When we were pulling together gifts for the Mighty Summit, we set a few aside to give away.
If you’d like to enter to win one, please share an item from your Life List in the comments below. One winner will be chosen from comments on this site, the other from Mighty Summit co-founder Laura Mayes’s Blog Con Queso.
Now for the fine print: Please only leave one comment on each site, because it’s the nice thing to do, and also because multiple entries will be disqualified. I’ll use random.org to select the winner, and I’ll announce who won at the top of this post and in a separate post next Wednesday. You have to live in the United States or Canada to enter, because holy holy the shipping is ludicrous if you don’t. Fingers crossed for you.
Update: We have two winners, announced here and here. Thank you to all who participated!
Here’s what’s up for grabs:
1. Ephiphanie Camera Bag by Maile Wilson (shown in top and side views)
These compartmentalized camera totes were designed by Summit photographer Maile Wilson, who used to wrap her DSLR in a towel and shove it in her purse. Sound familiar? Contest winners can choose form any of the designs and colors shown on the site. So you should probably get a yellow one.
2. Chevron Necklace by Feisty Elle
This delicate wood necklace is by San Francisco designer Leslie Yang of Feisty Elle, who makes light easy pieces that make you look pulled together in jeans and a T-shirt. We love this necklace because it resembles an arrow, which is a symbol of courage.
3. Tieks by Gavrieli
Gah! These are my favorite things. Tieks are beautifully made, non-skid flats that fold up to fit in your purse. Once you try them on, they’ll never leave your feet, and they stand up to years of daily wear. Contest winner can choose among the rainbow of fruit flavors available on the Tieks website.
4. Scarf by Mixed Bag Design
These soft scarves go with everything, and the Mixed Bag website allows you to hold fundraisers for causes close to your heart.
5. Bliss Beauty Soaps and Scrubs
In blood orange and white pepper. Do not eat them.
6. The Quintet Necklace by Lemonade Handmade
Another favorite thing that makes me sigh. Every year, Mighty Summit attendees make a list of five things they hope to accomplish in the coming year. This delicate, simple necklace symbolizes those goals. Tiny brass rings just within reach.
7. Daring Greatly, by Brené Brown
A book that encourages you to go be brave. We are pro bravery around here.
8. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, by Jenny Lawson
Mighty Summit alum Jenny Lawson, a.k.a. The Bloggess, wrote this movingly funny book, which includes a chapter on the very first Mighty Summit, and photos of me slaughtering the author with a meat cleaver.
9. Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin
Summit alum Gretchen Rubin is once again on the New York Times Bestseller list with her sequel to the Happiness Project, a tome about a year of seeking happiness at home.
10. Oh Happy Day Piñata
Jordan Ferney, the genius behind the website Oh Happy Day, made these teeny eeny piñatas by hand, and they are perfect. You’ll wish you had two so you could pit them against each other.
11. Lands End Canvas Tote
These extra-large natural zip-top tote bags by Lands End are awesome for trips to the pool or beach, picnics, and summering on your fleet of yachts.
12. Daring Greatly Action Book by Behance
Get started on your Life List goals! This notebook is designed to help you plan visually, too.

Sew a truly wearable dress that I love!
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Put a lock on Le Pont des Arts with my husband, and throw the key in the Seine.
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Learn how to make metal jewelry
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As a lifelong fan of Saturday Night Live (the show and I are the same age!), I have always wanted to be in the audience for the show in New York.
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To fall in love.
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I want to learn French so that I can speak with my fiance’s grandma. She’s 83 years old and has cancer. I’d like to be able to tell her in French how much I love her grandson and family before she passes.
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“Become someone’s mama.”
Whew. Seriously, it still brings me to tears. When I added it to my list a few years ago, that’s what it took to finally be honest with myself that yes, I want THAT.
My husband and I have suffered through three miscarriages, all at around 12 weeks, and after 7 years of infertility, it took WRITING IT DOWN to smack me in the face and make me take action.
So after lots, and lots of driving, money, injections, examinations, tests, procedures, and tears – I am…pregnant.
I am…in my third trimester as of yesterday.
I am…going to be someone’s mama.
Thank you for pushing me to actually fucking write it down.
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buy, remodel, and flip houses on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC
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Dive the great barrier reef!
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I am always hesitant to have a Life List, because I often feel like just getting through the day sans homicide should be enough. BUT.
If you were to inquire my hero, I would answer (without hesitation) that it is Jim Henson. What he did with puppets crossed racial, socioeconomic, and language barriers, and he did it all WITH FELT. On my Life List is to visit the Muppet Workshop in New York and design my own puppet, so I can learn puppetry and use it in inner city schools around my county.
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Run a 10K. I’ve been revising this one upwards as I go longer distances and pass old goals; who knows when I’ll stop? (But seriously, I’ll probably stop soon, because running is hard. Heh.)
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To dance with my father at a party for my parents on their lawn in the country (with lightning bugs flickering) because we’ve never once danced.
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Write a letter to my high school guidance counselor who encouraged me to be a writer (even though he insisted I stay in honors statistics).
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Drive down the Pacific Coast Highway on a solo road trip.
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To keep writing regularly.
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Take my sons to visit Washington DC – hopefully soon!
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I’d like to live for a month off the grid with my family. Our extended family has a yurt in the Colorado wilderness: no electricity, a nearby stream for water, a wood-burning stove, and no neighbours for miles. I’d like to give it a go on our own in the woods — allowing us a few trips to a grocery store for the month.
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I want to write children’s books.
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Take a pilgrimage. Probably El Camino de Santiago.
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I think my biggest life list item is to visit every continent. 3 down, 4 to go!
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Take a trapeze class
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I’m hoping next year to cross off “Get my PhD” from my life list!
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I would LOVE to go to Ireland! Been on the list for years and must get to it soon!
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I would like to train and run in a half marathon.
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Learn to keep bees. (and how lovely it is to get a peak into stranger’s life list!)
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Be an expert on something, and have someone ask me to speak in public about that thing.
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I want to plan, plant, and nurture a flower garden I can be proud to show to friends.
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Read Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Spanish–and know Spanish well enough to appreciate his writing style.
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I want to learn to surf!
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See the Northern Lights.
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Be my own boss!
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I would like to hike every hike in National Geographic’s list of the best hikes in our National Parks (http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/trips/best-trails/national-park-hikes/#/teton-crest-trail_35977_600x450.jpg)
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Learn how to ride a bike so I can ride with my kids!
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Item #40: Do a pull up.
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To travel with my husband, son and my parents to England to visit my dad’s relatives.
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I have two daughters. Their middle names are “Sakura” and “Mei” which are both flowering trees in Japan. I would like to take both of them to Japan and get pictures with their trees.
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I want to move someplace that we plan on staying for a while and establish a community for me (and my family)!
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Visit Graceland with my mom.
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to be happy with who i am
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Spend a summer in France.
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Get scuba dive certified.
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Drive across the United States, eating lots and lots of pie at roadside diners.
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High up on my life list is to start my own non-profit organization, taking what I’ve seen and learned and the wonderful people I have met along the way and venturing out on my own.
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I’d like to learn to play the guitar. I just know I can rock.
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To do yoga on a paddleboard.
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I want to swim in the pacific.
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My life list includes walking the Camino de Santiago.
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Learn to paint.
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Learn to play and sing five songs on guitar and stage a performance for friends in an intimate bar
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Get back to a healthy weight!
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