‘Before 40’ bucket list

With my 32nd birthday (today) and our second child’s birth looming around the corner, it got me thinking about my “bucket-list”.  Not too long ago, I had fulfilled many items on my list.  I went back-packing through Europe for four months, I skydived 10 times in places such as Switzerland, Israel and New Zealand (3 tandem jumps and 7 solo jumps), I bungee jumped, white water rafted and scuba dived in British Columbia, I parasailed in the Philippines, saw the Pyramids in Egypt, ran five half-marathons, obtained my MBA and married the love of my life.

Of course, all of that was pre-baby and even pre-wedding.  That’s not to say that becoming a family has slowed me down, but it just changed my priorities (for the best I think).  So now, as I think about my future, it’s time that I re-visit my bucket-list and update it to reflect both my current and future life-style.  While I will probably not be able to complete most of the items before I’m 40 (i.e. the travel ones), I hope that I can complete most of them in the next eight years.  Here’s what I’ve come up with so far, in no particular order:

1. Complete a full marathon.  Preferably the NY marathon
2. See a live taping of the Ellen Show in California
3. Have a third child
4. Take art lessons and create a piece that’s nice enough to hang in our house
5. Take photography lessons and use something other than the “auto” button on my awesome Nikon SLR camera
6. Swim in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia
7. Go on a safari tour in South Africa
8. Climb Mount Kilimanjaro
9. Walk the Great Wall of China
10. Travel all over India
11. Watch baby turtles hatch in their natural habitat
12. Watch an olympic sport in-person
13. Actively volunteer for a charity that’s important to my family
14. Become mortgage free
15. Learn something new like: wine making, sewing, cooking Indian food or a new language
16. Get back my pre-baby body (after I have our last child)
17. Have 1.000 followers on my blog
18. See a live taping of SNL
19. Learn to bake
20. Go to Disneyland

What about you?  Do you have a bucket-list?  What else would you add to my list or what is unique to yours?  I would love to hear!!  Suggestions are always welcome 🙂

Or let me know if you’re able to help me out with any of my bucket list items!

ZORBing in New Zealand

When my husband and I went to New Zealand, one of the things on our “bucket” list was ZORBing (the sport of globe riding)*.  I’ve seen it on the Amazing Race (my favourite reality TV show) and I just had to try it out for myself.

Being an adrenalin junky, I couldn’t wait to get there.  I wasn’t sure what it was really all about, but I knew that I had to try it out.  We arrived at Rotorua and followed the signs that took us directly to ZORB Rotorua (http://www.zorb.com/zorb/rotorua/).

The start and end to my skydiving career

I should start off by clarifying that skydiving was never a career for me (sigh), but it was a passion of mine for a few years of my life. Being an adventure seeker for as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to skydive. I looked into it and quickly learned that I had to be 18 years old to do it. I vowed to myself that on my 18th birthday I’m going skydiving and moving out of my parents house (I was a very independent child).* Well, 18 came and went and I didn’t go skydiving or move out of my parents house.

Fast forward 4 years when I was 22 and back-packing through Europe. I was visiting Interlaken, Switzerland and one of the main attractions there was sky diving (http://www.scenicair.ch/en/skydiving/46-helicopter-jumps.html). I jumped at the opportunity and signed myself up. It didn’t matter that I was on a strict 20 Euro per day budget, I figured that I just wouldn’t eat for a few days.