I’ve never dreaded any of my birthday milestones. 30 was nothing. 40? -Bring it! My 50th didn’t phase me. But 60? Hmmmm…I’m not sure how I’ll handle it. My 50’s have been good to me. I’ve seen both of my daughters graduate from high school and college. Our oldest got married last year and our youngest is preparing to move out to her first post-college apartment this summer. I have a sweetheart of a husband and we’ve been fortunate enough to travel extensively. I consider myself blessed and life is good. So, with today being the start of my very last year in my 50’s, I’ve decided to end this notable decade with a bang instead of letting it slide away, uncelebrated. This wonderful decade deserves an equally wonderful end. With that in mind, I’ve made a bucket list of 50 things I want to accomplish before my 50’s come to an end and if anyone cares to come along for the ride, I’d welcome it. In fact, you can even call shotgun! Here’s my list of 50 items (in no particular order) and I hope you will all hold me accountable for it over the next year. So hang on for dear life! It’s going to be one hell of a joy ride! Emphasis on JOY.
- Create a blog to document my year (so far so good!)
- Go skydiving
- Do 50 random acts of kindness throughout the year for family, friends and/or strangers
- Finish modernizing our house
- Do a 5k
- Keep up my Duolingo streak (currently at 636 days)
- Lose 10 pounds
- Complete 50 workouts on my Nordic Track treadmill
- See Stonehenge
- Keep attending French Class at the Alliance de Francais, Detroit
- Try one “new to us” restaurant a month
- Organize our storage room
- Meditate daily
- Create my own signature cocktail
- Learn the alphabet in sign language
- Decorate our Florida retirement home (It’s being built)
- Go hiking
- Read 50 books in 2019 (currently on book # 29- ahead of schedule!)
- Build a capsule wardrobe for Florida
- Entertain friends and family in said Florida retirement home
- Complete the complicated puzzle that my husband Mike bought me at Christmas that sits untouched
- Bake a loaf of bread from scratch
- Try a new recipe at least 1-2x a month
- Find and attend a French Meet-up event
- During our annual family trek to the Les Cheneaux islands, take a day trip to somewhere we’ve not been before
- Organize and catalog all of the photos sitting in a jumble in the storage room
- Re-enact the Beatles walking on Abbey Road
- Reach out to a friend or extended family member in person or online at least once a week
- Daily Visualization (for starts, I’ll visualize completing these goals!)
- Finish a course in the Masterclass online teaching series
- Teach our dog Kobe a new trick
- Ride my bike from the Lower Huron Metro Park to Lake Erie and back (about 40 miles)
- Host a fun event for all of the ladies in my family
- Learn to play a simple song on the piano
- Learn how to use the Overdrive app to borrow books from the library
- See Buckingham Palace
- Work on our Family Tree through Ancestry.com
- Try the restaurant The Woods on our annual family trip to Mackinac Island(we’ve been going to the island for years and have never made it there for a meal!)
- Take our kayaks on a romantic paddle leading to a picnic in the park
- Keep an herb garden and use it in cooking
- Try something new I’ve never done before (leaving this one open for spontaneity!)
- Actually take out the jet-ski instead of letting it sit in the hoist un-used
- Plan a sunrise breakfast on the pontoon
- Take our dog Kobe on a walk through a nearby park
- Watch a movie in French
- Discover a new favorite wine
- Do a high-ropes course
- See Liverpool
- Go sight-seeing in Boston
- Do yoga at least once a week
I can’t think of a better way to wind up the decade. So what do you think? What would be on your list?
Elana's Fabulous Farewell to My 50's Tour 