Mighty Life List
Things To Do Before I Go
My Mighty Life List has been sponsored by amazing companies like Intel and Verizon, and has inspired hundreds of readers to make their own lists. If you're interested in sponsoring one of my goals, drop me a line at maggie at mighty girl dot com. If you've made a list of your own, please send it to me. I love reading them.

Go dog sledding | Safari in Africa | Get Scuba certified. | See the salmon run in Alaska | Ride a camel in the desert | Pyramids at sunset | Tango in a milonga | Cross the Canadian border | See Cuba | Have a croissant at a French cafe | Try escargot | Take a road trip across the U.S. | Have an exceptional time in Greece | Whiskey at a pub in Ireland | Linguica in Portugal | Open a Swiss bank account in Switzerland | Stay in the ice hotel | Visit that church made entirely of bones | Make butterscotch from scratch | Go on a multi-day biking trip | Fund and finish my art project/store | Gather a few dozen people to blow bubbles from the Golden Gate Bridge | Attend the San Francisco Black and White Ball | Grow vegetables | Learn to roll in a kayak | Write a novel | Be conversational in seven languages: 1. English 2. Spanish 3. French | Set foot on all seven continents: 1. Africa, 2. Antarctica, 3. Asia, 4. Australia, 5. Europe, 6. North America, 7. South America | Set foot in all fifty states | Help someone get into or through college | Stand atop the Great Wall of China | Stand inside the Taj Mahal | Host a party when the fruit trees bloom | Go clamming again | Do two pull ups | Go berry picking | Meet Ms. Winfrey | Have a dog again | Take tap dancing lessons | Ride through the Panama Canal | Make my own perfume | Redesign Mighty Girl | Take Hank camping | Make a peaceful living space | Institute chocolate and champagne Wednesdays | Tithe | Do a "10 Things You Don't Know About Women" feature for Esquire | Attend TED | Give $100 to a violin-playing busker | Wear a large hat at the Kentucky Derby | Taste 1,000 Fruits: 100 and counting! | Sparklers with Hank? Check. | Get in the habit of grand loving gestures: 40 Gifts for Bryan's 40th | Live in a house with a window seat | Go parasailing (Not paragliding) | Have a portrait done of myself in the style of a portrait of my grandmother | Swim with bioluminescent plankton in Puerto Rico | Attend Loy Krathong, the sky lantern festival in Thailand | Ring a church bell | Attend services at Glide Memorial | Take photos of the little girls twirling outside the Nutcracker | Organize a retreat | Rewire a lamp | Use my work to improve lives | Form a workplace with people I love | Repay the woman who let me live with her in college | Participate in a giant food fight | Know San Francisco like the back of my hand: Crown a favorite burrito • Take five tours: 1. Market St. Tour, 2. Palace Hotel Tour • Finish 7×7’s Big Eats Top 100 • Make my own list of the hundred best things to eat • Choose the fifty best cocktails • Choose my fifty favorite shops • Photograph all the public libraries: Anza, Bayview, Bernal Heights, Chinatown, Eureka Valley, Excelsior, Glen Park, Golden Gate Valley Branch, Ingleside, Main, , Marina, Merced, Mission, Mission Bay, Noe Valley, North Beach, Ocean View, Ortega, Park, Parkside, Portola, Potrero Branch, Presidio, Richmond, Sunset, Visitacion Valley, West Portal, Western Addition • See the view from Coit Tower • Write up mini guides to the main neighborhoods • Choose my top ten things to do when you visit | Pretend we've had a power outage | Go a day without speaking | Plant a tiny orchard | Write another book | Watch Hank eat his first ice cream cone | Write thank you notes to my teachers | Own land | Throw a block party | Remove money as a concern | Write a million dollar check to a charity | Help decorate Hank's bike for a neighborhood parade | Take a two-week vacation without computers | Get my health issues in hand: Allergist visit • oral surgery • acupuncture for hives and carpal tunnel • vitamins • more exercise | Zip line through a canopy | Lemonade on the front porch swing, warm summer night | Finish up or give up all the unfinished projects in the house | Play imaginary games with the kiddo | Buy a stock on my own | Make a quilt of Hank's jammies | Make 1,000 lovely things: 1. Pink ruffle sweater, 2. A Cake for Michelle, 3,4.fishy and jellyfish Costumes, 5. wax paper snowflakes, 6. Sidewalk Chalk Party Favors, 7. Paper Flower Party Hats, 8. bourbon cherries | Dinner at the French Laundry | Finish the baby book | Christen a boat | Read or attempt every book on the book list I started in high school | Remove toxins from our food and environment | Attend La Tomatina in Spain (August) | Plant bulbs in a public space | Have a family portrait taken | See a glacier in Antarctica | Live in another country for a year | Do one of Miranda July's projects | Wear a sequin bikini to Carnival. | Go on a night dive with the manta rays in Hawaii | Make a font | Spend the night in a bookstore | Sleep in a treehouse | Take a drawing class | Learn to use my camera | Throw 100 parties: 1. Fall Dinner Party | Enter a swing dance competition | Live in a converted barn with a view of the ocean | Create an office that cradles me | Start an annual event | Have a holi color fight | Movie night on the deck | Go shelling | Do a two-finger whistle for a cab | Listen to 1,000 new songs | Do something big you thought you'd never do (write a novel, compete in a triathalon) | Summit Kilimanjaro | Stand up bass or guitar lessons | Take Hank to Disneyland | See 1,000 bands play live | Make a gorgeous tea pantry | 365 thank you notes | 100 bathtubs | Try 100 cocktails: 1. Shots in 'Cots, 2. Avocado Bourbon Shake, 3. The Vacation, 4. Sassy Lassi, 5. Cherry Bing, 6. The ABC, 7. Toddy Shots 8. Cafe Picante 9. Gin and Juice (Box) 10. The Neighbor 11. Halloween Spiked Punch

May 20 2013

Life List Inspiration from Go Mighty

- What is it about elephants? I get this.

- I’m so jealous of this trip. Right up until they die of dysentery, I mean.

- And here’s an idea so clever and seemingly obvious that I can’t believe it doesn’t already exist.

If you haven’t joined Go Mighty yet, come on over. Once you’ve registered, you should receive your invitation within 24 hours.

Photo Source: Instagram user kimboslice

May 13 2013

Make 1,000 Lovely Things: The Jurrtastic Period

 

Giant Glitter Dinosaurs DIY

Take those dinosaurs, kid, and make them sparkle.

I made glitter dinosaurs last night. Hell yeah, I did. And when they dried I made them fight while I sang Toy! Toy! Crazy toy. Stay coooooool tooooy.

Anyway, I know you’ll want your own, because you aren’t dead inside, so instructions are right here.

Also, when you spill a container of glitter, who do you call to seal off your apartment so the glitter doesn’t spread to the rest of the building?

Go Mighty is kicking off our I Made This team project over the next two weeks. If you make something and tag it #imadethis on a Go Mighty story, you enter to win a new, limited-edition Polaroid camera, which is currently in my closet. I’ll round up my favorite stories here and on Go Mighty, and afterward we can compare glue gun scars.

May 13 2013

Life List Inspiration from Go Mighty

- “What I discovered was that people are kind, and if they can, they will try to help. It’s a good feeling.” Update from our first Skillshare grant winner, Emrys Kim.

- Oof. This breaks my heart and scares the crap out of me as a mother.

- Brittany Gibbons is looking for curvy intellectuals as part of our Rivet&Sway campaign.

-Lots more interviews with women who inspire us up on the Go Mighty blog, including Jessica Zollman, who is part of the Community Team for Instagram and a Mighty Summit attendee.

In more personal news, remember our #thankawriter project? I told you Thomas Lynch surprised me with a package of autographed books. Then yesterday Poet Donald Hall sent a lovely letter in response to my condolence note — humbling. People are nice.

May 6 2013

Life List Inspiration from Go Mighty

Have you checked in on our 31 Inspiring Women interview series on the Go Mighty blog? Do it! This week, we’d like you to meet:

Dottie Guy, an Iraq War Veteran who now works for the VA as an advocate for other Veterans, and a damn good photographer.

Yasha Wallin, Berlin-based arts + culture writer and Creativity Curator at GOOD Magazine, AND Editor at surf magazine The Usual.

Sarah Han, a producer at The Bold Italic, who says “These days, I’m more focused inwards – tweaking the things I already know I am, already have, and care deeply about.”

Kendrick Brinson, a freelance documentary, commercial, and editorial photographer based out of Atlanta, Georgia.

Sonya Yu, a tech marketer turned freelance photographer who says, “To stay focused on achieving goals, I recommend surrounding yourself with those who support and inspire you.”

Meanwhile, in the community:

-Caitlin is making huge progress on one of my favorite goals on Go Mighty, and she has a question for you in her latest update.

-Retta is learning to make something too. Her story made me realize that I don’t consider attempting anything that involves math or a tool box. I need to take a shop class.

-And, Sarah! I want to squeeze you and crush you like a grape. Sarah is our most recent Go Mighty Class Goal Grant winner, who just completed a sweet goal for her foster son.

If you haven’t joined Go Mighty yet, please take a minute to head over and sign up. Once you’ve registered, you should receive your invitation via email within 24 hours. Yessss.

May 3 2013

Mighty Thirst: Watermelon Chill

You know how watermelon season comes and you sit out on deck in your swimsuit, scoop out watermelon with your hands, and then rinse the juice off with the hose? Gah! This drink is making me excited for summer.

Watermelon Chill

-4 tsp frozen watermelon, seeds removed
-Juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 shot vodka

Put everything in the blender and turn it on until the drink is… blended. Pour it into a glass, garnish with mint and a melon ball, drink it until it’s gone. Wait a few minutes until you feel like a slightly more pleasant person, then make another one.

Here’s to spitting seeds out on the lawn, warm water from a hose that’s been coiled in the sun, and washing your feet off before bed after a day of padding around barefoot. What are you toasting this week?

I’m making 100 cocktails as part of my Life List. This is number sixteen. Here are the rest:

1. Shots in ‘Cots 2. Avocado Bourbon Shake 3. The Vacation 4. Sassy Lassi 5. Cherry Bing 6. The ABC 7. Toddy Shots 8. Cafe Picante 9. Gin and Juice (Box) 10. The Neighbor 11. Halloween Spiked Cider 12. Bloodthirsty Mulled Wine 13. Killer Bloody Mary 14. Bourbon Pumpkin Shake 15. Tangelo Cooler

May 1 2013

A Life List a Day on Go Mighty

Project!

Every day for the month of May, we’re featuring a woman who inspires us on Go Mighty. We’ve asked them to share 10 goals from their life list, as well as a bit of their own story, the inspiration behind their goals, and advice they have for others on staying motivated.

Today’s interview is with Tina Hardison, a designer who’s worked with everyone from Chronicle books to Apple to IDEO. Her Life List is about balancing career goals with adventure. Go have a look.

Apr 23 2013

Life List Inspiration from Go Mighty

Congrats to Sarah Hassell, winner of our $1,000 grant from last month’s Go Mighty Skillshare Class! She has a new heart and an ambitious goal for it. Go have a look.

Speaking of our Skillshare class series, if starting a business is on your Life List, consider taking Andie Powers’s Go Mighty Skillshare Class From Scratch to Success, Starting Your Own Creative Small Business.

There are some great stories on Go Mighty this week:

- Bonnie Chan just started chipping away at a a cool project.
- Helena Price is doing the scary thing. (Fingers crossed for you, sis.)
- MacKensie Cornelius has a travel tip that never occurred to me before.
- Melena Kathryn’s story about music reminded me of the weeks I spent in a dance studio in Buenos Aires, hoping to bring tango home as a souvenir.

Go Mighty is still in beta, but we’re processing invitations within about 24 hours now, so come add your Life List and tell us where you’re turning your attention lately.

Photo by Helena