My Bucket List...and a Short-Term "To Do" List

Now, I don't have a long-forgotten bucket list like Hannah over at Off the Cuff but I have always had a list in my head of things I want to do before I pass...a - for a lack of a better term - "mental bucket list."

I finally got around to putting it on paper typing it up the other day, so I thought I'd share it and maybe this will spur me to mark a few off.

Of course, when I sat down and started typing, these were my first three entries:

• Go to the dermatologist.
• Clean my baseboards.
• Purge my sweater closet.

Yes, I know. These are "to do" items NOT bucket list items. So I made two separate headings of "To Do List" and "Bucket List" and went to town.
 
Some of my "to do" list items still ended up in my "bucket list" but I am an editor at heart (and by vocation) so once I was done with my list, I moved some stuff around and presto...my Bucket List.
 
Now I couldn't help adding some editorial comments because this is a blog entry, not just a list!
 
Bucket List


• Drive down a coastal highway in a convertible with a scarf on my head. (Think Thelma & Louise-like without the hand-holding cliff scene, but maybe including Brad Pitt.)
• Go sky diving.
• Take a hot air balloon ride.
• Go white water rafting.
• Go sailing. (Learn to sail first or during the trip.)

• Take each of my nephews/nieces on an amazing trip (one-on-one).
• Visit all 50 states – 14 more to go.
• Go to NYC. See at least one Broadway musical.
• Go to New Orleans and eat a beignet.
• Visit the Grand Canyon. (Visit, not hike.)
• Hike the Appalachian Trail (or at least part of it).
• Hang out by a pool in Las Vegas.
• Learn how to broom board but ONLY in Hawaii – preferably on Kauai.
• Go back to Krakow, Poland and visit some of the places I loved most while studying there.
• Go to Ireland and order a pint at a pub.
• Wear a two-piece swimsuit at a tropical resort (not Hawaii).
• Spend a month in Europe.
• Visit Vancouver.
• Learn Photoshop/InDesign.
• Take a creative writing course.
• Bake The Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls. (This should be a to do but I’m pretty sure it’ll be a once in a lifetime event for me.)
• Learn how to decorate a cake (maybe just a cupcake).
• Grow my hair longer than shoulder length just to see how it looks.
• Learn how to arrange flowers.
• Learn how to change a tire.
• Learn sign language.
• Visit a real working cattle ranch (maybe learn how to ride a horse).
• Wet harvest cranberries while wearing waders.
• Stand under a windmill and just listen. (Those big ones in the middle of cornfields. Yes, I’m that big of a dork.)

Hopefully, I have another 50-plus years to accomplish all of these!

For those of you curious, this is what ended up on my "To Do" list.

Moved to the “To Do” List

• Go to the dermatologist.
• Clean my baseboards.
• Purge my sweater closet.
• Actively play the stock market/actively manage my money (maybe a to do is learn how to manage my investments).
• Implement a time management/life management system that works for me (more a to do, right?)
• Write for pleasure every day (more a to do, right?).
• Become more knowledgeable about my faith.

Personally, I think the "bucket list" looks like more fun!
 
Now, anyone want to go to South Dakota with me?