Tag Archives: #bucket list

How to Write A Bucket List

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I got an email today from Caz at ytravelblog.com. I’ve been following for a while. It’s a very interesting and inspiring blog. Her email today about how she wound up with free tickets to watch a surfing event she really wanted to see was pretty cool. Here’s what she had to say…

…It sounded so exotic and fun and I made the decision that is was something I was one day going to do.

It made my bucket list and I just put it away.

When we moved to Burleigh, I knew we’d be here when the Quiksilver Pro was on at Snapper Rocks – my favourite spot along the East Coast of Australia (sunsets here are magical).

Bucket list done. We made the decision to head down to the rocks and jostle for space among the crowds to watch. I was committed and fully immersed in the joy the ocean and surfing brings me.

Then, on Friday Woody, one of my best friends and part of our old surfie crowd – someone who I’ve checked off a lot of bucket list moments with, and who makes me laugh so much – phoned to say she had VIP tickets to the Quikky Pro and if I wanted to go with her!!

I train my Money Cleansers to not look at the world through the eyes of co-incidence, but magic and the miracle of possibilities. These tickets arrived on the day we happened to be in town, in between two trips away. The comp finished early so we wouldn’t have made it at all otherwise, even on the rocks.

And they came only a few days after I announced in this update sharing Kathmandu’s competition that if I could take one trip with a friend, I’d hike Maccu Piccu with Woody because travel has been at the core of our friendship, we laugh so much together, and afterwards there’d be many drinks to celebrate.

Well, we didn’t get Maccu Piccu, but we got front row seats high above the waves at my dream event. We got to see our two fave Aussie chick surfers (sadly the men were cancelled – No Kelly or Mick Fanning!), we had Coronas flowing all day, and we laughed and laughed and laughed. (Photos on Instagram)…

 

I think a lot of what she had to say makes sense. She says it works for her. It goes along with what my stepmother Irene always insisted on (and it worked for her too). When I would worry about all the things that could go wrong, she would tell me “don’t worry- the universe is in divine order.”

It definitely worked for her. She always did pretty much whatever she wanted. I remember she was so excited to go skydiving for her 70th birthday. 🙂

I’ve never made a formal bucket list. I have so many things I still want to do, the list would go on forever! Here are just a few of the things I would put on mine (if I had one). In no particular order…hike Mt Kilimanjaro, cruise to Antarctica, African safari, explore India, play piano well, play saxophone well, SCUBA dive Yap, sail around the world, volunteer with Cross Cultural Solutions, volunteer with Earthwatch, write a book, sing in a band, learn to play the fiddle, cruise the inland passage to Alaska, see the Northern lights, ski the Alps, sail the Barque Europa, sail the Picton Castle, learn to speak Spanish well, …, find a home base where I can live free! Get the idea? It’s really, reeeeaaally long!

Do you already have a bucket list? What’s on it? If you don’t have one already and want to make one, this is how to do it according to Caz…

  • Dream
  • Write it out
  • Commit to it
  • Immerse yourself in the joy and love of it
  • Take some sort of action
  • Let go of control
  • Allow for the miracle of possibilities

 

2015- Year In Advance

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I just did a post on what I’ve been doing last year. Now I think I’ll write one on what I hope to be doing next year (other than ‘retiring’ from work and spending all my time in   a hammock under the palms on some bright tropical beach with a couple of cute cabana boys fetching me umbrella drinks between our frolics in the clear blue ocean waves). 😉

My major project this year is to get myself located in some other place. I NEED to get out of the United States of America. Most people won’t understand why (it’s political), but it’s been a goal of mine for a long time now. The feeling that I’ve had that I need to leave is just getting stronger all the time.

I’ve put it off for a lot of reasons, #1 being the lack of available work visas (and a trust fund). If I didn’t still have to work to support myself and pay my bills, I would have already moved years ago. I recently found out that Panama has a new visa program and so I have been trying to find a way to get down there to check it out.

I had planned to take a trip down to Costa Rica for a blogging workshop last May and from there head over to Panama to get this whole process started. But I got a new job at the end of May and had to cancel that whole trip. 🙁

Since then, I’ve been trying to get to Panama and haven’t been able to. I had planned to go after I got off the ship this trip, but at the moment I have no idea when that will be or how long I’ll have off. All plans are on hold until I can make sure of my work schedule.

Other than going to Panama, to investigate moving there permanently, I hope to travel more this year. Last year I went to Las Vegas, Korea, and New Orleans for vacations. I wound up going to Aberdeen, Scotland and Luanda, Angola for work. I did get to look around Aberdeen a little bit while I was there, but I haven’t seen anything of Angola except the airport and the drive to/from the hotel.

Seoul Korea for the travel writing workshop

Seoul Korea for the travel writing workshop

There are so many places I’d still like to explore. My #1 travel goal for this year is… Antarctica! It just looks so amazing and I love the fact that the animals are still unafraid of people. I want to get there soon since I’m afraid that the ‘authorities’ will be restricting access even more than they already have. I’d love to take a small ship cruise down there where you can get up close and personal with the landscape and the animals. I hear there are even opportunities to meet some of the people who work down there.

I’d also like to hike up Mt Kilamanjaro and do a safari while in Africa. I hear Botswana is really great for that. Kenya or Tanzania sound good too. The guys from South Africa on here tell me I should go visit their country. 🙂

I’d love to visit India. I’ve always been fascinated by the art and architecture from that region. I think the culture is very interesting and the landscape and wildlife look like it’s a place I really have to spend some time.

I’d love to cruise the Nile and see the Pyramids in Egypt. I love all the history there.

I doubt I’ll even get to go to all of those places I just mentioned, so I’ll leave off on the travel wishes for now. I also want to get a few other things done this year. 😉

I want to finish working on the house I’ve been replacing the rotten siding on for a couple of years now. 😉

I want to get out sailing more often this year. Maybe even get another little Sea Snark so I can go out by myself without having to go all the way up to Houston. I’m so glad I found Sail La Vie so I can go out sailing with them whenever I’m home and have the time, but they almost always go out sailing from Kemah onto Galveston Bay.  I hate having to spend 2-3 hours driving just to get out of the house to do something different!

I want to learn at least basic Portuguese so I can communicate better with the people I work with now.

I want to find more time to work on my art. I like to draw, paint, etc. I’ve seen some classes I can take locally, but never seem to have the time to make it to any of them. Problem is, they’re usually for 4 weeks or more and I’m never home for that long. Maybe I can just go to 1-2 classes? Here’s a picture of a pastel drawing I did while I was out on the tuna boat.

I want to learn more about photography and find the time to work on my photos some more. I want to get signed on to (and accepted at),  at least ONE stock agency.

I want to work more on my writing and improve my style. I really need to figure out how to describe things better. I have always been just a very straight-forward person, both in writing and in person. I don’t know how, but I need to learn how to “show, not tell” when I write. I want to get off my butt and at least ASK a few editors to take a look at my articles!

 

I want to do better with my blog. I’m still learning. I haven’t been able to stick to any kind of ‘editorial calendar’ like I was trying to. I’ve had a really hard time keeping up with other bloggers in the challenges or even keeping in touch at all.

At this point, I have no idea how much (if any) of all that I’ll be able to accomplish this year. My list of things to do this year will probably wind up just like my list of “things to do today”, or “this time home”. Never finished, but never ending. 😉

Do you have lists like that?