What’s the 11th item on your bucket list?

This is a rough one because I don't actually have a Bucket List. Part of the problem is I don't know what's worthy to BE on a Bucket List!  I scoured the internets in search of common Bucket List items to give me an idea of what I am dealing with here. This is what I found:

50 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE

 Become a millionaire
 Travel the world
 See the Northern Lights
 Trek the Great Wall of China
 Be mortgage free
 Go to the Inca Trail
 See all seven wonders of the world
 Visit the Egyptian Pyramids
 Invent something that changes lives
 Visit Antarctica
 Go to the orient express
 Go on an African Safari
 See the Taj Mahal
 Learn to play the piano / guitar / drums
 Stay a night at the world’s best hotel
 Build your own house
 Drive Route 66 in the US
 Go to Lapland
 Swim with dolphins / sharks
 Emigrate
 Learn to speak another language
 Own an island
 Dine at a Michelin star restaurant
 Write a novel
 See Gorillas in the wild
 Live and work abroad
 Hot air balloon ride
 Fly a plane
 Travel New Zealand in a Winnebago
 Start and run your dream business
 Ride a Segway
 Go to Disneyworld
 Gamble in Las Vegas
 Act as an extra in a Hollywood film
 Dedicate time to volunteering
 Try out an F car
 Learn to fly a plane or helicopter
 Have a family
 Be an extra in a movie
 Climb a mountain like Everest
 Buy a yacht
 Meet your idol / favorite celebrity
 Run a marathon
 Watch a World Cup final
 Meet the Queen
 Learn to surf
 Go to Harry Potter World in Florida
 Abseil down a mountain
 Do an army assault course
 Deep sea dive

As you can see, I have crossed out a few that I have absolutely no desire to do. If I had a chance, I might do some of them but I'm not going to go out of my way to make it happen.

There are others on the list that are highlighted. Color me surprised to find I have done things that some people have only ever dreamed of doing. The new list now looks something like this:

17 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE

Become a millionaire

Travel the world

Be mortgage free

See all seven wonders of the world

Visit the Egyptian Pyramids

Build your own house

Drive Route 66 in the US

Go to Lapland

Learn to speak another language

Dine at a Michelin star restaurant

Write a novel

See Gorillas in the wild

Live and work abroad

Start and run your dream business

Dedicate time to volunteering

Meet your idol / favorite celebrity

Meet the Queen

Let's throw some other bits in there since I have a clue what kinds of things I'm looking for now. And I'll clean up some things since Giza is one of the wonders of the world. I'm killing 2 birds there. 

23 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE

1.       Be mortgage free

2.       See my grandchildren grow

3.       See all Seven Wonders of the World

4.       Build my own house

5.       Drive Route 66 in the US

6.       Dine at a Michelin star restaurant

7.       Travel the world

8.       Write a novel

9.       Live abroad

10.   Start and run a quilt shop

11.   Volunteer

12.   Meet my favorite celebrity

13.   Meet the Queen

14.   See the Mona Lisa at the Louvre

15.   Sleep in a castle

16.   Lay on the floor of the Sistine Chapel

17.   Eat ice cream in Nice

18.   Spend a week in a pub in Ireland

19.   Eat Swedish Fish in Malmo, Sweden

20.   Learn to speak French fluently

21.   Become a millionaire

22.   See gorillas in the wild

23.   Dine at a Michelin star restaurant

There it is.  I tossed some of it around and renamed some things. Believe it or not, I had no idea number 11 was Volunteer.  This is totally do-able and really, I do volunteer some of my time but it's not what I would consider "volunteering".  I guess it's time to get right on that. :) 

When the ball dropped. . .

This year I spent New Year's Eve with my best friend, her husband and their 8-year-old son.  We played Headbanz and Uno and Monopoly, drank lots of wine and delicious tropical fusion bubbly (not the 8-year-old), talked about all kinds of issues big and small, and went to bed around 12:11.  It was a blast.  A happy medium for me because I was "out" (of my own house) on a big *party night* without actually having to be "OUT".

New Year's is my favorite holiday, bar none.  Yes, I could say Christmas or Thanksgiving or Easter, but when I think of the actual emotional high I get from the day, it's New Year's all around.  I love counting down to midnight, I love watching Dick Clark's (RIP) New Year's Rockin' Eve, I LOVE the actual feeling on New Year's Day that I have literally entered a completely different life than the one I had yesterday.  Blank slate, fresh page, new calendar, all that jazz.  I 100% buy into it every year and it's AWESOME!  Linus and the Great Pumpkin have nothing on Cousin Chip and the Spirit of New Year's Day.

Where were you when 2013 turned into 2014? Is that where you’d wanted to be?

On New Year's, I was snuggled up in bed. I was in my own house for the first time ever, in my own room with my own family downstairs waiting for the clock to strike midnight. I haven't waited up in years. It seems to me the world comes around again the next day and though it might be older, I sure can't tell. :)
There's not many places I'd rather be than home.  That's not to say I don't enjoy traveling. I adore a vacation. The excitement and bustle of a city, the lullaby of ocean waves... I can't think of anywhere I wouldn't want to go. There's nothing better than coming home after a long day and you really can't love to come home unless you leave it once in a while. On holidays and weekends, there's really nothing more I'd want to do. 
I was exactly where I wanted to be.