Life List

Here is my life list--a compilation of everything I'd like to achieve or do during my lifetime. This list contains everything from simple to-do's that I hope to knock off in the next year or so, all the way up to my biggest Mondo Beyondo dreams that seemed to just pop into my head. This list is of course open to changes and edits as the years go by and tastes and attitudes transform.

TRAVEL
• Visit countries including: Greece, Netherlands, Denmark, Morocco, Turkey, India, Thailand, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Canada, Mexico, UK: England. [Already visited, as of 2010: Costa Rica, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, UK: Scotland and Northern Ireland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain]
• Visit all 50 states [Already visited, as of 2010: Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, California, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Minnesota]
• Travel somewhere for a time-span of greater than 2 weeks [Done 3/8/12 and 6/27/12, Ireland]
• Visit as many of the 58 US National Parks as possible (we probably won't get to all the ones in Alaska) [Already visited: Smoky Mountains in TN]
• Host an exchange student from another country
• Go on another art retreat [Done 9/11/2013]
• Spend Christmas in another country
• Take a volunteer vacation
• Travel somewhere completely on my own [Done 9/11/2013, Portland]
• Go see an Olympics game
• See a concert at Red Rocks in Colorado
• Take a spur-of-the-moment weekend travel trip by plane [Done 4/27/12]
• Eat at the restaurants of the following famous chefs:
1. Rick Bayless (Frontera Grill; Chicago) [Done 8/28/10]
2. Art Smith (Table Fifty-Two; Chicago) [Done 5/24/14]
3. Susan Feniger (Street; Los Angeles)
4. Alice Waters (Chez Panisse; San Fransisco)
5. Stephanie Izard (Girl & the Goat and Little Goat Bread; Chicago) [LG Done 6/18/2013
• Spend a week at Kripalu
• Road trip along the California coastline
• Stay at a Bed & Breakfast in New Zealand
• See the Aurora Borealis
• Visit a winery [Done 8/2012, Italy]

SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE
• Get another degree
• Do yoga teacher training
• Take an in-depth/multiple-session cooking class
• Learn proper canning techniques for jam and pickles [Done: 12/20/10]
• Learn about gardening and keep a backyard vegetable garden
• Take a wine tasting class
• Learn to make my own tea blends

CAREER & CREATIVITY
• Set up an Etsy shop for paper goods [Done: 7/18/11]
• Design custom wedding invitations for couples [Done: 5/2012]
• Write a book
• Mentor someone
• Sell a piece of my artwork or photography
• Start or join a creative/expressive arts group
• Have my work published in a magazine [Done: 6/2012 and 9/2012]
• Write my Personal Mission Statement [Done: 12/2011]
• Write a Personal Manifesto [Done: 7/2012]
• Build my own website
• Teach a college class
• Organize a creative retreat
• Design my own cookbook and have it printed through Blurb
• Make a quilt
• Complete "The Artist's Way"
• Take a storytelling class with Jen Lee [Done 9/2013; Story Excavation Retreat]
 Take an illustration or metalwork/jewelry class at an art school
• Take a letterpress class [Done: 3/31/13]
• Take workshop led by Sabrina Ward Harrison
• Attend a TED talk/conference
• Attend a PechaKucha event
• Film and edit my own video [Done 8/2013]
• Start a book YouTube channel [Done 8/2014]

FINANCES
• Move to Portland, Oregon [Done 7/2015]
• Buy a house
• Pay off student loan debt before 30 [July 2010]
• Buy a Prius [Done 10/16/13]
• Sponsor one entrepreneur in a developing country through Kiva each year [Done: 2011, 2012]
• Contribute to at least one Kickstarter project each year [Done: 2011, 2012, 2012]
• Become a regular donor to at least two different charities
• Develop multiple income streams
• Meet with a financial planner
• Help pay for a child's college education

RELATIONSHIPS
• Write written "love letters" to all of my friends
• Become a mom
• Go on a trip for our 5th, 10th, etc. anniversaries (alternative: do a couples photo session in our 5th, 10th, etc. years of marriage)
• Read "7 Principles for Making Marriage Work" and "5 Love Languages" [Done 2/2013]; have open discussions
• Make 5 new friends in Portland
• Meet 5 blog/Twitter friends in person [5/5; Stephanie - 8/2009, Katie - 7/2010, Jill - 7/2013, Renee - 7/2013, Jenni - 11/2015]
• Start a weekly "check-in" discussion with my husband
• Successfully learn to strike up a conversation with a stranger
• Have 10 meals with people I admire
• Write appreciation letters to some of my high school and college teachers
• Find "my tribe"

PHYSICAL & ADVENTURE
• Eat a vegan diet for 30 days
• Go white water rafting again
• Go on a yoga retreat
• Get a massage at a real spa
• Go skinny dipping
• Do approximately 30 of the hikes in the "60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of Portland" book [1/30 completed]
• Develop an at-home yoga/Barre3 routine
• Go kayaking
• Go ziplining
• Take a hot air balloon ride

EXPERIENCES
• Go out for coffee or dessert and leave a $20 tip for the waitress/waiter
• Give $5 or $10 to a kid-run lemonade stand
• Get a tattoo
• Get a 2nd tattoo
• Get a dog
• Adopt a former racing greyhound
• Bake cookies and deliver them to my neighbors
• Read 40 books over the course of one year [Done 2014]
• Pay for someone's dinner anonymously
• Buy a vintage bicycle [April 2010]
• Throw a themed dinner party [Done 12/10/11]
• Make homemade French macarons
• See Mumford & Sons in concert [Done: 10/31/10]
• Attend a book club for a year
• Be published in a magazine [Done: 2/2010 - The Knot Chicago, 6/2012 - Art Journaling, Somerset Studio]
• Attend a free concert at Millennium Park
• Visit all major Chicago museums before we leave the Midwest:
1. Museum of Science and Industry [Done: 2/2010]
2. Art Institute of Chicago
3. Museum of Contemporary Art
4. Shedd Aquarium [Done: 12/23/2013]
5. The Field Museum
6. Adler Planetarium
7. The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum [Done: 5/28/11]
8. Chicago Botanical Gardens
9. Chicago Symphony Orchestra [Done: 6/18/2013]
• Rent a Vespa
• Make homemade pasta [Done: 11/11/12]
• Go to a Universal Unitarian service
• Visit a winery for a wine tasting [Done: 8/2012]

MAYBE SOMEDAY (THE ITEMS THAT I HAD ON MY LIFE LIST IN THE PAST THAT DON'T SEEM TO JIVE WITH WHO I AM TODAY, BUT I MAY WANT TO DO SOMEDAY)
• Take a class about Buddhism
• Teach myself HTML/CSS
• Teach a workshop on art journaling at a teen/youth center
• Create a line of artwork or crafts that blends typography and hand-painting/hand-crafts
• Display my artwork in a cafe
• Fill an art journal within a year
• Attend ALT Design Summit, Creative Connection Conference, World Domination Summit and/or Blissdom 
• Complete the Couch to 5K program
• Run a 5K race
• Run a 10K race
• Run a half marathon