What’s On My Bucket List

I started my bucket list when I was in middle school.

Every year, I’d add one new thing to my list — at least, until I was 22. That was when I kind of let my bucket list die because #adulting became more important.

A lot of the items on my list are pretty standard — who doesn’t have skydiving on theirs? — and I’ve already made a significant dent in completing many of them. But I sort of forgot about the list for a while until I found it while going through old notebooks this past year. So I’ve decided to start adding to it once again.

Here’s my original bucket list, along with my additions that make up for the five years I missed:

1. Road trip
   This first item on my list originated from a pact made with friends in middle school, which ended up not working out. But someday I want to just drive with no destination planned, and explore different cities with my family.
2. Europe
   I was supposed to go to Europe in high school but couldn’t save up the money in time. Now, Seb and I are planning to go to Ireland at some point for our delayed honeymoon — and hopefully we will make plans to visit other countries while we’re there!
3. Publish a book
   I published my first book this year! Technically it was an e-book, but that still counts right? It went live in June 2020.
4. Broadway musical
   I went to NYC in July 2013, with my (at the time) boyfriend. We only stayed one night, but saw Chicago. It was my first time in New York and the first time I ever saw Chicago. Broadway was amazing, but the trip itself was garbage honestly, so I’d like to go again to try to replace the bad memories with good ones.
5. Bungee jumping
6. Skydiving
7. Grandma’s chocolate fudge recipe
   My grandma has this amazing recipe for chocolate fudge, and in December 2010, I finally learned it. I’ve been making it during the holidays every year since!
8. Favorite band in concert
   I first crossed this off my list when I saw Paramore in August 2010. Since then, I’ve seen many of my favorites live including All Time Low (4x), Fall Out Boy (2x), Jonas Brothers, and My Chemical Romance. I miss live shows.
9. Make a difference in someone’s life
   Honestly, I’m not sure I’ll ever cross this one off my list. I just hope that at the end of my life someone out there will feel like their life was positively impacted by knowing me.
10. Visit all 50 states
    So far I haven’t been to many, but I hope that will change once the kids are older and traveling with them becomes easier! And I don’t count any states that I’ve only traveled through. (States I’ve been to: California, Arizona, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Florida, Virginia, New York.)
11. Sleep under the stars
    Cheesy, yes, but I used to be hopeless romantic when I was younger. I’m not sure my anxiety could handle being exposed outdoors in such a vulnerable state now. But maybe I’ll overcome it someday.
12. Snorkeling
13. Sunset and sunrise in same night/day
    Again with the hopeless romantic fantasies — I always wanted to watch the sunset with someone and stay out all night, then watch the sunrise together in the morning. (I won’t be offended if you want to puke at how ridiculous this is, because #same.)
14. Learn another language
    I’m halfway cheating on this by marking it complete because I am not fluent or even close to it. But I’d say after four years of high school German plus four semesters of college German, I know enough to be able to roughly translate and communicate if needed. I finished my last semester in December 2018.
15. Build a garden
    Completed in April 2019, and I plan to make a new (permanent) garden at our new house next summer now that we are actual homeowners!
16. Open a business
    I registered Belles & Bucks LLC in October 2018, so I’ve officially been a business owner for almost two years now. (And no, I still do not know what the hell I’m doing.)
17. Skinny dipping
18. Save $5000
19. Learn stick shift
    My ex taught me how to drive stick in May 2016. I’m terrible at it, but if I was ever in a situation where I needed to drive a manual, at least I could make it happen.
20. See a fortune teller
    I’ve seen a fortune teller three times! The first time I can’t recall when it was, but it was sometime after 2015, at a local fair. The second and third times were both in Gatlinburg, once in June 2018, and then again in May 2019. Even if the teller is bogus, it’s still fun to do. Highly recommend!
21. Drive-in movie
    We have one locally, and no I still have never been. Planning to do this year, if we can convince my parents to babysit for a few hours LOL.
22. Graduate college
    After a long, emotional 8 years of off-again on-again schooling, I graduated from IUPUI in May 2019. #fuckingfinally
    
    And, as promised, my five newest additions to the bucket list:
    
23. Grad school
    This one has been at the back of my mind since I went back to IUPUI in 2017, when I decided to finish my bachelors. I’m wanting to apply at Miami University for 2021-2022 admissions for their creative writing program. Fingers crossed.
24. Debt free
    This will likely be a lifelong goal unless student debt gets cancelled. Because let’s be honest, being debt free as a millennial is basically a pipe dream at this point.
25. Get published in a well-known magazine/blog
    Self publishing is great and all, but I’d love to have my name out there in a reputable publication. First I need to write something actually worth publishing though.
26. Full-time freelancer/writer
    Trading my 9-5 for a career as a writer would be a freaking dream come true. I’m working on manifesting (and my portfolio, obv).
27. Publish a second book
    I have so many ideas for different projects, but I’m finally ready to start working on one that I put on the back burner a looong time ago. I’m sure nobody else remembers my idea from 2016, but it’s finally in the works! I’m hoping to have a draft by the end of this year so I can submit to publishers.

Tell me, what’s on your bucket list?