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
Will you help me with something, please?
Hank gave me this card for Mother’s Day last year, just before I overflowed and spilled all over the floor.
“Look, mama!” he said, oblivious to my ectoplasm pooling around his tiny sneakers. “It’s all your favorite things. Fireworks, and stars, and me! And this is what you always say to me, ‘You are perfect, Hank!’”
Oh. My friends, I had no idea I’d been saying it out loud. And yet, I could not deny it was true.
Camp Mighty is this weekend, and before we arrive, we’re raising $20,000 for charity: water. (We’re currently about $6,000 away.) The charity: water offices and half the staff are based in New York, so much of the staff was temporarily displaced by Hurricane Sandy, just as they’re trying to plan one of their largest fundraising events of the year.
Campers are doing all kinds of fund raising projects (more on that tomorrow), so here’s mine, inspired by a certain perfect five year old. I am auctioning:
One to each of the highest donors here
with the notation “Maggie Mason finds me attractive.”
Donation minimum of $10
All the proceeds go to benefit charity: water and The American Red Cross Hurricane Sandy Relief.
To bid, donate $10 or more here with the notation “Maggie Mason finds me attractive.” If you’re one of the top 20 bidders, you win a custom letter to cheer you in the face of a seemingly insurmountable obstacle, or a note that outlines your intrinsic perfection. Stipulations:
Or! You can leave me to my own devices. Please note, I am quite encouraging on the whole, and have years of experience in the field of championship.
If anyone bids a ludicrously generous amount (say above $100), I will also send you a small package of interesting items I no longer want, and descriptions of said items that make them seem more exciting. I will then briefly reconsider whether to dispense with these items, as they now seem more sentimental than they once did, but in the end will relent because I am grateful to you and value your generosity.
If you don’t want a letter or a box of unspecified objects, you can make a donation in any amount to the Go Mighty charity: water page (Leave my name in the comment field, please). If you’re broke, or just helpful, please include a link to this post on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtags #campmighty #charitywater. I’ll choose one of you at random, and send you a letter too.
Thanks, you guys. You are perfect.
- 1 comment
- Link to this post
When are Fruits in Season?
If you’ve been following along on my quest to taste 1,000 fruits, you’ll know that I’m a fan of this Seasonal Fruit poster by The Sweettooth Co. It tells you when you should be eating what, which is easier here in California where everything grows, but harder information to come by when you don’t have fruit stands every few feet. Do not bother with the December strawberries, team.
I’m a sucker for useful info graphics like this. Do you have a favorite one? If so, give a link in comments, and if we get enough of them I’ll make a Pinterest board.
- 6 comments
- Link to this post
Little Boy Christmas Eve Pajamas
My Life List Holiday Resolutions are in full swing. We always have new pajamas for Christmas Eve, so I’ve been shopping for the perfect pair for Hank. If you do the same thing, here’s my Little Boy Christmas Pajamas Pinterest Board to help narrow your search. I bought Hank this pair, because they make me feel merry.
- 3 comments
- Link to this post
Going Mighty
It’s launch time for our beta, are you ready?
3…2…1 GO MIGHTY!
Yus, son! Sarah, Laura, Amber and I are popping champagne corks and clinking glasses, toasting our brand new adventure. To celebrate, we’re giving you guys a sneak peak, so please join us. Request an invite and BYOLL (Bring Your Own Life List) to upload. Go Mighty is all baby steps and beta steps right now, but that’s where you come in. We want to know what you actually want and needs before we decide which new features to roll out first. Go Mighty will be evolving dramatically over the next few days and weeks, so give us your feedback, and please be gentle. It’s possible we’re a little sleepy over here.
And, what kind of party would it be without presents? Our bangarang partner Olay is gifting goals to to a few early Go Mighty users. (Which? Full circle, y’all.) To be considered for a gifted goal, you’ll want to tag your goal with ‘Olay.’ For more details and eligibility requirements, visit GoMighty.com/Olay.
If you’re a Rachael Ray fan, look for me on the show today. Nothing like testing the servers with a national TV appearance right out the gate, am I right? Keep your fingers crossed on this point, my friends. Maybe your eyes too.
In the meantime, let us know what you want to see on the site (info@gomighty.com). Get uploading and give us your feedback so we can iterate with you in mind. Custom, baby, that’s what we’re all about.
Now. Here’s the part where I thank you again for being on my team. Thank you. After twelve years of deep kindness from all of you, it’s such a joy to finally be able to give something tangible back. I cannot wait to really get to know you. Lurkers — I am especially talking to you. Show your faces! Tell us what you want. Let’s all start helping each other.
- 47 comments
- Link to this post
Mighty Thirst: Persimmon Sip
A drink that sounds dainty, but packs a punch. Pow. Fall just caught you on the chin.
Persimmon Sip:
Blend these to make persimmon puree (which freezes well, by the way):
- 2 Fuyu persimmons
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 shots water
And then mix these to make your cocktail:
- One shot of persimmon puree
- 1/2 shot of unsweetened cranberry juice
- 1 shot Bulleit Bourbon
- 1/2 shot Grand Marnier
- the juice of a honey tangerine
Pour everything into an ice filled shaker and shake or stir, then strain into a glass (in case you got some stray tangerine seeds in there).
Here’s to fall campfires, fingerless gloves, and dancing in elevators. 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. Persimmon Bob
- 4 comments
- Link to this post