100+ Favorite Things

100+ of the favorite things I’ve done in my life

  1. Took a chance on marrying when I didn’t want to marry ever again
  2. Traveled around New Zealand by myself by car
  3. Laughed with hundreds of dolphins swimming in our wake
  4. Saw whales breaching
  5. Went camping alone in Maine in a Lexus
  6. Heard a moose calling its mate in the forest
  7. Traveled around Costa Rica with my best friend – including hiking deep into a remote rainforest and camping at the ranger station
  8. Learned to sail
  9. Sailed offshore
  10. Stood watch alone at night on a sailboat underway
  11. Listened to a jaguar roar in the jungle
  12. Saw macaws in flight in the rainforest
  13. Quit my job as President of an advertising agency at the height of my career
  14. Dived off 100 foot cliffs alongside an Olympic diver
  15. Snorkeled in Fiji
  16. Learned to scuba dive
  17. Snorkeled 50-feet off a private island in Belize
  18. Hugged my cat
  19. Flew to London for a weekend with the jet set crowd
  20. Slept on the deck of a sailboat
  21. Sailed overnight
  22. Watched a sunset in Hawaii
  23. Ate fresh sushi till I burst in Hawaii
  24. Watched the sunrise over Pele’s volcano
  25. Kayaked among the islands off Maine
  26. Kayaked in the Inside Passage in Alaska
  27. Fished for 50 lb King salmon along a glacial river in Alaska
  28. Fished for grayling and trout along remote streams and lakes in Alaska
  29. Flew in a float plane in Alaska
  30. Went gliding 
  31. Skied moguls like a professional freestyle skier
  32. Skied waste deep powder making perfect 8s
  33. Owned a sailboat
  34. Became president of a company
  35. Started my own company
  36. Joined a Board of Directors
  37. Wrote a book
  38. Bought a convertible sports car
  39. Visited almost every major site of the Maya world
  40. Saw a ghost
  41. Visited Stonehenge and Penter Ifan
  42. Traveled all around Ireland by car with my niece
  43. Traveled all around Europe with my sister
  44. Took drawing lessons
  45. Learned coastal navigation
  46. Learned weather prediction
  47. Grew a garden from scratch
  48. Wallpapered a room
  49. Threw a lavish dinner party
  50. Overcame my shyness and introversion
  51. Quit smoking
  52. Made love under the stars on top of a mountain
  53. Made love under the stars on the deck of a boat
  54. Made love at sunrise on the deck of a boat
  55. Made love mid-ocean half way across the Atlantic
  56. Road a bicycle all around Block Island
  57. Watched fireworks in a car parked right underneath them
  58. Stayed in a Swiss chalet in Switzerland
  59. Stayed in a hunting lodge in Austria
  60. Visited a castle in Germany
  61. Stayed in a castle in Ireland
  62. Got snowed in at a ski resort
  63. Tried windsurfing
  64. Tried parasailing
  65. Rode a motorcycle
  66. Drove a motorscooter
  67. Adopted a kitten
  68. Mentored a junior person
  69. Watched a glacier calve
  70. Drove a jeep across a desert island
  71. Saw the windmill farm in California
  72. Hiked through a high desert in California
  73. Transited a canal
  74. Took a red double decker tour in London
  75. Walked along the Rive Gauche in Paris
  76. Rode up the Eiffel tower
  77. Walked up into the torch of Lady Liberty
  78. Had lunch at the top of the World Trade Center
  79. Attended a private party on a boat circling Manhattan at night
  80. Got snowed in in Montreal
  81. Attended the wedding of a couple we didn’t know at a medieval castle 
  82. Smelled the pines on the breeze of Puget Sound
  83. Reveled in the colors of the markets around the world
    (Seattle, Central America, Canary Islands, Bahamas)
  84. Made love with a stranger
  85. Rode lots of cable cars
  86. Drove across the Florida Keys
  87. Drove under the Chesapeake Bay
  88. Drove across the Golden Gate
  89. Drove along the California coast
  90. Visited the wine country of California
  91. Ate truffles and drank local wine in the south of France
  92. Stayed in a French Chateau in France
  93. Sat in a café in Austria picking out the spys
  94. Read every book by Joseph Conrad
  95. Designed and sewed my own clothes
  96. Studied ecology with an expert
  97. Drank where Hemmingway drank
  98. Attended an elegant New Year’s Eve Ball
  99. Sat on a beach all night talking
  100. Gambled in formal clothing in Monaco
  101. Ice skated on the frozen pond in Central Park
  102. Organized all my photos in photo albums
  103. Kissed my sister good-bye and told her how much I loved her
  104. Collected antiques
  105. Joined a yacht club
  106. Made friends with my mom before she died
  107. Volunteered for a real charity activity
  108. Had unique ideas for things that had never been done before
  109. Spoke inspiration to a crowd of 2000
  110. Led the reorganization of a non-profit corporation
  111. Found my way out of a forest at night and led others to safety
  112. Published articles in magazines
  113. Introduced virgins to sailing
  114. Watched boats racing on Lake Geneva from a balcony in Lausanne
  115. Held my ground to maintain my integrity
  116. Single handed a 41-foot sailboat
  117. Took a helicopter to the top of a glacier
  118. Hiked up a mountain
  119. Played tag with my cat
  120. Traveled by boat across Milford Sound
  121. Hiked up a glacier
  122. Watched a glacier calve right next to our boat
  123. Watched leaf-cutter ants building things
  124. Chanced upon a Monarch butterfly migration
  125. Searched for bald eagles as golf balls in the wild
  126. Chased whales in an inflatable boat
  127. Watched a grizzly feed in Alaska
  128. Felt true love for the first time
  129. Felt the heat of passion anew
  130. Swam over a black hole
  131. Swam in the middle of the ocean
  132. Scuba dived with giant turtles
  133. Greeted a pet iguana
  134. Found a tarantula in my drawer
  135. Walked away from a devastating car crash
  136. Listened to my angel tell me it wasn’t my time yet
  137. Played golf on a cow pasture in Ireland
  138. Watched the sun rise over a volcano in Costa Rica
  139. Had a picnic on a remote island in the rain
  140. Learned to slalom water ski
  141. Explored many ancient Maya ruins
  142. Laughed with friends over dinner
  143. Took sick children out for a sail
  144. Created a website
  145. Wrote a non-fiction book
  146. Took a walk with my mom
  147. Had my mom teach me all her secrets to cooking
  148. Taught a kid how to sail
  149. Had dinner with models in London and ate everything on my plate
  150. Ate dozens of oysters in New Orleans
  151. Really listened to sultry music 
  152. Saw Phantom of the Opera on two different continents
  153. Sat where Henry the VIII, Robin Hood & Charlemagne might have
  154. Drank a pina colada fresh in the coconut
  155. Rode a horse at full gallop on a beach
  156. Laughed all night
  157. Forgave my father
  158. Moved to a foreign country and lived there for a decade
  159. Skied in Europe
  160. Built a house
  161. Got a captain’s license (USCG OUPV)
  162. Published a novel
  163. Tapped into my 401K and SS
  164. Become a dual citizen
  165. Sailed my own boat across the Atlantic (3x)
  166. Started a small business in Ireland
  167. Spent Christmas in the Caribbean
  168. Saw hundreds of dolphins many times
  169. Sailed alongside a 60 foot fin whale
  170. Watched a whale and her calf feeding
  171. Saw a basking shark
  172. Watched gannets falling out of the sky
  173. Saw a woman run for the office of POTUS
  174. White water rafted
  175. Was elected Rear Commodore of the OCC
  176. Learned how to dive off a high platform
  177. Learned to do flips off a diving board
  178. Lived on a boat for a year in the Atlantic and Caribbean
  179. Kissed a boy under the board walk
  180. Saw Bruce Springsteen live in concert
  181. Saw Elton John live in concert
  182. Tripped and saved Bernie Taupin
  183. Walked down the street singing in a hurricane

Still to do


  1. Visit Ukraine 
  2. Sail the Mediterranean and Black Sea 
  3. Circumnavigate the globe by sailboat 
  4. See Montana 
  5. Drive a Ferrari 
  6. Visit Macchu Picchu 
  7. Get a pilot’s license 
  8. Fly a float plane 
  9. Become independently wealthy 
  10. Write the great American novel 
  11. Complete my mother’s memoir 
  12. Save a puppy 
  13. Help someone become self-sufficient 
  14. Work with dolphins 
  15. Get a PhD

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