Mighty Life List, brought to you by Verizon
Things To Do Before I Go

Go dog sledding | Safari in Africa | Scuba dive | See the salmon run in Alaska | Ride a camel in the desert | Pyramids at sunset | Tango in a milonga | Cross the Canadian border | See Cuba | Have a croissant at a French cafe | Try escargot | Take a road trip across the U.S. | Have an exceptional time in Greece | Whiskey at a pub in Ireland | Linguica in Portugal | Open a Swiss bank account in Switzerland | Stay in the ice hotel | Visit that church made entirely of bones | Make butterscotch from scratch | Go on a multi-day biking trip | Fund and finish my art project/store | Gather a few dozen people to blow bubbles from the Golden Gate Bridge | Attend the San Francisco Black and White Ball | Grow vegetables | Learn to roll in a kayak | Write a novel | Be conversational in seven languages: 1. English 2. Spanish 3. French | Set foot on all seven continents | Set foot in all fifty states | Help someone get into or through college | Stand atop the Great Wall of China | Stand inside the Taj Mahal | Host a party when the fruit trees bloom | Go clamming again | Do two pull ups | Go berry picking and make pies | Meet Ms. Winfrey | Have a dog again | Take tap dancing lessons | Ride through the Panama Canal | Make my own perfume | Redesign Mighty Girl | Take Hank camping | Make a peaceful living space for our family | Institute chocolate and champagne Tuesdays | Tithe | Do a "10 Things You Don't Know About Women" feature for Esquire | Attend TED | Give $100 to a violin-playing busker | Wear a large hat at the Kentucky Derby | Taste 1,000 Fruits: Almond Shells, Golden Delicious Apple, Granny Smith Apple, Kiwi, Macintosh Apple, Pippin Apple, Red Delicious Apple, Rome Apple, Apricot, Hass Avocado, Bananas, Coconut, Blackberries, Blueberries, Cactus Pear, Cantaloupe, Cranberries, Feijoa, Figs, Cape Gooseberries, Thompson Seedless Grapes, Ruby Red Grapefruit, Honeydew, Kumquat, Lemon, Lychee, Meyer Lemon, Lime, Key Lime, Longan Berries, Loquat, Mandarinquat, Fremont Mandarin, Kishu Mandarin, Mango, Mangosteen, Manzanas de Agua, Horned Melon, Nectarine, Blood Orange, Mandarin Orange, Navel Orange, California Orange, Florida Orange, Papaya, Passionfruit, Peach, Asian Pear, Bosc Pear, Red Pear, Yellow Pear, Plantain, Pluot, Fuyu Persimmons, Persimmons, Pineapple, Pomegranate, Black Plum, Sour Plum, Tangerine, Rambutan, Golden Raspberries, Raspberries, Starfruit, English Strawberries, Strawberries, Sweet Galia Melon, Tamarind, Beefsteak Tomato, Cherry Tomato, Heirloom Tomato, Plum Tomato, Seedless Watermelon, Watermelon | Sparklers with Hank and Bryan | Get in the habit of grand loving gestures: - 40 Gifts for Bryan's 40th | Live in a house with a window seat | Go parasailing (Not paragliding) | Have a portrait done of myself in the style of a portrait of my grandmother | Swim with bioluminescent plankton in Puerto Rico | Attend Loy Krathong, the sky lantern festival in Thailand | Ring a church bell | Attend services at Glide Memorial | Take photos of the little girls twirling outside the Nutcracker | Organize a retreat | Rewire a lamp | Use my work to improve lives | Form a workplace with people I love | Repay the woman who let me live with her in college | Participate in a giant food fight | Know San Francisco like the back of my hand | Pretend we've had a power outage | Go a day without speaking | Plant a tiny orchard | Write another book | Watch Hank eat his first ice cream cone | Write thank you notes to my teachers | Own land | Throw a block party | Remove money as a concern | Write a million dollar check to a charity | Help decorate Hank's bike for a neighborhood parade | Take a two-week vacation without computers | Get my health issues in hand: Allergist visit, oral surgery, acupuncture for hives and carpal tunnel, vitamins, more exercise | Zip line through a canopy | Lemonade on the front porch swing, warm summer night | Finish up or give up all the unfinished projects in the house | Play imaginary games with the kiddo | Buy a stock on my own | Make a quilt of Hank's jammies | Make 1,000 lovely things: 1. Pink Sweater 2. A Cake for Michelle 3. Fishy Costume 4. Jellyfish Costume 5. Wax Paper Snowflakes 6. Sidewalk Chalk Party Favors| Have a big wedding anniversary party | Dinner at the French Laundry | Finish the baby book | Christen a boat | Read or attempt every book on the book list I started in high school | Remove toxins from our food and environment | Attend La Tomatina in Spain (August) | Plant bulbs in a public space | Have a family portrait taken | See a glacier in Antarctica | Live in another country for a year | Do one of Miranda July's projects | Wear a sequin bikini to Carnival in Trinidad. | Go on a night dive with Manta Rays in Hawaii | Make a font

Mar 19 2010

Mighty Life List: How You Doin’?

Hey, did you choose three things to cross off your life list this month? How’s that coming along? Did Jen get her learner’s permit? Did Lis frame the photos for her first show? Has Nicole had her baby? (I suspect so. It’s be a while since that last post.)

As for me, I’ve done three things, but one of them wasn’t part of my campaign with Verizon, which means I get to do one more thing with a benefactor on my side. Sweet. As I mentioned, Verizon has been great about supporting long-term, better-life projects, so the last goal I’m working on for the campaign is:

Get to know San Francisco like the back of my hand.

This could take a while. In fact, how will I know when I’m done? I’ve attended the Black and White Ball, but I’ve never done something untoward in the Transamerica pyramid. I’ve visited Alcatraz, but I’ve never mooned tourists on the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s a tough one to check off decisively.

So I did what any good list maker does in this situation. I made a sublist. I decided I’ll “Know San Francisco like the back of my hand” when I:

1. Crown a favorite burrito.
2. Take five tours.
3. Finish 7×7’s Big Eats Top 100.
4. Make my own list of the hundred best things to eat.
5. Choose the fifty best cocktails.
6. Choose my fifty favorite shops.
7. Photograph all the public libraries.
8. See the view from Coit Tower.
9. Write up mini guides to the main neighborhoods.
10. Choose my top ten things to do when you visit.

That’s right. I’ve begun to make lists about making lists. (Take that, Escher!) It’s a lot to tackle, but I’m getting started in these last couple weeks of March.

And what about you? How are your projects coming along? Tell us in comments so we can cheer for you, because you are great.

A huge thanks to Verizon Wireless for sponsoring my Mighty Life List. They’re helping me cross off a few goals, and they also gave me a Palm Pre Plus. I’m using it to take photos and video of my escapades, and to make actual phone calls that don’t disconnect unexpectedly at awkward moments. Thanks, guys.

Mar 18 2010

Mighty Life List: Go Parasailing? Check.

This is my new friend Amber. Also pictured, Amber’s red glasses. Hello there, cute glasses.

A few months ago Amber emailed me her Life List, you may remember her as the one who wants to gallop on a horse. I read her list, started clicking around her site, and decided I liked her very much. She was baking pies for homeless people, saving up for a trip to Paris, and trying to break the world record for Most Checkers Stacked in the Palm of One’s Hand. Since I’d had a couple glasses of wine, I obviously sent her a note:

Hello,

I think I like you. And I am also afraid of horses. Do you want to do this galloping thing together? How long do you think it would take? Like, a lifetime, or 8 hours or so? I’m betting on the latter. Will you be at SxSW? I will, and I bet there are horses, even in Austin. I think we should do it.

We will need hats.

Best,
Maggie

To which Amber replied:

Hello!

I like you, too. We should gallop together, even though the thought makes me terrified. But I’ll pretend I’m brave.

I’ll be at SxSW in March, for the interactive portion, and I’m sure they’ll have horses somewhere driveable from where we’ll be in Austin.

What sort of hats should we wear?

Amber

(Actually, the original notes included some fear-based Christopher Reeves references as well, which are not amusing in a public forum, but you get the jist.)

Thus began our email courtship and life-list plotting. We called some Austin riding instructors who informed us that we didn’t have time to acquire galloping skills, so we decided to try parasailing (#60 on Amber’s list).

As you may recall, parasailing is also on my list, and I had some misgivings about attempting it again. We decided that if parasailing didn’t work out, Amber would give birth instead (#51).

We both arrived at SxSW having never even spoken on the phone, so we met up in the lobby to assess any latent serial killer vibes before finalizing our plans.

As it turns out, both Amber and her husband Rob are lovely, and gave no signs of verging on murderous rampage.

See?

And so we took a cab out to the lake where we met the folks from Airscape Parasail. The drove the boat out, strapped us in to our harnesses and…

Wheeeeeeeee!

Parasailing is incredible. You just float up from the back of the boat like Superman! In a life vest! With your new friend Amber!

Everything was so peaceful, it didn’t even occur to me to worry that we were nearly a thousand feet up. The feeling was the opposite of zip lining. It was slow and quiet, like floating in space.

They reeled us in so gently that we just set our feet on the back of the boat and walked onboard. I liked it.

And it turns out I was right about liking Amber too.

Mar 10 2010

Go Dogsledding? Check.

Am I the only one who thought you have to go to the Arctic Tundra for dogsledding? The idea is so exotic to me, I expected to be shrouded in seal pelts and lunching on whale blubber. Then again, having grown up in California, windshield ice scrapers are exotic to me, so I may not be the best judge. Turns out there’s a dogsledding operation called Wilderness Adventures in Truckee, California, just a few hours north of my home town. Score!

This is our family riding in a dogsled, you guys. Hank is covering his face because I gave him my sunglasses so snow chips wouldn’t hit him in the eyes. He loved them and got very screechy when I tried to uncover his face. I thought about fighting him, because I was attached to the idea of a crazy-awesome dogsledding Christmas card, until I realized I was in danger of turning a magical day into a Perfectionist v. Toddler screamfest. So you’ll just have to trust me that he’s looking pretty cute under there.

Sledding was a little scary in the beginning because the dogs were so excited to get going, and also because this life list project has made me afraid of going fast without an adult helmet. Bryan asked if we should be prepared for the sled to tip. On the bridge, for example.

Yikes.

Our guide assured us that there was too much weight in the sled. So he basically called us fat. Take that, huskies!

For the most part, dogsledding was sort of like an amusement park ride, only the the bumper cars can poop. Speaking of which, the dogs do let loose while they’re running, sometimes without even breaking stride. So it was nice to have front row tickets for that.

Apparently the motion of the sled is so soothing that it often puts kids to sleep, and Hank was no exception. It was so cozy to have him dozing in my lap while I snuggled up with Bryan. Dog sledding is fun for the whole family!

After the run was over, we got to go play with the dogs, which made Hank delirious with joy and slightly terrified. He’s a little nervous around big dogs, so he kept saying, “These doggies are so nice to me. They will not bite me.”

And he was right.

We rewarded Hank for his bravery by finding him a pair of his very own sunglasses.

Christmas card secured.

A huge thanks to Verizon Wireless for sponsoring my Mighty Life List and helping me achieve my dreams. They gave me a Palm Pre Plus, which I used to find my way to the dogsledding place because it has GPS, and we were totally lost. Our guide also used it to take the first photo of this post, which I frankly would not have believed was from a camera phone if I hadn’t been there. Well done, everyone.

Mar 5 2010

Je Ne Parle Pas Français

So, one of the items on my Mighty Life List is “Be conversational in seven languages.” I studied Spanish for years, and I think language really shapes how I think. Knowing another language besides my native tongue has given me an alternate way of looking at the world. Knowing Spanish specifically makes me sometimes want to cry when I hear a guitar playing at night, and makes me more willing to be the first one dancing at parties. That could also be the tequila of course, but I digress.

When I first made my list, some part of me thought the simple act of writing things down would magically make them happen. Like once I realized that I wanted to pick blackberries and make pies, I’d just find myself passing blackberry bramble on a walk one Sunday with a bucket in hand.

As I’ve started to cross things off, it has genuinely surprised me that I have to plan fun. I guess some part of me thinks that fun will just happen, even very specific types of fun, and that I shouldn’t have to actively put aside time for that stuff.

It took around three years of lessons before I could get the gist of most conversations in Spanish. So if I start now, it will be about fifteen years before I can cross off this goal.

On Wednesday night, I got started. Verizon is sponsoring French classes with Bryan, which we’ll be attending until we can speak French. I’ll keep you posted.

Merci beaucoup to Verizon Wireless for sponsoring my Mighty Life List and helping me achieve my dreams. They’re making my site more interesting by helping me cross off few more goals, and they also gave me a Palm Pre Plus. One that completes calls. Thanks, guys.

Mar 2 2010

Mighty Life List: Choose Your Own Adventure

So, I have news. News that warrants a celebratory hair flip:

(It’s helpful to have one of those on hand.)

The news is that Verizon Wireless is sponsoring my Mighty Life List! Yes they are! We are getting this done, y’all.

I’ll be working on three items this month, and I’ll tell you all about them right here. What I’m hoping is that you’ll commit to doing three things this month too, and keep us updated via comments. At the end of the month, I’ll do a roundup about all the living we got done.

I’ll tell you more about my goals as we go along. Verizon gave me a new phone and the idea is to use it to help me tackle my Mighty Life List, so I chose goals that are more about living my daily life thoughtfully, and less about jet setting. Also, I’ve added “Tattoo a Verizon logo on my bicep” to my list, so I’ll be starting there.

Oh, but I kid. It will be on my ankle next to the Celtic gecko.

Now for you! What are you doing this month? Something awesome? Tell us.

A huge thanks to Verizon Wireless for sponsoring my Mighty Life List and helping me achieve my dreams. They’re making my site more interesting by helping me cross off few more goals, and they also gave me a Palm Pre Plus. One that completes calls. Thanks, guys.