All of a sudden my allergies kicked in. Stupid springtime. If my posts around here look less like actual writing and more like I slammed my face into my laptop, that is probably exactly what happened.

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I came across the trailer for a new documentary coming out called Partly Private (via Scanner). It deals with male infant circumcision, and, like The Business of Being Born did, this documentary is poised to stir the pot and drum up interesting conversations about the way we do things in America. I’m not pregnant now, but if being a mother is the most important job I’ll ever have, it can’t possibly be too early to start thinking about stuff like this (even though it was just this past weekend that Rob and I came to a solid decision on the matter for our own sons, which was cool to talk about. Now watch. Four beautiful daughters, and all that weighing of pros and cons wasted.)

When I was 15 I wrote a small list of things to do before I die. When I was 23 I found it and added to it. Two years ago I got my first (and current) laptop and typed the list into it, saved it, and forgot about it until a few weeks ago. That makes this list is about 12 years in the making and officially the longest running creative project I have ever endeavored.

I’ve been changing it these few weeks and still might in the future, but for now, this is it. Some of the things were outdated, so they got cut: I don’t need to be on Oprah anymore, and even though it would feel awesome, I don’t need to climb Mt. Everest, either. After adding and subtracting, I scrambled everything so they wouldn’t be all childish dreams on top and serious, grown-up lady dreams on the bottom. (Hehehe!)

Surprisingly, a lot of them revolve around travel and athletic endeavors, two things that I don’t normally associate with myself.

Have you done one? Has it inspired you? Think you’ll finish it before you kick it? What’s on yours?

Save a life.
Buy my grandparent’s house.
Hike through a rain forest.
Learn to take great photos.
Write a book and have it published.
Learn to throw pottery.
Visit Ireland and drink a pint in a pub while singing an Irish bar song.
Get good and kissed on top of the Empire State Building.
Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Do really expensive tequila shots on a beach in Mexico at sunset.
Visit Argentina and eat dulce de leche.
Visit Australia to see the bush and the great barrier reef, pet a koala.
Make a blueberry pie from blueberries I picked.
Go “real camping”, with no showers, and bathe in a river.
Learn to drive stick.
Own an old Volkswagen bug. (close enough!)
Make a bed-size quilt out of re-purposed fabric.
Run a marathon.
Float on a row boat in the middle of a lake and star-gaze.
Road trip from New York City to San Diego.
Spend Christmas on the beach in a bikini.
Ride in a hot air balloon.
Fall madly, hopelessly in love.
Witness the Northern Lights.
Catch fireflies in a jar on a summer night.
Play in the ocean until I am completely exhausted.
Adopt a dog from a shelter.
Visit a redwood forest and hug a sequoia.
Yell a secret into Niagara Falls.
Get a tattoo.
Learn to play a song on guitar.
Sponsor a child in a third world country.
Visit Nelson, British Columbia.
See the bioluminescent waters in Puerto Rico.
Backpack through Europe.
Visit Canada.
Gallop a horse.
Have a vegetable garden.
Speak fluent Spanish.
Swim with dolphins.
Have a picture of me taken while standing underneath the Eiffel Tower.
Live in New York City.
Be a really snappy dresser.
Snuggle a manatee.
Go whale watching.
Have my own weekly or daily radio show. (I’ll cross this off if my podcast is even a tiny bit successful.)
Help build a house in a third world country.
Fly a plane.
Learn to make a really great cake from scratch (with homemade frosting).
Hike in Hawaii and jump of a cliff while yelling “Geronimo!”
Eat a bowl of fish stew in an outdoor restaurant on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean.
Smoke a joint in an Amsterdam coffee house.
Drive through the Tuscan countryside in a tiny two-seater car.
Own a 100% sustainable, zero-impact beach house, with room for a dozen friends.
Be independently wealthy.
Ice skate on a frozen-over lake.
Dance in Brazil.
Shake Barack Obama’s hand.
Crochet an Afghan.
Do something I absolutely LOVE for a living.

1. Keep steadfast in your hunt for the perfect purse. It will be worth it in the end.

2. If you don’t read the paper, cancel your subscription.

3. Irish car bombs are fun! But only once.

4. Meeting people in real life from flickr is fun and not creepy! (Happy anniversary, G!)

5. You have to let bread rise twice, or it won’t be as pretty. If you can’t wait, though, it’ll still taste good having risen only once. Also, if you need it to keep for several days, undercook it a little bit. When you’re ready for a slice, cut off your slightly doughy portion and finish it in the toaster over. Fresh bread for days! Make sure you keep it wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, though, or it will mold.

6. Tow truck drivers really do say “ten four!”

7. Seriously, don’t buy hard to register cars, like, say, vintage Volkswagons you can’t drive. Really. Really. Just don’t.

8. I build pretty snazzy shelves!

9. It’s fun to get up the day after Thanksgiving if you have fun guys to hang out with. And totally worth it if you want to score a Wii.

10. Speaking of Wii’s, you really do need to respect that they are “physical activity”.

11. I don’t need an expensive bed.

12. I don’t need two Thanksgiving dinners.

13. Photography is not too hard to learn. You should get a book, though, to help.

14. To clean vomited calamari out of your car: 1. Make your husband do it. 2. Be smug in the fact that you have something with which to mock certain friends with for a good long while.

15. There are a lot of REALLY amazing people in Puerto Rico who will help you should you find a dirty hurt dog and want to adopt them.

16. Dogs > diamonds.

17. 50mm lenses are AWESOME!

18. The iPhone is NOT over-hyped. It is awesome.

19. The only marriage anyone should ever have an opinion on is their own.

20. Rainbow Christmas > White Christmas.

21. Bringing your own shopping bags to the grocery store isn’t too hard once you get into the habit, and so much nicer than lugging gross, bad-for-the-earth plastic bags that cut into your hands.

22. When you are too sick to decorate your Christmas tree, it is wonderful to have friends come over and do it for you.

23. When you are part of a family, you can make up silly phrases, words, and songs and then use them on a regular basis. (In our family, some of them are, “Happy Dog Face”, “Happy Dog Foot”, “Uncertain Foot”, “Kind Words”, “Furminating”, “Snearaly”, “Sweetie Ears” and “Puppy Pile”. Also, the “Mountain Laurel Song” and the Song for Chubby Dogs.)

24. Rob and I have nearly the same political views. I honestly didn’t check before I married him, but I’m glad that worked out.

25. Bring your camera everywhere.

26. You can’t split a White Castle Crave Case three ways without risking a horrible stomach ache.

27. I learned a lot about the real estate and geography of western Brooklyn. In fact, I’m pretty much an expert on western Brooklyn neighborhoods.

28. Keep your eye on Tino. He’ll escape.

29. Ask tons of “stupid” questions if you’re confused about your health insurance. It will save you hundreds of dollars.

30. Dogs get colds! Who knew?!

31. Peeps are fun!

32. The dogs like goldfish, and so do I.

33. My husband makes breakfast in bed for me on my birthday. SCORE!

34. Good photography comes from the heart and soul and eyes. It does not come from the camera.

35. If you’re feeling blue, throw a dinner party with true friends who don’t care that you threw it together last minute. It will be good for your soul.

36. Margarine is the devil.

37. It’s ok to make $350,000 impulse purchases for sentimental reasons. Wait, hang on, this one I’m not sure about yet.

38. Ehhhhhh, you can cut your own hair. Well, I can.

39. If you have no dishwasher, you need to just buckle down and handwash on a regular basis, otherwise you will be stuck with Mount Dishmore.

40. Podcamp people are cool.

41. Living in Brooklyn suits me.