My Bucket List

I’ve decided it’s not enough to have a bucket list; you have to live it (as per my bucket list blog post). So why not keep myself honest with a public bucket list? I will add to this list as inspiration strikes. And strike things off as I add to my life experiences.

1. Visit my brother in Singapore; eat at street vendors’ stalls and cook a meal together

2. Go back to where I grew up in England and visit my mum’s grave

3. Go to the Northern Territory, Australia, with my family — Well, that was amazing. Swimming in pristine waterholes, sleeping under the stars, surfing red sand in the 4X4, surrounded by colourful birds and crocs and bats and wallabies… What a delight. So happy to share my parents’ favourite places with them — and their grandchildren. (Aug. 2011)

4. See the blue, yellow, red of Broome, Western Australia

5. Go to Spain; eat paella, see Gaudi’s work in Barcelona and visit El Alhambra

6. Visit every U.S. national park — 14/58 so far: Arches, Bryce Canyon (my fave), Canyonlands, Crater Lake, Grand Canyon, Kings Canyon, Lassen Volcanic, Mt. Ranier, Olympic, Redwood, Sequoia, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Zion

7. See a volcano while it’s exploding

8. Visit Japan in cherry blossom season; tour Tokyo with my relatives

9. Run a 10km race in 45 minutes

10. Ride a moped

11. Sell one of my photos

12. Drive across Canada, visiting every province

13. Eat at a Gordon Ramsey or Bobby Flay restaurant – Done! Bobby’s Mesa Grill in Las Vegas, Nevada. Perfect prawns, melt-in-your-mouth pork tenderloin, heavenly cocktails & true service (Apr. 2011)

14. See Cirque du Soleil perform – Incredible! Saw Allegria in Victoria, BC and was blown away by the costumes, the acrobatics, the spectacle. Much much better than imagined. A delight. (Sept. 2010). Update: “O” in Las Vegas. Amazing. (Apr. 2011)

15. Eat at a three-star Michelin restaurant

16. Go to NY City; listen to live music all night and get pudding from the Dessert Truck

17. See Bryce Canyon with snow. And hike it in summer, again.

18. Ride a double-black diamond trail and not walk a single bit

19. Ride my bike in Utah

20. Tour Italy and France on bike

21. Spend a summer in Tuscany

22. Learn Spanish

23. Go to cooking school. In Italy, if I must

24. Go on an African safari

25. Be an awesome grandma, if and when the time comes (no pressure, kids)

26. Pay off my mortgage before I turn 50

27. Go for a ride in a Ferrari (waaaaaay too much watching Magnum PI as a youngster)

28. Drive a fast convertible on an ocean highway, with a scarf on like Grace Kelly

29. See Madonna in concert (I’ve been waiting for this one since the early 80s)

30. Eat at Vij’s in Vancouver, BC — Well, that was the best meal of my life. “You can have a table in 1.5 hours”; absolutely, I say, it’s my 40th birthday. So we sip cocktails (Bombay sake) and feast on tasty treats; every few minutes the waiter was back, pakoras and other delights in hand. The wait was inconsequential (I asked, in case you are, and they don’t accept reservations because they don’t want to discriminate; anyone can arrive and eat — and wait, even Harrison Ford). By the time we got a table I didn’t really need to eat, but how could I say no? Pork belly sauteed in tamarind: sublime. And (remember I’m an Aussie now) the best lamb I’ve ever had: marinated lamb popsicles in fenugreek curry. Ridiculous. Days later I am still fantasizing about that meal–but I have to say, the attentive staff (including Vikram himself) made the night. This is a crazy busy restaurant, and they always had time to talk, to answer my questions, to ponder menu options, the wine selection. Food plus service made this a perfect meal.

31. Visit New Orleans, listen to jazz and eat gumbo

32. Go to Cuba before the 21st century catches up

33. Go to India to eat and take in the array of sights and colours

34. Take my kids to see a live band — and it was even more fun than I anticipated! Mariana’s Trench with my kids and my BF at the Orpheum in Vancouver = excellent (Dec. 2010). And then Blink 182 + My Chemical Romance: what a great night (Sep. 2011)

35. Go to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey

36. Eat tagine in Morocco

37. Make fresh pasta

38. Learn to play the guitar

39. Make lemon cheesecake ice cream — just like the stuff from Australia that I miss

40. Ride the boardwalk on Fromme’s Pipeline

41. Launch the 2nd GLC drop at Whistler without stopping to think first

42. Roll the Drop In Clinic at Whistler without stopping to think first

43. Go to the Bay of Fundy and walk on the ocean floor

44. Watch humpback whale acrobatics, in the wild

45. Learn to use a circular saw – and I still have 10 fingers! (Aug 2010)

46. Make a successful chocolate souffle

47. Go to La Conner, WA in spring and stand in fields of tulips in bloom. Stunning. Beautiful. Lovely. I came home and revisited my once-loved but recently neglected garden. Check the tulip pix on Flickr: http://bit.ly/kNybGx (Apr. 2011)

48. Make my way through a real hedge maze — the kind you really can get lost in

49. Be a mentor to a young girl

50. Ride Cypress

51. Be a Sun Run leader

52. Go to an East Indian wedding

53. Watch a Bhangra performance

54. Go to a volcanic black sand beach

55. Run a half marathon

56. Learn to ski cross country. Well, if going cross country skiing counts as learning, I can cross this off. Lovely day skate skiing with my guy on Cypress mountain in Vancouver (Jan. 2012)

57. Go to Vegas. Just because. And it was so much more interesting and exciting than I expected. I’ll be going back. (Apr. 2011)

58. Eat real pulled pork, in the South. Smoked a minimum of 24 hours.

59. Give blood. (I know, I know; I should have done this long ago)

60. Learn to dance, Latin style

61. Learn to ride clipless (which really should be called clipped-in, but whatever)

62. Explore the slot canyons in Arizona

63. Experience 24 hours of daylight in the Arctic

64. Go to an NBA game in the States

65. Experience the Greek Islands

66. Go to the summer Olympics (anywhere!) and cheer on the Aussies

67. Wear a vintage Christian Dior dress. Even better, own one.

68. Stay the Four Seasons in Bora Bora

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