50 things to do (before I am 50)

Below are the things, that if done before I am 50, should make for an eventful, satisfying, entertaining, and productive few years…. It should be noted that they have had no wider audience than myself, and so may be subject to some refinement/ sanity checking once public!   I am confident my husband will disapprove of most, though if I can achieve #9 Pay off the mortgage, that will go a long way to securing buy in. 

Several are still up for grabs, so do send in any suggestions!  Though I reserve the right to refuse…

1.      Do an ironman (punchy start!)

2.      Be less angry (equally unachievable)

3.      Conquer the sugar addiction and implement healthy eating habits for the whole family

4.      Get a whole family caricature done in Montmartre

5.      Go to Oktoberfest in Munich with a bunch of chums

6.      Do something individually with each of the children, every year

7.      Perform a stand up comedy routine, to an actual audience

8.      Create work that is both lucrative and wildly fulfilling

9.      Pay off the mortgage.  Yes, all of it.

10.  Run some workshops and retreats of the life-changing/personal development genre

11.  Find a way to navigate the conundrum of work/family/me time without being perpetually pissed off

12.  Learn to play the piano

13.  Create family life that is loving, supportive, nourishing and enjoyable

14.  Learn to speak Chinese

15.  Go bike touring with the children

16.  Give a home to animals or people that have had a shit life

17.  Keep channels of communication open with the children, as they grow up

18.  Do an MSc in creative writing for therapeutic purposes/ counselling type qualification

19.  Buy a farm, or field, or wood, or smallholding, and do good stuff with it

20.  Write our family history (not just the tree.  The stories behind the tree)

21.  Raise £1m for a good cause

22.  Breed some puppies

23.  Read 50 classics that I’ve never read before

24.  Give a TED talk

25.  Have an actual romantic mini break

26.  Do pilates / weight training /core strength/ yoga regularly

27.  Buy a ford transit and turn it into a campervan

28.  Drive through Paris in a sports car

29.  Travel round Africa with the kids

30.  Get the mole removed from my chin

31.  Take Caitlin to see the pandas in China

32.  Take Eva to volunteer with elephants (or polar bears)

33. Marathon des Sables.  Oh yes.

34.  Spend a week without any gadgets/ electronics/communication devices etc

35.  Make 100+ people do something ridiculous, for absolutely no reason at all

36.  Have some exotic sex

37.  Make a film of one of our adventures (NOT the exotic sex)

38.  Write a comic screenplay

39.  Build an igloo

40.  Ski in Scandinavia and go on a husky dog sled thingy

41.  Get 50,000 followers to my blog

42. Open to suggestions! 

43.  Open to suggestions!

44.  Open to suggestions!

45.  Open to suggestions!

46.  Open to suggestions!

47.  Open to suggestions!

48.  Open to suggestions!

49.  Open to suggestions!

50.  Write a book