Monday, June 30, 2008

I WILL.... before I turn 30

1. waterski
2. Hike to the top of a mountain.
3. Speak Spanish.. fluently
4. Live in Spain
5. See the Egyptian Pyramids
6. Fall in love
7. Visit ALL 7 continents
8. Write a book
9. Do something completely selfless
10. Have a one night stand ;)
11. Become an organ donor
12. Become a psychologist
13. Have a romantic picnic
14. Get married
15. Drive across country
16.Learn about extra-terrestrial life/theories
17. See a movie in a drive-in movie theater
18. See a shooting star
19. Go ice-skating in Central Park
20. Learn how to cook something that's my specialty
21. Stand up for someone/something I believe in
22. Raise money for a good cause
23. Take a self-defense class
24. Watch the sunrise
25. Visit a wine vineyard
26. Catch a fish
27. Take a weekend getaway alone
28. Pet a manatee
29. Meditate daily
30. Get a tattoo

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Be More Daring

Andrea Buchanan: Women are often encouraged to be silent or unobtrusive, to never risk being less than perfect. If we never take risks, we never fail; without risks we don't learn, don't make progress. We need a little "daring" in our lives in order to feel heartbreak, sadness, regret, exhilaration, pride, love, rapture -- the full range of human experience.

Full Article: Be More Daring

http://lifestyle.msn.com/mindbodyandsoul/personalgrowth/articlebhg.aspx?cp-documentid=8174725&GT1=32001

Monday, June 23, 2008

Dive In!

"View all problems as challenges. Look upon negativities that arise as opportunities to learn and to grow. Don't run from them, condemn yourself, or bury your burden in saintly silence. You have a problem? Great. More grist for the mill. Rejoice, dive in, and investigate."
-Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, "Mindfulness in Plain English"

My 33 - Liz

  1. Volunteer to read books and sing to the elderly and cancer patients
  2. Volunteer to work at a dog shelter
  3. and a children’s hospital
  4. Run a marathon that donates money to a charity
  5. Buy my own home with a wrap around porch and a big lawn
  6. Learn to speak a foreign language fluently
  7. and visit that country for 1 month
  8. Learn to play the piano
  9. Read every Emily Dickenson poem
  10. Publish at least one of my own poems
  11. Go Sky Diving
  12. Learn Salsa dancing
  13. Make meatballs that taste like my grandmothers
  14. Learn how to ski
  15. and golf
  16. go to Europe with my friends
  17. get through Moby Dick
  18. buy a new car
  19. see every single Broadway play
  20. plant flowers at my grandmothers grave every spring
  21. become closer with my sister
  22. start meditating
  23. advance further in yoga
  24. promise to never take myself too seriously
  25. sing on stage in front of people
  26. go to see some independent films
  27. try and realize my career goals
  28. and go to grad school for something I love
  29. Visit Japan
  30. Get a shore house with all my best friends for one summer
  31. Be content with myself
  32. Try all different types of food
  33. Create my own recipes

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

It's gonna' be a Long List...

I was so happy to see two additions to 33 before 33! Originally, I was perfectly content to keep my listed tucked neatly away in my notebook. However, I wanted to share it with my friends. Then, it turned out, that I wanted to share it with my co-workers. And then, my friends wanted to share it with their friends and my co-workers wanted to share it with their friends...how easily things catch on!

This newly garnered interest has charged me to see how far I can push this...how about 100 33 before 33's? That's 3,300 goals! Inspiring.

When you publish your list, you will have administrative privledges - that means that you are free to send e-mails to friends and family, inviting them to post their list.

Who knows...you just might get your connection or suggestion to accomplish #5 or #11!

Enjoy!
Julie

Monday, June 16, 2008

33 before 33 ( I have 6 MORE YEARS!) - Diane

1. Own my own design company
2. in New York
3. well first in Philly...
4. Work in New York!
5. Explore different business venues and network in new york
6. in L.A
7...in Cali.
8. make lots of $ to buy parents retirement home
9. take little bro brian to each and every concert he wanted to go to with front row seats
10. buy a new car
11. rent an RV and just drive to each state and spend time in each state
12. go to italy
13. and greece
14. and ireland
15. go to a tropical island and be deserted w. boyfriend
16. buy a new mac computer
17. along with upgraded programs
18. volunteer again at childrens hosp.
19. spend time with elderly
20. take mom on shopping spree for all she ever did for us
21. buy tickets for my dad to see harr potter land when it opens in universal studios
22. visit thailand with bf and grandmom
23. get married
24. have 2 children - a boy named aiden and a girl named ava marie
25. that house on front and south street- ya i've always wanted that!
26. live downtown philly for awhile
27. open a winery with family
28. take lil bro back to florida
29. or visit korea with him
30. throw lil bro a surprise 21st b-day with a d.j
31. design t-shirts for okayplayer/roots again
32. meet new people/new places
33. learn spanish
34. visit the girl i am sponsoring while i am in south america
35. sponsor another child for children's outreach
36. visit south american to see cousin
37. go on all vaca with the girls i grew up with
38. have children that can play with my friends children ..so they can grow up with great friends like i did :)

30 things list - Scorpion Lady

Yahoo! Avatars
1. Backpack through Europe - May 22, 2008 - June 25, 2007
2. Go Skydiving - June 12, 2007

3. Spontaneous Roadtrip to anywhere far away
4. Ride on the back of a strangers motorcycle - Florence, Italy June 2007
5. Get a car - October 2007
6. Learn to water ski
7. Learn to surf
8. Compete in a marathon
9. Create a scrapbook for all major memories in my life

10. Date every sign in the zodiac before I settle down
11. Go on vacation with only a boy
12. Be a born again (Celibate for a year) - 2007
13. Get a tattoo
14. Live in Philly after graduation and become an event planner - November 2007
15. Live in LA
16. Live in New York/ by New York City
17. Read & critique 50 books
18. Take dance lessons
19. Be involved in planning or attending one of Hugh Hefner's parties
20. Get a video camera, create DVD’s from all past videos, start videoing
21. Stay sober for 6 months
22. Save something special for a year before opening/using it
23. Go on a blind date
24. Get my Masters Degree
25. Sell a piece of my artwork on EBay
26. Go on a Safari ride in Africa
27. Invest in a stock
28. Become an organ donor
29. Pay off all student loans
30. Drive across country

Sunday, June 15, 2008

33 before 33 - Julie

  1. Own my own business
  2. Travel to Peru
  3. Grow a flourishing garden in my backyard
  4. Grow 50% of the food I eat
  5. Run/Walk a 5k
  6. Run/Walk a marathon
  7. Join/Be active in a "church", spiritual community
  8. Live somewhere other than Pennsylvania for at least 6 months
  9. Go to a winery
  10. See a rodeo
  11. Rock climb
  12. in Montana
  13. Vacation in Hawaii
  14. Learn the names of/how to arrange flowers
  15. Practice Yoga daily
  16. Become a certified yoga teacher
  17. Get married
  18. Have a job I love
  19. Learn to cook well
  20. Sew an article of clothing
  21. Learn to knit
  22. Have an article published in a magazine
  23. Take another ballet class
  24. Sing alone at a kareoke bar
  25. Own a dog
  26. Relearn the piano
  27. write my own song with lyrics
  28. Ride an elephant
  29. in India
  30. Honeymoon in Europe
  31. Have a steady volunteer position
  32. Take a photography class
  33. Take a painting class

Viva a List?

In April 2008, while working an event in California for work, I met Heather. Friendly and easy-going, Heather and I hit it off right away, chatting non-stop about the pros and cons of our event planning jobs, what we would be doing if we weren't in the communications field, and what we hoped to accomplish in our futures. In the quick weekend I spent working with Heather, she taught me some important lessons: to take chances, that there's no one right answer, to work hard but never let your "job" come before your life and, most importantly, that there's so much out there to see and do - best get started while you're young!


While we worked and chatted, Heather shared with me that she had been keeping a blog to keep in touch with family and friends in her home state of Utah while she worked and lived in New York City with her husband. Within the blog she had posted a "to-do" list - a bucket list of sorts, citing goals that she would like to accomplish in the next 10 years. You often hear people talk about the things they want to do "before they die"; things that they would like to accomplish in their lifetime. This list was Heather's way of keeping track and she decided to share it with her family and friends as a way of helping to keep herself on track with her goals. It's clear that Heather had a tenacity about her - on her list, not only had she doodled down ideas of some hobbies she'd like to take on, but had set admirable goals that would affect the world on a large scale...and, by the time I got to see the list, had already accomplished quite a few.


As a fresh-out-of-college, twenty-three year-old woman, I was and am no stranger to soul-searching, daily weighing the pros and cons of what I could do with my life, what's important to me, and how I should spend my time so that I simultaneously make a difference in the world and myself happy. Heather's energetic explanation of her list of goals was enough motivation for me. I began writing mine in the airport while waiting for my red-eye flight to arrive to take me from California to visit my parents in Florida. I realized that by taking myself out of my every-day "grind", my mind was more open to possibilities that I had not ever considered. My list ranged from simple goals that I knew I could accomplish by signing up for a class at a local community center, to traveling to remote/random countries, to things that could only be accomplished with fate's cooperation. So was born my list: 33 before 33. 10 years to accomplish what I consider at 23 to be worth doing, experiencing, seeing, and learning.


More recently, I realized that, perhaps, it might not even be about what I want out of life but rather what life wants out of me. To float along with life is surely better than fighting against the current. What we think should happen and what life has planned for us are often very different. Regardless, I don't believe that it hurts to challenge yourself, to challenge life to deal you cards that you think may be worthwhile to play. If nothing else, it's been said that setting goals for yourself keeps your motivated, on your toes opposed to on the couch. And after 33? Well...first things first.


I was originally going to keep my list private, tucked neatly in the notebook in which I wrote it. But the more thought I gave it, I realized that I wanted to share my list like the way I share my life with my friends and family. Giving it more thought, I knew just the people who I could not only share my list with, but who could be a part of the list, who could also challenge themselves to 33 before 33.


One year post-graduation, I can still see a large part of myself in my friends from college. A group of us have remained close, charged by memories of our dirty college houses, endless parties, heartaches, and sorority days. During the past year they have been my support and source of laughter, mirroring my concerns and frustrations regarding jobs, boys and life. Almost daily e-mails are written between us as we sit at our brand new shiny cubicles, offices, or desks where we study. We are psychology students, nurses, public relations coordinators, fundraisers and event planners. We work in the city, the suburbs, and on campus. We're single, we're dating, we're living with our boyfriend. We laugh, we cry, we complain. We're happy, we're sad, we're in-between. Individually, we talk to each other once an hour, once a day, once a week or once a month. We're typical American twenty-something women searching for happiness and love in a world that seems to be growing less typical and more scary every day. But we have each other.


And I can can think of no one better than to share our lists, and our lives, with than each other.


Enjoy!
Julie