My 50 Things....

As most of you know, I decided to come up with a list of 50 new things I would like to do this calendar year, the year I will turn 50. It would be better if I had started it last year on April 8th, to conclude on my 50th birthday, but I didn't think of it in time.

I suppose I'm ready to publish my list. Like any piece of writing, I can find flaws in it and wish I could make it "perfect," but I'm not going to drag it out any longer.

This isn't really what I think of as a "bucket list," because that is a list of things to be accomplished before one dies. If this were my bucket list, it would have some additional things on it, like seeing the Grand Canyon and visiting Alaska and Australia. I fully intend to do those things too, but probably not this year. Unless I win the lottery, in which case I may have an entirely new list:

1. Hire a gardener.
2. Hire a butler.
3. Hire a maid.
4. Hire a chauffeur.

Back to reality. Where was I? Oh yeah.....

Some of the things on my list feel kind of lame to me. Some of them were things I already knew would (probably) happen this year, but they are still things I've never done before, so I kept them on the list.

As I said to my friend Maggie in an email, it's my blog. And I'm grown. I can do whatever I want to. At least on my blog.

Some of the things on my list are outside my comfort zone, but I'm leaving them there. I NEED to step outside my comfort zone. Maybe. Perhaps.

Tomorrow I will put the 50 Things list in my sidebar, and I will strike through them as I complete them. I figure I need to do one a week, which makes me a little anxious, particularly for the less comfortable ones. I'll write about each one as I mark it off the list, which means I only have six blog topics to come up with each week.

I may edit the list as I go, or I may add to it. It's possible that I won't achieve all 50 of them this year, and I'm going to make myself be okay with that.

Thank you to those who submitted suggestions for my 50 Things list. If I didn't include something you suggested, please don't be insulted. Either I've already done it, it was too time-consuming, or it was simply something I wasn't interested in doing. My blog, I'm grown.

The 50 Things are in no particular order, and I don't plan to complete them in any particular order. Hey, I'm not THAT obsessive-compulsive.


1.       Take a pottery lesson
2.       Take a photography class
3.       Take a hot air balloon ride
4.       Visit a national park
5.       Study a new foreign language
6.       Eat a new type of food
7.       Meet a blogger in person
8.       Get a massage
9.       Learn more about how to play the hammered dulcimer
10.   Take a formal art class
11.   Take a yoga class
12.   Take a spinning class
13.   Take a water aerobics class
14.   Knit something
15.   Attend play at local theater
16.   Take a kayak trip
17.   Write some poetry
18.   Run/walk in a 5K/10K/half marathon
19.   Run/walk the Peachtree Road Race
20.   Become debt-free
21.   Take golf lessons/play a round of golf
22.   Read 5 novels from the all-time list (I think it was published by Time magazine)
23.   Perform random acts of kindness
24.   Volunteer at a hospital/hospice/nursing home/homeless shelter
25.   Try vegetarianism for 7 days
26.   Take ballroom dancing lessons
27.   Visit the High Museum in Atlanta
28.   Have a yard sale
29.   Ride a unicycle
30.   Take a trapeze class at Canopy Studio
31.   Have $______ in savings
32.   Take pictures of places I’ve lived
33.   Go to a UGA basketball game
34.   Go to a UGA women’s basketball game
35.   Go to a UGA baseball game
36.   Go to a hockey game (Gwinnett Gladiators)
37.   Go to the Tipsy Canvas
38.   Ride my bike 2500 miles
39.   Hike part of the Appalachian Trail
40.   Attend gymnastics Regional Championships
41.   Make something in filet crochet
42.   Join Friends of Yargo
43.   Be “overweight” on the Wii instead of “obese”
44.   Ride bike in at least one of the counties in Georgia where I've not yet ridden
45.   Write a book
46.   Buy and experiment with Photoshop
47.   Ride local roads I’ve not ridden before
48.   Ride the double-century to Anniston and back
49.   Write a will
50.   Go to the chiropractor

Some of these are things I would LOVE for someone to do with me, so if you see something that catches your interest (and you are either local or willing to come here), please come join me. Insanity, just like misery, loves company.

It should be a fun challenge. I'll let you know how it goes.

Whether you want me to or not.