What I Would Do With a Million Dollars

  1. Give half of it to the government for taxes, whether I like it or not
  2. Fund friends and family members who are around the world serving God
  3. Pay off student loans
  4. Pay for my son’s college education
  5. Buy beachfront property, preferably in Maui
  6. Fix all the dents and dings with my 02 Trailblazer and give it to my son
  7. Buy a new hybrid SUV or crossover
  8. Travel – go back to Hawaii and Alaska, road trip the continental U.S.
  9. Travel – visit the aforementioned friends and family around the world, plus some other places
  10. Take care of family and friends
  11. Hire a housekeeper
  12. Invest in my son’s future music career
  13. Invest a very sizeable portion of the money in my long-term retirement funds
  14. Get the expensive work done that my dentist seems to think is necessary
  15. Buy a DVR in order to record Survivor
  16. Take the extended family on a fabulous vacation
  17. Set up a fund to consistently finance Team Wendy and Wendy’s Butterfly Garden
  18. Annonymously pay off friends’ mortgages

 

Jobs I’ve Held

Cutco Cutlery & The Forever Guarantee
  1. Babysitter
  2. Landscaper
  3. Retail sales – women’s clothes
  4. Telemarketer
  5. Preschool teacher
  6. Grocery store clerk
  7. Retail sales – lingerie department
  8. Retail sales – shoe department
  9. Personal sales – Cutco cutlery
  10. Personal sales – House of Lloyd decor
  11. Retail sales – ladies wear
  12. Assistant to department manager – electronics
  13. Retail sales – electronics department
  14. Stockroom / Dock
  15. Internet research
  16. Telephone transcription
  17. Choir teacher – 5th grade – High school
  18. Secretary
  19. Sales Manager
  20. Lifeguard
  21. Horse wrangler
  22. Kitchen/ Dish room
  23. Water exercise instructor
  24. Lifeguard instructor
  25. Swim instructor
  26. Children’s “Rhythm & Rhyme” movement instructor
  27. Copywriter, editor, blog marketing
  28. Lifeguard supervisor

Awesome Places I’ve Been

  1. The rainforest of Juneau, Alaska
  2. Sugar Beach, Maui, Hawaii
  3. Sunbeam Lake campsite, Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada
  4. Mogollon Rim, Payson, Arizona
  5. Twin Falls, Maui, Hawaii
  6. Manhattan Beach Pier, Manhattan Beach, California
  7. Mendenhall Glacier & waterfall, Juneau, Alaska
  8. “Canadian Adventure” camp, north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
  9. Blackwater Trail, Superstition Mountains, east of Mesa, Arizona
  10. Empire State Building, New York, New York
  11. Sears Building, Chicago, Illinois
  12. Cape Cod, Chatham, Massachusetts
  13. Homer Spit, Homer, Alaska
  14. Eagle River, Alaska
  15. Scarface mountain, Apache Junction, Arizona
  16. Pearl Harbor Memorial, Oahu, Hawaii
  17. Grand Marais, Minnesota
  18. Boundary Waters, Ely, Minnesota
  19. Neil Simon Broadway Theater, New York, New York
  20. Fox Theater, St. Louis, Missouri
  21. Top of the St. Louis Arch, St. Louis, Missouri
  22. Ozark mountains, Mountain Home, Arkansas
  23. The rolling hills of Kentucky
  24. Top of Haleakala volcano, Maui, Hawaii
  25. Secluded cabin on the Kenai Peninsula, outside Soldotna, Alaska
  26. Estes Park, Colorado
  27. Casa Grande Ruins, Coolidge, Arizona
  28. Boston Commons, Boston, Massachusetts
  29. Top of the Taku Glacier, Juneau, Alaska
Lesley & Caleb, Twin Falls, Maui

Honorable Mention (Not quite as awe-inspiring to me, but still deserving mention)

  1. North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Payson, Arizona
  2. Times Square, New York, New York
  3. Hollywood Hills, Hollywood, California
  4. Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
  5. Norfork Dam, Mountain Home, Arkansas
  6. Hoover Dam, Mohave County, Arizona
  7. Tortilla Flat, Arizona
  8. Salty Dawg Saloon, Homer, Alaska
Top of the Taku Glacier

Things That Are Vastly Underrated

  1. Naps
  2. Oranges
  3. Lifeguards
  4. Sweet potato fries
  5. Handwritten notes
  6. Sunsets
  7. Windchimes
  8. Teenagers
  9. Hammocks
  10. Porches
  11. Michael Franti & Spearhead
  12. Sunday afternoons
  13. The color brown
  14. Turtles
  15. Live jazz music in a coffee bar
  16. Being by yourself
  17. Homeschooling
  18. Middle management
  19. Trees
  20. Service animals
Maui, Hawaii - KamIII Beachpark - My friend's son holding up the sun

Books I’d Like to Read (Because I Bought Them and They Are Sitting On My Shelf)

  1. Revision & Self-Editing ~ Bell
  2. Her Fearful Symmetry ~ Audrey Neffenegger
  3. Emotionally Weird ~ Kate Atkinson
  4. Musicophilia ~ Oliver Sacks
  5. Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You ~ Gosling                 (Started more than a year ago)
  6. The Professor, The Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the richest poker game of all time ~ Michael Craig
  7. The Woman Who Can’t Forget ~ Jill Price
  8. The Science of Sexy ~ Bradley Bayou
  9. Your Call is (not that) Important to Us ~ Emily Yelin
  10. Microtrends ~ Mark J Penn
  11. Covert Persuasion: Psychological tactics and tricks to win the game ~ Speakman
  12. Fire and Ice ~ Dana Stabenow
  13. Stolen Innocence ~ Elissa Wall
  14. Brave New World ~ Alduous Huxley
  15. The Wonder Spot ~ Melissa Bank
  16. All is Vanity ~ Christina Schwarz
  17. Sleeping with Strangers  ~ Eric Jerome Dickey
  18. Switch ~ Megan Hart
  19. Selfish is the Heart ~ Megan Hart
  20. Smart Girls do Dumbbells  ~ Judith Sherman-Wolin