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View Article  100 Things to Do Before I Go (#51-75)

51. Take a drawing class.

52.  Really get to know my siblings as adults.

53.  Watch my sister teach in Spanish.

54.   Have a picture taken with four generations of women—Grandma Teddy, my mom, me, my sister, and  my future   daughter—before it’s too late.

55.  Convert to using all “green” household cleaning products.

56.  Frame all those Ansel Adams photographs I collected from previous years’ calendars and finally hang them in the master bedroom.

57.  Re-paint the “wall of death” red.

58.   Find a pleasing arrangement for family photos on the new red wall.

59.   Buy a decent lounge chair or hammock for the deck (just do it already…yes, they are expensive, but you know you want one…).

60.   Wear a sunhat without feeling self-conscious.

61.   Camp out in the backyard with Drew and the dogs, complete with “camp” fire and S’mores.

62.   Embrace ironing.

63.   Make all cards for a year’s worth of occasions ahead of time, and file them by birthdate, anniversary, etc.

64.   Create more photo albums.

65.   Find a jewelry box that fits all my necklaces in a hanging position, so that they don’t always get tangled.

66.   Have a walk-in closet, reserved just for me and my exorbitant collection of shoes and handbags.

67.   Read the Bible from cover to cover.

68.   Sing a duet with my sister.

69.   Some day, live close enough to work to walk (like Dad) or bike there (like Tiff used to).

70.   Get together with Kate, Aubrey, Michele, and Tosha at least twice a year.

71.   Feel less guilty when I say “no” in favor of maintaining balance in my life.

72.   Get a family picture taken with Drew, me, Molly, and Sammy (if we can hold them still!).

73.   Spend a romantic weekend with Drew at the Khardomah Lodge (where we were married).

74.   Get that piano tuned.

75.   Put window boxes with pretty annuals under the two front windows.

View Article  100 Things to Do Before I Go (#26-50)

26.   Become pregnant, carry a healthy child to term, and deliver that child naturally.

27.   Adopt a child who needs a loving home and parents.

28.   Become a mentor.

29.   Visit Grandma Bea’s final resting place in Colorado one more time.

30.    Find a way to live closer to my family.

31.    Find special ways to show my love/support to our godchild as she grows up and experiences life events.

32.   Write a children’s book.

33.   Get my teaching license and teach secondary English in the public school systems for at least one year.

34.   Study early childhood development.

35.   Learn how to pick out clothes that look good on my figure (or lack thereof).

36.   Learn how to ride a motorcycle (better…without laying the thing down on top of me).

37.   Make camping at a state park an annual family vacation.

38.   Find more ways to sneak extra vegetables into meals (a la Deceptively Delicious style).

39.   Participate in a book club.

40.   Live on the waterfront.

41.   Run a 5k with a friend.

42.   Teach Drew to cross-country ski.

43.   Get over my fear of/distaste for baking.

44.   Write down recipes I alter/invent.

45.   Create my own recipe cards on which to write down recipes I alter/invent myself.

46.   Visit Sweetwater Local Foods Market.

47.   Write another article or book chapter with my Dad.

48.   Write a book of stories about humorous events/incidents growing up in our family.

49.   Remember all of my first cousins’ names (believe me, this is not as simple as it seems).

50.   Get a handle on the grammar rules I have yet to master.

View Article  100 Things to Do Before I Go (#1-25)

Inspired by my sister (thanks, Becky!) and others. My first 25 aren't particularly creative, but I hope that I will get more creative now that much of that requisite professional goal-type stuff is mostly out of the way.

 

1.       Publish at least one work of fiction.

2.       Publish at least one work of non-fiction.

3.       Have a feature article published in a major (non-industry-specific) magazine.

4.       Earn a second bachelor’s or master’s degree and/or Ph.D.

5.       Read the Chronicles of Narnia, Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (among other early adolescent literature) to a child.

6.       Read the classics on my “to read” list.

7.       Paint a nursery yellow, like my first bedroom in Salina, KS (to this day, I still remember that room being the lightest, brightest, and most comforting place to be).

8.       Expand my teaching of writing to other companies/organizations and begin teaching writing at a college/university.

9.       Expand my writing/teaching consulting into a successful business venture (“successful” here means “could replace 9-5 job with comparable income").

10.   Travel to Italy, the South of France, Ireland, Greece, Japan, and Bali (to name a few).

11.   Plant a successful vegetable garden (“successful” here means “does not die,” as is so typical of any of my gardening adventures to date).

12.   Take a photography class and make a point of practicing more often.

13.   Re-learn to play Clair de Lune on the piano again (this means playing it up-to-tempo, with no hesitations or mistakes).

14.   Learn how to play the guitar.

15.   Join a singing group or choir.

16.   Act in another theatre production.

17.   Take dance lessons.

18.   Become as (or more) physically fit as I was while playing sports in high school.

19.   Save a life.

20.   Bake with my Mom to learn Grandma Bea’s sweet roll recipe.

21.   Go sailing.

22.   Become a stronger swimmer.

23.   Buy new, hardwood bookshelves and re-arrange all books I own by topic and alphabetically.

24.   Tweak homemade frozen yogurt recipe for optimum nutrition and sweetness.

25.   Take a relaxing beach vacation (one where absolutely nothing is planned and there’s no pressure of somewhere to go).

-Em

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