The Life List

(Thank you, Mighty Girl, for leading the way!)

key: someday, in progress, done

IT’S A GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL WORLD:  visit every major league baseball stadium (6 of 30 so far), visit Acadia National Park, visit Yosemite, drive Route 66, see a show at the Grand Ole’ Opry, visit Mt. Rushmore, visit every national park (14 of 58 so far), visit Austin and see Austin City Limits, live for a while in Park Slope, see someone famous at Balthazar (5 attempts!), visit Nashville and go to the Bluebird Cafe and eat at Loveless and tour Hatch, visit the Giant’s Causeway, visit Newgrange in Ireland, take a pole to pole trip around the world, attend Holi in India, visit Kathmandu and Tibet and go on a Buddhist retreat, take an international cooking class overseas, visit Israel, stay in a treehouse in Thailand, go on safari in Tanzania and see Olduvai Gorge and Ngorongoro Crater, take a cruise to Antarctica, see the lemurs in Madagascar, visit Ronchamps, go on an archaeological dig, visit Denali, visit Innisfree, take an Aalto tour of Finland (Villa Mairea), visit the stepwells in India, have a dulce de leche in Havana, set foot on all seven continents (two left!), visit the Taj Mahal, have coffee at Antico Caffè Greco in Rome, spend a season in Istanbul, visit the Forbidden City, attend Il Palio in Siena, go to a Christmas midnight mass at the Vatican, visit Azerbaijan, visit the Zumthor baths at Vals, walk the High Line, see the northern lights, see the lion fountain at the Alhambra, visit the Glasgow School of Art, attend a Yankees Spring Training game, attend Bloomsday in Dublin, drive The Crooked Road in Virginia, go to the Newport Folk Festival, drink a beer at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, see a show at Tipitina’s, see a show at the Mucky Duck, raft the Colorado through the Grand Canyon, eat at French Laundry, visit Thorncrown Chapel, visit all of these honky tonks and see which one is the best (Billy’s Ice, New Braunfels; Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa; Cheatham Street Warehouse, San Marcos; Floore’s Country Store, Helotes; Gruene Hall, New Braunfels; Luckenbach Dancehall, Luckenbach; Texas Music Theater, San Marcos), visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame HOME SWEET HOME: stay in the F. Scott Fitzgerald room at the Grove Park Inn, see a play at the Flat Rock Playhouse, attend Shinefest in Madison NC,  race a car at Kirby Derby,  slide down the Sliding Rock, take a class at Penland, eat at The Admiral and Tupelo Honey and Early Girl in Asheville, see the Mecca Ham, take a class at The Cookery, have brunch at Scratch, eat an Only Burger, tour Big Boss, hang out on Front Street in Wilmington, eat at Bloomsbury Bistro, eat at Moe’s Diner, have shrimp and grits and honeysuckle sorbet at Crook’s Corner, have a Daisy Cakes cupcake, have a hot dog at the Roast Grill, eat at Finch’s, eat at Jerry’s Pool Hall, shoot pool at the Green Room, go visit Vollis Simpson, eat at Neal’s Deli, visit Lizard Lick, have a hamburger at the Siler City burger joint, own a Kitchenaid stand mixer, own an airstream trailer and trick it out and park it in a grove of trees in Saxapahaw as a writer’s retreat,   QUINTESSENTIAL EXPERIENCES:   go to a World Series game, attend the NCAA Final Four, go to a Winter Olympics, start a dance party,  see Bruce Springsteen live and hear him sing Thunder Road, see Aretha Franklin live, see the Old 97′s at Gruene Hall, see Eddie Vedder live, see Old Crow Medicine Show and hear them sing Wagon Wheel, see the Old 97′s live, be in a flash mob, go see SNL (of course live),  see Willie Nelson live,see the Avett Brothers live, see Mumford and Sons live, be an extra in a movie SIMPLE PLEASURES: cook through Marcella Hazan’s cookbook,  take a handsome man on a picnic, learn to whistle with my fingers,  dance on top of a bar,drink a bloody mary, learn to do an updo, go to an amusement park with my niece and nephew, own a Miro, collect Vitra chairs, build a loft in the warehouse district, create an outdoor room for my house (Airstream outdoor kitchen and writing space!), have beautifully wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree,  let someone fall in love with me,  stay in close touch with the little people in my life, expand my circle, say yes first; live open-heartedly, make every decision out of love and not fear , host a family game night, enjoy family time, reach out to extended family more, achieve milestone birthdays gracefully, make a list of Classic American Experiences for my European nephew and work through it with him, attend an event every season for my niece, nephew, and godchildren, invite people over for dinner, buy a Missoni dress in Rome, become a great campfire cook, take my goddaughter to the Nutcracker, collect all of these records on vinyl ACHIEVEMENTS:  play a pedal steel guitar (or maybe just slide guitar), take voice lessons, be in a play, sing in a gospel choir,  learn to play the bones,learn a new instrument, take more Italian, sing in a honky tonk band, learn to make tortillas from scratch, get a job in the music industry, learn to flamenco dance, enter the National Gingerbread House Competition, win the bacon competition at the NC State Fair (second place! I decided it’s close enough), snowboard (bunny slope counts), put my forehead on the floor in standing-separate-leg-head-to-knee pose, write a book,  write a good book,  be an urban designer, work at the White House, design furniture, have an exhibit somewhere, be a writer, be sent on a trip for travel writing, have an Etsy site, get my architecture license, be a part of an artists’ collaborative/gallery, take a class at RISD, win the Rome Prize, learn to do metalwork (all scales, from jewelry to furniture, I already welded a chair)