My Bucket List

“If happiness is the goal- and it should be, then adventures should be a priority” -Richard Branson

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During one of our many trips spent in the favorited booth at a local Starbucks my little sister and I were sipping on our sugar-free something or others, with the sound of keys being typed, and the aroma of the latest customer’s request filling the air, when (in conversation) I couldn’t recall the date of my most recent zip lining adventure. Minuscule dilemma, I know, but it was driving me absolutely crazy. Right then and there I decided to begin strategically writing things down. Thanks to this annoyance with my apparent inability to recall information, my bucket list took form that day. I quickly realized, however big or small, there is so much I have yet to explore. If it isn’t already obvious enough... I'll slyly comment on how badly I can’t wait to start my next adventure.

With that being said... drum roll, please. I give you my ultimate bucket list. It’s stacked with 100 things I wish to see and do within my lifetime. I’m posting it to give myself a digital visual and to keep myself accountable of such aspirations. So, I’ll be editing this post periodically to cross off my adventures in real-ish time. Secondarily, I’m sharing my rather large “before life ends” list for your review in the hopes you’ll either start or make additions to a bucket list of your very own. Trust me, seeing it on paper makes all the difference!

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• Attend a show on Broadway

• Road trip across the United States

• Get a picture of all my siblings with our dad

• Go bungee jumping (Cabo San Lucas, 2011)

• Zip line in the jungle (Puerto Vallarta, 2015)

• Ride in a hot air balloon

• Experience the Northern Lights

• Visit the Great Pyramids of Giza

• Bathe in a hot spring

• Send a message in a bottle

• Win a giant stuffed animal at a carnival

• Visit Abbey Road in London and re-create The Beatles’ cover

• Pay for a strangers groceries

• Get ice cream from an ice cream truck

• Buy a lottery ticket

• Jump into a pool fully clothed

• Go paddle boarding

• Float in the Dead Sea

• Floss my teeth daily (have been since 2017)

• Own a home

• Continue to pray about the good things too

• Learn to drive a stick shift

• Visit the United States Mint (Philadelphia, 2016)

• Pay off student loan debt

• Start a scholarship fund in my name at the high school I graduated from

• Be in a game show audience

• Toss a coin in the Trevi Fountain

• Go to a Nora Roberts book signing

• Be a spectator at a live NASCAR race

• Taking surfing lessons in Fiji

• Take a mother/daughter vacation

• Go skydiving

• Graduate from college (NMSU in 2016, 2018)

• Take a dance class

• Attend Waste Management Golf Tournament in Phoenix, AZ (2020)

• Help release baby turtles back into the ocean

• Ride a camel in Morocco

• Write a letter to my future self

• Meet someone famous

• Kiss the Blarney Stone in Ireland (2009)

• Have my palm read

• Journey through the Grand Canyon

• Hop around the islands of Greece

• Fly in a private plane (South Padre Island, 2020)

• Spend the night in a castle

• Create my own recipe

• Help build a house with Habitat for Humanity

• Spend a weekend glamping

• Be an extra in a movie

• Go on a cruise

• Ride a double decker bus in London

• See Niagara Falls

• Go horsebacking riding on the beach

• Get married to the love of my life

• Go to La Tomatina in Spain

• Hike to the Hollywood sign in California

• Be a maid of honor (Benedict Wedding, 2019)

• Take a photography class

• Run/walk a 5k

• Attend the Olympics

• Ride a mechanical bull

• Go vegetarian for one month

• Reach my goal weight

• Learn to do my own taxes

• Learn how to say “hello” in ten different languages

• Swim under a waterfall

• Write a love letter

• Travel solo

• Go on an African Safari

• Hug a tree at Redwood National Park in California

• Go to the Super Bowl

• Visit the Don Sheldon Ampitheatre in Alaska

• Dip my toes in the sand at White Sands National Monument

• Go paddle boarding

• Take a picture in front of the colosseum in Rome

• Vacation in Hawaii

• Explore Fiordland National Park in New Zealand

• Visit Machu Picchu, Peru

• See the Statue of Liberty in New York

• Hike the Appalachian Trail

• Travel to the Maldives

• Visit The Bahamas

• Participate in a Color Run

• Go white water river rafting

• Go to Oktoberfest in Germany

• Visit the Lincoln Memorial (2020)

• See a volcano

• Watch every James Bond movie

• Bury a time capsule

• Get a tattoo (2010, 2013)

• Set a world record

• Sail on a sailboat

• Attend ASHA convention with Brigette post grad school

• Finish a classic novel

• Eat at the Newton Food Center in Singapore, China

• Tour a lighthouse

• Go grape stomping

• Spend a day at Walt Disney World Theme Park

• Visit the Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park in Montana

As you can tell some of these are going to be quite the task, but an adventure nonetheless.