a two-finger whistle for a taxicab
- Go dog sledding
- Safari in Africa
- Scuba dive
- See the salmon run in Alaska
- Ride a camel in the desert
- See the Pyramids at sunset
- Learn to tango
- Live in a house with a window seat
- Own a room with a view
- Officially cross the Canadian border
- Have a croissant at a French cafe
- Visit the Isle of Capri
- Take a road trip across the U.S.
- Open a Swiss bank account in Switzerland
- Set foot in all fifty States:
AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawai'iIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisanaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevada New HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhio OklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtah VermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming - Stand atop the Great Wall of China
- Visit the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum in China
- Stand inside the Taj Mahal
- Do two pull ups
- Take Rose and Lily camping
- Do a "10 Things You Don't Know About Women" feature for Esquire
- Attend TED
- Have a portrait of myself done
- Swim with bioluminescent plankton
- Use my work to improve lives
- Form a workplace with people I love
- Make my own list of the hundred best things to eat
Watch Rose eat her first ice cream coneWatch Lily eat her first ice cream cone- Own land
- Throw a block party
- Write a million dollar check to a charity
- Sip lemonade on a front porch swing on a warm summer night
Buy a stock on my own- Have a big wedding anniversary party
- Dinner at the French Laundry
- Finish Rose's baby book
- Finish Rose's first birthday celebration book
- Start and finish Lily's baby book
- Start and finish Lily's first birthday celebration book
- Christen a boat
Have a family portrait taken- See a glacier in Alaska
- Live in another country for a year
- Wear a sequined bikini to Carnival
- Live in Hawai'i for at least a year
- Learn to surf
- Sleep in a treehouse
Take a drawing class- Design a mini golf course
- Throw 100 parties: 1. 2007 Farber-Lau BBQ 2. 2008 Farber-Lau BBQ 3. 2009 Farber-Lau BBQ 4. 2010 Farber-Lau BBQ 5. Rich's Surprise 40th Birthday Party 6. Rose's first birthday party 7. Farber-Lau BBQ 2011 8. Lily's Red Egg and Ginger Party and BBQ 2012 9. Rose's third birthday party 2013 10. Lily's first birthday party 2013 11. Farber-Lau BBQ 2013 12. Rose's fourth birthday party 2014 13. Farber-Lau BBQ 2014 14. Asian Fusion Dinner on behalf of Teenwise 15. Farber-Lau BBQ 2015 16. Asian Fusion Dinner on behalf of Teenwise - 2016 17. Farber-Lau BBQ 2016 18. Farber-Lau BBQ and Housewarming Party 2017
- Make a wedding album
- Create an office that inspires me
Start an annual event (Farber-Lau BBQ!)- Movie night on the patio on a summer's night
- Swim in the Indian Ocean
- Contemplate life in a Japanese tea ceremony
- Smoke a cigar in Cuba
- Catch a ball in the stands of a major league baseball stadium
- Attend the Olympics - both Winter and Summer
- Read Thoreau while drifting in a canoe at Walden Pond
- Ride the Trans-Siberian Express across Asia
- Plant a tree
Swim with a honu- Throw a huge party and invite every one of my friends
- Visit Stonehenge
- Sing along with U2 in concert
- View the Mona Lisa in person
- Ride in a gondola in Venice
- Ride on the top of a double decker bus in England
- Go on a bike ride with Rich and Rose and Lily
- Snowmobile
- Attend the Oprah show (Well, as of 2011, this one is a little more difficult to accomplish!)
- Finish the basement
- Take a sewing class
- Tile the laundry room floor
- Create a master suite
Buy a sewing machine- Make a quilt
- Raise a family of happy healthy kids
- Enter something into the MN State Fair
- Travel to a new place every year: 2010 - the maternity ward! 2011 - Reading Terminal Market, Philadelphia, PA; 2012 - the Mandarin Oriental in DC; 2013 - Seattle, WA (ok, it was only the airport on our way through to Honolulu in March 2013. I'm NOT happy about this one, and I vow to make up for it in 2014); 2014 -Charlotte, NC, Gastonia, NC; Fredericksburg, VA; 2015 - Cass Lake, MN; Lake Itasca, MN (Headwaters of the Mississippi); 2016 - San Antonio, TX
- Take a trip by train
- Learn Cantonese
- Whitewater raft the Colorado River inside the Grand Canyon
- Learn Spanish
- Run a marathon
Complete a triathlon(August 14, 2016 - the YWCA Women's Triathlon at Lake Nokomis, Minneapolis, MN!)- Pay off all of my debt
- Travel to Paris
- Travel to southern France
- Travel to Greece
- Attend Harvard
- Teach a college course
- Eat at the best restaurants in the world:
- Bath in Ganges
- Visit the Rosslyn Chapel
- For one year, surround myself with flowers
Be a "regular" at a coffee shop (or a restaurant), and be able to order my "usual"- Open and run my own business
- Run the Disney Princess Half-Marathon
- Rent a private island
- Attend the TPIR with Carolyn
- Float a lantern at the Floating Lantern Hawaii ceremony in Honolulu (in May)
- Cook all the recipes in one cookbook
- Take Rose and Lily to the Eloise high tea at the Palm Court
- Attend the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, Hawai'i
- Participate in the Diner En Blanc event in France
- Watch the Eddie Would Go Surf Invitational at Waimea Bay
- Drive a horse-drawn wagon or carriage.
- Live in a house with a secret door or passageway.
- Attend Bloemenscorso Zundert in the Netherlands (first Sunday each September).
- Make a pilgrimage to Seneca Falls and to Susan B. Anthony's grave.
