#100 Completed! Complete a 1000+ piece jigsaw puzzle

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Unfortunately, this puzzle ended up being 999 pieces instead of 1000, but I'm still crossing this off my list! Luckily, someone at one of our vacation rental properties left this puzzle when they were visiting. I was half way through when I noticed, in the tiniest writing ever, that the top of the box said "one piece missing." Darn!! What to do? I rationalized that it was still technically a 1000 piece puzzle, it just lacked one piece and I would definitely know where the piece went. So there!

I hadn't done a puzzle since I was a child and never one with so many pieces to it. I was naive to think that it could be completed in one night. 4 nights, 7 hours and 18 minutes later...success! Though this was challenging, it was also extremely relaxing. You don't find too many opportunities where you can concentrate on just one thing and let everything else go. That was worth every minute!

#130 Watch all the Oscar Winning Movies

Oscar Winning Movies: 82

Movies Watched: 9

The last movie I watched on this list was Slumdog Millionaire and I am claiming it to be the "best movie I have ever seen". But, than again, I am definitely lacking in the film education department. I am probably a year or two behind on the hit movies. Seeing Slumdog was just a fluke. Most of the time I can't bring myself to spend $10 on a movie ticket (plus the goodies while you are there) when I can rent it in a couple of months for 4 bucks and enjoy it in the privacy of my own home. At least at home I can multi-task while viewing; laundry gets folded, emails returned and bills paid.

I'm really not looking forward to anything prior to 1980, which was making me question why I added this goal to my list at all. What's a movie without the profanity and nudity anyway? But then I realized that this bucket list was not only about achieving goals, but about trying new things to see if they might be part of the passion I am looking for.

The Oscar Winning Movies
1927-28 Wings (Best Production), Sunrise (Unique and Artistic Picture)
1928-29 The Broadway Melody (Best Production)
1929-30 All Quiet on the Western Front
1930-31 Cimarron
1931-32 Grand Hotel
1932-33 Cavalcade
1934 It Happened One Night
1935 Mutiny on the Bounty
1936 The Great Ziegfeld
1937 The Life of Emile Zola
1938 You Can't Take It With You
1939 Gone With The Wind
1940 Rebecca
1941 How Green Was My Valley
1942 Mrs. Miniver
1943 Casablanca
1944 Going My Way
1945 The Lost Weekend
1946 The Best Years of Our Lives
1947 Gentleman's Agreement
1948 Hamlet
1949 All the King's Men
1950 All About Eve
1951 An American In Paris
1952 The Greatest Show on Earth
1953 From Here to Eternity
1954 On The Waterfront
1955 Marty
1956 Around the World in 80 Days
1957 The Bridge On The River Kwai
1958 Gigi
1959 Ben-Hur
1960 The Apartment
1961 West Side Story
1962 Lawrence of Arabia
1963 Tom Jones
1964 My Fair Lady
1965 The Sound of Music
1966 A Man for All Seasons
1967 In the Heat of the Night
1968 Oliver!
1969 Midnight Cowboy
1970 Patton
1971 The French Connection
1972 The Godfather
1973 The Sting
1974 The Godfather Part II
1975 One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1976 Rocky
1977 Annie Hall
1978 The Deer Hunter
1979 Kramer vs. Kramer
1980 Ordinary People
1981 Chariots of Fire
1982 Gandhi
1983 Terms of Endearment
1984 Amadeus
1985 Out of Africa
1986 Platoon
1987 The Last Emperor
1988 Rain Man
1989 Driving Miss Daisy
1990 Dances with Wolves
1991 The Silence of the Lambs
1992 Unforgiven
1993 Schindler's List
1994 Forrest Gump
1995 Braveheart
1996 The English Patient
1997 Titanic
1998 Shakespeare in Love
1999 American Beauty
2000 Gladiator
2001 A Beautiful Mind
2002 Chicago
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2004 Million Dollar Baby
2005 Crash
2006 The Departed
2007 No Country For Old Men
2008 Slumdog Millionaire

#19 Have my 15 minutes of fame

I am not giving up, but until I have my real "15 Minutes" of fame (all at one time), I am going to record my "mini minutes (or seconds)" of fame.

Seconds 5 & 10

Our restaurant participated in the "Taste of Petaluma", an event where people buy tickets and take them to select restaurants for samplers from their menu. Sugo Trattoria, our restaurant, made Eggplant Two Ways; Eggplant Caponata on crostini and Eggplant, Walnut, Goat Cheese ravioli. Yum! The photo was taken by a local photographer and featured on our hometown website petaluma360.c0m. Woohoo!! That should be good for at least 5 seconds.

The next 5 seconds was a video shot by Mix It Up magazine. Sugo Trattoria is going to be featured in their next magazine, unfortunately they don't have the funds to print it yet! Though, they did come by and shoot this low budget video on YouTube.

Wow...10 seconds closer to fame! HAHA

The Countdown

Minutes of Fame: 15

Time Completed: 10 seconds (14 minutes, 50 seconds to go)

#124 Completed! Finish a crossword puzzle

More than 50 million people in the United States play crosswords regularly, count me in as one of them! I have tried them all; online, newspapers, magazines, daily crossword books...oh my! My skill has increased over time, but I had done thousands before I finally completed one (with no dictionary, assistance or cheating). Ok...so, maybe the one I completed wasn't at the NY Times, which is regarded as one of the hardest, but all the spaces were filled in and that counts!

If you are interested, you can create your own crossword puzzle pretty easily online. I used to make my own when I was a staff trainer, it was a fantastic way to teach something in a fun way.

#120 Complete! Be an Extra in a Movie

I considered it super lucky when a coworker of my friend told us that the movie "My Name is Khan" was shooting in Sonoma County and needed extras. All we had to do was send a photo to the casting agent and we were in. The scene they were going to be filming was an outdoor memorial scene, so we were told to wear dull, muted clothing that would be appropriate for spring.

Here's the rundown of our experience:

6:00PM - Call time. Meet at the Healdsburg High School gym & check in. Sit & wait.

8:30pm - We are shuttled in buses to the set (about 100 people). Stand & wait.

10:00pm - They start picking out extras from the crowd and randomly placing them in scenes. My friends and I were given candles (I got a flag too!) and put in the middle of a huge group of people. I was excited that at least I was going to be an extra, but a little disappointed that I would never be seen on the big screen in the mist of this crowd. But then, a Christmas miracle happened, the two main stars of the film (Shahrukh Khan & Kajol) were put right in front of me! I was actually afraid I might burn Kajol's (the leading lady) hair with my candle. They shot a short scene where they were praying as we all watched the memorial. This 30 minutes was the highlight of the whole experience & my only hope of being seen in the movie.

12:30am - By this time everyone was close to frozen, I swear my toes were going to fall off. But, "lunch" was served & I was hoping warm food would warm my tootsies. They had two stations setup for food, one was American & the other Indian. I headed for the American station first; bland broccoli, over peppered mashed potatoes & overcooked chicken...mmmm! Have no clue what the Indian food was, but it was much tastier. I tried to stand in line to get some hot tea, but lost interest after 15 minutes.

1:30am - Cold, tired & crabby, this is way past my bedtime! Sitting & waiting

2:00 am - Another scene in a crowd with candles, but no movie stars next to us!

2:30 am - "It's a Wrap", YEA!!!

2:45am - Shuttled back the the gym for check out.

3:15am - Leave for home

4:00am - Sleepy time

February 2010 - My movie debut...get your autographs now!

Boy, this experience would have been a whole lot better if it ended about 4 hours earlier!

#107 Completed! Meet someone famous

"I am ashamed to admit that I was starstruck to meet someone who I had watched on TV...many, many times!"

How I did it: The company I worked for took a bunch of us to Vegas & put us up at The Palms for our Holiday Party (I know...great company!). We went to a very late dinner at N9ne restaurant where at the table next to us was MTV's Rob & Big. Rob is a professional skate boarder who started a reality show on MTV with Big, his friend/bodyguard. Yes...this is using the term "famous" loosely! The first half of my meal I contemplated going over to get a photo, but by dessert I couldn't resist getting my picture with them! They were very cordial.
After dinner my coworkers & I went to party at Moon Nightclub where Rob & Big happen to have a private booth. A friend of theirs invited me to join then, so I spent most of the night boogieing in their booth. Definitely, an experience to remember.

About The List

I have always had a list. A shopping list. A to-do list. A need-to-repair list. A list of all my lists. And my favorite of them all, my bucket list. Having a bucket list is the perfect way to get myself motivated and experience all the pleasures in life. The following are things that I have completed on my list so far:

~Skeet Shoot
~Take a Pilates class
~Enter something in a food competition
~Take a Rip Line ride
~See a Volcano
~Have a 2nd home in Sonoma County
~Make a significant change in someones life
~Teach a class
~Stay at a 5-Star hotel
~Blow $150 on one 5-cent slot machine
~Get a spa pedicure
~Try to surf
~Tell my dad I love him
~Go on a $500 clothes shopping spree in one day
~Play the stock market
~Spend the day at a resort spa
~Own investment real estate
~Rappel

I still have 105 more (& counting) things on my bucket list! I hope this blog helps me keep a record of the progress of my goals and help those who want to create/experience their own list.