Life List

It’s a great thing when you realize you still have the ability
to surprise yourself.
- Lester Burnham, American Beauty

I’m not a thrill-seeker or a particularly outgoing, grab-life-by-the-horns kinda gal. But in 2007, things started happening that shook me up a little. My brother Tom and my cousin Sherlock – both of them the grab-life-by-the-horns kinda people I was not – died tragically and much, much too soon. And I became a Mama, which has changed me in ways I can’t even put into words. This intersection of life and death really put me in motion. And I remember having these swirling, overwhelming thoughts about how precious and fleeting and uncertain life is — and how important it is to really LIVE.

Tom and Sherlock didn’t wait for “tomorrow”. And without them, I was determined to be that inspiration for my own little guy. So I wrote THIS. At the time, it meant fun and spontaneity and trying something new.

“It’s not about having some sort of Cool Kid Resume when you die, it’s about making plans to break routine and intentionally filling your life with unforgettable moments. For me, it’s about taking inspiration from the ‘cool’ things I’ve already done and ensuring that I keep that adventurous spirit alive in myself. It’s about showing Colt, through my example, that life can be really, really fun. And that there’s just very little in this world that isn’t available to him.“

When I wrote that, I couldn’t have known how special to me this project would become. But as much as it is absolutely about setting and working toward these 100 individual goals, it is so much more than that.

All of it. Every word of it. Every time I’ve ever said, “let’s go there” or “let’s try that”. Every time I have the chance to put it off until “tomorrow”. All of it.

“It’s about showing Colt, through my example, that life can be really, really fun. And that there’s just very little in this world that isn’t available to him.”

That’s it. That’s the goal.

100 Things To Do While I’m Here

1. Scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef
2. See every movie ever to have won “Best Picture”
3. Visit all 50 states
4. Yell “Cut!” on a movie set
5. Sponsor a child in a foreign country
6. Fly First Class
7. Write this book that’s in my head
8. Climb a mountain with my husband
9. Visit the Holy Land
10. Pick apples from an orchard
11. Visit all 7 continents
12. Play the piano again
13. Camp in my backyard with my family
14. Take a Hot Yoga class
15. Walk on the Great Wall of China
16. Take a cheesy picture at the 4 corners
17. Pan for gold in Alaska
18. Hug a California Redwood Tree
19. Enjoy a Tahitian sunset
20. Play craps at The Monte Carlo Casino
21. Stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon
22. Hold my grandchildren
23. See the Northern Lights
24. Own a piece of furniture upholstered in animal print
25. Ride a horse on the beach
26. Stay up an entire night enjoying the company of a good friend, then watch the sunrise together
27. Go all out for a costume party
28. Experience the cherry blossoms in Japan
29. Take a nap in a hammock
30. Get another college degree
31. Celebrate a big catch with alligator fishermen in Louisiana.
32. Get a New Year’s kiss in Times Square
33. Own horses
34. Attend an Olympic event
35. Stand in the Oval Office
36. Be an extra in a movie
37. Run Run a 10K Run a Marathon
38. Help deliver a baby
39. Crash a wedding
40. Build a sand castle with my son
41. See the Pyramids
42. Pick a winner at the Kentucky Derby
43. Give a toast
44. Stand inside the Taj Mahal
45. Learn to play cribbage
46. Train a puppy to roll over
47. Plant a tree
48. Attend Homecoming at West Point
49. Have something named after me (a child, a building, a sandwich, whatever)
50. Go an entire week without answering a telephone
51. Try snowboarding
52. Be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune
53. Have my picture made with Jerry Seinfeld
54. Go skinny dipping
55. Sit on a jury
56. Wear the Razorback mascot costume
57. Chase a tornado
58. Spend Christmas on the beach
59. Cook and eat a fish that I caught
60. Go to a drive-in movie
61. Start a business
62. Ride in a donkey cart
63. Visit the Galapagos Islands
64. See Belize
65. Learn to throw a boomerang
66. Take a polar bear plunge
67. Hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
68. WIN something!
69. Stake out the Loch Ness monster
70. Take a Volunteer Vacation
71. See the Monarch Butterflies in Angangueo, Mexico
72. Throw a surprise party
73. Finally punch that ticket to Budapest
74. Splash around in a fountain in Rome
75. Ice skate on a frozen pond
76. Have my caricature drawn on the Venice Beach Boardwalk
77. Set a world record
78. Spend Christmas volunteering in a soup kitchen
79. Build a house of cards
80. See the Razorbacks play on the road
81. Own a DSLR camera and REALLY learn how to use it
82. Backpack in Europe again
83. Take a night dive with Manta Rays in Hawaii
84. Learn to wear color
85. Tour Washington DC
86. Go snowshoeing
87. Ride the tallest and fastest rollercoaster on earth (currently the Kingda Ka, at Six Flags in New Jersey)
88. Learn to make my Mom’s peanut brittle
89. See the Grand Ole Opry
90. Climb the steps of the Acropolis
91. Have a corn dog with Colt at Coney Island
92. Meet the Duggars
93. Go parasailing
94. Pose in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre
95. Take pottery classes
96. Celebrate Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney
97. Leave my mark at the Cadillac Ranch
98. Learn to whistle — the obnoxious, 2-finger type of whistle
99. Check into the Ice Hotel in Sweden
100. Barrel race

 let yourself live, love, and be changed.

#94 | Pose in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre

#93 | Go parasailing

#8 | Climb a mountain with my husband

#68 | WIN something

#21 | Stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon

# 37 | Run

#14 | Take a Hot Yoga class