My RAD Life List

Welcome to My Life List

 Here is my *overly ambitious* list of things to accomplish during my lifetime. Some of these are total dreams of mine that may be far-fetched but others are quite doable and I am currently in the process of completing. 
Please email me if you would like to sponsor a dream on my list.
sunkissis at aol dot com

Things that would be Lovely

• Grow my hair long and thick so I can wear braids like this
• Learn French
• Have a photo shoot with Pauline Darley in Paris
• Cook/Host an entire Thanksgiving dinner for 8 guests served on beautiful Anthropologie dishware
• Build my dream closet/wardrobe edit my wardrobe to pieces I love/look amazing
• Give birth We had our beautiful daughter Olivia Lily, June 2, 2010

• Have our nursery featured on Ohdeedoh blog  DONE
• Grow my own peonies, strawberries and herb garden
• Attend a Masquerade Ball
• Leave a 100% tip
• Learn how to print on a hand crank letterpress make pretty business cards
• Buy My Dream House / Completely renovate our next house and have it featured on Apartment Therapy we've had our nursery & our kitchen featured
• Take a photo at the Golden Gate Bridge  DONE
• Have one hundred followers on my blog
• Volunteer at an animal shelter
• Have a confetti fight

Such a fun day!

• Officiate a gay wedding I've already officiated a straight wedding
• Live to celebrate my 100th birthday
• Take a CSS/html classs and Redesign my blog layout
• Read Classic novels *Pride & Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, The Glass Menagerie, The Great Gatsby, Atlas Shrugged, Oliver Twist, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Wuthering Heights, A Tale of Two Cities, Moby Dick*
• Dress up for a fancy night out *Opera, ballet, gala, etc.*
• Take a photo with Bill Murray
• Sponsor an animal
• Cook everything on my Pinterest food board
• Attend the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor's Island in New York
• Celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary in 2052!
• Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge  DONE
• Add a padlock with our names on it to a lock bridge  DONE

Things That would be Rad!

• Have a best friends only weekend in Palm Springs The Parker
• Participate in a Flash Mob
• Have my November 11, 2011 11:11 pm wish come true
• See Björk play live at Glastonbury Music Festival in the UK and in her hometown, Reykjavík, Iceland
• Have Marina Abramovic make me cry
• Visit the Moma Rain Room
• Go to Fashion Week
• Visit all 50 of the Los Angeles farmers markets 29 down/21 to go
• Be a contestant on The Amazing Race with Antz
• Act in a film
• Walk on the red carpet
• Drive a vintage Fiat 
• Go blonde! DONE!
• Ride a tandem bike with Antz
• Attend an awards show  *So far been to Mtv Movie Awards/Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards four times*
• See Tom Waits live
• Help my Mom write her memoirs

My Mom & Bob Dylan on a train in Tokyo

• Own a classic Chanel bag
• Start a record collection  DONE
• See a narwhal in person
• Attend alt. Design Summit
• Be completely debt-free 
• Plant a tree
• Go camping with my friends
• Learn how to use my Nikon SLR camera
• Go on vacation with my friends on a yacht
• Learn how to knit/embroider
• Run for office with our neighborhood council and do good in the neighborhood
• Attend a TED Talks event 
• Own a vacation home like this one!
• Participate in the color run
• Smash a pie in my BFF's face *she really wants me to*
• Ride a pink Vespa scooter with a matching pink helmet
• Sleep in a tipi
• Spend a year not receiving but giving gifts
• Learn how to juggle
• Attend Dapper Day all dressed up at Disneyland
• Jump into a pool with all my clothes on    

 

Things to do with Olivia

• Teach Liv origami & calligraphy 
• Send Olivia to a French immersion school  DONE
• Take Olivia to a presidential inauguration in Washington DC
• Teach her math in a fun way so when she gets older she enjoys it!
• Have a huge food fight
• Purchase an Airstream *like this one by DWR* and road trip across North America

Cutest Airstream ever!

• Learn all 50 states and capitals together
• Take Liv to the Grand Canyon walk on the skydeck
• Host a foreign exchange student 
• Take Liv to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam  DONE  
• Have Liv's baby shoes bronzed
• Take Olivia to Junibacken to see Villa Villakuella
• Go to the summer Olympics
• Have a Snowball fight  DONE
• Take Liv to see Mt. Rushmore
• Teach Liv how to cartwheel/roller skate/ice skate/skateboard/surf/ride a bicycle
• Take Liv to see the Salvation Mountain DONE

• Teach Olivia how to swim
• Set up a lemonade stand with Liv and donate the proceeds to charity
• Take Liv to see The Nutcracker and Swan Lake ballet 
• Host a movie night in our backyard
• Go to a music festival with Liv
• Take a photo at Platform 9 & 3/4 at King's Cross train station DONE

  

  King's Cross Train Station London

• Take Liv to see Cirque du Soleil 
• Learn to sew and make this adorable pillowcase dress for Liv DONE

Liv was insanely tiny when I made this dress

• Take Liv to all five Disney parks (California, Florida, Paris, Japan, Hong Kong)
• Own a pet goat, raise Silky chickens & an Angora rabbit
• Take Olivia to the World Trade Center Museum
• Take Olivia to meet her relatives in Mexico
• Purchase "Oh, the Places You’ll Go!" by Dr. Seuss. Secretly get her teachers and mentors to sign and leave messages in it at the end of each school year. When she graduates from high school, present her with the book.
• Take Liv to a Rocky Horror Picture Show screening *it's her favorite movie and she's three!*
• Have a monthly mani/pedi date
• Take a photo of Liv standing in front of the Sorbonne in Paris to inspire her to study there  DONE

• Teach Liv to to sew, crotchet and embroider 
• Take Liv to the Eiffel Tower
• Finish Liv's baby book
• Go glamping in our backyard
• Build an in-ground trampoline to play on 
• Make a memory book for Liv every year until she's eighteen *I've been really good at keeping up with this one! I'm on year four now*
• Take Olivia's photo every week with her Totoro plush until she turns two, then every year until she's eighteen you can see her photos here

   

Travels

• Move to Paris for a year
• Take a family cruise in Alaska *see a Moose*
• Swim in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland
• Kiss the Blarney Stone
• Take a photo holding the Leaning Tower of Pisa
• Attend the Holi Festival in India
• See the Taj Mahal 
• Ride a cable car in San Francisco  DONE
• See Stonehenge
• Drink Sangria in Spain, Sake in Tokyo, Ouzo in Greece, Chartreuse in Paris and learn to open a champagne bottle using le saberage
• Go to Nuit Blanche
• Stand on the glass ledge in Willis Tower in Chicago
• Drive Lombard Street in San Francisco  DONE
• See the Colosseum and take a photo with a Gladiator
• Go to the Rain Room at MOMA in New York
• Buy an authentic Moroccan rug, fez and spices
• Road trip to Austin, Texas 
• Go to Hawaii *swim with sea turtles*
• Take a photo in front of the fake Prada store in Texas 
• Go to Buñol, Spain for La Tomatina *tomato throwing festival*
• Ride a camel in the desert *dare I say, in Egypt?*
• See the tulip fields in Holland
• Check out the Neon Boneyard in Las Vegas  DONE
• Drive in a right-hand car   DONE
• Ride the London Eye   DONE
• See the Sistine Chapel ceiling
• Bathe elephants in Thailand
• Attend Dîner en Blanc Paris  DONE 
• Last year we attended Diner en Blanc Los Angeles
• Cheer on the Tour de France
• Drive through a tree in the Redwoods 
• Road Trip to Portland
• Walk on the Great Wall of China
• Visit Evelyn & Dion in upstate NY *go on the Niagra Falls tour boat*
• Fly Eva Airlines and stay in a Hello Kitty themed room
• Take the Orient Express train ride from London to Paris to Venice
• Sleep in an igloo and see the Northern Lights
• Go to Coachella, SXSW, Bonnaroo & Glastonbury
• Make a wish and toss a coin in the Trevi Fountain 
• Go to Japan
• Go on an African Safari
• See the AquaDome in Berlin 
• Spend New Year's Eve at the W Times Square
• Attend a live taping of Saturday Night Live in New York at Rockefeller Center
• Spend Christmas at a quaint Bed & Breakfast *Montréal ideally*

This list was inspired by Maggie's Life List

Le Dîner en Blanc Los Angeles 2013

 I woke up today thinking last night's Le Dîner en Blanc was just a dream.

Photo taken by Jennifer Young

I found out about Le Dîner en Blanc while browsing Pinterest about 2 years ago. Then I read this post by Jordan at Oh Happy Day. I made it one of my Life List goals to attend le Dîner en Blanc in Paris. Well, since I'm not going to Paris this year, I was excited to discover Los Angeles would be having their first annual diner so I registered on their site. I ended up not getting an invitation but I was able to sign up as a volunteer. This gave me membership *for free* and the opportunity to invite a few friends. It was difficult to set everything up but everything fell into place *despite shoegate*

Antz and I worked hard getting all the dinner items we would need and making my amazing headpiece and cute birdie boutonniere.

This headpiece was huge and HEAVY. I had a battery pack on there for the lights. We had to secure it with hundreds of bobby pins

Look how adorable Antz birdie boutonniere turned out. He made that top hat!

Since I was a leader, I was privy to find out the city the venue would be located but not the address. Anthony told me his guess was Rodeo Drive since it's so iconic. I thought it would be at a park to accommodate such a large crowd, so I guessed either Greystone Mansion or Beverly Hills park. As always, Antz was right, we arrived right on time at Rodeo Drive which was blocked off to cars for the event. We had one of the best spots for the dinner right near the DJ booth and close to the center of everything. The moment we got off the bus, I met the founder of the event François Pasquier, his wife and his son Aymeric who came in from Paris and Montreal. They were so gracious and kind. François attempted to talk to me in broken English and I made a terrible attempt at French but we communicated best in Spanish. This again confirms how much I suck at French and that I must learn the language I want my child to become fluent in.

I love them, they were so sweet!

Aymeric is a sweetheart, he's so cute!

We set up quickly and the dinner began. Our table was amazing, everyone looked great and the table settings were lovely. I was so happy my friends Warren & Kim and Jihan & Jennifer were able to be there with me. The band performing during dinner was rad! The singer had a beautiful voice and she covered Amy Winehouse and Portishead. We had a delightful meal, I drank too much wine and we all danced. The white mustaches turned out perfect for photos and we took tons of pictures, posed for tourists, guests and the media. I posed for so many cameras my neck was hurting. You can even catch a second of us on the ABC and CBS news. I had the time of my life. I met such wonderful people and we rocked out to a guy playing electric saxophone! I can't wait to go next year and hopefully attend Le Dîner en Blanc in Paris soon. My incredibly talented friend Jennifer took these lovely photos.

I love how rad our mustaches turned out

Jihan, Jennifer, Me, Antz, Kim & Warren

Me & my hot date!

Our table

Since there were so many great pictures, I put together this slideshow that covers the evening. Enjoy!

Diner en Blanc from sunkissis on Vimeo.

The first annual Diner en Blanc

August 21, 2013

Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills

My photo made it in the LA Times!

The evening was magical! Merci.

Camp Mighty

Boy, I sure wanna go! I just got an email that Camp Mighty begins this weekend in Palm Springs.

What is Camp Mighty?
Camp Mighty is a weekend retreat for people who like projects, and are willing to put a little of that energy into themselves. All of us want to be great at something. Camp Mighty will help you figure out what.

Here's a video of Maggie Mason, founder of Camp Mighty



I'm really bummed  I can't go this year because this weekend is our traditional pre-Thanksgiving dinner at my Mom's house. I would love to cross off some things on my List. I also missed out booking a room at The Ace hotel in October and I really, really want to go with my BFF Aimee.

Herein lies the rub. My Bestie works ALL-THE-FRICKING-TIME! She is annoyingly hard working, responsible and now she has her eye on the prize. She is moving out of her Shangri-la fancy pants apartment in Venice to a much more affordable cute place on the Eastside *YAY, closer to me* today. She's making the sacrifice so she can get my her dream car.

So, she is working extra shifts and saving all her dough to get her car in December. Aimee doesn't have a Life List written out, but she's mentally crossing off goals all the time. This year she was pretty busy getting her sleeve done, had a boudoir photo shoot, making her apartment ridiculously cute *Charlotte Ronson is her inspiration* and being a personal ATM machine to her 17 year old son, Holden. I am trying to convince her to start blogging since she did such a fantastic job guest blogging for me, but as I said before, she works all day and night. I just can't imagine going to the amazing Camp Mighty without my BFF. So I'm making it official,

"Aimee, will you please go to Camp Mighty with me next November?"

We haven't had a girl's only vacation since Holden was 12 when we drove to Stanford. We can have a kick ass road trip in your fancy new ride and I'll be the DJ *I know how much you love 80's metal* I'll help you write your Life List, we'll ride Vespas and we'll wear fabulous space outfits.

Let's do this girl!!!  PS Of course she said yes, but we may postpone until 2016 for super secret reasons *I promise to reveal in the future*

My RAD Life List

Welcome to My Life List

 Here is my *overly ambitious* list of things to accomplish during my lifetime. Some of these are total dreams of mine that may be far-fetched but others are quite doable and I am currently in the process of completing. Please email me if you would like to sponsor a dream on my list. sunkissis at aol dot com

Things that would be Lovely

• Grow my hair long and thick *like when I was a child*

As a kid, I hated my long thick hair. Oh what I would give to have hair like this now!

• Cook/Host an entire Thanksgiving dinner for 8 guests *served on beautiful Anthropologie dishware* 

• Plant a vertical garden like this

 

• Have a photo shoot with Pauline Darley in Paris

• Have our nursery/home featured on Ohdeedoh blog DONE   

• Learn to converse in French *go back to Paris with Olivia, this time speaking French only, and take the Amelie walking tour*

• Build my dream closet/wardrobe *edit my wardrobe to pieces I love/look amazing it*

•  Meet Jack White and take a picture with him in a photo booth

• Give birth naturally *drug-free* Sadly I succumbed to 3 epidurals but I did give birth to our beautiful daughter Olivia Lily, June 2, 2010

• Redesign my blog layout  

• Grow my own peonies, strawberries and herb garden *that the bugs don't eat*

• Read Classic novels *Pride & Prejudice, Jane Eyre,  Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, The Glass Menagerie, The Great Gatsby, Atlas Shrugged, Oliver Twist, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Wuthering Heights, A Tale of Two Cities, Moby Dick*  Italics are ones I have read

•  Go glamping with my friends *in Paris*

•  Create a blog dedicated to our life travels *turn all the yellow pins {places we want to go} into red pins {places we've been} on our map*

• Completely renovate our next house *buy My Dream House* and have it featured on Apartment Therapy

• Learn how to print on a hand crank letterpress *make pretty business cards* 

• Swim in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland

Björk and her son in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland

• Spend Christmas at a Bed & Breakfast in Canada *Montréal ideally* 

•  Add a padlock with our names on it to a lock bridge

• Dress up and attend an opera/ballet *cities may vary; Los Angeles Philharmonic Hollywood Bowl or Walt Disney Concert Hall, New York Metropolitan Opera House, Royal Opera House, London, Palais Garnier, Paris or Sydney Opera House*

• Stay at these hotels; Chateau Marmont, Sunset Tower, Roosevelt Hollywood, Fairmont Heritage Place, The Standard, The Ritz, Four Seasons, Beverly Hills Hotel, Mr Cs, Peninsula, Waldorf Astoria, St Regis, One & Only Los Cabos

• Visit 50 of the 52 certified Los Angeles farmers markets *29 down/21 to go*

  Things that would be Rad

• Jump into a pool with all my clothes on    

 

• See Björk play live at Glastonbury Music Festival in the UK and in her hometown, Reykjavík, Iceland

• Be a contestant on The Amazing Race with Antz

• Attend Blogshop and learn how to make my blog radder 

 

• Ride a pink Vespa *with a matching pink helmet*

•  Sleep in a tipi

• Attend Dapper Day at Disneyland 

• Host a pop up dinner *our 10 year wedding anniversary* 

•  Smash a pie in my BFF's face *she really wants me to*

• Attend the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics *I was planning to go to the 2012 London Olympics, but I made the adult decision to save the money for our Dream House*

•  See a narwhal in person

•  Dine at one of Gordon Ramsey's restaurants 

• Attend the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor's Island in New York

• Buy an authentic Moroccan rug, fez and spices 

• Attend New York Fashion Week

• Host outdoor movie night at our house 

• Act in a film

• Walk across the Grand Canyon on the skywalk

Which will confront my fear of heights

• Build a photo booth in our house

DIY Photo booth

• Attend the red carpet at a major awards show *Golden Globes, BAFTAs or Academy Awards*

• Own a Chanel handbag, a designer piece of furniture and invest in art from my favorite artists 

Nathan Ota 'Midnight Crooner'

• Start collecting vinyl LPs *so far I have one Björk and one Radiohead record*

• Meet Tom Waits and see him perform live

Glitter & Doom Tour

• Spend one year living abroad *Paris would be dreamy*

• Live long *healthy & happy* to have a kick-ass, huge 50th wedding anniversary party in 2052  

• Attend TED

• Feature a guest blogger here and be a featured guest on someone else's blog *any takers?*

• Attend Coachella, SXSW, Bonnaroo & Satchsquash Music Festivals

• Meet the President

• Visit the 7 Wonders of the World *Great Wall of China, Beijing, Taj Mahal, Agra, India, The Colosseum, Rome, Italy, Manchu Picchu, Peru, Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt, Petra, Jordan and Christ the Redeemer Brazil* I'll be happy if I get to at least 3 of these

• Learn to ride a unicycle, juggle and how to bake without following recipes

• See the Northern Lights 

• Purchase a vacation home *Palm Springs or Las Vegas*

• Go to Camp Mighty with Aimee

• Throw an annual Holiday Soiree *hire a pianist, harpist, accordion player have it catered and hire a bartender* 

•  Stand on the skydeck of Willis Tower in Chicago *I am deathly afraid of heights*

• Ride a camel in the desert *dare I say, in Egypt?*

• Attend a live taping of Saturday Night Live in New York at Rockefeller Center

• Drive a car on the left side of traffic *in a vintage Fiat*

• Have 1,000 followers *I love comments and feedback from my lovelies!*

• Attend a Masquerade Ball

• Participate in a Color Run 5k 

• Drink Sangria in Spain, Sake in Tokyo, Ouzo in Greece, Chartreuse in Paris and learn to open a champagne bottle using le saberage 

• Own a pet goat, raise Silky chickens & an Angora rabbit

• Go to Buñol, Spain for La Tomatina *tomato throwing festival*

• Make my blog profitable *I just got my first sponsor!* 

• Attend Dîner en Blanc Paris *Attended Diner en Blanc Los Angeles*

• Stay at W hotels around the world *these are my top locations*

W Silicon Valley
W San Diego
W Westwood

W San Francisco

W Paris *Spring of 2014 would be lovely*

W London
W Washington DC *for the presidential inauguration*
W New York
W New Orleans *visit our friends Keith & Tina*
W Austin  *with my BFF Aimee*
W Montréal *for Christmas*
W Mexico City
W Istanbul
W Bangkok
W Hong Kong
W Singapore
W Marrakech
W St. Petersburg
W Athens
W Maldives *would love to go for our 25th wedding anniversary 8/18/2027*

Extreme Wow Suite W Maldives

Things to do with Olivia

• Teach Liv origami & calligraphy 

• Take our kid to a presidential inauguration in Washington DC

• Teach her math in a fun way so when she gets older she enjoys it!

• Purchase an Airstream *like this one by DWR* and road trip throughout North America

• Learn all 50 states and capitals together

• Teach Olivia how to swim

• Learn to sew and make this adorable pillowcase dress for Liv DONE

• Visit all 5 Disneyland Theme Parks *California, Florida, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong*

• Teach Liv to be fearless about food, adventure and ambition

• Take Olivia to meet her relatives in Mexico

• Take Olivia's photo every week with her Totoro plush until she turns 2, then every year until she's 18 *you can see her photos here*
vimeo video
• Take Olivia and several of her friends to an etiquette class and then to high tea at the Peninsula Beverly Hills  
•  Take Liv to see the Salvation Mountain *DONE*
  

• Host an exchange student 
• Build a treehouse
• Visit Evelyn & Dion in upstate New York
• Go camping*in our backyard*
• Take Liv to see Mt. Rushmore
• Teach Liv how to roller skate/ice skate/skateboard/ride a bicycle
• Set up a lemonade stand with Liv and donate the proceeds to charity

• Have her addidas bronzed
• Join Girl Scouts and try for every merit badge
• Have every one of Olivia’s teachers write a message to her in Oh The Places You’ll Go! book and surprise her at her high school graduation

• Send Olivia to the summer study abroad program at La Sorbonne Paris during her Sophomore year of high school
 Things that make me feel Awesome
• Volunteer at an Animal Shelter and serve Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner at a homeless shelter  
• Participate in a flash mob
• Host Aimee's bridal shower *and be her Matron of Honor*
• Help my Mom write her memoirs

• Renew our wedding vows in Hawaii for our anniversary
• Sponsor an animal
• Plant a tree
• Cook everything on my Pinterest food board
• Run for office with our neighborhood council and do good in the neighborhood
  

• Pay for the car behind mine's order at a drive thru  DONE *on Christmas Day at Starbucks*
• Spend a year not receiving but giving gifts.
• Officiate a gay wedding *I have already officiated a wedding*

• Attend alt. Design Summit
• Pay off our credit card debt
• Call my extended family more *not out of obligation* 
• Take Olivia to see the World Trade Center Memorial *and have a conversation with her about that day*


• Hire a professional chef to cook dinner at our house for my family
• Take a vacation on my 75^th birthday with my BFF *PARIS!!*
• Watch less telly and go outside more often