52 fun things to do this year

Try new things. Take a risk. Overcome a fear. Accomplish a task. Reading about other's big news in the daily paper, you think to yourself: If only I had the time.

If you make the effort to make the time, to turn off the television and get out there, this year could be the year you do all the things you've always wanted to.

Forget huge easy-to-break New Year's resolutions and think about small steps toward a more well-rounded you. Some will take some planning, others will only take a few hours out of your day, but at the end of the year, when you look back at all you've accomplished, it will be worth it.

Make a list of the things you would really like to do and promise yourself to get started on one task each week. Here is a year's worth of suggestions to get you started:

1. Have your portrait painted.
2. Learn to ski. If you already know how, teach someone who doesn't.
3. Go on a drive in an area near you that you don't know well. Explore. Throw the map out the window.
4. Learn to say "I love you" in a foreign language. Practice on everyone.
5. Volunteer for an afternoon at a soup kitchen.
6. Take a guided tour of the town or city where you live.
7. Sleep under the stars. (Bonus points if the stars don't have to compete with street lights.)
8. Ask a senior citizen, either one you know, or someone you haven't met yet, to tell you about what it was like when they were young.
9. Jump into the ocean.
10. Go tobogganing.