My Bucket List

In January 2010, I officially started a list of "goals" for my life, better known as a "bucket list." My full list is divided into five categories: goals as a wife/mother; spiritual goals, professional goals, financial goals, and "just for excitement" goals. I'm including my "just for excitement" goals here, so you can watch as I cross them off (and as I add more)! If you want to see the rest of my goals in the other categories, click here.

My "Just for Excitement" Goals

a/k/a My "Bucket List"

1. Take a picture "holding up" the Leaning Tower of Pisa (like this!)
2. Learn how to scuba dive (Completed 2.15.10 - see my adventure here)
3. Scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef
4. See the Sydney Opera House
5. Hold a koala
6. Go on a kangaroo roundup
7. Put my toes in all five oceans (Current count: 2/5)
8. Visit all 50 states (not just airports) (Current count: 16/50)
9. Ride a camel (Completed 8.4.12 at the Cleveland Zoo - see it here)
10. Ride a horse on the beach (Completed 2.24.10 - see it here; and again 11.17.10 - see it here)
11. Take a gondola ride in Venice
12. Pose with the Sphinx
13. Eat another meal at the Seafood Restaurant in St. Andrews (see the first meal here)
14. Ride a burro in the Grand Canyon
15. Attend a Hawaiian luau
16. Stay in a white house in Santorini
17. Visit the towns where my ancestors are from in Germany, Ireland and Scotland
18. Take a picture with the Eiffel Tower "between my hands"
19. See Mt. Rushmore
20. Go to the Olympics
21. Donate my hair to Locks of Love (Completed 7.13.12 - see the transformation here)
22. Learn how to ballroom dance
23. Learn how to use a nice camera and take up photography (in progress)
24. Take up the flute again
25. Play in an orchestra or band
26. Hug Tim Tebow (Completed 5.14.11 - relive the magic here)
27. Adopt my pets from rescue shelters (so far, so good!)
28. Teach a dog a really cool trick (I'm thinking something like this)
29. Paint a piece of pottery
30. Paint a room/wall in my house red
31. Learn how to knit* (*Crossed off, but still in progress because I'm learning more and more! I first learned 6.21.11 - read about it here)
32. Sew a dress
33. Make a quilt
34. Swim in a mountain lake
35. Jump into a pool fully clothed (Completed 11.20.10 - see it here)
36. Stay in the Peabody Memphis Hotel to see the Peabody Marching Ducks (Not only completed, but topped, as I was able to act as Honorary Duckmaster and march WITH the ducks!, 6.6.13 - read all about it and see the video here)
37. Stay in an over-water bungalow in Bora Bora
38. Play the bagpipes (at least give it a shot!)
39. Go to the Kentucky Derby and wear a big hat (preferably alongside Eric in a sear-sucker suit)
40. Pet a penguin (Completed 5.8.13 - see it here)
41. See the sea lions at Pier 39 in San Francisco
42. Go whale-watching in Alaska
43. Buy a meal for a stranger (preferably a couple on their honeymoon, to repay what someone did for us on ours) 
44. Write something in wet cement (Completed 9.10.10 - read about it here)
45. Learn how to surf
46. Serve on a jury (Completed September 2010 - read about it: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Baseball Stadiums: Helping Eric Out

My dear husband has a bucket list of his own, and one of his goals is to visit all 30 Major League Baseball Stadiums. Or rather, see all 30 MLB teams play a game in their home stadium. (That is sort of the edited version of the goal, because teams are forever changing stadiums, and Eric has seem some teams play in old stadiums.) Because we usually travel together, I have sort of adopted this goal as my own as well. So, let's cross of the stadiums here:

1. Arizona Diamondbacks: Chase Field, 2006*
2. Atlanta Braves: Turner Field, 2006* (spring training) - photo
3. Baltimore Orioles: Oriole Park, 2006 - photo
4. Boston Red Sox: Fenway Park, 2000*; also together in 2011 - photo, post
5. Chicago Cubs: Wrigley Field, 2011 - photo, post
6. Chicago White Sox: U.S. Cellular Field, 2011 - photo, post
7. Cincinnati Reds: Great American Ball Park, 2013 - photo, post
8. Cleveland Indians: Progressive Field (although it will always be Jacobs Field to me), 2010 - photo, post
9. Colorado Rockies: Coors Field
10. Detroit Tigers: Comerica Park
11. Florida Marlins: Sun Life Stadium, 2006*
12. Houston Astros: Minute Maid Park
13. Kansas City Royals: Kauffman Stadium
14. Los Angeles Angels: Angel Stadium
15. Los Angeles Dodgers: Dodger Stadium, 2010 - photo, post
16. Milwaukee Brewers: Miller Park, 2013 - photo, post
17. Minnesota Twins: Metrodome, 2007* (now Target Field)
18. New York Mets: Citi Field, 2011 - photo, post (also: Shea Stadium, 2007*)
19. New York Yankees: Original Yankee Stadium, 2008 - photo, post; and new Yankee Stadium, 2009 - photo, post (other favorite Yankee Stadium photos here and here)
20. Oakland Athletics: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
21. Philadelphia Philles: Citizens Bank Park, 2011 - photo, post
22. Pittsburgh Pirates: PNC Park, 2011 - photo, post
23. San Diego Padres: PETCO Park
24. San Francisco Giants: AT&T Park
25. Seattle Mariners: Safeco Field
26. St. Louis Cardinals: Busch Stadium, 2013 - photo, post
27. Tampa Bay Rays: Tropicana Field, 1999 - photo (not from our first time there, but a photo nonetheless!)
28. Texas Rangers: Rangers Ballpark in Arlington
29. Toronto Blue Jays: Rogers Centre, 2011 - photo, post
30. Washington Nationals: Nationals Park, 2008 - photo, post (also: RFK Stadium, 2006 - photo)

* Denotes stadiums Eric has seen on his own. All others we have been to together.