The Red Book

I have this little red book.



Inside of it I have written down a bucket list of sorts. Every once in a while I will go through and update the list; adding new items and checking off things that I've done. I started the list when I was in college. Some things I came up on my own, others were inspired by friends or books I have read. Some things on the list are things that I can and want to do over and over again, but it also has a lot of things that I probably will never do, because I do try to be realistic, but it helps remind me of the more adventurous person that I once was. I encourage everyone to make their own little "bucket list"... and don't be afraid to put some "crazy" things on it.
It is a long list.... but it is by no means all-inclusive.

• take off now for a spur of the moment vacation
• design, build, and decorate my dream house
• milk a cow
• get a massage
• achieve more than is expected of me, faster, more efficiently, & at less cost for greater impact
• pass up the next chance to criticize
• give my lover a thousand hershey kisses
• adopt a baseball team of hard to place children
• keep exotic tropical fish
• read all the original nancy drew mysteries
• drive through a dust storm in the desert
• learn 3 jokes that get laughs every time
• run through chicago's buckingham fountain
• stop craving material things
• spend a summer in a chalet high in the swiss alps
• build my own furniture
• explore a ghost town
• work out for as much time as i spend eating
• ride a fire engine
• raise my IQ
• drive I-80 from NY george washington bridge to the bay bridge in San Fran.
• stand on the shore and roar back at the ocean as loud as i can
• acknowledge my weaknesses
• be a mentor
• save a half-years salary
• study philosophy
• give money and muscle to habitat for humanity
• live independently and magnanimously
• visit a castle in spain
• learn to repair my own car
• earn an eagle scout badge
• cruise the greek islands
• lie on the ground in a grove of giant sequoias & look up
• ride an elephant in india
• skinny dip under a waterfall
• dine in a five star restaurant in france
• take my family on a backpacking trip through the grand tetons
• stick to my convictions even in the face of hostile opposition
• be a mother
• travel the coast of the mediterranean
  
• dig a pond on my property and stock it with fish
• commit to something totally
• spend five days focusing on each of my senses - one per day
• move into a new house, but wait a month before bringing in furniture
• improve my grammar
• stick to an exercise regiment for the rest of my life
• spend a day watchin the sun move across the sky
• live in a villa on the italian riviera
• see summer arrive in antarctica
• explore west africa
• visit every one of the national parks
• overcome difficulties in a relationship
• spend a stormy night in a lighthouse on a rocky coast
• spend a summer and fall eating only what i've grown in my own garden
• overcome my shyness
• look good without makeup
• travel with no destination
• learn to meditate so i can center my mind & calm my spirit
• taste raw sugarcane on a carribean island
• snorkel australia's great barrier reef
• go to london from paris via the chunnel
• vacation on a pacific island that you can only get to by sailboat
• have lunch in the restaurant atop seattle's space needle
• visit the taj mahal, monument to love, with the person i love
• nap in a field of wildflowers
• escape to a cabin in the woods for amonth of rest and relazation
• try sushi
• learn italian
• go white water rafting
• invest in art
• volunteer at a hospital
• design a playground with a group of children
• travel abroad for a year
• learn the constellations
• learn to listen & not just hear
• take one long and two short vacations every year
• donate my library to the library
• learn to sail
• send my mother-in-law flowers on my spouse's birthday
• snuggle under a goosedown quilt in the middle of wither
• read every book i own
• see the northern lights
• find an oasis in the desert
• visit all 50 states
• become a citizen of the world
• grow my own herbs
• make homemade icecream
• make a difference in the life of someone i care about
• dream consistently pleasant dreams
• spend a vacation volunteering at a camp for kids with cancer
• have no more cavities, ever
• try to lower my expectations of others
• walk behind a waterfall
• learn how planes stay up
• trun feelings of kindess into behavior
• seek elegance rather than luxury
• master my tennis serve
• be sure i know everyone in my office
• see a comet
• save enough for a comfortable retirement
• blow glass
• cuddle with my lover on a midnight sleigh ride
• go to a clambake
• speak gently, act openly
• volunteer to assist the red cross after a disaster
• write a thank-you note to someone who influenced me
• undertake a new challenge every month
• learn to wakeboard
• keep a photographic journal of a trip to europe
• compose a song
• learn to windsurf on an exotic island
• raise some eyebrows
• play the violin
• do now what i keep saying i ought to do someday
• learn to tune up my bicycle
• watch the fountains at the bellagio all night
• abandon my inhibitions
• ride a train
• leave everything behind for a while and spread my wings
• watch a rainbow until it disappears
• surpass my own expectations
• plant a single seed, watch it germiate and grow
• nap in a tree
• find the quiet center within myself
• record my dreams
• ask questions with the innocence of a child
• win a game of strip poker
• be self-confident
• throw a 50th wedding anniversary party for my parents
• learn the language of my ancestors
• beat the competition in my professional & personal life
• live a year on the east coast
• work for a cutting edge company
• drive a snowplow
• continue my education for the rest of my life
• keep a notebook handy to cathc my thoughts before they get away
• plant a tree for each of my children
• watch the world go by from a sidewalk cafe
• dare to ask outrageous questions
• refurbish old houses and then sell them
• live in a beach house with sand for a front yard
• stay in bed all day Sunday
• build a log cabin playhouse for my children
• live in a house where I fall asleep to the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks
• instill hope
• ride double decker buses all over london
• paint with watercolors
• meditate in a zen garden
• get caught in the rain
• on a summers day take a nap in a hammock
• take a bubble bath in the middle of the day
• find my own philosophy of living
• let myself fall in love totally and completely
• pubish a good news only newspaper
• live live with no regrets and lots of hope
• give each person I love the thing they want most
• change my worst personality trait
• design a retirement community for my friends and family
• donate everything to charity
• adopt a child
• design a corporate logo
• ensure that my children have at least one great experience that i've had
• find my work meaningful
• change something in the world that makes life easier for my children
• ban television for a year
• develop film in my own darkroom
• spend a day in the countryside with a sketchbook and pen
• list 100 good things that have happened in my life
• learn to do the samba
• keep in mind that life is short and that dreams cannot be put off indefinitely
• bike to work
• create a great resume
• live in a cabin with no electricity or indoor plumbing for 2 weeks
• witness a miracle
• refuse to compromise
• teach english to a foreigner
• broaden my perspective beyond the shores of the USA
• become an american citizen
• design a public place
• buy land, design and build a park, donate it to the community
• let someone fall in love with me
• like what i see in the mirror
• pick a topic and then study it in depth
• visit each of the african countries
• take a nap in tall grasses
• plant a forest
• burn candles in the bathroom
• get soaked in a summer rain shower
• stop thinking about work on vacation
  
• see my grandchildren play with my old toys
• take the road less traveled
• simplify my life
• have a summer bedroom with it's own porch
• change what I can change and stop worrying about the rest
• be surprised by a gift of diamonds
• build a winterized hide-a-way above the garage
• remain productive even after i retire
• make my own soap
• see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier
• have the ability to nap anywhere anytime
• spend a week in london and go to the theatre every night
• go white water rafting
• see the world in a different light
• go on an overnight canoe trip
• see the beauty in everyone
• graduate from college
• complete a triathalon
• create art
• paint the sky
• see a shooting star
• vacation at the Outer Banks... explore from Corolla to Okracoke
• see the good in everyone i meet
• remember peoples names
• eat a peach in georgia
• eat an orange in florida
• eat a pineapple in hawaii
• eat an apple in washington
• eat a potato in idaho
• always live debt free
• buy a house by my 25th birthday
• go past the arctic circle near the summer solstice to see the sun circle the horizon
• explore central america
• take a train to vermont to go skiing
• see "Wicked" in NYC
• make a quilt for each woman in the family
• play the piano
• own my own buisness