The Ultimate "to do" List

By temperament I am a list maker. Since I lack the natural ability to follow through, making a list and crossing items off said list create a bit of accountability for me. A list will keep me focused. A list will sometimes keep me from picking up a magazine or taking a nap when I should go to the grocery store. With a list I am able to see what must be done and then, remarkably, I feel compelled to do it. A list makes doing mundane chores a challenge - almost a competition. Can I get all this done? Will I conquer the list or will its many items prove to be too difficult of a task to complete? I probably have some sort of disorder. But really, lists turn life from ordinary ho hum into an episode of the Amazing Race. Suddenly, I'm not just getting stuff accomplished, I'm competing for a title or winning a championship. When all is said and done I get the satisfaction of looking at a fully completed list... satisfaction that I might not naturally feel with a clean house, stocked refrigerator or a full day's work. Seriously, it's a disorder. I wasn't kidding. But, I find none of those actual outcomes sexy or satisfying. However, a "to do" list full of crossed off items that can be deposited into the recycle bin, now that's sexy.

It's understandable, then, that a person like me would be intrigued by the idea of the Ultimate "to do" List. It can be easy from time to time to get bogged down by the day to day stuff. Get up. Go to work. Do laundry. Wash the car. Clean the toilet. See where I'm going with this? There's plenty to do to keep one's daily 24 hours full. But, life has got to be more than just the everyday tasks. And for a list maker like me, pulling together a group of things to look forward to, a group of tasks to master can make days where cleaning the toilet is as exotic as you're going to get much more enjoyable. It was on a very toilet cleaning type of day that the idea of the Ultimate "to do" List was conceived. It wasn't conceived with the hope of wishing away the everyday, just with the hope of remembering that there is more out there and not allowing the everyday to become the everything.

While some might call it a bucket list. I would not. A bucket list is for old men (like Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) who are at death's door. I'm much too young, chic, hip and trendy to have a bucket list. Don't be confused. Recognize. My list is so very, very different. My list is much more about enjoying this life than it is about crossing things off before the next. I know I'm not the first, and I hope I won't be the last, to compile a list like this. In fact, it was a Mighty Life List that inspired me to create one of my own. I'm hoping this blog entry will inspire others to do the same thing! You can check out her amazingly entertaining blog for a record of her adventures, tune in here as I begin mine or better yet, begin your own.

Here's the deal. Right now, my list contains 50 items. Twenty-five are items that my handsome husband and I intend to complete together (they are designated by an *) and 25 are completely my own. Once one task is crossed off a new item will be added. (This aspect of the list feeds my fantasy that I am immortal and will live here on Earth forever - and yes, developmentally I am still functioning with a teenage brain and have not recognized my own mortality, thanks for noticing.)

So, here it is:

The Ultimate “to do” List

Ride in a Hot Air Balloon* ~ Have a Huge 10th Wedding Anniversary Party ~ See the Paris Air Show* ~ Witness a birth ~ Take pictures at our 8 wonders of the world* (Pyramid of Giza, Coliseum in Rome, Great Wall of China, Hagia Sofia, Taj Mahal, Chichen Itza, Machu Picchu, Old City of Jerusalem) ~ Bake something sweet successfully ~ See the Parthenon in Greece* ~ Host a slumber party ~ Eat Gelato from a street vendor in Italy* ~ Be Sad to Leave Chattanooga ~ Sky Dive* ~ Publish something ~ Step foot in all 50 states* ~ Payoff my Student loan ~ See a Baseball game in all the MLB parks* ~ Teach Spikey to roll over ~ Live for a year in a Winnebago* ~ Scream like a fanatic 16 year old at the NSYNC reunion tour ~ Drive a Jet Ski* ~ Watch the AFI Top 100 Films of all time ~ Attend a REAL Futbol game* ~ Sit on a Jury ~ See a(nother) musical on Broadway* ~ Ride a Horse ~ Sit front row at a Concert and sing along* ~ Make new Friends but keep the old ~ Save 1 year’s Salary* ~ Celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary by renewing our vows ~ Visit the Bat Bridge in Austin* ~ Reach 5,000 Page Visits on A Foreign Land ~ Plant a Tree* ~ Take a photography Class ~ See U2 in Concert* ~ Run a half marathon ~ Eat Sushi in Japan* ~ Keep a house plant alive for 1 year ~ Watch the ball drop in NYC* ~ Have a Black Tie Academy Awards Party ~ Read the Bible all the way through* ~ Plant and harvest a vegetable garden ~ Look out the crown of the Statue of Liberty* ~ Make our House a Home ~ Visit Alcatraz* ~ Get a Master’s Degree ~ Skinny Dip* ~ Enjoy my city like a tourist would ~ Survive a Star Wars Movie Marathon* ~ Try 25 foods that might make others gag ~ Take Ballroom Dancing Lessons* ~ Silently Watch a Sunrise

OK, so now that I've shared, I'm off to get started. And I can't wait to share my adventures along the way. So, I guess that just leaves you, faithful reader, with the question: What will you include on your list? I can't wait to hear what you come up with!

On your mark, get set, GO!