• Climbing the Empire State Building, looking at expensive cars on Rodeo Drive and walking the steps in front of the Griffith Observatory with Bart. In other words: visiting Los Angeles with my other half and with Amtrak (the latter as a means of transport of course, not as an extra travel companion). My girlfriend has never been to L.A. and for someone like me with a soft spot for romance and a soft spot for the American cityscape, that is reason enough to take the Amtrak together. This year we are skipping the trip because of the Olympic Games. Who knows in 2025!

  • Visiting the TCL Chinese Theatre with Bart. That is in itself a matter of taking two trains and buying a movie ticket. Still, I find it a very special outing, because Bart does not know the most beautiful cinema in the country (in my opinion).

  • Collaborate with a great vegan food brand and then come up with recipes and photograph them for their website and social media.

  • The Bay to Breakers by Night run. This goal is coincidentally already in the agenda. In September I will attempt this 8 kilometer run in the dark.

  • One day I could use the – if I may say so myself – beautiful girl’s name that I’ve had in mind since I was 15, for a mini-girl. No idea if that will ever come true. Having children is not something that is self-evident. And if it ever happens, it could also be a boy or who knows, maybe an even more beautiful name will come along by then. But you can dream. And if not, I’ll name a future cat that 😉

  • Making your own vase while pottery. And preferably one that actually looks nice enough to exhibit. Yes, the bar is set high.

  • To restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York. This point is also on the agenda. Hurray, hurray! We don’t eat out very often. But when we do, we like to do it well. Blue Hill is the New York restaurant with a green Michelin star. Many ingredients come from their own farm and they use them to make the most beautiful dishes. In June (yes, you have to make a reservation that far in advance! ) I’m going there with Bart and my brother.

  • Take a poetry workshop and learn more about how to construct poems and express your thoughts or fictions in rhyming words.

  • Treat myself to a zoom lens big enough to capture the squirrels in Central Park (and preferably not weighing in at a whopping 4lbs).

  • Visiting the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, so that the compelling story I once read in Anne’s diary will come to life even more. It seems quite intense and sad, but somehow it feels like something I find important to do.

  • Enjoying the breathtakingly clear blue sea on the coast of Maui, the impressive rock formations and all the other beautiful things that I have only seen on envious snapshots of this Hawaiian island. Curious about what I am talking about? On U.S. travel blogs you will find extensive travel information and personal experiences. For example, there are reliable travel tips for Maui, but also useful tips for many more bucket list-worthy destinations.

  • Book a solo weekend away. Probably to a beautiful city somewhere in the U.S. I’m not really into travelling, but I do love my alone time. This seemed like a nice out-of-my-comfort-zone thing to do. Also combines well with the point below by the way…

  • Writing a real Bright Side Journal book. I have always been adamant that I do not want to write a book just to have a book to my name. I want to write a book because I want to tell something that I think is worth sharing. I have an idea and some vague plans and it is definitely a bucket list thing that that book will ever see the light of day. In whatever form. Even if it is only in an edition of one that is on my own bookcase.

  • Creating a garden full of hydrangeas. And having a green garden full of flowers and preferably keeping it alive. The entire garden layout has yet to come. But if there are hydrangeas, I am already a happy person.

  • Volunteering for Teen Line or providing information on mental health at high schools. I have personally experienced how insecure and difficult puberty can be due to circumstances, and would love to help others of that age to be kinder to themselves and seek help in time.

  • Climbing to great heights in a climbing wall. I was always crazy about that at children’s parties around the age of 13. How nice to relive those butterflies in my stomach from back then!

  • Taking a cooking workshop with a famous chef and learning even more tricks of the trade (and undoubtedly also learning things that I’ve been doing completely wrong for years).

  • Learning to give lectures without nerves, tension, tickles in my throat, stuttering in my voice and more of that.

  • Buy a day ticket for the train and then take a random train and get off at all kinds of places that I think look cool and just wander around, dive into shops and see how much beauty there actually is in the U.S., as long as you (literally) get off that train.

  • Experience a real husky tour. Maybe not in Alaska (that doesn’t seem like an ideal holiday destination for me as a cold person!), but somewhere in the forest. As long as there are husky dogs and it goes fast.

  • Teaching others to write. Through an e-book, an online course, a training. No idea how. But I have helped clients with this a few times now and it tasted like more.

  • To dive into human design and see if I can do something with it and what insights it can give me.

  • To ascend to a great height in a hot air balloon and admire the U.S. (or another country) from above. My fear of heights has something to say about this, but I think it is far too good a plan to listen to it.

  • Driving through the mountains, but without the fear I sometimes feel when driving abroad.

  • Be muscular enough to do 30 push-ups in a row. I’m pretty athletic, but I’m not very good at strength training. 20 should be doable, right?

  • Plant a (flowering) tree in your garden and watch it blossom every year into something beautiful, colorful and, above all, flowering.

  • Do a fantasy photoshoot once, where you are photographed in a rather magical way. I have found the photos of fantasy photographers to be incredibly beautiful for years. It seems very special to have such photos taken of myself. Just for myself.

  • Taking my grandparents out for dinner or cooking a multi-course dinner for them myself.

  • Going on safari in Africa. Of course with that one good zoom lens that I have in mind. And then preferably spotting The Big Five.

  • A cat that has been in the shelter for a long time and has not been adopted can still be helped to find a new owner and a good home.

  • Learn how to make a really good vegan burger (with bun, sauce and all) that even Bart would love to sink his teeth into.

  • I was allowed to go with a lovely woman from my circle (a friend or sister-in-law) to her ‘Say yes to the dress’ moment.

  • Make a painting for our own home.

  • You can score the large version of our lemon vase at Craigslist or in a second-hand shop for a slightly friendlier price than usual.

  • Walking through a lavender field (probably somewhere under the California sun) while it is completely purple.

  • Island hopping in the Florida Keys, a beautiful chain of islands where each one has its own impressive nature and where – to combine bucket list items – you can swim with dolphins.

  • Score a designer item for your home at a flea market or thrift store for next to nothing.

  • A publication in Real Simple, The Everygirl or Magnolia Journal with my name on it.

  • Going back to Austin and repeating my list of fun things to do in Austin itself, but this time with Bart.

  • Learn how to make pasta from an Italian-American culinary nerd or traditional nonna who knows better than anyone what to do and what not to do.

  • Getting married someday and my bride picking out the most beautiful, most extravagant and definitely not minimalistic dress for the day on which you get to wear super-extravagant dresses. And oh yeah, everything apart from the dress I would also quite like about getting married, you know. Like the person I have in mind as a person to marry 😉

  • Horse riding on the Outer Banks. As a child I once hopped around on a Shetland pony at a birthday party and that apparently made a deep impression. Horse riding along the beach has been a big, BIG dream for years. I once thought about a horse riding trip in Australia. Now I think: the Outer Banks are cool enough.

  • A laundry room with those luxurious built-in cupboards, practical shelves and floral wallpaper instead of our unfinished room with a washing machine next to the central heating boiler. For now, this has zero priority. But dreaming about doing the laundry in style is always possible.

  • In 5 years (or sooner) I’ll make another bucket list and discover that I’ve accomplished some of these dreams and that there’s still so much more to dream about.