2. Paint a self-portrait
3. Write a letter to Barack Obama
4. Video interview my extended family about what it was like growing up
5. Track down some long-lost relatives in Germany and have dinner with them
7. Publish a book
8. Translate a novel from French to English
9. Fly to Paris for my birthday
10. Spend a summer abroad
11. Own a bike and use it to commute to work.
12. Visit the Grand Canyon
13. Be economically comfortable
15. Discover a fish I like to eat and learn how to cook it
16. Buy a sewing machine and make something usable
17. Make homemade butter/cheese/ice cream
18. Grow a watermelon and eat it
20. Learn another language conversationally
21. Use my blog to supplement my income
22. Raise children
24. Learn one computer language
25. Accompany my brother (singing) at a concert in front of other people.
26. Learn to like at least one kind of eggs.
27. Swim with a dolphin.
28. Attend the New Yorker Festival as a speaker/guest/panelist.
32. Open a B&B. Have my sister design it.
33. Master 10 dinner recipes that I feel comfortable cooking for a group of people.
34. Have a reunion for my residents from 3rd floor prosser.
35. Organize a 1-day conference where unpublished writers come to share their work, write and make writerly connections.
36. Make a sizeable donation to Muhlenberg.
37. Take a trip with my siblings.
38. Take a trip with my mom and sister.
39. Run a half-marathon.
40. Run a race in a foreign country.
41. Go to Middlebury language school for another summer.
42. Make personal contact (letter, meet, take to lunch, etc.) with the following writers who have influenced me: Elizabeth Gilbert, Charles Baxter, William Trevor, Ann Patchett, Audrey Niffenegger
43. Attend TED
44. Create an office space that allows me to work, interrupted, at long stretches of time. It should be comfortable, inspiring and able to shut out the outside world.
45. Host a foreign exchange student.
47. Live in a house with fruit trees in the backyard.
48. Learn how to change a tire.
49. Invite Ingrid Michaelson to a party at our place. (Goal is, she accepts.)
50. Spend a period of time living close to family.
51. Do a multi-day hike and camp overnight.
53. Rewatch Lost.
54. Have photos of family and friends framed and visible in our home.
55. Go on a safari in Africa.
56. Research and write a walking tour… then give it!
57. Be able to identify 10 birds by sight and sound.
58. Work on a farm again and milk cows.
59. Start a business with my husband.
60. Grow a tree and plant it in our yard.
61. Have a yard.
62. Surprise Chris with a weekend away.
63. Find a church/religious place that's for me.
64. Work in a bookstore.
65. Meet Dave Eggers.
67. Visit all the 826 Valencias. [Completed: San Fran, Brooklyn, Seattle, DC, Chicago]
68. Learn to blow dry my hair straight.
69. Get a dog.
70. Have my dog trained to be able to go to nursing homes and bring him/her there on a regular basis.
71. Join a rowing team and get SWEET arms.
72. Get my MFA (if only because of the dedicated time to write).
73. Attend weddings in other countries. [Completed so far: India]
74. Gift a plane ticket for a friend to come and visit us.
75. Host a dinner with Chris for the top 3 people who have influenced each of our lives. Pay for travel expenses for those 6 people and host a long dinner where they can meet and we can thank them.
76. Speak French with my children so they have a base knowledge of the language at least.
77. Host a board game night and invite the board gamiest people I know.
[Accomplished September 2012, saw Hope Springs and Jesse and Celeste Forever]
80. Pet an elephant.
81. Start an annual tradition with Chris that focuses on planning for the next year.
82. Once kids are old enough, make a fancy Back to School dinner every year.
83. Learn to tap dance.
84. Visit my host family in Aix-en-Provence.
85. Have my sister as my doula for the birth of at least one of my children.
86. Invest my/our money in a forward-thinking way.
87. Memorize the names (and order) of all the US presidents.
88. Visit Jefferson's home in Virginia.
89. Visit Hemingway's house in Florida.
90. Take at least one trip alone every year. Could be as simple as a long weekend to visit friends or fam. [2012: Chicago with Mom]
91. Visit Pompeii.
92. Try Bikram yoga.
93. Get certified as a Yoga instructor.
94. Witness the birth of a baby (not my own).
95. Help found a scholarship to send students abroad.
96. Give myself a $1000 shopping spree to create a new wardrobe I feel good about.
97. Plant hydrangea plants in our yard and cut the flowers as they bloom to make the house homey.
98. Attend the Clinton Global Initiative.
99. Cook my way through one cookbook (however small!)
100. Tell a story on This American Life.
101. Help change a struggling city into a thriving one.
102. Use my communication skills to help people understand something difficult. Could be national healthcare, the DMV, Green Card applications or something else that's known for being a black box.
