This is not a test. This is not about a cute little penguin eating an ice cream cone either. Although since his name is Frank, I’ll follow suit…cuz let’s be frank… If it were a test, I gimme an A. (I thought about giving myself an A+ but that would be boring and leave no room for improvement.) But like I said it’s not a test. This is life. My life…so far.
This is that time of year where we’ve all been throwing down our New Year’s Resolutions/Intentions/Hopes/Dreams/Goals/ToDo’s/Much Ado’s/Whatever you wanna call it, it’s chill just like that scoop of pink bubblegum ice cream Frank’s #nomnom-ing on. I took my own sweet time and worked on mine during January, via a vision board project with my daughter while I spent her birthday month with her in #taranthewonderbabyland aka Denver.
This is not that post. Stay tuned for that post.
This is the prequel to that post. If you know me at all, you know I love me a To Do list like nobody’s biz.
But one of the things I love most about To Do lists, is they help me get shit done cuz I get superkaPOWer motivated checking things off. That Been there, Done that feeling… #amiright?! It got me thinking that maybe a little pause, and dare I say a little celebration, is in order. In honor of the Done list. Which I feel is a more fitting ceremony than merely crumpling up said list and tossing it in the nearest trash can.
So here’s to the Done list that I’ve been there done that these 51 trips around the sun.
In no particular order, here’s a quarter of a century of some of my fave things (in the history of the 51 times I’ve surfed the sun) that I’ve crossed off my To Do list…
- Wrote a book
- Ran a 10-hour endurance run and netted 35 miles
- Ran the #Route66 marathon and world’s shortest ultra
- Road-tripped Route 66
- Road-tripped California Highway 1 in a convertible
- Road-tripped from Vegas to Grand Canyon in a convertible, saw the Grand Canyon, ran the Grand Canyon half marathon trail run
- Watched a sunset at Joshua Tree National Park while listening to U2’s Joshua Tree album. TWICE
- Met my creativity guru Liz Gilbert TWICE and she remembered me, also she commented that I write like a dream on my FB
- Met my writing gurus Anne Lamott and Jasper Fforde TWICE
- Met my photography guru Jeremy Cowart TWICE
- Did a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, ran the breathtaking Jerusalem ½ marathon, was Kosher for 3 weeks while spending time with my beloved Achoti
- Drove down to the Keys and had a Cuban sandwich and some Cuban coffee
- Stood on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
- Checked in to Hotel California. Heard the mission bell ring. Didn’t check out
- Created my #postcardsfromtheroad #Route66 photo exhibit, one of my pics made it into an #americanroadtrip art show at a gallery in NYC, won photographer of the year at ADC’s ACA academy awards for artists, had my first solo exhibit at the 86
- Raised my sweet Redheads, homeschooled them for 16 years #bestjobEVER
- I am Gigi #hearmeroar #bestjobEVER
- Produced SCAR Cincy exhibit, SCAR exhibition consultant, created scar blog, produced SCAR BAMA at Freedom Center
- Produced Angelo Merendino’s exhibit in Cincy
- Grace project roadtrip sidekick and assistant
- Dante pilgrimage and tour in Florence
- Saw Rafa play on clay (in Rome sweet Rome)
- Ran my own half marathon from Missouri through Kansas to Oklahoma on july 4, 2014 during my route 66 road trip
- Ran from Illinois to Missouri across the chain of rocks bridge TWICE
- Painted desert
- Took down 24 chemo cocktails and (so far so good, 8 years later #yearoftheoctupus) kicked cancer’s ass
- Won city districts with my tennis team with me on court 1 my first season back after cancer
- Got a volleyball scholarship to college
- Got up on stage and told a story at Bespoken Live (a moth-like storytelling event) (3 X so far)
- Hiked Ocho Rios in Jamaica
- Participated in peaceful protests on Capital Hill
- Got tats (12) (so far)
- Been COMPLETELY bald down to all but a couple eyelashes
- Saw Niagara Falls
- Drank a shot out of a test tube at Frankenstein’s Pub in Edinburgh
- Bought a copy of The Little Prince from a cashier who was brushing her teeth at Shakespeare’s & Co. in Paris
- Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam
- Read the Beatitudes on the Mount of Olives. Broke bread and spilled wine there with my friend and fellow pilgrim on my journey to the Holy Land and back. We walked the Via Dolorosa together.
- Train-tripped through the Alps from Munich to Rome
- Followed in Audrey Hepburn’s Roman Holiday footsteps, vespa-ing about Rome (until the “Vespa Incident” in which the brake didn’t break and I did a Wiley Coyote into a wall and broke my face)
- Got red clay on my tennis shoes at Roland Garros in Paris
- Snorkeled in Cozumel
- Saw Wicked on and off broadway
- Walked into THE Cheers Bar and everybody yelled JOULES!
- Did a Mayan mud hut sweat lodge ritual aka Temazcal and had the most incredible Mayan massage IN THE WORLD aka Kukulkan in Cancun
- Road-tripped up the coast of Scotland
- Hiked Hadrian’s Wall
- Created my own Not-a-Chemo-Cocktail (for my book release party)
- Drank a ½ pint in THE Rabbit Room of THE Bird & Baby aka Eagle and Child Pub, where the Inklings used to hang out
- Saw THE wardrobe (at Wheaton University)
- Liverpool. Magical Mystery Tour. Hard Day’s Night Hotel. Cavern Club. Amanda and I closed down the club, singing and dancing our hearts out with the Beatles cover band.
I know I probs missed a few epic moments but I tried not to overthink it too much and just go with the flow of my own little brainstorm. #postcardfromtheroad #memorylane #epicmoments #done
What’s on your DONE list?