This is it

Life is what we make of it. I've been doing a lot of thinking about this over the past year and a half especially.

I just spent a whirlwind weekend with Lizz. In all the spaces between the stuff we did, we talked and talked and talked ... about little things and Really Big Things. Amid all that, she reviewed the draft of my life list. This is it - approved for publication:

Dear readers: I'd love to see your lists! Please share in the comments with list or link, or e-mail me at nancy.justwrite[at]gmail[dot]com.

1. Try my hand at travel writing. 

2. Go on a gondola ride in Venice.

3. Spend a few weeks – or months – in Provence when the lavender is in bloom.

4. Sleep in a thatched-roof cottage in Ireland.

5. Take a long walk in the Cotswolds, wearing gray flannel pants.

6. Ride an elephant in India.

7. Drink really good coffee in Seattle.

8. Paint the exterior of my house. [about 2/3 done!]

9. Eat a “sacramental Dove Bar” with Anne Lamott.

10. Ride a trolley in San Francisco. [summer 2019!]

11. Drink dark beer in Munich.

12. Tell my “at work they steal pencils” story to a barista in Moscow.

13. Do a handstand in Gorky Park ...

14. and Hyde Park (London) ... [summer 2018!]

15. and le jardin des Tuileries (Paris) ... [summer 2018!]

16. and Villa dei Medici gardens (Rome) ...

17. and Djurgarden (Stockholm) ...

18. and Mirabell (Salzburg) ...

19. and so many more famous parks and gardens (I’ve already done some at Parc Güell in Barcelona).

20. Lose 50 pounds.

21. Go Salsa dancing.

22. Ride a bicycle through the Irish countryside.

23. Re-create (or find) the Watergate Elves story I wrote when I was a little girl.

24. See a Broadway play (on Broadway)

25. Go on a Caribbean cruise.

26. Find – and install – new light fixtures for the living room. Or just cover the damn wiring with good artwork.

27. Learn to Zumba.

28. Fix the fireplace.

29. Take my daughter to Mexico.

30. Go whitewater rafting.

31. De-clutter my home. Simplify.

32. Learn to knit baby booties.

33. Finish the quilt I started for Kay (piece it and have someone else quilt it).

34. Go camping in the Grand Canyon – as footprint-free as possible.

35. Spend a summer on Santorini.

36. Write a cookbook with my sister.

37. Publish one of my mom’s books.

38. Find homes for all of the family photos in my house.

39. See Mount Fuji.

40. Visit every U.S. state and territory.

41. Visit every Canadian province.

42. Go ice skating in Rockefeller Center.

43. Visit Key West.
44. Help build homes with Habitat for Humanity in Papua, New Guinea.

45. Write success stories about Habitat for Humanity homeowners for Habitat World.

46. Try an “egg cream.”
47. Stop biting my nails.

48. And get a manicure.

49. Find my soul mate and marry him.

50.  Celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary before I’m 100.

51. Take another group of youth to participate in Appalachia Service Project.

52. Weatherize my house – insulate and seal gaps, cracks, windows, doors, etc.

53. Build and install some bat houses.

54. Visit Chincoteague during the Pony Swim.

55. Spend a week on Tangier Island.

56. Drink a mojito.

57. Hang ceiling fans in the bedrooms of my house.

58. Hula-dance (wearing grass skirt and coconut bra!) in Hawaii.

59. Drink real Kona coffee while gazing at Mauna Loa.

60. Spend a few weeks (or more) driving historic Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles.

61. Write for National Geographic. At least once.

62. Go to a cooking blowout/retreat at Ree Drummond’s (the Pioneer Woman’s) Lodge.

63. Make one of the projects in my Knitting for Peace book.

64. Post on one of my blogs 365 days in a row.

65. Learn to make paper.

66. Participate in the Mackinac Bridge Labor Day Walk.

67. Spend a full year with my mom’s family, learning about my mom and that part of my family tree.

68. Find the original “Tuna on Wheatley” article from 1958.

69. Spend a full year with my dad’s family, learning about my dad and that part of my family tree.

70. Landscape my back yard.

71. Learn about the history of my house and its previous owners. (in process)

72. Learn how to bake really good bread.

73. Take a course at a culinary school.

74. Attend a writing retreat somewhere beautiful.

75. Learn to read music.

76. Sing alto – better.

77. Learn to play the guitar.

78. Learn to grill a really great steak.

79. Go to Banff. Because I really like that name.

80. Find a way to “pay it forward” every day.

81. Begin a morning workout regimen.

82. Pray more.

83. Pay off my credit cards.

84. Dust off my Cannondale hybrid and take it for a ride.

85. Learn how to use the treadmills, elliptical trainers, etc. at the Y.

86. Teach five people how to make perfect pie crust.

87. Create a filing system to manage all of my stupid paperwork. And use it.

88. Teach my grandchildren how to do handstands.

89. Get my own pottery wheel and learn how to use it.

90. Ski in the Alps.

91. Learn a dozen key phrases in one new language every month.

92. Read the entire Bible. Any translation.

93. Take my daughter to Europe. [we took each other - summer 2018!]

94. Start – and finish – Christmas shopping before Dec. 15 at least once.

95. Learn to tango.

96. Swim in the Mediterranean.

97. Make Christmas gifts for everyone on my list at least once.

98. Go fly fishing (and wear the cool hat, vest and waders like in A River Runs Through It).

99. Paint a trompe l’oeil mural on the back of my house.

100. Finish the first draft of my list of 100.