The Bucket List.

Did you see that movie? Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman - touching and hilarious at the same time. My dad loved it. He uses the saying "never trust a fart" from that movie all. the. time. A profound commentary on aging that really spoke to the old guy I guess!

Anyway, while perusing my friend Tim's blog (check it out in the right column, its really quite a fun and interesting read) I came across his Not-a-Bucket List and it inspired me to write my own. I get all squirmy and happy when I think about this list because it makes me so excited for the future, for all the wonderful and strange and exciting things that life brings our way.

Here we go, in no particular order:

1. Re-learn French (I can understand slooowww conversations but can barely string a sentence together anymore) and at least two more languages. I taught myself conversational Russian and a few other languages when I was about 12 and I've always had a passion for language. What, like everyone doesn't learn the Cyrillic alphabet for fun over summer vacay? What a geek.

2. Learn to scuba dive. Its one of my hubs' great passions and although I'm slightly terrified of death by air bubble, I'm half mermaid and love the water so I think facing my fear will come with many great rewards.

3. Visit the teensy Romanian town in Transylvania that my mom's family is from. I don't know any of our relatives over there and I'd love to learn about my family history and language. Fun and Interesting Fact - this side of my family is the result of an affair between a Count and his maid. Hence, we have no claims to any of his land, wealth etc. Bummer. But a scandalous and interesting story I'm sure.

4. Journal. Document my life. I think its why I like blogging and reading the blogs of others - I just find life so fascinating and I want to make sure mine doesn't go by undocumented.

5. Sail around the world when we've had our kids and they're old enough to remember the experience. We learned to sail a few years ago and uncovered a huge passion for it, both of us love it, and we want to explore the world this way and homeschool our kids for a year. FYI - read the book An Embarassment of Mangoes - its what really put the idea in our heads.

6. Become a runner. I should just give this one up - I suck at running, I don't really like it all that much but I just can't give up the dream of trotting along gracefully, smile on my face and wind in my hair, running not because I have to but because I love it. It feels like it would be very freeing. My current reality involves endless procrastination to drag my arse out the door followed by me schlepping along the pavement, sweaty and blotchy, unleashing a string of expletives and vowing never to do this again. This will change. It simply must. I envision myself as a runner one day.

7. Give birth naturally. This was my plan last time. Little did I know I am not the boss. The boss decided to come two weeks late after 76 hours of labor. I would have driven spikes through my eyeballs before I endured five more minutes of pain after that. Next time though, I'm sure I'll have a more cooperative kid who'll let me cross this one off the list.

8. Become reaaally good at photography. I absolutely love this form of art but I am mediocre at best. It will be a life long journey but one that I'll relish.

9. Write a book. Writing is part of who I am and I really don't do it enough anymore. Fun Fact: I wrote a novel when I was 13. For fun. Well, sort of for fun and sort of for extra credit in English class. Its actually not bad. But I'd like to write a better book, and this time I'll type it instead of writing out 96 pages in a spiral notebook. Less tiring on the hands.

10. Spend at least a week volunteering in a hospital in a developing country. I've always planned to work overseas (I used to want to work for the U.N.) but I think I'd really like to have my home in Canada and travel to countries that need volunteer nurses. Good life lessons there for the kiddies too.

11. Drive/camp across Canada. As a general rule, Canadians don't see nearly enough of their own country. I'd like to not be part of that statistic.

12. Learn to play golf. Like a grown up. Serious golf, meaning that I actually hit some shots and don't end up drunk and with sunstroke.

13. Travel to pretty much everywhere. I know, a way too general and random item but seriously, my dad has been EVERYWHERE and I would like to go there too. Tops on that list: Paris, Costa Rica, Fiji, Hawaii (again), London (again) and South Africa. I have to stop wanting to go back to places I've already been though or I'll never get everywhere I want to go!

14. Have dinner somewhere cool with Anthony Bourdain. I enjoy his wit, his sarcasm and his great love for good food and drink. I bet he has some wild stories.

15. Swim with dolphins. They're just so darn cute.

16. Buy a potter's wheel and make my own pottery.

17. Live in another country for one year with my family. Again, great life experience for the kiddies and a good way to really learn about another culture.

18. Learn to surf. It would make me feel cool.

19. Go on a Scandinavian cruise. Just cause.

20. Do one totally selfless thing every day. Consistently. Forever.

21. Take one interesting photograph a day. At least. I'm a visual person and in addition to a written account, I want to document my life in pictures.

22. Teach. Something. To someone. I'm not picky.

23. Begin a serious, enduring Yoga practice. Two Sun Salutations while watching Breakfast Television every three weeks does not count. That's my current Yoga practice. There's room for improvement.

24. Start and run a successful stationery business. (I'm working on it! Buy my stuff, would ya?)

25. Fly first class on British Airways. I enjoy that airline and I really feel like First Class is where I belong. I doubt even I could be scared of flying in First Class. It just wouldn't be glamorous to be afraid.

26. Build our own dream house, live as off-the-grid as we can, grow most of our own food and generally life a very conscious, sustainable lifestyle. A very trendy sort of goal at the moment but I've had it for awhile so I'm actually ahead of the game, not a follower like the rest of them.

27. Become a lactation consultant. Breastfeeding was one of the greatest struggles I've ever worked through and only in the last month or so have I really felt its reward. I want to help other women get through those tough first few months as I would not have made it this far without my lactation consultants.

28. Go to the Olympics. I am super crazy in my Olympic fanatacism. I can tell you who won the 1964 Summer Olympics floor exercise (Vera Caslavska from Czechoslovakia, who trained by swinging on trees while in hiding from the Soviets) and the 1972 100m dash (Valery Borzov). I told you I'm a geek. I think I should get free tickets in exchange for proving my knowledge of Olympic trivia.

29. Be on TV for something. I don't care what, I just want my fifteen minutes like everyone else.

30. Have a booth in the One of A Kind Show. I go twice a year and pine and yearn to sell my stationery in my very own booth. For some reason it represents a level of success in my business to me.

There are at least a hundred more items on that list, I'm sure but you're probably sick of me already and I'm watching Canada slaughter Russia in Olympic hockey right now and they need me cheering.