tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73747594015665010262024-03-05T18:33:47.924-08:00Aerograms from JanJan Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02444692913571870406noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374759401566501026.post-89437412877573403032014-03-07T14:18:00.000-08:002014-03-07T14:18:57.563-08:00Life List - Figure out how to knit<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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When you join a ladies club where the average age is 65 years old, you're probably going to pick up some useful skills (and local gossip). </div>
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My first attempt at learning to knit was at 8 years old with my mother as my dutiful tutor. Who was I kidding? My mother and I are far too much alike to work together in such close quarters. The experiment failed, gloriously, after a shouting match and three rows of knitting riddled with dropped stitches. </div>
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The pink wool and needles sat in the corner of my room taunting me for years until I hid them away in the back of my closet. I convinced myself that I just didn't have what it took to twist yarn around some metal needles in order to produce items that vaguely resembled scarves or mittens. </div>
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Some decades later and in a foreign country, I was looking to make new friends in my community and joined the local guild of the <a href="http://www.ica.ie/" target="_blank">Irish Countrywomen's Association</a> (yes, it's an actual club believe it or not). The group tends to attract ladies of a certain age with a fondness for tea and crafty pursuits so I knew I'd fit right in. </div>
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And would you believe it, when I actually practiced twisting that yarn around those knitting needles under the tutelage of someone not my mother, it came almost naturally to me? </div>
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Does this look like a scarf yet?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIqq53e2S1-SEdsa7glaf7Il-mg49TQgUnOByQr1N3YUwrFRWoatbhcKQsCsPA5H4Q3i3doAk4jTUnBDvW_cvPfroJQTtK1t6uJdY-VCffnEE9ezCXg_xH36powmOsgNZjMOdHuozdRJXB/s640/blogger-image--1792084108.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIqq53e2S1-SEdsa7glaf7Il-mg49TQgUnOByQr1N3YUwrFRWoatbhcKQsCsPA5H4Q3i3doAk4jTUnBDvW_cvPfroJQTtK1t6uJdY-VCffnEE9ezCXg_xH36powmOsgNZjMOdHuozdRJXB/s640/blogger-image--1792084108.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span id="goog_1333606558"></span><span id="goog_1333606559"></span><br />Jan Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02444692913571870406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374759401566501026.post-38318805125269825172012-11-17T13:52:00.001-08:002012-11-17T13:53:43.385-08:00Life List - Explore the universe like it's 1785!<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtvqKXisEFv_ovvB2Cf_LfJj_NT81a6VCiDZTYizmX4OW5ZSmuDgng3d6WMNgSvXdCL2coKF42KpAHjmMjnZ_unZdowItjaQePXMl0qV3ymyPSdzCxjb9UL_SZsIQh7LsBj4RWRhpX2eyg/s1600/dunsink.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtvqKXisEFv_ovvB2Cf_LfJj_NT81a6VCiDZTYizmX4OW5ZSmuDgng3d6WMNgSvXdCL2coKF42KpAHjmMjnZ_unZdowItjaQePXMl0qV3ymyPSdzCxjb9UL_SZsIQh7LsBj4RWRhpX2eyg/s320/dunsink.JPG" width="240" /></a>I'm a nerd at heart. I have geeky pursuits and I like dorky things. <br />
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Some of those nerdy things include history and science, which pretty much sums up why I love places like <a href="http://www.dias.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=97&Itemid=139&lang=en" target="_blank">Dunsink Observatory</a>.<br />
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Dunsink Observatory was built between 1783 and 1785, was once home to the great <a href="http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Hamilton.html" target="_blank">Sir William Rowan Hamilton</a> (who, from what I can surmise, took a stroll one day and had a big idea), used to provide local standard time for Dublin and was mentioned in James Joyce's Ulysses. Who wouldn't want to visit it?<br />
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Better still, they host <a href="http://www.dias.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4027%3Aeducation-and-outreach&catid=128&Itemid=178&lang=en" target="_blank">public open nights</a> for free during the winter and all you have to do if you're interested in going is ask a lovely lady named Hilary. So I found myself a few weeks back at Dunsink taking in a lecture on the concept of time. What is time? How do you actually quantify it? How do we know what time it is right now?<br />
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After learning all about time and how it's actually not what time we think it is at all, we had a chance to visit the South Dome where they keep the <a href="http://www.backyardvoyager.com/Grubb.html" target="_blank">Grubb Telescope</a>. <br />
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Beautifully crafted? Why yes. Housed in a stunning (albeit, freezing cold) dome? Indeed it is! Provided an amazing view of celestial orbs and acted as an earthly gateway to our universe? Not in the slightest. Unfortunately, Dublin is far too cloudy and full of light pollution to see much of anything but it made me feel like an early explorer all the same. If you have a chance, go visit!Jan Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02444692913571870406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374759401566501026.post-40939290911260251022012-11-05T15:01:00.000-08:002012-11-05T15:01:50.390-08:00Life List - Rent a surf cottage on the west coast of Ireland for the winter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8j9921Hghg8QLTgTYcVyzyII3Qpo1cSQgo2E3EMTJBp89lzxotUVamW8qEc4l7cFrq3EuccJvBHMBrGEvHaMSwp0CMnHt9SY0J8VOlaWhv6CettL_cyXPrtqrSZM7EPfVcIMOalGTU7yO/s1600/surfcottage2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8j9921Hghg8QLTgTYcVyzyII3Qpo1cSQgo2E3EMTJBp89lzxotUVamW8qEc4l7cFrq3EuccJvBHMBrGEvHaMSwp0CMnHt9SY0J8VOlaWhv6CettL_cyXPrtqrSZM7EPfVcIMOalGTU7yO/s320/surfcottage2.jpg" width="243" /></a></div>
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Growing up I was always envious of people who holidayed at their cottage each summer (surpassed only by my jealousy of people who jetted off to Europe each July, bidding adieu and waving their passports as they skipped off to the airport - grrrrr). While I would periodically receive invitations to join in on the fun, somehow the timing was just never right. </div>
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Would I like to join you and your family for a bonfire, s'mores and some singsongs at your lakeside retreat over Labour Day weekend you ask? Perhaps some canoeing in the Thousand Islands? No, no...I have far too much to do in my suburban paradise, thank you very much...what with working 3 jobs to pay for my overpriced university education and all. I couldn't possibly pull myself away to live the good life, even for one weekend.</div>
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And as time went on, summers came and went and somehow, my cottage fantasties remain limited to the confines of my imagination....until now...</div>
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After university I moved to Ireland which is a country that is more or less permanently devoid of warm summer weather. However, what it lacks in sunshine, it makes up for with some of the world's best year round surfing.</div>
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So this is the year that I get my cottage. Okay, so it's not summertime...and there's not a lake in sight. But there's a view of a castle from my bedroom window and it's a short walk to the beach. That beats s'mores and singsongs in my books any day... </div>
Jan Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02444692913571870406noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374759401566501026.post-44851670093766575242012-10-26T14:20:00.001-07:002014-03-07T14:21:19.209-08:00Life List<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Life's
too short. It's time to get up, put on your best frock and dancing shoes and go
have a good time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have a
life list of things that I'd like to experience before I close my
eyes for the last time...<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJCx036J3vHsyCRmrZbBBwsNc_CT4N-Sj_HKQusltQAouiQzo4E_mtzkhF45g80VJVIZN3D-_QXLeZCFKbr4XuuVPXMHyoolAfTxppiqVpsqvwfQuVsGkNSFWcCHF9Yw8PxZdqlDuFDf1m/s1600/profile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJCx036J3vHsyCRmrZbBBwsNc_CT4N-Sj_HKQusltQAouiQzo4E_mtzkhF45g80VJVIZN3D-_QXLeZCFKbr4XuuVPXMHyoolAfTxppiqVpsqvwfQuVsGkNSFWcCHF9Yw8PxZdqlDuFDf1m/s1600/profile.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Be an expat</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046250/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Roman Holiday</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> on the big screen</span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Appear on a radio show</span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Create my own alter-ego<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vroom! Vroom! Get my Irish driver's license</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Travel an entire London Underground line</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have a deluxe picnic in the </span><a href="http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/dublin/theiveaghgardens/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Iveagh Gardens</span></a></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Find a job where I can cycle or walk to work on a daily basis (or better still, do in my pajamas)<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Say yes to every opportunity for one week<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Make the perfect playlist for every situation and mood</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eat in at least 15 Michelin star restaurants</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Transfer all the old family movies and photos into digital format</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Write a bedtime story for the girls</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Build the world's coolest snowfort<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Build a sandcastle that's bigger than me<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Throw himself the best 30th/40th/50th/60th/70th/80th/90th/100th birthday parties possible<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Watch a summer sunrise over Grampie's pond</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Pick strawberries at the U-Pick and make strawberry shortcakes for dessert</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Make up a dance routine with Dann & Eric (preferably to a song from one of the two cassette tapes we owned as kids and used to make up our own musicals to)</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Watch "Power, Passion, Murder" with Eric again and see if we laugh as hard the second time around</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Make the biggest chocolate chip cookie that can be cooked in my oven<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Throw an old-fashioned tea party complete with handwritten invitations<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unplug and live a Walden-like existence for one month<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Build a really cracking bonfire and make smores<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Live a bi-continental lifestyle for at least one year<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paint a decent watercolour of a sunny destination<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Make my own unique flavour of homemade ice cream<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ride a tandem bike - weee!<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Do an annual cartwheel</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Outdoor yoga in St Stephen's Green <o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do a 20km Volksmarch (ideally finish with a bratwurst and chips mit curry ketchup und einen Bier)<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take a long bike ride by a beach<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Have a pint of Guinness at an early house</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Watch every single Hitchcock film</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Build a maze out of cardboard boxes and challenge my friends to go through it after many cocktails</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Create a fun fair in the back garden for one of the girls' birthdays<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Design a house that is Frank Lloyd Wright-esque</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Drive a vintage VW bug (or bus, I'm easy)<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Make a breakfast egg mcmuffin on a camping stove on the beach<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Throw a cabaret<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Make up a really killer verse for "The Auld Triangle"<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discover an undiscovered artist and buy some of their work<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Go skating as far down the Rideau Canal as possible<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Scall all my letters from Pappy that he's sent me since I was 8 years old<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Host the perfect BBQ<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Act silly at every opportunity<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take fancy dress for Halloween VERY seriously<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Own a house by water<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Build my own walled garden</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Soak up Europe by Interrail</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Visit </span><a href="http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shakespeare and Company </span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in Paris<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Show himself how much fun Oktoberfest can be<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Raowr! Go on the </span><a href="http://www.vikingsplash.ie/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Viking Splash Tour</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">!<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See a musical in London's West End<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Go to a <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.theblitzparty.com/" target="_blank">London Blitz Party</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Go lawn bowling and drink Pimms in the sunshine in summertime London</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have </span><a href="http://www.claridges.co.uk/london_afternoon_tea.aspx"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Afternoon Tea </span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">at Claridge's</span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><a href="http://aerogramming.blogspot.ie/2012/11/life-list-rent-surf-cottage-on-west.html" target="_blank"><strike>Rent a surf cottage for the winter</strike></a></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strike><a href="http://aerogramming.blogspot.ie/2012/11/life-list-explore-universe-like-its-1785.html" target="_blank">Explore the universe like it's 1785 at</a> </strike></span><a href="http://aerogramming.blogspot.ie/2012/11/life-list-explore-universe-like-its-1785.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strike>Dunsink Observatory</strike></span></a></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Be Quasimodo and ring the bells at Christchurch Cathedral </span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Travel to the </span><a href="http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wizarding World of Harry Potter </span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with 2 of my favourite boys<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Go to the airport and take the next available flight outta here<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Get on a bus going to an unknown destination<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Visit Central Park<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Take the overland/water route from Dublin to continental Europe</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Do a wine tasting tour in Napa</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Visit the artist colony in Deia, Ibiza<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Go sailing in the Mediterranean</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spend a summer in a cottage in the 1000 islands<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Go camping in Corsica</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Document visits to 100 </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_library"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carnegie libraries</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cross the Atlantic by boat<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Go surfing in Hawaii</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Cross my own country sea to sea - Oh Canada!</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Discover what's left of Route 66</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Travel in style on the Orient Express<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cross at least 3 countries on foot<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perfect my French and German language skills<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have a conversation entirely in Irish<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Build a reperatoire of cocktails - at least 10 classics<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Learn how to swim without a noseplug<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Join a chess club<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Learn how to play guitar</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Learn how to drive the 4-wheeler and take it for a spin in Grampie's woods</span></li>
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<li><strike><a href="http://aerogramming.blogspot.ie/2014/03/life-list-figure-out-how-to-knit.html" target="_blank"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span></a></strike><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strike><a href="http://aerogramming.blogspot.ie/2014/03/life-list-figure-out-how-to-knit.html" target="_blank">Figure out how to knit</a></strike><o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hit the bulls-eye in archery<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take a dressmaking course, design and make a frock that Audrey Hepburn would be proud to be seen in<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Make the perfect apple pie</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Learn to make homemade pasta<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Master the waltz</span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have a tea party with the girls using Nanny's baby pink art deco teapot<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Start the Blackrock Artist Colony<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Open my own vintage clothing business</span></li>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Renew our vows in Vegas...in fancy dress...<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Make a bed so a quarter can bounce off of it<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ride in the sidecar of a vintage motorbike<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;">Never go to bed angry</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IE;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Conor Buckley </span><a href="http://www.refinephoto.net/"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">www.refinephoto.net</span></a></span>Jan Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02444692913571870406noreply@blogger.com0