Best 09: Day Thirty-One

What was the resolution you wish you’d stuck with in 2009?

I no longer make resolutions. In years gone by, I did. They usually had something to do with losing weight. I had an astounding ability to transmute my behavior and achieve the opposite of the desired results. So, I no longer make resolutions. Thus, I have none by which I wish I’d stuck. And yet…

For the past few years, I made WISHES. I set aspirational goals, really. This shift served two purposes. First, it let me off the hook of attaining the goals because, as we all know, wishes don’t always come true. Second, the ephemeral nature of wishes– aspirations– DREAMS alludes to very little action. In fact, the best place to dream is in bed, comfortably curled up under the covers. This second purpose is the one that has suddenly given me pause. Inaction no longer works for me, not this year.

So, for 2010, I have created INTENTIONS. I’m so excited, actually, AND MOTIVATED, that I haven’t limited myself to 2010. Some might call what I’ve created a Bucket List, or a Life List, or even just a really long To Do List. I’m going to give it a home here at Pleasure Notes, with it’s very own page. I’ll add to it, and let you know when I’ve accomplished something on it. Think of it as my on-going brainstorming session about moments I intend to experience. There is no order or degree of importance attributed to the items on it, though some may be more easily and more quickly accomplished than others. Each action is vital in its own right.

Without further ado, here are my intentions:

• Live in gratitude every day.
• Take hip hop classes.
• Learn Spanish.
• Finish updating and modifying my blog design.
• Create an Etsy presence to showcase my jewelry line.
• Feed the homeless.
• Visit the ocean once a month.
• Become involved in a non-profit supporting empowerment of girls.
• Go apple picking.
• Visit Watts Towers.
• See a whale breach.
• Eat vegan for a month.
• Bake a pie.
• Hike in Joshua Tree.
• Create a pillow with the Kimono fabric craps.
• Make waffles on my Foreman Grill.
• Obtain a digital SLR camera.
• Learn Italian and live in Italy for a year.
• Visit Bhutan.
• Visit India.
• Swim with dolphins.
• Bungey jump.
• Take a hot air balloon ride.
• Learn to swing from a flying trapeze.
• Write a novel.
• See one of my novels reach the NY Times Top 10 Best Sellers List.
• Get married to the love of my life and have a long honeymoon.
• Do a back bend from a standing position.
• Own a home with a yard.
• Pay off all my debt.
• Safari in Kenya.
• Visit the mountain gorillas in Rwanda.
• Collect shells on a beach in South Africa.
• Support myself and my family through my writing and art.
• Show my photographs in a gallery exhibit.
• Learn SCUBA and dive at Great Barrier Reef.
• Learn to read Arabic.
• Surf a wave upright.
• Visit Yosemite.
• Cook a Thanksgiving turkey.
• Stomp grapes at a winery.
• Drive a race car.
• Take a vacation with my brother and his family away from home.
• See Tiger Woods play live.
• Ride a zip line through the top canopy of a rain forest.
• Visit Petra, Jordan.
• Take a bicycle tour of Holland.
• Participate in a beach clean-up.
• Visit Egypt’s pyramids with my dad.
• Visit a spa in Mexico with my mom.
• Organize an annual girlfriends’ weekend retreat.
• Take a gondola ride in Venice, Italy.
• Purchase a Mona Kuhn photograph.
• Get laser hair removal done – no more waxing!
• Learn how to change a tire.
• Wear a Movado museum watch.
• Design a cocktail ring with my grandmother’s diamond as the centerpiece.
• Fly a kite.
• Meditate every day.
• Act in a film I’ve written.
• Remain actively involved in my niece’s life and the Kid’s life.
• Visit Pete’s grave, LeeAnne’s grave and Scott’s grave.
• Return to my childhood grocery store.
• Have a song written for and about me.
• Ride an elephant and a camel.
• Take a self defense class.
• Skinny dip in the ocean.
• Be a mentor.
• Meet the Dalai Lama.
• Do a boudoir photo session.
• Take a road trip with Sofia.
• See the Northern Lights.
• Swim in every ocean.
• Finish the scrapbook of my trip to China.
• Witness a meteor shower.
• Spend a week on the beaches of Thailand.
• Take a road trip from Los Angeles to Vancouver.
• Have an elaborate dinner at Craft.
• Go inner tube sledding.
• Go to a costume ball, in costume.
• Get a monthly massage.
• Get a monthly facial.
• Own a cabin in the woods.
• Record a song I’ve written, in a real recording studio.
• Sit in the front row at Paris Fashion Week.
• Gallop a horse along the beach.
• Hold monthly dinner parties / game nights.
• Visit Kam, Tibet.
• Go to a Bjork concert in Iceland.
• Finish reading Casanova’s autobiography.
• Relearn how to hula hoop.
• Read W.H. Auden and Rilke.
• Participate in a 3-day AIDS walk in another country.
• Go to a dance club and dance unselfconsciously all night long.
• Dance naked in the rain.
• See pink dolphins while traveling down the Amazon River.
• Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.
• Visit Mt. Everest base camp while on a road trip.
• Volunteer at Nepalese shelter for child prostitutes.
• Visit the thermal heat vents.
• Learn to water ski.
• Swim in a lake.
• Sleep in a castle.
• Spend an entire summer staying in a cottage at the beach.
• Have a hot stone massage.
• Have a photo of mine published in National Geographic Magazine.
• Perform a pull-up, unassisted.
• Obtain season tickets to a pro hockey team.
• Help someone through college.
• See gay marriage fully legalized in the United States.
• Create a retirement savings plan and open a Roth IRA.
• Purchase stock.
• Have lunch with Helene Gayle, Ruth Levine, George Clooney, Greg Mortenson, Angelina Jolie, Alyson Warhurst, Mavis Leno, Jennifer Buffett, Swanee Hunt, Nicholas Kristof, and Maria Eitel to discuss the plight of girls around the world.
• Attend Wimbledon Center Court Men’s Finals Match.
• Publish a coffee table book about coffee.
• Meet Hillary and Bill Clinton.
• Publish a book of Pleasure Bouquets.
• Throw a birthday party for myself with an open bar and a guest list that includes everyone I know.
• Attend an American Idol finale taping and a So You Think You Can Dance tour stop.
• Meet Maya Angelou.
• Return to Telluride Film Festival.
• Attend Sundance Film Festival and Cannes, as a participant.
• Wear a bikini, regularly and proudly.
• Get bathtub re-enameled.
• Play roulette in Monte Carlo.
• Make the traditional family Christmas breakfast for my own family.
• Take a helicopter ride.
• Take glass blowing classes.
• Knead bread dough.
• Visit polar bears and penguins in the wild.
• Spend a week in a villa on Lake Como…

Whew! Did you make it all the way through my gargantuan list? Congratulations. Just one more thing. Now, I’d love to know your intentions for 2010 and beyond. Perhaps I’ll be inspired to pursue something you intend to accomplish, as I hope you feel inspired to take on one of the adventures I intend to tackle.

Happy New Year, my lovelies!

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