Intentions

I first wrote the list found below as a post on the last day of 2009. It now has a permanent place here. Some might label it a Bucket List, or a Life List, or even just a really long To Do List, but I choose to call it my ever-expanding document of INTENTIONS. Think of it as an on-going brainstorm of moments I intend to experience, if you will. When I am fortunate enough to complete an action, I’ll tell you all about it and cross it off the list rather than delete it.

In conjunction with this page, I am also creating a list of ACHIEVEMENTS. To get a somewhat full picture of my journey, you’ll have to look at both pages. I hope they serve as inspiration to you – to acknowledge what is remarkable in your own life and to invigorate you to expand your expectations of what is possible and what is doable.

  • Take hip hop classes.
  • Learn Spanish.
  • Finish updating and modifying my blog design. What blogroll?
  • Create an Etsy presence to showcase my jewelry line. Opening up shop.
  • Feed the homeless.
  • 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 scraps.
  • Participate in giant pillow fight.
  • 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.
  • Act in a film I’ve written.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Visit Kam, Tibet.
  • Go to a Bjork concert in Iceland.
  • Finish reading Casanova’s autobiography.
  • Relearn how to hula hoop.
  • Read W.H. Auden.
  • 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. Six Weeks In
  • 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.
  • 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 women 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.
  • Attend Sundance Film Festival and Cannes, as a participant.
  • Wear a bikini, in public.
  • 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…

In addition to this gargantuan list, there are a few things I want to strive to accomplish on a regular basis:

  • Live in gratitude every day.
  • Visit the ocean once a month while living in L.A.
  • Meditate every day.
  • Remain actively involved in my niece’s life and the Kid’s life.
  • Get a monthly facial, massage and mani/pedi.
  • Hold monthly dinner parties/game nights with friends.
  • Support the legalization of gay marriage throughout the U.S.
  • Support the pursuit of world peace.

Whew! Congratulations on making it through my intentions! Now, hop over to see the achievements, if you wish, or have fun exploring other pleasure notes, but do take a moment to let me know of your own intentions for the coming moments, days, months, and years. I’ll be cheering you on!

xo