Bucket List Update

I wanted to make an updated post to my bucket list post from last year. I tried to make sure I updated that older post, as I completed each items, by putting a hyper link next to the post it corresponded with. I am going to organize the list, and move all of my accomplishments to the top.

I have successfully survived a quarter of a century on this earth, and so far I have learned that life is about who you know, what you accomplish, who you love, who you help, and your attitude when things do not go your way. If you can learn to be aware of these things, your life will feel complete.

I have adopted the motto from a famous local actress – “And that is when I realized I made it, I finally did it.” with which I will do the best to remind myself every day.

I am living the dream. MY dream.

Go Ice Skating (Achieved 2013)
Cross-Country Road Trip (Achieved 2012-2013)
View the Golden Gate Bridge (Achieved 2013)
Drive Along Route 66 (Achieved 2012)
Drive Along the Pacific Coast Highway (Achieved 2012)
Drive from Home to the East Coast (Achieved 2012)
Go to Colorado (Achieved 2012)
Become a Runway Model (Achieved 2012)
Drive around Big Sur (Achieved 2013)
Stay in Death Valley (Achieved 2012)
Eat a Lobster in Main (Achieved 2012)
Eat Cajun Food in New Orleans (Achieved 2014)
Eat Ribs at an American BBQ (Achieved 2012)
Be a Vintage Model For a Day (Achieved 2012)
Be in 5 Magazines (Achieved 2014)
Be on the Cover of a Magazine (Achieved 2012)
Do a Boudoir Photoshoot (Achieved 2014)
Cut my Hair and Donate It (Achieved 2014)
Become a Film Maker (Achieved 2014)
Fly a plane (Achieved 2014)
Do a New Year Dip (Achieved 2015)

Here are the remaining open bucket list items. I will continue to work on completing each one, living my life to the fullest. I figured these few items should keep me busy for the next few years:

Climb a Rock Wall
Drink Only Water For a Year
Go For Walk in Central Park
Achieve 1,000 Goals
Add a Picture /video/blog of all my Goals

Attend a 10-Day Vipassana Meditation Course
Attend a Poetry Reading
Attend a Yoga Class
Attend an Inner Awakening Retreat
Be a Mentor to Someone

Be a Part of an Important Movement
Be a Part of Habitat For Humanity
Be Blind For a Day
Be on Stage in Front of Thousands of People
Be Part of a Disaster Relief Team

Be Part of a Peaceful Protest
Be Passionate About a Cause
Become an Early Riser
Become Courageous
Become First Woman President

Break a Guinness World Record
Build Schools For Women and Girls in Developing Countries
Buy a Stranger a Meal at a Restaurant
Change Someone’s Life For the Better
Completely “Unplug” For a Week

Create a Travel Journal
Dance Like No Ones Watching
Do 365 Random Acts of Kindness in a Year
Do a Buddha Meditation

Do a Favor For a Stranger on the Scale of “Pay It Forward”
Do a Twenty-Four Hour Silence
Do Charity Work Abroad
Do Something Crazy For Charity
Do Something New Every Month For a Year

Do Something Nice For a Homeless Person
Do Something Nice For Someone Who Will Never Find Out
Coast to Coast Train Trip
Couchsurfing in 10 Countries
Cruise Around the World

Cruise Mexico
Cruise the Caribbean
Cruise to Alaska
Cruise to Antarctica
Drive Around Australia

Experience the Grand Canyon
Explore Africa
Explore Asia and the Far East
Explore Australia and New Zealand
Explore the Amazon Rainforest

Explore the Desert on a Camel Safari in India
Explore the Galapagos Islands
Get a Lei in Hawaii
Get a Self Portrait in Italy
Get Lost in a Foreign Country

Go Backpacking Through Europe
Go on a Gondola in Venice
Go on a Real African Safari
Go Shopping in Milan
Go Swimming in the Dead Sea

Go to a Big Medieval Fair
Go to a Big Time Movie Premiere in Hollywood
Go to a Cherry Blossom Festival in Japan
Go to Brazil
Go to China During Chinese New Year

Go to Egypt
Be Time Magazine’s Person of the Year
Become a Cheese Connoisseur
Become a Freelance Writer

Become a Programmer
Become a Published Author
Become a Supermodel
Become a Translator
Become a Travel Writer

Become a Wine Connoisseur
Become an Author a Successful Blog
Travel By Seaplane
Backpack Across Europe
Backpack Across South America

Backpack Across the Himalayas
Backpack Appalachian Trail
Backpack South East Asia
Backpack Trough Australia
Backpacking Through New Zealand

Camp in the Backyard
Travel the Amazon River
Climb a Mountain
Climb a Pyramid
Cross Country on a Train

See the Northern Lights
Hike in Nepal
Visit the Grand Canyon
Visit Yosemite National Park
Hike Machu Picchu

Bake a Cake For Someone For No Reason
Bake my Own Bread
Cook 30 Recipes from 30 Different Countries in 30 Days
Cook an Entire Meal from Another Culture
Eat a Gyro in Greece

Eat a Six-Course Meal That I Prepared
Eat a Traditional Food from Every Country
Eat Apple Strudel in Vienna, Austria
Eat Chinese Food in China
Eat Chocolate in Belgium

Eat Crepes in France
Eat Curry in India
Eat Fish and Chips in London
Eat Greek Salad in Greece
Eat Maple Syrup Pancakes in Canada

Eat Mexican Food in Mexico
Eat Olives in Greece
Eat Pasta in Italy
Eat Poi in Hawaii
Eat Sushi in Japan

Eat Using Chopsticks in Asia
Create Passive Income
Establish my Business Before I Turn 40
Gain Financial Freedom
Go an Entire Month Without Spending Any Money

Invest in a Stock
Invest in Gold
Invest in Real Estate
Invest in Silver
Invest in the Stock Market

Save $10,000
Stay on a Strict Budget and Save For a Goal
Attend a Presidential Inauguration
Attend a Sydney Opera House
Attend a TED Talk

Attend a Writing Class
Become Bilingual
Become Fluent in French
Become Fluent in German
Become Fluent in Italian

Become Fluent in Spanish
Complete a Course to Become a Photographer
Complete a Novel
Complete a Rubik’s Cube
Complete all the Books from ’1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die’

Complete an Online Class
Do Crosswords Every Day For a Month
Do Sudoku Every Day For a Year
Get a Scholarship For University
Get a TEFL Qualification

Get Certified As a Lifeguard
Go on a University Exchange
Know the Alphabet Backwards
Learn 100 Basic American Sign Language Signs
Learn a Burlesque Routine

Learn a Computer Programming Language
Learn a Form of Martial Arts
Learn a New Language and Speak It Fluently
Learn a New Word Every Day For a Year
Learn a New Word from an Unknown Language Every Day For 30 Days

Learn a Trade
Attend a High School Reunion
Attend One Wine Tasting a Month
Create a New Family Tradition
Grow Old With the Love of my Life

Have 50Th Wedding Anniversary
Have a Cup of Coffee With a Stranger
Have a Picnic in Central Park, New York
Have a Romantic Flight in a Hot Air Balloon
Apply to Be a Jeopardy Contestant

Apply to Be an Amazing Race Contestant
Attend a Broadway Show
Attend a Charity Ball
Attend a Cirque Du Soleil Show
Attend a Concert As V.I.P

Attend a Film Premiere
Attend a Lantern Festival
Attend a Masquerade Ball
Attend a Paint Party
Attend Carnival

Be in Time Square on New Years Eve
Build a Snowman Taller Than Me
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin, Ireland
Celebrate the 4Th of July in Washington Dc
Dance Salsa in Rio Di Janeiro

Dance With an African Tribe
Dine in the Dark
Drink a Glass of Red Wine in Chile
Drink Champagne in France

Drink Guinness in Ireland
Drink Rum on a Caribbean Beach
Drink Tequila in Mexico
Act in a Movie That Hits Theaters Nationwide
Act in a Short Film

Appear As an Extra in a Drama
Appear in a Music Video
Appear on Television
Attempt a New Recipe Once a Month For a Year
Be a Part of New York Fashion Week

Be on More Than 4 TV Shows
Become Great at Playing Guitar
Build a Computer
Build a Functioning Solar Still
Build a Giant Sand Castle

Build a Gingerbread House from scratch
Live in a Log Cabin
Put together a complex Puzzle
Build a Sauna in my Home
Build an awesoe Tree House

Build a Website
Build Affordable Green Communities
Complete a Painting in One Day
Complete a Wine Journal
Create a Children’s Book

Create a College Photo Album
Create a Documentary
Create a Publication
Put together a Scrapbook
Create an Iphone Application

Create Melted Crayon Art
Decorate a House
Capture a Tornado on Film
Circumnavigate the Globe By Sail
Climb to the Top of a Rope in a Gym

Cross a Country With Bicycle or By Foot
Do a Firewalking
Do a Polar Bear Plunge
Do Human Bowling
Go at the Top of the Highest Building of the World

Go Bull Riding
Go Dog Sledding
Go Go-Karting
Go Into a Zero Gravity Room
Go Storm Chasing

Go White Water Rafting
Go Zip Lining
Hang Glide
Have a Nascar Experience
Jump into a Fountain

Arrive at an Airport and Take a Flight Randomly
Attend a Beach Bonfire
Attend a Beach Party
Attend a Mind Reading Show
Attend an Event at Buckingham Palace

Bathe In Chocolate
Bathe In Milk
Bathe In Oil
Be a Contestant on a Game Show
Be a Couchsurfing Host

Be a Flashmobber
Be a Member in the TV Audience
Be a Street Performer For a Day
Be a YouTube Star
Be an Extra in a Television Show

Be in Two States at Once
Be Inside an Igloo
Be Interviewed By Jay Leno
Be Interviewed On Oprah
Be Invited to the Playboy Mansion

Be Listed As One of People Magazine’s Most Beautiful People
Be Nude on a Nude Beach
Be on a Radio Show
Be on the Cover of Rolling Stone Magazine
Be on the Front Page of a Major Newspaper

Be on Webcam With Someone For Twenty Four Hours
Be Photographed Beside the Pyramids of Giza
Be Smiling in a Random Persons Photo in the Back
Become Ambidextrous
Belong to a Secret Society

Blow Bubbles in the Rain
Buy Someone’s Groceries Just Because
Call Someone, Tell Them to Look Out Their Window, and Be Standing on Their Front Lawn
Celebrate my Birthday in Another Country
Change Clothing in a Phone box

Climb a Light House
Collect a Coin from Every Country I Visit
Collect a Jar of Dirt from Every State
Collect a Penny For Every Year I’ve Lived
Create a World Map With Pins of Where I’ve Been

Dance all Around the World
Dine at Sanyou Cave Hanging Cliff Restaurant, China
Dine in the Eiffel Tower
Do Everything With my Left Hand For a Whole Day

Do Something Absolutely Spontaneous
Do Something Unexpected
Don’t Talk a Whole Day
Don’t Use the Phone For a Day
Draw Funny Faces on all the Eggs in my Fridge

Mermaid Dreams

Photo Credit: Armando L Rosales
H/MUA: Moona Joyner
Special Effects: Eric Dupre

The one thing I love about modeling is that I constantly get to dress up and become characters I am not. Much like reading a book, living a life for just a moment that is not your own. It is exciting, liberating, eye opening. It is an adventure into the unknown, where you are sure to come out a changed person.

In this shoot, I was honored to become a Mermaid for a day. Despite technical difficulties, the many incredibly talented people who I am blessed with in my life helped to create some really spectacular images to capture the day!

Photo Credit: Armando L Rosales OR Jon Deckert
H/MUA: Moona Joyner
Special Effects: Eric Dupre
Videography: Jon Deckert OR Eric Dupre

Check out more of this shoot on my fan page here.

Dreams really do come true 🙂 

Photo Credit: Jon Deckert
H/MUA: Moona Joyner
Special Effects: Eric Dupre

 

 

Travel Plans

What can I say… When I dream, I dream BIG.

 

 

skyscanner.com has been amazing for flight comparison
ticabus.com for Guatemala – Panama
Turbus.cl for Peru – Argentina
CIFA for a bus from Ecuador to Peru … although I read a horror story on here about that particular over night bus
vr.com.vn for train from beijing to Vietnam

Transportation to Each Major Country (cost calculated for 1 person) USD$4,881

Visas USD$150

Food USD$2,025

Hotel/Hostel/Camping USD$3,700

 

I am currently calculating costs for (and would love resources to);

Inner country transportation USD$

Activities USD$

Souvenirs USD$

Postal/Package Mailing USD$

Emergencies USD$

Other USD$

 

Haiti

(most likely flight to US then to Guatemala as it is cheaper )

Guatemala for 2 weeks…

Travelings from Guatemala over road (Via Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica) to Panama  (flight) to

Colombia … travel to Brazil over road…

Brazil for 2 weeks…

travel down Amazon river (1 week) to Argentina (stay for 1 week)… flight out of Buenes Aires…

(most likely to United States then to Australia as it is cheaper by about half!) flight to

Australia (stay 1 week); (flight) to

Indonesia over road (Via Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, China); (ferry to)

Laos for 2 weeks..

Japan; (flight) to

(most likely flying Japan – Malaysia – India because it is cheaper by about half)

India staying 2 weeks; (flight) to

Jordan over road (via Israel) to ( in May) Egypt -> (Flight) to

(Staying 3 months traveling Europe … then flight back to United States)

Greece … (http://www.balkanology.com/overview/ar ticle_croatia_to_greece.html)

Using Rail system to go to – >

Croatia

 

Italy

 

France

 

Spain

 

Portugal -> (flight to)

 

Ireland

 

United Kingdom – > (flight to)

 

Netherlands

 

Germany

 

Poland

 

Slovakia

 

Back to US via flight from Denmark

Celebrating Our Steps with Christ

*This is an old writing that I am publishing on the blog. The message itself is still relevant.

I am so happy that throughout my youth I never had the desire to test drugs. Specifically speaking, the hallucinogens.

“Why?” You ask.

That is a very good question. If I were to have experimented with said drugs, I probably would have ended up in a mental hospital. You see, I have a very vivid imagination. So vivid, in fact, that sometimes I have a hard time discerning what is reality and what is fiction. Let me explain to you how I have concluded this fictional scenario, in which I would have sent myself to a mental hospital if I had experimented with drugs during my youth.

Last night I decided to drink an entire cup of coffee; 150mg of caffeine. Caffeine; a white, crystalline, bitter alkaloid, C 8 H 10 N 4 O 2, usually derived from coffee or tea: used in medicine chiefly as a nervous system stimulant.

Since I had surgery to remove my appendix, to cope with the pain I have been taking lora-tabs; may cause drowsiness, dizziness, blurred vision, or lightheadedness. In other words, for me, it knocks me out cold. I, innocently enough, mixed two very opposite drugs.

When I was finally able to fall asleep, let’s say, around 1am, I drifted off into a world that I was not familiar with. I began dreaming. (I am going to rabbit trail for a moment, and tell you this dream because it was really quite terrifying)

There were two ‘main’ characters in my dream.

A boy, who was depressed and suicidal, probably in his early 20s, living at home with his mother. This boy felt he had nothing to live for, and began to develop schizophrenia. The only person he ever talked to was a girl, she had shoulder length brown hair, and she didn’t really exist. The boy somehow managed to get a girlfriend, she had blonde curly hair. But she was more of a bystander in the dream.

In the same town as the boy,  there was a man named Lyle, who was quite a vile creature. Lyle spent his days selling drugs, importing over illegal foreigners to sell his drugs, completely destroying the town. Lyle also raped a girl, continually, throughout her entire life, and unfortunately, throughout my entire dream.

Now, with those two characters being stated… Who would really want to continue to participate in this nightmare? The problem was, every time I tried to wake up I would “wake up” but I would still be sleeping. I was dreaming in a dream. And when I would ‘wake up’, I couldn’t move. It was almost like I was suffocating… and I would try to reach over for Adrian, but I couldn’t move. And I would grunt, and try to cry out, and I would hear Adrian acknowledge me tiredly, “Are you having a nightmare?” But I couldn’t get out of this dream like state. And above my bed was a man, a demon like man, with the most terrifying gray eyes. He wrestled me to be quiet, and I couldn’t move. I was sure I was suffocating… Then I would drift back into ‘sleep’.

The town had no real authority. There was a main bar, ran by Lyle, where street thugs with big guns ran the show. Across from the bar was a gas station/mechanic repair shop where Lyle and his drug dealing thugs hung out. The boy was losing his mind in this very messed up town. The non-existent girl told him to go into the bar and start killing people. So he took a gun, and headed for the bar. But the boy didn’t want to hurt anyone. The imaginary girl was insistent that he start shooting people… But the town was filled with innocent people as well. He aimed his gun at the imaginary girl, and he shot her. And when he pulled the trigger, the ‘cops’ showed up, but they were too scared to get out of the car. Since the cops showed up, the thugs pulled out their big guns. The boy couldn’t believe he shot the girl (even though she didn’t really exist and no one else could see her), so he shot himself. The thugs went crazy with the blood lust, and began shooting everywhere. They sparked a fire, that caught on some leaked gasoline from Lyle’s gas station, and the place blew up. Lyle and all his thugs died. The girl that Lyle kept hurting was free. My dream then told me everything happens for reasons that we just don’t understand. But it was sick, and twisted.

Then I ‘woke up’ again, I couldn’t get away from this demon and his gray eyes. He was suffocating me. It was so real.

Now I can see it on your faces, “What on earth does you having a nightmare have to do with taking steps with Christ?”

Finally my twitching woke the real Adrian up, and he drew me up from my sleep. But I couldn’t close my eyes. Every time I tried to close my eyes, I saw those gray eyes. I was sweating, and I was scared. It was so real. I couldn’t calm myself. I kept trying to say I know God is with me, I know his good angels are here protecting me. I even prayed out loud, which is hard for me to do. Begging God to please take away these doubts, and these gray eyes. I was in tears, I was so scared.

Adrian said, “I really feel like God is wanting me to tell you this, ‘Give your thoughts and vain imagination to God.His warrior angels are here, and they are protecting us.‘” My prayers for help were heard by God, and he spoke through Adrian for me, with that verse, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ“; 2 Corinthians 10:5 

I felt the Holy Spirit, I felt him washing away my fear of the man with gray eyes. Feeling the Holy Spirit is huge for me! Before I couldn’t even think of the demon that was haunting me without shivering in fear, but now I could think of him and it caused me no fear. In my head, I decided to celebrate! I wanted to be quiet because I knew Adrian needed his rest. I was pretending there were balloons everywhere, and I was nodding my head back and forth dancing. I had taken a step with Christ, I trusted God to take away my fears… and even though, at first, there was doubt… God spoke to me through the bible verse, His word… and my fear was gone just like that. I celebrated, and decided I was going to continue celebrating. It felt good celebrating the step I had just taken with God. Usually I don’t give the steps I have taken a chance to really manifest before I start worrying, “Well where is the next great feeling? What do I do next? Am I not worshipping right?…” etc

Admist my celebrations, Adrian woke up to tell me, “I had a weird mini dream. I think it was Jeremy, but someone handed me a piece of paper. And when I opened the piece of paper up, it said Paid.”

(Not to much later we received a letter in the mail, the entire $60,000 medical bill was paid for. God is Good.)