My Bucket List

Lawrencetown Beach sunrise, March 2012.

"My eyes are an ocean in which my dreams are reflected" ~ author unknown

"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." 

~ Anatole France, writer

Many of us have dreams and goals in life, both big and small, that we wish for ourselves to accomplish before our time here on this beautiful Earth expires. When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I had lots of dreams, but I was missing the main ingredients. I didn't believe my dreams were possible, and so I didn't have a plan to make them come true. At 36 years old (nearing 37), I still feel young, but much wiser than I did in my youth. I also feel more aware that my time will someday expire, whereas once I had felt invincible.

In my life I've been blessed to have travelled to many beautiful places with people I love. When I was a child, my family embarked on many road trips from my hometown in Kapuskasing, Ontario, across the prairies and through the Rockies. We flew to Disney World, and we drove across the United States. We swam in rivers, lakes and oceans, hiked through deserts, and climbed mountains together.

After my 2-year attempt at university, I travelled and worked in BC and Alberta, and in the past 10 years I've travelled through Spain, Morocco, Spain again, Portugal, stopped over in London, then travelled Greece for the Olympics, Italy to visit family, camped through the Northern US, and recently experienced the Hawaiian Island of Oahu.

Our home for 3 weeks last July on the Hawaiian Island, Oahu.

I'm so grateful my dad inspired my interest in photography (he had a darkroom I spend hours in as a kid), because without all my photographs to reminisce over, I think I might have forgotten many of the amazing things I've done in my life so far.

For months now I've been mulling over the idea of a Bucket List. I have a wish list, and am finding myself checking things off as I accomplish them. I have a few BIG dreams coming up, and it seems lately all my small dreams are leading up to achieving my big dreams. I love to work with a solid plan and goals. Here is my list so far as of the past 2 years. It's a long list with a few experiences check off, but I think I can do it all!

✔ Leave my day job and become a full-time artist

✔ Get my art published in a magazine

✔ Travel to Hawaii to exhibit my art

Experience the magic of the Hawaiian islands

✔ Take business classes and write a business plan

✔ Learn to screen-print

Build a small screen-printing studio in my basement

Get better at drawing and designing

Design a new line of tees and totes with new brand ‘Ocean Playground’

Wholesale new screen-print line locally and to coastal shops in NA

Get up early to watch more sunrises

✔ Learn to surf

Lose my inhibitions

Work at battling my insecurities and fears with surfing

Get better at surfing my longboard (noseride someday)

✔ Teach myself encaustic painting

✔ Learn to play the baritone ukulele (take lessons)

✔ Exhibit at the Toronto One of a Kind Show

Win a grant to help support my art

Paint outside plein-air style

Take a weekend plein-air workshop (maybe in France?)

Clean all the unwanted stuff out of my house
Install solar panels on the roof
Learn to shoot and edit a short film

Write and illustrate a children’s book

Build a solid collector fan-base to sustain my career

Build my on-line sales to sustain a year-long travel project

Learn to speak Spanish

Take a year off and travel in a van around North America (surfing, painting, document with film/photo)

Write a travel journal (blog, or possibly to publish)

Create a travelling exhibition of my visual travel journal paintings

Buy a small piece of land on the coast in Central or South America

Travel to Hawaii on an annual pilgrimage for my art and build community there

Build a garage with a home studio attached

Get fit, strong, and healthy so I never feel old and can stay active as I age

Quit coffee and sweets

✔ Go stand-up paddling (I want a SUP board!)

✔ Go zip-lining

Go hang-gliding

✔ Go paragliding

✔ Go snorkelling 

✔ Swim with sharks (in a floating cage)

Swim with wild dolphins

Get my scuba-dive training

Sail on a small boat for 2 weeks or more

Hike through a rain forest

Hike the Big Island of Hawaii

Climb a mountain in Peru

Hike through the Appalachian mountains in Maine

Rehabilitate my knee so I can run again (learn to Chi-Run)

Surf, camp, and play my ukulele by the campfire 

Learn to swim better, stronger, faster

Get corrective eye surgery so I can duck-dive with my eyes open

Get a better camera so I can take more professional photos

Organize a family art exhibition with my mom & dad and sister

Travel to South Africa

Travel to French Polynesia and stay in a hut over the water

Travel to Australia and New Zealand

Participate in an art show in New York

Travel to and surf Long Island

Participate in many art shows in California (annual pilgrimage?)

Climb Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland

Go on a week-long canoe camping trip

Go on a week-long bike trip (maybe bike across Canada some day?)

Make yoga a daily practice

Invest in more income properties to ensure a comfortable retirement
Meet and stay with all my new contacts who have invited us to visit them along our year-long journey (invitations to Costa Rica, Guatemala, Florida, several though California, Oregon, and more)

Proposed route for our year-long road trip

If you have been adding to and checking off your Bucket List, I would love to see what your dreams and goals are. Please share...
xo Daina