Valeria Out Loud

 In no particular order.

Someday I will:

Write out my bucket list.  OK. I can cross this off now.

1. Go zip lining.
2. Ride an Asian elephant in Thailand.
3. Travel to Alaska to see the Aurora Borealis.
4. Jet around a race track in a Formula One Ferrari.
5. Visit Niagara Falls, getting as close to the falls as one can.
6. Walk the streets of India during Holi; throwing colored dust. And walking out like a rainbow.
7. See a lunar eclipse.
8. Visit the great pyramids.
9. Donate my time and money to a worthy non-profit; like Pine Street, Dana Farber, Bridge over Troubled Waters, or the Boston Food Bank. (2014)
10. Catch a fish with a fishing rod.
11. Learn how to make tequila in Mexico.
12. Ride a vintage car in Cuba. (Feb 2019)
13. Eat a powdered donut and not choke from the powder! (2017)
14. Visit Vienna.
15. Dress up as Snow White. (2016)
16. Offer my makeup services to the sick children at Children’s Hospital; to give them free fairy makeovers to cheer them up.  (I’ve always wanted to do this, but my heart hurts every time I think of what I’ll encounter. Gotta do it!)
17. Knit something with the needle of an aloe plant.
18. Take my family on an insane trip across the USA; stopping at every major (and obscure!) landmark.  I need a photo of a giant ball of yarn!
19. Attend Carnival in Venice, Italy, dressed in Victorian styled costumes.
20. Shoot a gun at a target.
21. Tour a vineyard of France.
22. Ride a camel.
23. Learn to be less sensitive.
24. Make love on a warm evening at sunset in a grassy field.
25. Visit Greece’s coastline.
26. Buy a $5,000.00 purse.
27. Party in New Orleans.
28. Be less concerned with my appearance.
29. Own a mint, black convertible 1967 Cadillac.
30. Write a letter to my parents telling them how much they mean to me.
31. Celebrate our 50^th Wedding Anniversary.
32. Buy an apartment in Boston.
33. Make homemade ice cream.
34. Tour Southern France.
35. Make footprints in the different colored sands of the world.  I want to see black sand, pink sand and white sand.
36. Take a crack at cleaning up Plastic Beach.
37. Throw a MadMen themed party- I know I keep saying this, cause everyone keeps asking me when?! I just gotta do it!
38. Shoot an arrow from one of those insanely expensive bow contraptions.
39. Learn to play an instrument.
40. Bet at a casino in Monte Carlo.
41. Have a Summer home.
42. Safari in Africa to see lions and elephants.
43. Give country music a chance. (not really gonna happen, so idk why it’s on my list!)
44. Finally chill out on a topless beach, preferably in Fiji, and let ’em all hang out in their glory. hah
45. Run with the bulls of Pamplona, Spain.
46. DJ a radio show in Boston.
47. Learn to make a perfect, crunchy French bread.
48. Watch a sunset over the Pacific. (March 23, 2014 over Ocean Beach, San Francisco.)
49. Work with animals at a zoo.
50. Visit an art museum in every major city.
51. Party in Rio during Carnival.
52. Go shopping at every store on Fifth Ave., NYC.
53. Fly in a hot air balloon.
54. Drive in the Chunnel from England to France.
55. Wear an outfit from every genre of fashion.
56. Learn a martial art.
57. Float the salt waters of the Dead Sea.
58. Ride a horse. (Feb 2019)
59. Read the Bible in its entirety.
60. Meet my favorite chefs and eat their food- Michael Chiarello, Ina Garten, Tyler Florence and Jose Andres.
61. Take a month to work on a farm.
62. Come up with the solution to clean up the floating garbage islands.
63. Teach my children how to put makeup on.
64. Make a toy sailboat with my nephews and float it in the Boston Commons.
65. Climb Mt Fuji.
66. Ride a Zamboni across the ice before a Bruins game at the Garden!
67. Get my dream tattoo.
68. Buy a chicken coop and 3 chickens for my yard.
69. Finally perfect my Bolognese sauce to taste like My Mom’s!  (2016)
70. Travel to Germany for Oktoberfest. And only drink wine!
71. Eat waffles in Belgium.
72. Get up the courage to finally tell someone off at the moment they upset me, rather than think of it a few minutes later.
73. Ride the London Eye.  Didn’t get a chance to when I was there.
74. Quietly sit in the woods long enough to see wildlife interact.
75. Live an entire week without modern commodities.
76. Be made into a Simpson’s character.
77. Wear an itsy, bitsy, yellow, polka dot bikini. While singing that song.
78. Either, visit Finland to stay in an igloo, or, Sweden to stay in the Icehotel, for one night.
79. Relax in geothermal waters. (2017)
80. Go back to Japan. (2017)
81. Get my daughters and all my nieces together for an All Girls Slumber Party. (even my niece in Italy!) (2018)
82. Get into a cab, and yell to the driver, “follow that car!”.
83. Drive through the redwood trees of the Redwood National Park.
84. Take my girls on a spa and shopping spree in NYC.
85. Take a plane over the Coral Reefs of Australia.
86. Dye my whole head of hair a deep blackish purple.
87. See Neil Young from the front row sing Old Man and Heart of Gold (saw him at the HORDE Festival in 1997, but I was too far!!)
88. Finish my children’s 1st year photo albums!
89. Visit a coffee roasting company.
90. Go back to Italy.
91. Wear my wedding dress for no reason, just to wear it again.
92. Ride a mechanical bull.
93. Float lanterns into the sky.
94. Pester my elder family members for the vintage photos of them and my grandparents.
95. Gaze at the stars through a telescope.
96. Teach my children how to cook.
97. Eat Chinese take-out straight out of the containers.
98. Learn pottery.
99. Live to see my grandchildren born and marry. And my great-grandchildren born.
100. Look back at my life; at all the wonderful people and all the amazing things I’ve done, and smile.

🙂  Here’s hoping.

Photo- Banksy’s Street Art.