New Year's 2013: Your Life's To Do List

Life has so many possibilities.

About a decade ago, I had graduated college with no job or prospect of a job. Or money. I did however, thanks to my parents, have a ticket to Europe and a 39 day Contiki Tour booked to travel to 12 Western European countries. To say that I saw so many amazing things is an understatement. What I saw was timeless pieces of art, world-changing architecture, immortal moments in the history of humanity - things you only think exist in history books.

I decided shortly after to start a Life's To Do List, a list that would remind me of the awe-inspiring things life has to offer. A list that reminds me that life is astonishingly simple, breathtakingly funny, and frighteningly short.

This list is ever evolving and changing. I add things. I delete things. In my physical Life's To Do List Journal, I keep pictures and memorabilia from the things that I have checked off. I also included some of the things that I have already done that I never want to forget.

This list reminds me of the things that I have done and the things still left to do. It keeps me on track and remembering all of the many things that I still want to do and see and appreciate. 

So for 2013, instead of making a resolution that you might not keep why not make your own Life's To Do List. It's easy - don't think, just start writing. Write anything and everything you've ever wanted to do: silly, serious, simple. And then choose which to do first and do it. Take pictures, keep ticket stubs, paste them into a journal and look through it every once in a while to remind yourself how lucky you are and of how good life has been. 

Oh the Good, Good Life. 

Feel free to suggest or steal any ideas. Check regularly on the Life's To Do List page for updates!

1. Get married ✓

2. Have children ✓

3. Have success 

4. Make another film ✓

5. Learn to sail

6. Visit Maine ✓

7. Ride in a float in a parade ✓

8. Volunteer ✓

9. Karaoke...LOUDLY ✓

10. Dance on a bar ✓

11. Get a dog ✓

12. Be in love in Paris

13. See Europe ✓

14. and then go back

15. See the Eiffel Tower ✓

16. Learn the guitar

17. Do something I'm terrified of ✓

18. Go horseback riding

19. Ride on a firetruck

20. Ride on a mechanical bull ✓

21. Take a trip by myself

22. Rent a house with friends ✓

23. Swallow my pride ✓

24. Go to Cuba ✓

25. Take up a sport ✓

26. Publish my writing ✓

27. Take a road trip ✓

28. Meet Paulo Coelho

29. See the Pyramids

30. Make a difference (even if small) ✓

31. Attend a Yankee's vs. Red Sox game ✓

32. See an opera ✓

33. Earn my Master's

34. Sing on stage ✓

35. Vegas Baby! ✓

36. Attend one of those fancy NYC parties (or other hot city) ✓

37. Plant a tree ✓

38. Give back ✓

39. Write my family's story 

40. Write a novel

41. Hold an Oscar or other fancy award ✓

42. Ride a camel

43. Visit Africa on safari

44. Swing on a trapeze ✓

45. Stay at an Ice Hotel

46. See the Mona Lisa in person ✓

47. Sleep on a beach overnight

48. Get my own star ✓

49. Adopt a pet ✓

50. Work on an ice cream truck ✓

51. Hear Jesse's Girl (Rick Springfield) LIVE ✓

52. Hear Glory Days (Bruce Springsteen) LIVE ✓

53. Ride in a police car ✓

54. Go to a drive-in

55. Visit Savannah, Georgia

56. Go to a DMB concert out of state ✓

57. Go to a boxing match

58. See all 7 Wonders of the World:

Chichenitza [Mexico]

Taj Mahal [India]

Petra [Jordan]

Christ the Redeemer [Brazil] ✓ 

Colosseum [Italy] ✓

Great Wall of China [China], 

Machu Pichu [Peru]

59. Take an RV camping

60. Climb the "Rocky" stairs ✓

61. Attend a DMB concert that goes on LIVE CD ✓

62. Line dance

63. See the Grand Canyon

64. Go on a for realsies sleigh ride

65. Oktoberfest in Germany

66. Carnival in Rio

67. Drink a beer out of a stein ath the original "beer garden" - Hofbräuhaus ✓

68. Picnic in central park ✓

69. Drive cross-country

70. Visit the Christmas Village (in PA or Germany)

71. Ice skate at Rockefeller Center under the tree

72. Learn to Tango ✓

73. Go to a political convention

74. Visit Montreal

75. Walk for a cause

76. Have an adult sleepover with friends ✓

77. Locks of Love

78. See a movie opening night ✓

79. Visit God family in Texas ✓

80. Go on vacation with my sister

81. Visit the Hamptons

82. Visit all 7 continents:

North America ✓

South America ✓

Europe ✓

Asia

Australia

Antartica

Africa

83. Climb a tree

84. Go to Coney Island

85. Walk on Beale Street (Memphis) ✓

86. Sing at Carnegie Hall

87. Attend the music festival at New Orleans

88. Take a trolley in  San Francisco

89. Drink wine in a French Château ✓

90. Gondola ride in Venice ✓

91. Go dogsledding

92. Grape stomping

93. Play Santa for Christmas ✓

94. Kiss under the mistletoe

95. Go to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day (do they celebrate that there?)

96. Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela

97. Meet Oprah 

98. Teach at the college level

99. Design my own pair of shoes

100. Create a vision board

101. Pay off my credit card debt ✓

102. Walk in the Colosseum ✓

103.  Visit Charleston, South Carolina

104. Help Habitat for Humanity

105. Take a nap under a tree

106. Work at a soup kitchen

107. Teach Beckett to salsa dance 

108. Get certified and teach a Zumba class

109. Live in a different country ✓ 

110. Live in Europe

111. Be part of a dance flash mob

If anyone would like to help me fulfill any of the items on my list, I will gladly take you up on your offer!  ✓

#2 Have children

#1 Get married

#1 Get married 

#11 Get a dog and #49 Adopt a pet

#24 Go to Cuba

#109 Live in a different country (Dominican Republic)

#68 Picnic in Central Park

#22 Rent a house with friends

#32 See an opera

#27 Take a road trip

#44 Swing on a trapeze

#85 Walk on Beale Street

#35 Vegas Baby!