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For the past month, I’ve been caught up with the wedding and living that I didn’t realize I crossed off another item from my bucket list (well, three, but more on that in the parenthetical aside at the end of this post).

One thing I’ve been wanting to do for quite some time is get tattooed. A very generous friend of mine paid for my first tattoo as a wedding present.

The day of, I was super nervous, but everything went so well. The artist, Donny Manco, was fantastic! We kicked around two ideas and settled on the one I’ve had in my head for the longest amount of time—a dove leaving a trail of fire. The artist at work, making a stencil

The tattoo hurt way less than anticipated…except for the last half hour or so. The result was so worth it! After healing and on my wedding day

I’m so happy with my tattoo and am looking forward to many more!

(Incidentally, during the process of the wedding and my honeymoon, I checked off two more bucket list goals—getting married and seeing a Broadway play.)



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When I write a goal down, I have a vision for how I’d like it to look. Because of this, I didn’t realize I had accomplished one of my bucket list items earlier this year. I’ve always wanted to take part in a performance in New York City, and this summer, I did.

I am a teaching artist with an organization called Arts! by the People.  I’ve taught creative writing workshops with them as well as helped with jewelry, craft, and playwrighting workshops.  The experience over the past few years has been wonderful, so when I was offered the opportunity to take part in a multimedia performance with fellow teaching artists in January, I jumped at the chance.

In 2012, Arts! by the People put on a performance called “Across the Platform.” I was moved by the originality and message of the piece (which, to me, was that you need to be yourself and not conform to what others want you to be, particularly in the 9-5 job world).

This year’s performance was called “Tipping the Playpen,” and our main theme was “cerebral clutter.” As artists, everyone involved wanted to represent the creative process journey they’ve experienced. We wanted to represent the craziness of the beginning stage, the lovely moment when an idea comes together, and end with the fact that creativity is an ongoing cycle; a “finished” product does not necessarily equal a neat resolution. The cast of “Tipping the Playpen” taking a bow

Our performance incorporated dance, fine art, video, cello music, and, my specialty, poetry.  The process of putting this performance together took about six months. We debuted our finished work on June 9th at Dixon Place Theatre in New York City. (To see a highlight reel of the performance, click here).

One aspect of the piece that everyone was excited about was the built-in audience participation. For the first 15 minutes of our hour-long piece, the audience was going to be out of their seats and part of the performance through participating in dance, art, and poetry recitation, as well as through watching a video while standing up.

Our piece was very well received, thankfully.  I had a few friends attend, and they all said it was definitely different than anything they had previously experienced. Participating in this performance was different for me as well, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

To see the video we showed the audience as well as pictures of the performance, click here.



 Road (Photo credit: Moyan_Brenn)

In yesterday’s post, I focused on my bucket list.  A few days before that, I posted an article about my goals for the new year.  Now I’d like to focus on things I’ve already done.

Ambition is great, but sometimes you’ve got to focus on how far you’ve already come, the road you’ve left behind. Here are some of the highlights from my 26 years (in no particular order):

I’m pretty excited about that last one.  This year should prove interesting since I’m going to be freelancing full time.  It’ll definitely be a ride!  But that’s what life is about, right?

What are some things you’ve accomplished that you are proud of?




As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, this is the second article on the theme of bucket lists.  I  found my list a little overwhelming, so I broke it up into age categories to make it a little more manageable (at least in my mind!).  Here are a list of things I would love to do before I hit certain ages. Hot Air Balloon (Photo credit: Eric Lim Photography)

Before 30 flamer (Photo credit: olaerik)

Before 35 Flamenco culture is native to Andalusia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Before 40 Laurel wreath (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Before 50

I must give credit where credit is due.  I would not have written out a bucket list were it not for the blogs of these two lovely ladies: Lesley Carter and Julie

Check out their blogs.  They do some pretty incredible stuff 🙂

What is one item on your bucket list?






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