tuesday’s girl: MIGHTY SUMMIT.
heya, readers! sorry about missing out on monday, but sometimes a girl’s just gotta get away, and when i got invited to mighty summit, well heck yeah, i had to get outta dodge and take an extra day off. so this tuesday’s girl, i want to recap about the special weekend we spent relaxing at the russian river boon hotel + spa — my kinda place — like summer camp for grown ups with good taste! i felt most honored, and more than a little bit humbled (tongue-tied, even) to be included in such an amazing group of women – smart (think super smart), talented, freakin’ fall on the ground funny, and maybe most of all, supportive.
i went, not really knowing to expect because i haven’t been to many blogging events, and came back feeling completely inspired and ready to take on all kinds of new challenges. we shared lots (and lots) of good wine, some amazing meals, and maybe best of all — our mighty life lists. i encourage you all to create your own mighty life list — 100 or so things you’d like to accomplish in your lifetime. putting it all down on paper makes all those dreams just a little less daunting, and sharing them with others, one step closer to accomplishing. you never know who might be able to help you cross something off your list, or who you might be able to help cross something off of theirs — that’s a pretty swell feeling, too! have you got a great group of women to round up and create some mighty life lists? do it – think of it as book club, but where you get to write your own happy ending.
many, many mighty heartfelt thanks to maggie and laura for including me in such a divinely awesome group of mighty women.
My Mighty Life List
Read Infinite Jest cover to cover. • Be two weeks ahead on blog posts at all times. • Start a regular yoga practice. • Wear my hair in a beehive. • Meet Ira Glass. • Lose all the weight I’d like to and keep it off. • Visit Stockholm, Sweden. • Own a vacation home. • Dance in a flash mob. • Ride my bicycle on a regular basis. • Go to the beach and read all day until the sun goes down. • Try eating Vegan for a month. • Sleep in a tree house. • Host an outdoor movie night in my backyard. • Go swimming in a lake. • Spend a week in Lake Tahoe in the summer. • Find the ‘man companion’ of my dreams. • Make out with said man companion in Paris in the rain. • Own my own photo booth. • Go to the Rose Bowl Flea Market again. • Own a Camilla Engman original Painting. • Make homemade preserves. • Learn how to make my own videos. • Visit Maine in the fall. • Learn how to bake my own bread. • Have a clambake on the beach at sunset. • Visit the beaches of the Outer Banks. • Go to New York at least once a year. • Visit the farmer’s market on my bicycle. • Write a design book. • Attend the Brimfield Flea Market in Massachusetts. • Listen to This American Life every weekend. • Sprinkle my father’s ashes over the Rivera Golf Course with my brother. • Own a home in San Francisco. • Have my home photographed by Todd Selby. • Run an online vintage shop. • Have a clean and organized garage. • Have a pint at a pub in Ireland. • Live in London for a while. • Go to summer camp in the Adirondacks. • Learn to speak Italian. • Go to Rome for a month. • Learn to ride a scooter. • Plant a thriving vegetable garden. • Learn how to harvest the vegetable garden properly. • Learn how knit properly. • Paint the exterior of my house so it looks awesome and not embarrassing. • Ride a bike through the streets of Amsterdam. • Get regular mani/pedis. • Have the perfect black Align dress made for me. • Make my own sushi. • Build a tent in my backyard. • Send snail mail to my friends on a regular basis. • Surprise friends with gifts in the mail for no special reason. • Read a least one book a month. • Take a piliates class. • Finally master the lighting on my camera. • Master taking photos the way I envision them in my brain. • Go camping on the Oregon coast in a yurt. • Go river rafting again. • Go surfing in San Francisco. • Go sailing in San Francisco Bay. • Take a road trip across the country with Lucy and my cameras. • Learn how to use my Polaroid camera. • Become comfortably proficient in Photoshop. • Be completely caught up with all email. • Visit Martha’s Vineyard with a group of friends. • Eat lobster & drink white wine on Martha’s Vineyard with friends. • Wear high heels more often. • Write a novel. • Find a great assistant to help free up my time. • Host a pancake breakfast. • Host Sunday night suppers at least once every six weeks. • Learn how to keep bees. • Meet Bill Cunningham. • Eat dinner at a different San Francisco restaurant with friends every month. • Learn to sew. • Read all the books on my bookshelves. • Paint my hardwood floors white. • Make homemade pasta. • Visit Barcelona, Spain. • See Bryan Ferry sing live. • Spend an afternoon in ABC Carpet & Home. • Own a vintage black leather sofa. • Go surfing in Costa Rica. • Grow Sunflowers in my yard. • Attend a yoga retreat. • Hang globe lights from my kitchen porch. • Take a train trip across Europe. • Host a massive yard sale. • Live with less ‘stuff’. • Visit SXSW in Austin, Texas. • Learn to meditate. • Build up my savings account. • Spend Christmas in Maui with my family. • Listen to every Terry Gross interview ever recorded. • Go on a private sailing yacht with friends anywhere warm. • Go night swimming.
• all photos © sfgirlbybay.
well this will oblige you to live another 150 years :) !
FYI, I still enjoy e v e r y time I come and visit your blog :) ! Merci !
you may be right there. :)
Sorry for all the fawning. I just really like your style.
Let’s DO this thing!
was there fawning? i love fawning! it was quite mutual! and i’m ready – let’s DO it. :)
You know what’s kind of amazing? You write one of my favorite blogs, have impeccable taste, seem totally together in every way, and generally make me feel kind of like I’m wasting my life (in a good way, of course!). And yet there are a handful of things on your mighty list that I’ve done. It kind of puts things into perspective for me, like maybe I’ve had my own share of enviable experiences too :)
see…things aren’t always as they might appear…lots of stuff i don’t, or haven’t done. most of the time you can picture me, sitting around in my pj’s writing this blog. but i’m going to do this life list thing! i’m glad it put things in better perspective for you!
you are too cool. i loved spending time with you. please let me know when you come to NY so we can get a mani/pedi together.
i’m in! it was so good to spend time with you too, isabel! so much fun…your smile is a contagious one. :)
a wonderful post! love the list. :) let me know if you need any tips for visiting stockholm. i used to live there and i just had a fantastic holiday there with my family. x
http://fanfamfun.blogspot.com/2011/09/stockholm-summer-holiday.html
http://fanfamfun.blogspot.com/2011/09/truth-about-stockholm.html
thanks so much! i may take you up on that advice! :)
wow, what a really really great list. i’m going to keep you in my thoughts and help you cross one of these off!
ooooh, i wonder which one?? ;)
What an amazing conference Victoria! I just love your list and (as Kate commented) there are a handful of mighty life activities I have already experienced, but the other 95 closely resemble my own list – especially “read all the books on my bookshelves”. Truly an inspirational entry for this reader:-)
thank you. maybe i need to get more personal now and then. thank you so much for reading. :)
This is so awesome. I want to make one too. Right now. But I have to work…but I want to make one too…but I have to work…
“find a great assistant to help free up my time”
*Raises hand* Can I apply for the job? I would be able to help you with a second thing on your list, “learn how to make my own videos.” I’m a contract video editor, and I went UCLA’s school of theatre, film, & television. You would then be helping me with something on my list – “Move from New York back to California”. :-D
cool, rachel! i will email you!
And to think this is the one you thought you needed help with! So happy to meet you this weekend, Victoria! Stay in touch!
And can you imagine how cool it would be to have Todd Selby come over and photograph your space?!?! I am seriously obsessed with his work. That one is going on my list too, Victoria.
Okay seriously…I really do have to work now.
i’m obsessed with todd selby. it must be done! ;)
thank you for your post today, too, melanie! :)
You’re so welcome! I loved doing it, and it was fun to go through your photos and select the ones to use with the interview. :)
I’m going to look through your list again…and other people’s Mighty lists…to see if there is anything I can help someone do. I’ve seen these lists before, but I never thought of trying to help someone reach one of their goals. That’s a fantastic concept. I love it.
I LOVE the idea of a mightly life list and it sounds so much better than a bucket list! I’m going to make one ASAP. Thanks for sharing.
This is so inspiring! I’m going to make my own list. Thanks Victoria.
Kacie
http://www.acollectionofpassions.com/
Oh, I would love to attend your pancake breakfast. Or better yet you should host a pancake breakfast party at Mission Beach Cafe!
that sounds like a fun idea! :)
Victoria, I love your list! It just so happens that my lovely bf manages a sailing school in Berkeley and we go sailing on the bay ALL THE TIME! Would you care to join us sometime? You can even drive!! xox, tiff
is “hell, yes” an appropriate response? i’d love to! i took lessons many years ago, but i’m a better crew member than skipper! i couldn’t get the tack or jib part down. :)
HA! we always go with a ton of instructors, so you’d be in good shape. I’m emailing you NOW!
your list is my list,………ALWAYS GREAT BLOG…….CONGRATULATIONS.
I agree with the poster above, a Mighty Life List sounds sooo much better than bucket list. You’ve inspired me to write one. Thank you!
And 2 WEEKS ahead on blog posts?! I’m psyched if I am 2 days ahead. ;-/
i know – it’s a big one. if i could do that, my life could get so much easier, and i would have time for all the other things on the list!
make your list, yay! :)
Your mighty life list makes me so so happy. I love it!
I am going to make a list like this! Thanks for the inspiration!!!
I’m so glad I got the chance to meet you this weekend! These pics of our time are GORGEOUS. They really capture the whole experience. You are one talented woman and I look forward to seeing you reach your goals this year!
thank you, kristen! so nice to meet you too, and spend more time getting to know you at dinner. i hope to see you again soon. stay mighty! :)
Victoria! These are such wonderful pictures that perfectly capture that orangey, friendly, laugh-filled time. So fantastic to meet you.
thanks, pamie! i am still laughing at your stories, and can’t wait to read your books. i’m hoping they bring me back to hanging out with you (and, patricia arquette). hope to see you up in san francisco sometime, or when i’m down l.a.-way.
Ooh, I relate to so much on your list…esp. the travel ones. Your weekend sounds and looks amazing, but because I’m so introverted, it seems very scary — a very “I’m not worthy” kind of event! Thanks for letting me live it through you. I’m inspired now to write my own list.
oh no, kelly – it was not like that at all. indeed some awesome and inspiring women who have accomplished some amazing things, but all very welcoming and kind and supportive too. if you’re ever invited to an event like this – go! :)
Seriously inspiring Victoria…I want to come over when you have a backyard movie night! And you must, must ride a bike through Amsterdam, that may have been one of the funnest things I’ve ever experienced! xo
okay! :)
i road my bike in the noord, but not through the streets of amsterdam proper. i didn’t want to look like amateur hour! :)
This is so inspiring! I also love that you shared it with us….the way your readers are coming together to help you accomplish all these beautiful goals is wonderful! You should start a SF book club…help you read all the books on your shelves (at a rate on 1 per month) and you could host at a new SF restaurant each month :) I
good idea, kierston!
I live in Guerneville, and actually used to work at the resort that is now Boon. It was a much more scandalous place a decade ago though. I’ve been tempted to recommend Boon to visitors from out of town but wasn’t sure if it had actually changed enough to recommend it to say, my very conservative mother-in-law. It looks like I might have to start adding it to my own list, of places I can be reasonably assured she won’t be too scandalized. (I loved your much more important list too though, btw.)
really??? it was not scandalous in the least! how funny. what kind of scandal?
i can assure you, it was quite lovely! :)
I was just reading this and wondering if I would be brave enough to share my list with a group of people…and scrolled down and saw your list, there for all to see! Thanks for the inspiration.
we only read aloud the top five things we’d like to accomplish this year, but the list was there for everyone to read, and to see if we might be able to help other with their dreams.
I love your list! I also want to read all my beautiful books sitting on my shelves.
Have a mighty happy night. :)
you are a total inspiration to so many…
i love your list. every. single. item, but you had me at “Make out with said man companion in Paris in the rain.” ~ i’m a hopeless romantic through and through.
now, i just gotta find him. :)
OMG Victoria!! These pictures are stunning! They capture this weekend perfectly! I cannot wait to see your 5 items crossed off your list this year. You are a rockstar!! xxoo
thanks kirsten!! so much fun to hang out with you some more! i’ll see you in january! xo
It was SUCH a pleasure to meet you this weekend! I look forward to reading about your adventures and hopefully seeing you in person around town!
hi lori! so great to meet you too! i hope to see you soon, too! :)
Thanks for sharing the photos and your Mighty list. Would so love to be at an event like this!
love this recap! your photos are to die for ;) i am in totally Mighty withdrawal!!
thanks stacy! i know…i’m having some mighty withdrawal myself! i keep look for our hashtag to see what’s new! :)
long live #mightysummit !!
This list is as amazing as you are! I love them all, but night swimming might be my favorite.
Three cheers to your inspiring weekend!
xo,
- Dottie
thanks, dottie! we’ll have find a spot to do that sometime! :)
Victoria, Awesome photos! Wonderful life list! (Sorry that my name sat on top of your list for a bit there…) And what a great website (and readership) you have! I’ll be rooting for you and your goals, and hey, we need to email about that one item on your list. I have tips for you! Good tips! xx
thank you, stacy! and i was just fine having you at the top of my list for a while! :)
thanks for taking a look at the site…and i’ll let you know if i muster up the courage for that particular goal. :) xo
I think I must have absorbed this unconsciously yesterday, because I dreamt that I went to Costa Rica with my family again…and I haven’t been there in YEARS!
Great Life List!
Just stumbled across your blog; I loved reading your recap of the Mighty Summit. Thanks for sharing your life list; it inspires me to add to my own!
Thanks!