Thursday
May272010
Mighty Life List
Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 03:22PM
Big cheers to Maggie Mason, the brilliant Goddess behind Mighty Girl, for the Mighty Life List inspiration.
I wrote this last week, after dragging my heels on the idea for, oh, as long as possible. I've made desire lists regularly for the last seven years, but a Life List seemed like an intimidating cousin to the desire list. Then I started the list, and some of the things on it made me giggle and blush, which tells me I'm on the right track.
Yesterday, #49 found me. On Tuesday, I'll be an extra on "Friday Night Lights" all day. Already, one item on my Life List will be complete! This made me think I should put this list farther out into the world.
Since it makes me nervous, I'm jumping in with both feet. And posting this photo of me at three, as a reminder to be gentle with myself, for crying out loud.
Like everything in the universe, this list is subject to change, glitter, landslides, warrior slashes, evolution, laughter, and Life.
1. Speak fluent Spanish
2. Speak conversational Vietnamese
3. Have a conversation in Italian with Lillyrose
4. Visit Vietnam: Da Lat, Saigon, Hue
5. Win an Oscar and attend the ceremonies
6. Give birth to at least two kids at home, orgasmically, ecstatically
7. Write and publish a novel
8. Take a photography class
9. Get a graduate degree in something delightful
10. Write a book about the Gandin family history with Aunt Eileen
11. Travel to: Japan, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Greenland, Iceland, Ghana, South Africa, Montana, Greece, Australia
12. Write a children's book
13. Sing back-up harmony on a U.S. tour with a fabulous musician
14. Own a home in Houston
15. Swim in the Dead Sea
16. Walk the halls of Daphne DuMaurier's mansion in Cornwall
17. Learn to foxtrot and swing dance
18. Learn how to apply my own make-up really well
19. Lie in the grass and watch clouds with my future children during the summer
20. Teach a writing class
21. Take singing lessons
22. Write a song
23. Take a photographic/writing road trip with Vu across the U.S., visiting towns with populations of 500 and less, to talk with people there and take pictures.
24. Write and sell a book about being a Preacher's Kid
25. Sell my journals and archives to the Ransom Center at UT or another library
26. Publish a book of photographs and essays
27. Own a work/writing studio within walking or biking distance from my house that is 100% my space
28. Compile a book of the women in my family
29. Record a song with Kimmi
30. Live in the Lake District for a year or two
31. Visit Paris again
32. Write a letter to myself on every birthday, beginning this year
33. Take a class with Natalie Goldberg
34. Learn to can fruits and vegetables
35. Make my own jam
36. Teach S Factor or a similar movement
37. Buy season tickets to the Round Rock Express once we have kids
38. Go on Mama's tour of SoCal with the Steel Mags
39. Train a puppy
40. Pay off our credit card debt
41. Learn to read tarot
42. Perform the lead in a musical
43. Take a month-long writing retreat somewhere beautiful, where all my daily needs are taken care of
44. Keep fresh seasonal flowers on our table for an entire year
45. Spend a work-free month in Italy with Vu, filled with sensual pleasures
46. Inspire a fragrance
47. Inspire John Fluevog to design a pair of shoes for me
48. Learn to play the lap steel
49. Visit the "Friday Night Lights" set -- Thank you, Karin in Extras Casting! 6/2/2010
50. Hang at least one piece of art on each wall from one of our artist friends
51. Create a Gandin Le Family trust and/or endowment
52. Meet Christian Bale in a juicy and flirtatious encounter
53. Take a cooking class
54. Master 100 vegetarian and/or healthy recipes on my own
55. Rekindle my letter-writing relationship with Ann
56. Read a novel a month for a year
57. Have a monthly play day with my sister
58. Win a MacArthur Genius grant
59. Learn 100 songs that fit my voice perfectly
60. Zipline in 5 beautiful places
61. Taste 1,000 kinds of cheeses: Argentine Gruyerito. Argentine Pategras Mar Del Plata. Hennings Cheddar Cheese Curds.
62. Grow and harvest a crop of squash in my backyard
63. Sleep in a castle
64. Create a lush screened-in outdoor space in our yard
65. Visit Cape Breton
66. Visit all of the 50 states
67. Recognize 25 constellations
68. Fold 1,000 paper cranes, then visit the Sadako Sasaki memorial in Hiroshima
69. Visit 10 sites of ancient Goddess worship
70. Ride a horse
71. Be profiled in InStyle's "Her 10 Best Ever" section
72. Learn how to play the piano again
73. See "Tuesday" produced into a gorgeous film
74. Record 100 women's stories about pleasurable pregnancy and birth while I'm pregnant
75. Receive private tour of the Taj Mahal
76. Have dinner with Eleanor Coppola in Napa
77. Host an annual themed Freeze-Off ice-cream-making contest
78. Visit the Egyptian pyramids
79. Buy and use a Eurail pass
80. Take a European tour with Rick Steves himself
81. Photograph the aurora borealis
82. Become a five-borough NYC tour guide
83. Learn the basics of design
84. Grow my hair long in a style that looks fantastic
85. Launch "Our Square Meters" as a community earth-changers site
86. Have David Bornfriend do a wet plate collodion portrait of me
87. Visit O'Keeffe's New Mexico
88. Locate, name, and costume my inner diva
89. Visit 100 Texas state parks
90. Photograph 1,000 flowers in macro
91. Grow 1,000 kinds of plants from seed
92. Go behind the scenes: Visit a landfill, a recycling plant, an oil refinery, a commercial farm, a vinyl record factory,
93. Take Chris to the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory
94. Taste 1,000 kinds of bread
95. Paraglide
96. Visit 100 botanical gardens worldwide
97. Listen to space at the Very Large Array
98. Witness a tornado (that causes no damage or death, and from a safe distance)
99. Stay in the ice hotel
100. Sit in on an Explosions in the Sky recording session
101. Visit the eastern and western-most points of each continent
102. Visit or participate in the U.S.'s longest-running July 4th parade in Bristol, Rhode Island, which has had a parade every year since 1785.
I wrote this last week, after dragging my heels on the idea for, oh, as long as possible. I've made desire lists regularly for the last seven years, but a Life List seemed like an intimidating cousin to the desire list. Then I started the list, and some of the things on it made me giggle and blush, which tells me I'm on the right track.
Yesterday, #49 found me. On Tuesday, I'll be an extra on "Friday Night Lights" all day. Already, one item on my Life List will be complete! This made me think I should put this list farther out into the world.
Since it makes me nervous, I'm jumping in with both feet. And posting this photo of me at three, as a reminder to be gentle with myself, for crying out loud.Like everything in the universe, this list is subject to change, glitter, landslides, warrior slashes, evolution, laughter, and Life.
1. Speak fluent Spanish
2. Speak conversational Vietnamese
3. Have a conversation in Italian with Lillyrose
4. Visit Vietnam: Da Lat, Saigon, Hue
5. Win an Oscar and attend the ceremonies
6. Give birth to at least two kids at home, orgasmically, ecstatically
7. Write and publish a novel
8. Take a photography class
9. Get a graduate degree in something delightful
10. Write a book about the Gandin family history with Aunt Eileen
11. Travel to: Japan, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Greenland, Iceland, Ghana, South Africa, Montana, Greece, Australia
12. Write a children's book
13. Sing back-up harmony on a U.S. tour with a fabulous musician
14. Own a home in Houston
15. Swim in the Dead Sea
16. Walk the halls of Daphne DuMaurier's mansion in Cornwall
17. Learn to foxtrot and swing dance
18. Learn how to apply my own make-up really well
19. Lie in the grass and watch clouds with my future children during the summer
20. Teach a writing class
21. Take singing lessons
22. Write a song
23. Take a photographic/writing road trip with Vu across the U.S., visiting towns with populations of 500 and less, to talk with people there and take pictures.
24. Write and sell a book about being a Preacher's Kid
25. Sell my journals and archives to the Ransom Center at UT or another library
26. Publish a book of photographs and essays
27. Own a work/writing studio within walking or biking distance from my house that is 100% my space
28. Compile a book of the women in my family
29. Record a song with Kimmi
30. Live in the Lake District for a year or two
31. Visit Paris again
32. Write a letter to myself on every birthday, beginning this year
33. Take a class with Natalie Goldberg
34. Learn to can fruits and vegetables
35. Make my own jam
36. Teach S Factor or a similar movement
37. Buy season tickets to the Round Rock Express once we have kids
38. Go on Mama's tour of SoCal with the Steel Mags
39. Train a puppy
40. Pay off our credit card debt
41. Learn to read tarot
42. Perform the lead in a musical
43. Take a month-long writing retreat somewhere beautiful, where all my daily needs are taken care of
44. Keep fresh seasonal flowers on our table for an entire year
45. Spend a work-free month in Italy with Vu, filled with sensual pleasures
46. Inspire a fragrance
47. Inspire John Fluevog to design a pair of shoes for me
48. Learn to play the lap steel
50. Hang at least one piece of art on each wall from one of our artist friends
51. Create a Gandin Le Family trust and/or endowment
52. Meet Christian Bale in a juicy and flirtatious encounter
53. Take a cooking class
54. Master 100 vegetarian and/or healthy recipes on my own
55. Rekindle my letter-writing relationship with Ann
56. Read a novel a month for a year
57. Have a monthly play day with my sister
58. Win a MacArthur Genius grant
59. Learn 100 songs that fit my voice perfectly
60. Zipline in 5 beautiful places
61. Taste 1,000 kinds of cheeses: Argentine Gruyerito. Argentine Pategras Mar Del Plata. Hennings Cheddar Cheese Curds.
62. Grow and harvest a crop of squash in my backyard
63. Sleep in a castle
64. Create a lush screened-in outdoor space in our yard
65. Visit Cape Breton
66. Visit all of the 50 states
67. Recognize 25 constellations
68. Fold 1,000 paper cranes, then visit the Sadako Sasaki memorial in Hiroshima
69. Visit 10 sites of ancient Goddess worship
70. Ride a horse
71. Be profiled in InStyle's "Her 10 Best Ever" section
72. Learn how to play the piano again
73. See "Tuesday" produced into a gorgeous film
74. Record 100 women's stories about pleasurable pregnancy and birth while I'm pregnant
75. Receive private tour of the Taj Mahal
76. Have dinner with Eleanor Coppola in Napa
77. Host an annual themed Freeze-Off ice-cream-making contest
78. Visit the Egyptian pyramids
79. Buy and use a Eurail pass
80. Take a European tour with Rick Steves himself
81. Photograph the aurora borealis
82. Become a five-borough NYC tour guide
83. Learn the basics of design
84. Grow my hair long in a style that looks fantastic
85. Launch "Our Square Meters" as a community earth-changers site
86. Have David Bornfriend do a wet plate collodion portrait of me
87. Visit O'Keeffe's New Mexico
88. Locate, name, and costume my inner diva
89. Visit 100 Texas state parks
90. Photograph 1,000 flowers in macro
91. Grow 1,000 kinds of plants from seed
92. Go behind the scenes: Visit a landfill, a recycling plant, an oil refinery, a commercial farm, a vinyl record factory,
93. Take Chris to the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory
94. Taste 1,000 kinds of bread
95. Paraglide
96. Visit 100 botanical gardens worldwide
97. Listen to space at the Very Large Array
98. Witness a tornado (that causes no damage or death, and from a safe distance)
99. Stay in the ice hotel
100. Sit in on an Explosions in the Sky recording session
101. Visit the eastern and western-most points of each continent
102. Visit or participate in the U.S.'s longest-running July 4th parade in Bristol, Rhode Island, which has had a parade every year since 1785.
Reader Comments (7)
i like your list!
I am determined to do at least one of these things with you dearest!
You are inspiring me to post my life list. I have journals of lists....okay, I feel an idea snowballing. Will keep you posted. Until then, Natalie Goldberg, Cape Breton, Cheeses of the world, flowers, babies, pyramids and O'Keefe- what'll it be? Love, S
PS Could you be cuter?
[...] at my pal Jennifer Gandin Le’s website, http://jennifergandin.com/2010/05/27/mighty-life-list/ she posted her “Mighty Life List”. That is what got me started thinking about the miles [...]
PPPS Just wrote about this on the Line. Love and gratitude for YOU, S
I just wandered over here from Suzi's homestead and am amazed by your life list. It is magnificent! I want to tast 1,000 kinds of bread, too. Actually, lots of things on your list sound inspirational.
Thanks, Lu and Kathy, for coming over and checking out my list! Kathy, I was inspired by Maggie Mason's desire to taste 1,000 kinds of fruit. And while I like fruit, I really really love bread and cheese, so those went on the list with barely a second thought.
And Suzi, YES to sharing the adventure on at least that many of these items. I love you to bits and pieces.