I started working on a life list when I turned 37 on October 12, 2010 — as a means to embrace entering the late 30′s. My original plan was to add one new list item every birthday, but instead, I have decided to revise and add to the list — to be OK with striking items as my interests shift and add new things whenever, not just on my birthday. Because that’s the nature of life: it’s a continual work in progress. So here goes:
1. Learn to do a proper cartwheel. (I know, can you believe I don’t know how to do one?)
2. Learn to throw pottery.
3. Take my Mom on some kind of fun adventure/vacation. *Completed December 2011 in St. Thomas!
4. Make a guest appearance on Sesame Street. ***
5. Learn to sew a piece of clothing (i.e., something that doesn’t only involve right angles).
6. Run a 10K. (This may sound trivial since I’m a fairly regular runner, but distance is not my strength; I have never run a race of more than 5 consecutive miles. For those of you who followed along on my Eat. Blog. Run. journey, my contribution was about 14 miles, but that was split over three legs.)
7. If my knees survive a 10K, train for and run the Boston Half Marathon.
8. Get a couple’s massage with Jon. *Completed 10/10/2010 at the Portsmouth Harbor Inn & Spa. AMAZING.
9. Meet Michelle Kwan.
10. Climb a tree. And get photographic evidence.
11. Volunteer at a shelter with my family.
12. Take one picture each week of this miracle pregnancy. *Completed 3/15/2011.
13. Write the book that has been percolating in my mind since Blissdom 2010. *IN PROGRESS: Minimalist Parenting is forthcoming March 2013!
14. Write the book that has been percolating in my mind since BlogHer 2010 (it’s different from #16).
15. Figure out something really cool and beautiful to do with Laurel’s series of picture day photos (i.e., something that can include each year’s photo from the toddler room through high school).
16. Be the subject of a fashion photo shoot. *Completed 12/21/2011!
17. Finally hang pictures in my living room. (We’ve lived in our home for two years and the walls are shamefully bare.) *Completed 12/19/2010.
18. Buy the dining room table and chairs I’ve been dreaming about for some 10 odd years.
19. Once I acquire said dining room table, assemble an amazing group of friends for a spectacular dinner party.
20. Dress up for real for Halloween. (For a designer, I’m ridiculously uninspired when it comes to Halloween.)
21. Learn to make fancy little French pastries. Perhaps while in France. *Completed 3/12/2011.
22. Wear a couture gown somewhere.
23. Mentor someone who really and truly needs my help (i.e., someone who is in need and disadvantaged in this world, not someone who simply wants me to advance their business agenda).
24. Find a spiritual community.
25. Figure out how to properly apply eye shadow to my lidless eyes. (Lessons from makeup savvy friends welcome.)
26. Related to #25, find a mascara that doesn’t give me raccoon eyes 5 seconds after application. (Which I suppose also involves finding a way for my stick straight lashes to curl and stay curled.) *Miracle mascara find documented 10/29/2010.
27. Learn how to make flowers out of frosting or gum paste or whatever the hell it is they use on those cake shows.
28. Take a real family vacation. *Completed October 2011.
29. Ride a bicycle of my very own. (The one bike I ever owned was stolen in Somerville two days – only one glorious ride – after I purchased it. That was about 15 years ago.)
30. Experience natural childbirth. Or even just a few contractions. Or even just a labor and delivery that doesn’t involve food poisoning. *Completed 3/18/2011.
31. Enjoy one clothes shopping outing during which I buy things that I absolutely adore and fit beautifully, without looking at the price tags. (I’m a picky shopper to start, and on several occasions I have walked away from the perfect investment pieces because I couldn’t wrap my brain around the fact that they were investment pieces.)
32. Throw a party for a loved one as beautifully thoughtful as this one.
33. Learn to play the mandolin or banjo (still trying to decide which one). *Completed re: first song rendition shared 12/14/2011.
34. Create an artistic rendering of our family tree, in honor of my father and grandparents. (For a very long time, I’ve wanted to embark on a family genealogy project because the Koh ancestry is complicated and very confusing to me.) ***
35. Settle in a home with a view of water.
36. Build something. With hammer and nails. Maybe even wearing a toolbelt.
37. Meet Kermit the Frog.
38. Learn how to set a pretty table (I am shockingly bad at this).
39. Learn how to use a letterpress machine. Maybe even own one.
40. Plan a really fantastic trip for Jon and me.
41. Learn how to dive and do flip turns.
42. Turn my office into an oasis to facilitate creative explosion. ***
43. Publish an article in a national magazine or newspaper. ***
44. Have Minimalist Parenting become a movement — to help parents move out of a space of guilt and into one of joy. ***
45. Shift the balance of my work so there’s less brain work and more creative work. ***
***Items identified as priorities at Mighty Summit 2012.
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