Updated Life List.

I don’t blog much anymore, but every now and then I get the urge to update something. And today I am experiencing that urge. 

About a year and a half ago, I wrote a Bucket List. And it's changed since then… 

These are the things I've accomplished:

#7. Buy a house.

33: See Memphis on Broadway {Again}.

#80: Play on another water polo team. 

#104. Have a fire pit in my backyard

#50: Get fortune told to me by a fortune teller/psychic.

#79: Shoot at and hit a clay pigeon.

#37: Ride a bike across the Golden Gate Bridge

#85: Own a pair of legit cowboy boots.
#40. Grow an herb garden. 
#68. Grow a vegetable garden.

#28: Ride my bike around Central Park.

#88: Ride a mechanical bull for 7 seconds.

#73: Have a concealed weapons permit. (I'm packing now. Don’t mess with me.)
#9. See Les Misérables on stage.

#94: Re-Read the entire The Work and the Glory series.

#44: Ride a street car in San Francisco.

#55: Learn to sew on a sewing machine.

#24: See Wicked on Broadway {Again}.

#16: Tell Walter Fife “thank you” in person.
#38. Spend a week in Belize and go cave tubing again. (Okay, So technically I didn't spend a week there, but I did go cave tubing there again. And thats good enough for me to consider this one checked off.)
#19: Swim with dolphins.
#4. Marry my soul mate. 

#6. Start a book club. I LOVE THIS BOOK CLUB. Started when Oakcrest Elites were flaky. 

#57. Teach a Russian class. Thanks Winterim. 

Look at me go.

I must say I am quite pleased with my progress 

These are the things I changed my mind on, and don't care about accomplishing:

#10: Live in San Francisco for a year. (I wrote this before I’d ever been to San Fran. I thought it would be an enchanting city to live in… Now that I've been there… Not so much.)

#34: Live in San Diego for a year. (Same reason as above.)

#41: Go to culinary arts school. (I pretty much taught myself how to cook already. And I rock at it. So I don’t need some culinary certificate to prove that. Just come over and let me make you dinner.)

#48: Have lunch with Ashley. (While I still love her and her blog, she is not my favorite blogger anymore nor is she someone I admire so much that I’d like to meet her. She has disappointed me from time to time. Now I’d say the blogger I admire most and would like to have lunch with is La Vie Petite)

#70: Get my house decorated by a professional. (I’ve since discovered Pinterest. With all the DIY stuff online, who needs to pay anyone to decorate anymore?)

#72: Read the original Les Miserables book by Victor Hugo. (For some reason this 1000 page book doesn’t appeal to me anymore. I get the story enough from all the video’s I've seen depicting it.)

#75: Have my very own crafting room. (I'd love a room of the house to myself still I guess, but I don’t craft really much anymore so that would not be its purpose…)

#21. Own a real expensive camera. Like the ones photographers use. (I just don't care. Technology these days gives me more than adequate photos.) 

#71. Take a photography class. (I'm just not that into photography anymore.) 

And the remaining ones: 

1. Cook a Thanksgiving dinner {turkey and all} all by myself.

2. Become a foster parent {after my own children are grown.}

3. Own a horse. Name him Whiskey Pete.

5. Own a truck. A hot one.

8. Ride in a rodeo.

11. Make my own baby food {for future babies}.

12. Hit a homerun in softball.

13. Travel to all 50 states and photograph myself at every “Welcome to ___” sign.

14. Live in Manhattan for a year.

15. Ride a motorcycle all by myself.  

17. Watch a MLB game in every MLB stadium in the country.

18. Take a road trip with no predetermined destination.

20. Ride on a camel.

22. Spend an entire day at a spa getting every treatment available.

23. Travel the country in a giant RV.

25. Take a trip to England.

26. Go Marlins fishing in Cabo San Lucas. {And make-out on Lover’s Beach}

27. Take a boat tour of Venice Italy.

29. Go to the Temple in Ukraine.

30. Take a 30 day cruise around Australia.

31. Take my babies to Disneyland.

32. Go on the Sound Of Music tour in Austria.

35. Write a thank you note every day for a year.

36. Take a trip to Africa.

39. Live in a home on the beach for at least a year.

42. Take a trip to Niagara Falls.

43. Attend a World Series game

45. Master the art of couponing and budgeting.

46. Learn to sail on a real live sailboat.

47. Take a trip to Coney Island. 

49. Be in a musical theater production again.

51. Ride a century bike ride {100 Miles}.

52. Be able to see my abs.

53. Organize a ginormous family reunion in Lake Tahoe when I have babies.

54. Take a trip to Catalina Island.

56. Eat in a restaurant that Robert Irvine saved in a Restaurant Impossible episode.

58. Be a SAHM.

59. Learn to dance.

60. Watch the birth of a baby horse.

61. Become a mother.

62. Go on a weeklong river rafting and camping-on-the-beach trip.

63. Spend a summer living and working on a dude ranch.

64. Host an adult dinner party every month for a year, without repeating guests.

65. Ride on an elephant and have said elephant pick me up in his trunk. 

66. Go to Disneyworld.

67. Organize a fundraiser for Operation Smile.

69. Have a walk in closet.

74. Be in better shape at 40 than I am at 30.

76. Read the {entire} Bible.

77. Adopt a child from Ukraine or Russia {Preferably a teenager}.

78. Be the coordinator/planner for a good friend checking off something on his/her bucket list.

81. Go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

82. Have a hammock in my backyard.  

83. Take a road trip by myself.

84. Do this bike ride around Lake Tahoe.

86. Put 1500 miles on my bike in one season. {Roughly 12-15 miles a day. Cake.)

87. Create a family tradition that husband, kiddos and I can do for every holiday of the year.

89. Make Husband’s dreams come true.

90. Keep a houseplant alive for at least a year.

91. Become a Carnival Elite cruising member. (After 16^th cruise)  

92. Take my babies to Ukraine.   

93. Catch a foul ball or a homerun ball at a major league game.

95. Go to Mt. Rushmore.

96. Learn how to cook a lobster.

97. Go help clean up somewhere after a natural disaster.

98. Go an entire year without repeating a recipe.

99. Go topless at a nude beach.

100. Ride my bike from Northern California to Southern California
101. Go to Alcatraz

102. Take my Hubby to Ukraine

103. Go to the Nationals Rodeo held in Las Vegas

105. Watch a plane land at the St. Maartin Airport

106. Go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Ohio

107. Teach an institute class

108. Go to a SYTYCD audition at the Capitol Theatre

109. Go on a tour of American History cites in Virginia, DC, Gettysburg etc.
110. Learn how to surf
111. Read a biography of each President of the United States
112. Go to Broadway Con
113. Do this Disneyland Scavenger Hunt (CityRace Disneyland) 

Number Sixteen

Today I checked #16 off My List. 

My soul needed that. 

Number 16 was probably the most enriching that I have checked off thus far. 


Thanks again Brother Fife. You have literally changed my life. 

I’m on a roll dude.

So, like 10 days ago I knocked another off my bucket list. I would have blogged about it sooner but I was too busy having probably one of the most precious experiences of my life {for the past 20 days} which I will be blogging about as soon as my tears dry up.

Ya’ll remember my list? Well, back on August 2, I was able to knock #88. To ride a mechanical bull for 8 seconds. I totally rode one for 14 seconds actually. 

Ya, while at first I was impressed with myself I quickly learned that 14 seconds ain't nothing. I was with some 13 year old boys and one of them stayed on for  

48 seconds. 

I about died. This kid cracked me up. His face was pure determination. His head slammed into the bull with every movement. His fingers were practically ripped off. He was in so much visible pain with every second on that bull but he would not give up. This kid is a rock. And he is one of my newest heroes. I met him through the precious experience I was able to have that I somewhat mentioned above. I will, as I said, go into that story much more when I don't feel like I will just sit here and sob when I try.

Bucket List #79 CHECK.

I made me a Bucket List a little ways back. And last Saturday I was able to knock off #79. 

To shoot at, and hit a clay pigeon.

My family was all vacationing in Bear Lake, as we often do, and we all decided to go shooting, as we have never before done. Both my brothers and their wives came, as well as my younger sister and my wonderful father. We had 8 guns, hundreds of clay pigeons and thousands of bullets.

Basically, in my lack of shooting experience I thought that hitting a clay pigeon would be disastrously difficult. That morning I was anticipating that I would have to practice in vein the whole time and not hit a darn thing. 

To my surprise it was actually a lot easier than I imagined. I hit one on my very first try! 

Rick, my older brother. Bryce, my younger brother, and my Dad. 

I loved yelling PULL. 

I loved playing cleanup and even cleaned up my brother a time or two! 

I loved unloading the bullets to find a large gust of smoke. 

It was one of the more pleasurable activities I've been able to do with my family. 

I'm for sure a fan. 

And with an accuracy of about 75% I gave everyone a surprised run for their money.  

Now, shooting the handgun... well that was another story. A much more difficult one. I'm afraid that my accuracy on that one was about 1%.

Maybe after I start working on #73 I will get a better accuracy percentage. 

My Life List.

There is a fad going around the blogging world… maybe you’ve seen it. Well, I am certainly not one to ignore a fad so of course I had to participate. 

People have been making these Life Lists that contain 100 things they want to do before they die. I've seen it done now on about 40 different blogs. When I first saw it done I thought, I could do that! I should do that. 

After all:

Well, I will tell you that I have tried before to make a list of 30 things I want to accomplish by the time I am 30 years old and I only got to #18. {I guess the deadline of 4 years intimidated me}. I also tried to make a bucket list but got stuck on the idea that they had to be big and exciting things and didn’t get much of a list either. 

When I saw this idea and realized that I had the whole rest of my life to check things off my list and that they could be big things or small things extravagant things, or simple things, I got excited and wanted to give it a go. It took me an honest couple of weeks, but I really thought about it, did some soul searching, asked myself what my dreams were, and finally finished it.

So here you have it. The Big, the small, the seemingly easy, the difficult, and even the very expensive. The best part is, they are all achievable and none of them are in the control of someone else. {Too many of the examples I saw contained goals to meet celebrities… “yea” I thought to myself “they are really going to take time out of their lives to have lunch with you. That is realistic.”} So I kept that in mind as I made these goals. I don't see how anyone could meet celebrities if they just wanted to. I wanted goals that I could actually cross off. {With one exception. #48 contains a semi celebrity. But I think that if I was in her neck of the woods, I could contact her and she would let me cross that off my list. I at least have her contact information. Where do you even get a celeb's info to just call them up and ask them to lunch?} 

 Without further adieu, here are the dreams in this crazy girls' heart. 

Me at one of the greatest concerts ever conceived: The piano man versus the rocket man. 

{The piano man clearly won.} 

Here is my life’s list:

1. Cook a Thanksgiving dinner {turkey and all} all by myself.

2. Become a foster parent {after my own children are grown.}

3. Own a horse. Name him Whiskey Pete.

4. Marry my soul mate. 

5. Own a truck. A hot one.

6. Start a book club.

7. Buy a house.

8. Ride in a rodeo.

9. See Les Misérables on stage.

10. Live in San Francisco for a year.

11. Make my own baby food {for future babies}.

12. Hit a homerun in softball.

13. Travel to all 50 states and photograph myself at every “Welcome to ___” sign.

14. Live in Manhattan for a year.

15. Ride a motorcycle all by myself.  

16. Tell Walter Fife “thank you” in person.

17. Watch a MLB game in every MLB stadium in the country.

18. Take a road trip with no predetermined destination.

19. Swim with dolphins.

20. Ride on a camel.

21. Own a real expensive camera. Like the ones photographers use.

22. Spend an entire day at a spa getting every treatment available.

23. Travel the country in a giant RV.

24. See Wicked on Broadway {Again}.

25. Take a trip to England.

26. Go Marlins fishing in Cabo San Lucas. {And make-out on Lover’s Beach}

27. Take a boat tour of Venice Italy.

28. Ride my bike around Central Park.

29. Go to the Temple in Ukraine.

30. Take a 30 day cruise around Australia.

31. Take my babies to Disneyland.

32. Go on the Sound Of Music tour in Austria.

33. See Memphis on Broadway {Again}.

34. Live in San Diego for a year.

35. Write a thank you note every day for a year.

36. Take a trip to Africa.

37. Ride a bike across the Golden Gate Bridge.

38. Spend a week in Belize and go cave tubing again.

39. Live in a home on the beach for at least a year.

40. Grow an herb garden.

41. Go to culinary arts school.

42. Take a trip to Niagara Falls.

43. Attend a World Series game {Preferably when my Marlins go}.

44. Ride a street car in San Francisco.

45. Master the art of couponing and budgeting.

46. Learn to sail on a real live sailboat.

47. Take a trip to Coney Island. 

48. Have lunch with Ashley.

49. Be in a musical theater production again.

50. Get fortune told to me by a fortune teller/psychic.

51. Ride a century bike ride {100 Miles}.

52. Be able to see my abs.

53. Organize a ginormous family reunion in Lake Tahoe when I have babies.

54. Take a trip to Catalina Island.

55. Learn to sew on a sewing machine.

56. Eat in a restaurant that Robert Irvine saved in a Restaurant Impossible episode.

57. Teach a Russian class.

58. Be a SAHM.

59. Learn to dance.

60. Watch the birth of a baby horse.

61. Become a mother.

62. Go on a weeklong river rafting and camping-on-the-beach trip.

63. Spend a summer living and working on a dude ranch.

64. Host an adult dinner party every month for a year, without repeating guests.

65. Ride on an elephant and have said elephant pick me up in his trunk. 

66. Go to Disneyworld.

67. Organize a fundraiser for Operation Smile.

68. Grow a vegetable garden.

69. Have a walk in closet.

70. Get my house decorated by a professional.

71. Take a photography class.

72. Read the original Les Miserables book by Victor Hugo.

73. Have a concealed weapons permit.

74. Be in better shape at 30 than I am at 26.

75. Have my very own crafting room.

76. Read the {entire} Bible.

77. Adopt a child from Ukraine or Russia {Preferably a teenager}.

78. Be the coordinator/planner for a good friend checking off something on his/her bucket list.

79. Shoot at and hit a clay pigeon.

80. Play on another water polo team.  

81. Go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

82. Have a hammock in my backyard.  

83. Take a road trip by myself.

84. Do this bike ride around Lake Tahoe.

85. Own a pair of legit cowboy boots.

86. Put 1500 miles on my bike in one season. {Roughly 12-15 miles a day. Cake.)

87. Create a family tradition that husband, kiddos and I can do for every holiday of the year.

88. Ride a mechanical bull for 7 seconds.

89. Make Husband’s dreams come true.

90. Keep a houseplant alive for at least a year.

91. Become a Carnival Elite cruising member. (After 16^th cruise)  

92. Take my babies to Ukraine.   

93. Catch a foul ball or a homerun ball at a major league game.

94. Re-Read the entire The Work and the Glory series.

95. Go to Mt. Rushmore.

96. Learn how to cook a lobster.

97. Go help clean up somewhere after a natural disaster.

98. Go an entire year without repeating a recipe.

99. Go topless at a nude beach.

100. Ride my bike from Northern California to Southern California