The Buried LIfe

I don't know how I missed this show The Buried Life. Four Canadian guys in their 20's travelling in a bus with a list of 100 things they want to do before they die; in the process encouraging other people think about their lists and helping them along the way. Seems like there are a lot of people in my general age bracket doing stuipid shit to get noticed for their 15 minutes of fame. The power to make a positive influence really starts with individuals, regular people who believe in their own dreams. From what I've seen, these guys are just super cool dudes who decided to do what we all say we'll do "some day".

It got me to thinking, what is really on my list? Really, really on my list, not just "oh yeah, it would be nice to do that someday..." I'm 28, I've been able to do and see more than most just in the last few years of travelling and taking a risks on new people and unfamiliar situations, but that's not enough.

Sometimes I feel like I just started to figure out how to really start living my own life. I have been existing and experiencing, but sometimes running just on auto-pilot as a means of survival and defense. But then I step back and realize that I'm 28 and I've figured out how to start living...

My bucket list:

1. write a book/get published
2. get my bachelor's degree
3. learn how to surf
4. speak a foreign language
5. be a mom
6. marry my best friend
7. adopt
8. be in the right place at the right time
9. look better at 30, 35, and 40 than I've ever looked before
10. Run a marathon, yes 26.2 miles
11. change someone's life
12. set foot on all 7 continents
13. life in a foreign country for at least 6 months
14. learn how to fly
15. own a ranch
16. adopt a dog
17. fall in love
18. donate blood
19. get a tattoo in a foreign country
20. build a house for someone
21. pay off all my debt
22. learn how to play the guitar
23. make money as a photographer
24. go to all 50 states before I turn 30 (scratch that, lets call it 50 before 50)
25. volunteer at an animal shelter
26. serve dinner to the homeless on Thanksgiving and on Christmas
27. sell my own art
28. put in my own kitchen floor  (I paid for a new one, we'll call it good)
29. camp in the snow
30. disconnect for an entire week - no phones, no tv, no recorded music, no computer
31. win a lottery
32. learn how to drive a stick shift
33. sing the blues. in public.
34. do 15 1-handed pushups
35. run for public office
36. be in a rally or a protest
37. be present for a historical event
38. have a 6-pack (and not the alcoholic kind)
39. attend a taping of the Ellen show
40. own a horse
41. Meet Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs
42. Own my own business
43. Learn how to shoot
44. teach someone how to read
45. attend a Red Sox vs. Yankees game on July 4th
46. write an article for a travel magazine
47. meet my family living in the Phillipines
48. drive up the East Coast
49. be in 2 places at once
50. be an orginal
52. be a volunteer at a senior center to just read, listen, acknowledge a generation of people with stories about all the things they did and didn't get to do on their own bucket list
52. compete in a dance competition
53. climb a mountain
54. find my life's passion
55. fly in a hot air ballon
56. throw a mega party so big that I could even invite the people that I only kind-of like
57. go to a cherry blossom festival in Japan (ok, or Washington DC)
58. walk along the Great Wall of China
59. live in a house that has at least 1 brick wall
60. swim with sharks (sharks are one of my ultimate fears in this entire world, I hate them, they make me sweat just thinking about them)
61. fly in a helicopter
62. bury all my hatchets
63. speak in front of a large crowd of at least 10,000
64. attend the olympic games
65. experience a thunderstorm in a wide open place
66. visit the Pyramids
67. visit Ireland, find out where my Grandfather came from
68. learn how to sail
69. be a teacher
70. go to a black tie event or a ball
71. compose a song
72. tell everyone that I love that I love them (I can't even type this without tearing up. I need to do this.)
73. audition for The Amazing Race
74. ride on an elephant
75. anonymously buy a stranger a meal, pay for a bridge toll, or pay for their groceries
76. walk in someone else's shoes
77. start fresh somewhere new
78. take an entire trip on a train
79. go to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downes wearing a big, huge, floppy hat.
80. take an entire trip by kayak, camping along the shore


I'm a work in progress...so I am leaving room for improvment between here and 100.

99. give my parents something they could never give me
100. live big, live bold, live breathtakingly