The List

Many people have asked me what's on my bucket list and how I came up with the things on it. 

Dude.

There are over 300 items on the list and I continue to add to it. There are big things, small things, crazy things, normal things, things I'll have to be drunk to accomplish and things I'll have to save for total sobriety. I live my life out loud and use my own voice to do it, so when I see something fun or cool, I add it to the list. 

Take #244, for instance. It came about because someone in my Twitter timeline told me that most people from Boston don't take kindly to friendly "outsidahs." Psssh, I said. So I added "Hug a stranger in Boston" to my list.
 

(Still one of my favorite hugs of all time and I've had some pretty spectacular hugs.)

The complete list is as follows (but is constantly being added onto):

1. Get tickets to the Ellen DeGeneres show
2. Road trip from NY to CA
3. Try Yoga
4. Visit Key West
5. Adopt a Sphynx cat
6. Cry at the grave of someone I never knew
   
7. Have 1,000 Twitter followers
8. Sing the National Anthem at Fenway Park
9. Ride in a hot air balloon
10. Tweet 10,000 times
11. Read 1,000 books
12. Learn how to surf
13. Participate in a Color Run
14. See the Northern Lights
15. Get Mark Zuckerberg's business card
16. Own a typewriter
17. Get locked down with the Ghost Adventures crew (no longer applies)
18. Meet Clay Aiken
19. Hug Reba McEntire
20. Order off In-n-Out's secret menu 
21. Receive roses from a secret admirer
22. Plan my best friend's wedding
23. Paint my front door purple
24. Participate in a 3-day Walk for the Cure (no longer applies)
25. Get Lasik eye surgery (cannot physically do)
26. Learn how to knit
27. Have a book I've written be made into a movie
28. Get my pre-pregnancy body back
29. Shave my head for someone with cancer
30. Cook with Guy Fieri
31. Go to a Boston Celtics game
    
32. Go to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
33. Bake perfect Christmas cookies
34. Swim naked in the ocean
35. Finish a "Wreck this Journal"
36. Get a "Breathe" tattoo
37. Do a NOH8 shoot
38. Own something from Tiffany and Co.
39. Find the perfect LBD
40. Tell them they saved my life
41. Be a healthy weight
42. Get rid of all the negativity in my life
43. Ice skate in Central Park
44. Have a song dedicated to me
45. Meet Ashton Kutcher
46. Make him love life again
47. Spend the night in a haunted mansion
48. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge
49. Autograph something
50. Have drinks with a celebrity
51. Be his bride
52. Meet Adam Levine
53. Pay a stranger's tab at a restaurant
54. Get a matching tattoo with my daughters
55. Spend an entire day watching Disney movies
56. Have my favorite author sign my book
57. Learn how to tie a cherry stem in a knot
58. Put together a family cookbook
59. Work for a magazine
60. Go on vacation by myself
61. Be in two places at once
62. Have abs
63. Be married to the same person for 50 years
64. Have a best friend who'll never let me down
65. Go parasailing
66. Ride a horse on the beach
67. Be the MOH
68. Visit the Titanic in a submarine
69. Try foods I wouldn't normally try
70. Go for a run in Central Park (cannot physically do)
71. Perform on Broadway
72. Ride first class
73. Be in a fashion show
74. Party all night without stopping to sleep
75. Get my nose pierced
76. Go on a cruise
77. Love him til I die
78. Go to at least one place I've never been before
79. Pet a fox
80. Star in a movie
81. Ride in a private plane
82. Ride in a helicopter
83. Take a carriage ride in Central Park
    
84. Visit the Hollywood Walk of Fame
85. Explore an abandoned amusement park
86. Open my own business
87. Watch the ball drop in Times Square
88. Invite someone without family to my holiday dinner
89. Go camping with all my friends
90. Go an entire day without using technology
91. Tan on a nude beach
92. Make a perfect Thanksgiving turkey
93. See my hip bones
94. Try Chicago-style pizza
95. Photograph a nude photoshoot
96. Complete a Man vs. Food challenge
97. Make my best friend's dream come true
98. Kiss on Bow Bridge in Central Park
99. Go on a family vacation
100. Stay at a Bed & Breakfast
101. Slow dance in the rain
102. Be able to walk well in high heels
103. Ride in an airplane
104. Be kissed unexpectedly
105. Buy flowers for someone for no reason
106. Feel confident in a bikini
107. Become a cheerleader
108. Get a boob job
109. Eat spaghetti in Italy
110. Visit the beach every day for a week
111. Take my kids on an amazing vacation
112. Write a novel during NaNoWriMo
113. Visit Niagara Falls
114. Live in an apartment in downtown Manhattan
115. Meet Adam Lambert
116. Visit the Full House home in San Francisco
117. Go on a road trip with friends
118. Visit the Mall of America
119. Go to prom
120. Be present during a birth
121. Chase a tornado
122. Take a homeless person to dinner
123. Make it in NY
124. Attach a lock to a love bridge
125. Go to a spa
126. Publish a best-selling novel
127. Run a marathon (cannot physically do)
128. Have my poem published
129. Dance with my kids in the rain
130. Dye my hair red
131. Go to Canada
132. See the Golden Gate Bridge
     
133. Pay for a stranger's groceries
134. Get a matching tattoo with my bestie
135. Meet my idol NKOTB
136. Travel alone
137. Personally thank a 9/11 firefighter
138. Have a beach wedding
139. Meet Kate Middleton
140. Overcome depression
141. See gay marriage legalized in the United States
142. Be on a billboard in Times Square
143. Write an article for the NY Times
144. Own a white kitten
145. Dye my hair pink
146. Meet Taylor Lautner
147. Have my daughter be "One Less Lonely Girl"  (no longer applies)
148. Meet Justin Bieber  (no longer applies)
149. See a Broadway play
150. Live to meet my grandchildren
151. Design my own dream house
152. Kiss at the top of a ferris wheel
153. Learn to play piano
154. Move to NYC or Boston (no longer applies)
155. Learn sign language
156. Visit Ground Zero
157. Attend a gay wedding
158. Be on TV
159. Write a book
160. Swim with dolphins
161. Skydive (cannot physically do)
162. Visit Disneyland/World
163. Visit all 50 states
164. 
     Fall in love
165. Finish an entire coloring book
166. Be on the cover of a magazine
167. See a lantern festival
168. Visit a castle
169. Watch my children get married
170. Visit the Philippines with my bestie  (no longer applies)
171. Ride a subway in NYC
172. Try every flavor at Ben & Jerry's
173. Have a "usual" somewhere
174. Have a pet rabbit
175. Go to the airport and buy a ticket for some random flight
176. Go to Bora Bora or Fiji
177. Test drive a Ferrari
178. Write a letter to myself and open it in 10 years
179. Go on the Skydeck in Chicago
180. Ride the London Eye
181. Go on a road trip to Canada
182. Have a Christmas without any drama
183. Give a homeless person a Christmas present
184. Become a photographer
185. Have my 11:11 11/11/11 wish come true
186. Kiss in a snow storm
187. Chop down my own Christmas tree
188. Find and go on the largest roller coaster in the world
189. Go to a hot air balloon fest
190. Go to the Caribbean with my bestie
191. 
     Be a homeowner
192. Be a good parent
193. Go on a no-budget shopping spree in Sephora
194. Get a white-ink tattoo
195. Walk through Central Park in the snow
196. Swim with Beluga whales
197. Dance under the Eiffel Tower
198. Go to Rockefeller Plaza at Christmastime
199. Stop biting my nails
200. Kiss at the top of the Empire State Building
201. Go to an NFL game
202. Party on a cruise ship
203. Attend a midnight movie premiere
204. Walk a red carpet
205. Swim with a sea turtle
206. Celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans
207. Go snowtubing
208. See the Rockettes
209. Do a boudoir sitting
210. Take a family trip to Colorado
211. Visit Boston
212. Have a conversation with my favorite actor
213. Visit Martha's Vineyard
214. See NKOTB's childhood homes
215. Meet Ellen Degeneres
216. 
     Go ziplining
217. Write a screen play
218. Learn to ski (water or snow)
219. See Prince in concert (RIP, Prince)
220. Buy a bicycle and ride it regularly
221. Walk a 5k
222. See Madonna live (no longer applies)
223. Join a critique group
224. Do RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) (no longer applies)
225. Go on a long-overdue honeymoon
226. Visit Yellowstone
227. Spend a weekend in an isolated cabin
228. Have my portrait painted
229. Drive up the Pacific Coast highway
230. Visit the Smithsonian
231. Nap in a hammock by the ocean
232. Get back to my high school weight
233. Visit Los Angeles
234. Meet Janet Evanovich 
     
235. Redecorate my bedroom
236. Put my feet in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
237. Have one of my photos displayed publicly
238. Meet Shemar Moore
239. Kiss someone famous
240. Go to a game at Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park
241. Go paragliding
242. Eat at Ellen's Stardust Diner
243. Learn how to ballroom dance (especially the quickstep)
244. Hug a stranger in Boston
245. Get at least 5 stamps in my passport
246. Move to New England
247. Kiss on Lagoon Bridge in Boston
248. Spend a weekend in Cape Cod
249. Do a tequila shot with Michael Cudlitz
250. See all the NKOTB homes today
251. Witness Fleet Week 
252. Go SCUBA diving
253. Hold a hummingbird 
254. Visit the Pollock-Krasner House & Studio 
255. Go a week without using my phone
256. Spend a day holding a "FREE HUGS" sign
257. Get every member of Midnight Red to follow me on Twitter
258. Star in a local theatrical production
259. Going line dancing for old time's sake
260. See a Pink Floyd laser light show
261. 
     Ride in a glass bottom boat
262. Dance with Zac Efron
263. Photograph an Atlantic sunrise
264. Photograph a Pacific sunset
265. See P!nk in concert.
266. Have wings at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo.
267. Have my book published.
268. Meet Bret Michaels.
     
269. Dance in the rain in the mountains. 
270. Visit Lake Nipissing 
271. Go camping in the mountains 
272. Move to Colorado
273. Restore someone's faith in humanity
274. Get a Brazilian wax 
275. Learn to ice skate
276. Discuss screenwriting with Frank John Hughes 
277. Visit an elephant sanctuary
278. Take a ride on a motorcycle up the PCH
279. Visit the 9/11 Museum
280. Visit the OKC Bombing Memorial
281. Drive a Corvette
282. See Jimmy Fallon Live
283. Publish my "Time After Time" series
284. Appear on "Jeopardy"
285. Have front row seats for a NKOTB show
     
286. See Janet Jackson in concert
287. Try raw oysters
288. Ride a trolley in San Francisco
289. Go to a drive-in movie
290. Meet Judy Blume
291. Ride the ferris wheel at Navy Pier
292. Ride the Wonder Wheel at Coney Island
293. Take a train ride on Amtrak
294. Get a semi colon tattoo
295. Stay at the Hoshi Ryoku Hotel in Japan
296. Have my mom's wedding rings redesigned
297. Get a henna tattoo
298. Visit the "Dirty Dancing" resort in VA (Mountain Lake)
299. Go snowmobiling
300. Scrapbook all my childhood MN vacations
301. Get courtside seats for a Celtics game
302. Tell my freshman English teacher what an inspiration she was to me
303. Visit Graceland
304. Visit Paisley Place
305. Visit the Country Music Hall of Fame
306. Witness Manhattanhenge
307. Go tubing in Kauai
308. See a real southern plantation
     
309. Visit Margaret Mitchell's grave
310. Visit Margaret Mitchell's home
311. Meet my sisters
312. Learn how to crochet
313. Visit the grave of Princess Diana 
314. Visit the Salem Witch House/House of Seven Gables
315. Meet Harry Styles
316. Visit Stonehenge
317. Go to an ashram in Bali
318. Start a non-profit for kids from widowed and divorced families.
319. Explore Mali
320. Write the screenplay for "Time After Time"
321. Volunteer in my community
322. Go on a cooking tour of Italy
323. Tour St. Petersburg, Russia
324. Write my autobiography
325. Visit Scotland, and the Callanish Stones
326. Visit the founding Thirteen Colonies
327. 
     Visit the monuments and landmarks of Washington, D.C.
328. Tour the Ben & Jerry's factory
329. Spend Christmas in a cabin
330. See Queen in concert
331. Get a new stamp in my passport yearly
332. Go kayaking
333. Cook with Trisha Yearwood
334. Become more goal-oriented
335. Declutter all the rooms in the house
336. Recognize/identify unhealthy habits
337. Write the story of my family with pics
338. Start my spiritual gifts/healing business
339. Visit the Denver Gem Show
340. See Chippendales
341. Go sailing
342. Pose with the "Bewitched" statue
     
343. Visit the Salem cemetery
344. Read Nathanial Hawthorne's work
345. Stay in Jon Knight's guest house
346. Assist Patrick on tour with NKOTB
347. Watch a Red Sox game at a Boston bar
348. Get a NKOTB-themed tattoo
349. Go to the Neon Graveyard
350. Visit the Grand Canyon
351. See the Goldfield Hotel
352. Visit Four Corners & be in 4 places at once.
353. Move to Austin, Texas
354. See Phantom of the Opera on Broadway
355. Visit Starbucks Reserve at the Empire State Building
356. See The Music Man on Broadway
357. See The Drew Barrymore show
358. Meet Keanu Reeves
359. Join a gym
360. Read my 2023 12-book challenge
361. Share my mental health journey with NAMI
362. Organize my Kindle books into manageable categories
363. Follow through with my New Year's resolutions one year
364. Learn how to meditate

My list is long and the likelihood of my actually completing everything on it is not very high, but the way I see it, if I keep trying to do these fun things, then my life will always have a purpose, even if it's to do something silly. I'll never be the person who cures cancer or gives peace to the Middle East, but I do intend to bring a smile to the face of every person I meet, and if that's my greatest accomplishment in life, I'm okay with that. 

Now...what's on your list?

(updated 7/29/2024)