Rarely do I get personal on this blog. Rarely. Because, well? I get personal everywhere else. Sometimes too personal, but I digress into a new topic that I think you’ll like better:

Behold, the Life List of Erin Loechner:

Inspired by the sweet (and seriously, seriously smart) Maggie, I promised myself (and her, during Alt Summit) that I’d finally write down this list. And because I want to be held publicly accountable for actually doing these things, I’m posting it here, for you 33,000+ daily readers to see:

1. Write down my life list (oh look! I’ve already finished one!).
2. Learn to do the splits.
3. Re-watch every Beverly Hills 90210 episode, marathon style.
4. Snuggle a manatee (I stole that one from Amber, but who wouldn’t want to do that?).
5. Paint my own self-portrait.
6. Unplug (entirely!) for one week.
7. Bring Mankind Mag back — in some form.
8. Own 50 original artist works from 50 different artists.
9. Try sea salt chocolate.
10. Learn the origin of/meaning behind 100 phrases/cliches.
11. Ditch the car for an entire month.
12. Read every piece of published work from C.S. Lewis.
13. Rock a baby to sleep.
14. Convince a total stranger to make a life list of their own.
15. Publish (self-publishing doesn’t count!) five books.
16. Write thank you notes to my former teachers (thanks for that one, Mags!).
17. Visit San Francisco, Portland, Austin and Seattle.
18. Start a collection.
19. Invest in a grown-up sofa.
20. Make a chocolate chip cookie from scratch.
21. Lounge on the beaches of Bora Bora.
22. Taste 100 cheeses.
23. Play snow tackle football on Christmas day.
24. Wash the dishes by hand with yellow rubber gloves.
24. Own a set of expensive, luxurious sheets.
25. Take a drawing class.
26. Hire a personal stylist for the day. Become my own confidence stylist and wear whatever I want to.
27. Own a portrait wall with 50 photographs of people I don’t know.
28. Perform Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ in a Karaoke bar.
29. Taste 500 red wines.
30. Subscribe to the New York Times — and read the style section over coffee every Sunday morning.
31. Volunteer at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving Day.
32. Purchase top-notch, personalized stationery.
33. Rent a convertible and drive down the PCH. Top down, hair down, shades on.
34. Build a parade float and ride atop it!
35. Cook a homemade meal for a neighbor in need.
36. Learn to juggle.
37. Finish my ‘Autohairography’ memoir.
38. Pay for someone’s dinner at Pizza Hut… anonymously.
39. Send a birthday card (on time) to everyone in my life for one full year.
40. Start a euchre club.
41. Attend a Rodeo in a cowboy hat.
42. Get missed connection-ed on Craig’s List.
43. Grow a garden in my backyard.
44. Sip sake.
45. Try acupuncture.
46. Fool someone on April Fool’s Day.
47. Solve Rubik’s cube (stole that one from sweet Karen).
48. Attend a football/rugby match in Ireland.
49. Submit a book proposal for something I believe in.
50. Take a hot air balloon ride.
51. Go house boating.
52. Have a shade of nail polish named after me.
53. Give a NYC cab driver a $100 tip.
54. Apologize to Thomas from 4th grade for calling him smelly.
55. Get to know my grandparents.
56. Write and publish over 30 magazine articles.
57. Grout and tile a kitchen backsplash.
59. Run for an entire mile… without stopping.
60. Get caught in a rainstorm with no umbrella.
61. Roast chestnuts over a fire.
62. Find my signature scent, the perfect pair of jeans and my perfect shade of foundation.
63. Picnic in a canoe.
64. Take a haunted hayride on Halloween.
65. Watch 100 scary movies.
66. Milk a cow.
67. Finish a crossword puzzle (no cheating).
68. Host a Thanksgiving meal and invite someone without a home or family.
69. Start a tradition.
70. Take a calligraphy class.
71. Learn to roll my “R’s.”
72. Putt-putt a hole in one.
73. Draw a mustache on my husband while he’s sleeping.
74. Braid my niece’s hair.
75. Go skiing.
76. Ride an elephant.
77. Start (and finish) a 365 photo project.
78. Lay in a hammock.
79. Bowl a 120 game.
80. Plant a tree.
81. Listen to an entire book on tape without falling asleep.
82. Stay in the top 100 U.S. Hotels.
83. Start a food fight.
84. Bet on a winning horse.
85. Ride a gondola in Venice.
86. Adopt a pet.
87. Inner tube down a river.
88. Drive a tractor.
89. Build a tree house with my husband.
90. Play street hockey with the neighborhood kids.
91. Bury a time capsule.
92. Eat a hot dog in Chicago, preferably at a baseball stadium.
93. Feed a baby lamb.
94. Give a keynote address.
95. Re-upholster a chair.
96. Learn to craft a balloon animal.
97. Make an effort to refrain from emoticons while communicating online.
98. Hold someone’s hand as they give birth.
99. Learn to surf.
100. Walk a Great Dane.

*And yes, I have a list of things I’d like to do in my life, and one of those is to actually make a list of things to do in my life. That’s how backwards my brain is.

image credit: tamara lichtenstein

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