Life list, continued

Continued from here:

26. Go to China.

27. Spend a night sleeping under the stars.

28. Sing a karaoke song all by myself.

29. Find a signature dish I cook better than anyone.

30. Let my kids stay home from school on a rainy day we'll spend in pajamas watching movies.

31. Spend another Christmas in Santa Fe.

32. Take a trip on a wine train.

33. Do a full-on spa day, with mani, pedi, facial, massage, champagne and fine cheese and chocolates.

34. Visit a New England fishing village.

35. Do yoga in a real studio.

36. Have dinner at the French Laundry.

37. Host an insanely fabulous brunch.

38. Dance till sunrise with my husband in Mexico.

39. Learn to use loose tea.

40. Hang family photographs in pretty frames.

41. Learn to make three cocktails very well.

42. See really, really big ocean waves.

43. Compile a complete, room-to-room wish list for house projects/items/improvements.

44. Mail a secret to Postsecret.

45. Fly a kite with my kids.

46. Send Valentines.

47. Learn more about my favorite cheeses.

48. Hang a wooden birdhouse in a tree.

49. See the Himalayas.

50. Go vegetarian for a month.

Not a blog for people who hate lists

Today ends my six-year run in the Mercury News sports department. Starting next week I'll be working in features as Food+Wine and Home+Garden editor. Let's toast the occasion with a list, shall we? (List now, vodka later!)

10 cool things at my desk that may or may not survive the move:

1. Faded blue and green streamers, hung up by my friend Tball, who decorated my entire desk to celebrate my wedding engagement.

2. Page from The Onion day-by-day calendar, with photo of a somber, uniformed feline standing at a podium above this headline: "War on String may be Unwinnable, says Cat General."

3. Bobblehead doll of "Crusher," mascot of the Bakersfield Blitz, which is the arena football team I covered when I first began working in sports.

4. Baseball ticket signed by Oakland A's shortstop Bobby Crosby, whom I met (stalked, tackled, whatever) in 2005 when Sal and I attended FanFest.

5. Signed photograph of the Sharks' Patrick Marleau, who joined me in reading to a class of schoolchildren a few years ago.

6. Now-deflated SJSU Spartan "Thunder Stix," once banged loudly above my head by the joker who sits in the cube next to mine, as I sat here typing furiously and sweating bullets to make Friday night football deadline.

7. 2007 calendar with images of Maui, purchased on the honeymoon.

8. A book, left on my desk as a joke, called "The Only Boy in Ballet Class."

9. Dilbert cartoon, in which Dilbert goes "I think we have snails in the office. There's a slime trail on everything." Thought bubble above Tina the Tech Writer reads "That might be the second sign that I'm addicted to hand lotion," as she pushes down on a lotion pump that's as big as her head.

10. Four mostly empty bottles of lotion.

Life list

The almighty Mighty Girl did a really cool thing on her blog, and I was so inspired that I'm stealing the idea for my very own! Maggie calls it "100 things to do before I go." I'm not sure I'll get to 100, but I did bang out 1-25, and I'm working on 26-50. You should totally do this, too. Putting form to your goals and wishes is a splendid way to pass the time in boring meetings or when you're trying to fall asleep at night. I think everyone should spend more time dreaming of things they want to accomplish!

1. Make homemade pasta.

2. Own decorations for each holiday.

3. Plant a garden.

4. Finish my wedding album.

5. Put together an emergency survival kit for the home.

6. Learn to swim properly.

7. Take a cooking class.

8. See the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids.

9. Run a marathon.

10. Make homemade tortillas.

11. Go on a real picnic.

12. Stay at a bed and breakfast.

13. See a Broadway show.

14. Swim with dolphins.

15. Completely finish one room in my house.

16. Teach Chickenbone "Come"and "Drop it."

17. Take my kids camping.

18. Make homemade tamales.

19. Go on an African Safari.

20. Complete my china set.

21. See a rain forest.

22. Become a member of a church.

23. Be able to do 10 real push-ups.

24. Stand in a sunny meadow or a green valley, with no roads, no power lines, no people, no signs of civilization in sight.

25. Eat a proper English breakfast.

Remedy

I fell ill last week with a nasty cold. By the time my friend Beth sent me this recipe for a home-cooked medicinal brew, I was already on the mend, but let's keep it on hand for next time, shall we?

"Mix together ginger juice (preferably squeezed/pressed from fresh ginger root), 1/2 fresh lemon juice, and hot water. It's the perfect thing to kick a cold. The lemon makes your body less acidic because bugs like it spicy and won't hang out if you're not so acidic; the ginger makes you hot and speeds up your metabolism so you kill the bugs; the hot water flushes you out."