#67 Have Picture Taken with Cinderella in Disney World

This was the second time in my adult life (does college count as adult life?) that I have been to Disney World and both times the only character I wanted to meet was Cinderella (this is before I knew Mary Poppins would be there too). Turns out she is not an easy princess to find. So Kirstin was nice enough to suffer through the “Princess Storybook Dining” experience in Norway at Epcot (again), so I could check another item off my life list.

Here is the picture. And the picture with Mary just for fun:

Too Old for This?

It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary

“A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heartaches. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams, and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true.” - Cinderella

#68 See the French Pavilion at Epcot

Tonight Zach brought home a menu for a new French restaurant in Albany Park and said, “We should go here, because you think you’re French.” And while I do not actually think I’m French I do love everything about France. 


So when Kirstin and I decided to go to Florida for my spring break I realized I would be able to check off a couple of things on my life list. One of those things is visiting the French Pavilion in Epcot. I have now seen the actual Eiffel Tower and two of the many replicas around the world (Epcot and the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas).

My First Check Mark

“We’ll always have Paris.” - Rick Blaine, Casablanca 

101 Things to Do in My Lifetime

When I decided to start a “Bucket List” I had to come up with some guidelines or it would have been never ending. Here they are: 

-Nothing on the list could be something I had done before (that’s why you won’t see some of the usual things…Statue of Liberty, Smithsonian, etc.)
-The list needed to be (somewhat) realistic.
-The list should be a mixture of easy and difficult things to accomplish, so I could continuously check things off.
-I left my personal and professional goals off the list and tried to keep it more “experience-based.” I already have internal motivation to accomplish my goals and I wanted the list to be made up of things I might not do otherwise.
-I broke the list down into categories in order to make it more organized.
-I will take a picture of each thing I accomplish and put it in a scrapbook, as well as, post it on my blog. 
That being said, here is the list…

THE LIST

Reading

1. Read Gone with the Wind
2. Read War and Peace 
3. Read A People’s History of the United States
4. Read the Anne of Green Gables Series (I’ve never read the entire thing)
5. Read the Harry Potter Series (I only read the first two books, apparently number three is when you really get hooked)
6. Read the Little House on the Prairie Series (Again, never read the whole thing)
7. Read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (I only finished the first book)
8. Read all of Jane Austen’s novels
9. Join a book club
10. Go to a book signing

Movies/Shows

11. See every movie that won the Best Picture Oscar before 2011
12. See Les Miserables 
13. See Rent 
14. See Swan Lake
15. Hear a choir/orchestra perform Carmina Burana 

Knitting

16. Join a knitting circle

When the Opportunity Presents Itself

17. Go to a flea market
18. Go to an auction
19. Have my palm read
20. Take an old timey photo (just because it would be funny)
21. Eat at Benihana
22. Get a professional massage
23. Get a tattoo
24. Run a 5K
25. Enter a state fair contest
26. Attempt a restaurant food eating contest (any suggestions?)
27. Stay at a bed and breakfast
28. Tour a winery
29. Ride a bicycle built for two
30. Fly first class
31. Milk a cow
32. Go horseback riding for a significant distance
33. Ride an elephant
34. Go whale watching
35. Go on a hot air balloon ride
36. Renew wedding vows
37. Buy something at Tiffany’s

Chicago

38. Go on the Goose Island and Half Acre brewery tours
39. Ice skate in Millennium Park
40. Ride on the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel
41. Have a drink at the Signature Lounge in the Hancock Center
42. Go out on the Willis (Sears) Tower Skydeck
43. Visit the Adler Planetarium (the only museum in Chicago I haven’t been to)
44. Go on the Chicago Architectural Cruise
45. Eat at a restaurant on Taylor Street
46. Eat at a restaurant in Chinatown
47. See a show at Second City
48. See a play at the Steppenwolf Theater

Minneapolis

49. Visit the Mill City Museum
50. See the Mary Tyler Moore house
51. Go on the Summit brewery tour (my favorite beer)

Across America

52. Vacation in Hawaii
53. See the Hollywood sign
54. See the Hollywood Walk of Fame
55. Go to the San Diego Zoo
56. Stay at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas
57. See the Grand Canyon
58. Visit four corners
59. Go up in the Space Needle in Seattle
60. Go to the first Starbucks in Seattle
61. Visit Mackinac Island in Michigan
62. Visit Graceland
63. Go the Kentucky Derby
64. Visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
65. See Fallingwater
66. Visit the French Quarter in New Orleans
67. Have my picture taken with Cinderella in Disney World
68. See the French Pavilion at Epcot
69. Go to a spring training baseball game
70. Go the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C.
71. See a musical on Broadway
72. Visit the Guggenheim Museum
73. Visit the Baseball Hall of Fame
74. See the leaves change in New England
75. See Niagara Falls

Worldwide

76. Visit Montreal
77. See The Parthenon
78. See The Colloseum 
79. See Michelangelo’s 3 Masterpieces (in my opinion) the Sistine Chapel, the David, and La Pieta
80. See the Leaning Tower of Pisa (and take a picture like I’m leaning on it!)
81. Ride a Gondola in Venice
82. See Monet’s Garden
83. Visit Salzberg, Austria (to see places from The Sound of Music)
84. Visit Neuschwanstein Castle (the castle Cinderella’s castle was modeled after)
85. Walk across Abbey Road
86. Ride a Double Decker Bus in London
87. Visit Westminster Abbey
88. Watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace
89. See the Rosetta Stone 
90. See the Tower Bridge
91. See Stonehenge 

Doing Some Good

92. Plant a tree on Arbor Day
93. Donate my hair to Locks of Love
94. Donate money and get my name on something
95. Find a cause I really believe in and do what I can to help

Stuff About Me

96. Drink a bottle of wine from 1981
97. Play the number 14 in roulette
98. Buy a stock with my initials
99. Eat at a restaurant with Kerry in the title
100 Take a picture next to a Kerry Street sign
101. Visit County Kerry in Ireland　

"He is able who thinks he is able." - Buddha

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” - Oscar Wilde