trucs à faire

Lists, I think, are popular for a reason. It’s easy to keep saying “one day I’d like to…” and then letting the daily routine wear off the shine of those big ideas. Accountability hardens one’s resolve, I think (and those constant reminders that deathbed regrets are didn’ts, not dids).

flowers and hot sauce; or how I want to live my life

Now that it’s finally at 100 things (a nice round number, although it won’t stop me from adding more), I can pick out themes. Travel. Food. Generosity. Family and friends. Health. Reflection. Learning. Creativity.

Good themes, I think, to keep in mind as I go along.

1. Live in Africa
2. Give $1000 to charity
3. Have awesome kids
4. Find the perfect pair of kick-ass boots
5. Learn to whistle
6. Get the sides of my neck tattooed
7. Communicate as well in French as I do in English
8. Publish a work of fiction
9. Climb a mountain and yell really loudly when I get to the top
10. Visit the American mid-west; explore canyons
11. Go to a multi-day festival concert 
12. Learn to drive stick
13. Explore ancient ruins
14. Camp in a desert
15. Go on a silent meditation retreat
16. Practice yoga regularly for 5 years
17. Guerilla garden watermelons in a public place
18. Hike (part of) the Appalachian trail
19. Make croissants
20. See great apes in the wild
21. Read 1000 books (starting now – 28 December 2010) (Harry Potter et l’école des sorciers; The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid; Full Dark, No Stars; Oblivion; At Home; Harry Potter et le Prisionner d’Azkaban; Harry Potter et la Chambre des Secrets; the Hunger Games; Le Journal Intime d’Ani Croche; Half a Yellow Sun; Harry Potter et le Coupe de Feu; Good Without God; For Better: the Science of a Good Marriage; Comment Je Suis Devenu Stupid; Odette Toulemonde; Harry Potter et le Prince Sang-Mélé; Hot Zone; The Passage; Under the Dome; the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay; Naked; The Great Night; In a Sunburned Country; A Thread of Sky, continued)
22. Visit all 7 continents (North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Antarctica, Australia)
23. Visit every province (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Yukon, Nunavut)
24. Run a half marathon
25. Send anonymous gifts to friends
26. Help someone finance their post-secondary education
27. Get the recipe for a dish I love at a restaurant
28. Go on a vacation by going to the airport and choosing a destination randomly
29. Learn to juggle
30. Go the southernmost and northernmost cities in the world
31. Own a watch in which you can see the gears turning
32. Tie money to goats in the Moroccan desert
33. Ride the trans-siberian railway all the way to Vladivastok
34. Donate blood
35. See a bear in the wild
36. Meet an author I admire
37. Go on a multi-day hiking trip
38. Have a fruit tree in my yard and eat from it
39. Volunteer with kids who can’t read good
40. Teach a kid to ride a bike
41. Learn a third language
42. Make someone’s wedding cake
43. Eat sushi in Japan
44. Throw (biodegradable) confetti all over the place
45. Teach my children how to budget and manage finances
46. Make a short film
47. Do 10 pull-ups
48. Marry Eric
49. Visit Easter Island and talk to the giant heads (what were they thinking?!)
50. Gallop across a plain wearing a poncho
51. Go to the Galapagos Islands and see a blue-footed booby
52. Bike through a wine region doing winery tours and staying at B&Bs or camping
53. Stand across all the lines in the world (International Date Line; Greenwich Meridian; Equator; Tropic of Cancer; Tropic of Capricorn)
54. Eat at: Ad Hoc | Chez Panisse | a fancy food truck | Baked | Luke’s | The Black Hoof (again) | Cabane à Sucre | Thai street noodles | tacos in Mexico | Alium |
55. Bike at least one section of the Tour d’Afrique
56. Snorkel
57. Make a croquembouche for New Year’s (attempt 1: 2012)
58. Win a baking contest in a county fair
59. Train Gatsby well enough to be a volunteer dog
60. Be considered the go-to person for good cooking in my family
61. Have a whirlwind weekend in New York
62. Send out annual christmas cards with a matching-sweaters family photo
63. Make s’mores from scratch (marshmallows and graham crackers)
64. Grow a vegetable garden and have a harvest dinner party
65. Live in a house with a round stained glass window
66. Build a swing on a tree branch in my yard
67. Win a Bingo game
68. Run a road race on every continent (except Antarctica)
69. Get my life list to 100 items
70. Climb a mountain with snow on the top
71. Go to Belize and send everyone postcards saying “we’re having an un-Belize-able time!”
72. Tap a maple tree and help make maple syrup
73. Make gelato/ice cream from scratch
74. Take a cooking class in Thailand
75. Take a year off work and spend it traveling the world with my family
76. Drink tea in Sri Lanka
77. Take a cooking class in India
78. Have a picnic in Paris – wine, cheese, baguette, macarons
79. Make cheese
80. Make real barbecue; feed people.
81. Knit socks
82. Write an advice column
83. Learn to leave voicemail without rambling
84. Take part in a choreographed flash mob dance
85. Run, walk, or bike across the Brooklyn Bridge
86. Take a sabbatical and learn something interesting
87. Camping road trip around Iceland (shamelessly stolen from Lily)
88. Buy a rug in Turkey
89. See orcas from a kayak in BC
90. Sleep on a sleeper porch
91. Make a quilt
92. Own a hudson’s bay blanket
93. Have beautiful luggage
94. Learn to sharpen my knives
95. Photograph a tornado or lightning bolt
96. Become a goldsmith
97. Live in South America
98. Get those hanging ceramic flowerpots. Keep the plants alive.
99. Have a monthly party that people look forward to.
100. Visit Scandinavia in the winter; jump from hot springs into the snow.
101. Swim in a crater lake.
102. Help on an emergency deployment at work.
103. Manage a mission.
104. See the Son Doong Cave
105. Swim in a pink lake
106. Run a marathon in a costume

Do you have a life list? Link to it in the comments, I’d love to be inspired by it!