Last year, on the eve of my 30th birthday, I gave myself a swift kick up the butt and decided it was time to stop living life on the sidelines and get into the game.
Nothing good—aside from a Ryan Gosling movie marathon—was going to happen while I sat on my couch. I had to get out there, shake things up, step outside my comfort zone and make the magic happen.
So I wrote my first bucket list. It was full of ideas from cooking courses, to surfing lessons, overseas holidays and new exercise plans.
And it worked.
Celebrating New Year’s Eve 2012/13.
I went surfing and rock climbing. I made use of my oven. I dyed my hair pink and tested out my skills as a trapeze artist. I donated blood and had an ambulance ride to hospital (not planned but it was something I hadn’t done before!).
But it wasn’t just about the big ticket items, I suddenly found I was making the most of the days in between; I was catching up with friends for long walks by the river and riding my bicycle to the shops, I was cooking and baking and drinking champagne on a weeknight.
I was living my life instead of merely thinking about it.
So here is this year’s list. It’s bigger and better than last year’s … I’m off to London in June for four weeks, so if you have any suggestions of things I should do while I’m there, let me know!
The List. 2013.
Participate in The Colour Run on the Gold Coast
Do the Roar & Snore at Taronga Zoo
Attend the Diner en Blanc
Complete the 5km Stampede obstacle course
Go paddle boarding
Watch my best friends get married
Write a maid of honor speech
Entertain friends/family once a month
Try a new recipe once a fortnight
Sign up as an organ donor
Fill out the question a day book
Read Shantaram
Skinny dip in the ocean
Exercise four or five times a week
Use my barbecue
Pose nude
Take my god-daughter for a pedicure
Celebrate my brother Michael’s 25th birthday, Dad’s 60th birthday, Resh & Rish’s 30th birthdays
Welcome Nelly & Rod’s and Nic & Iain’s babies
Celebrate Erin & Treggas’ Wedding
Reach 10,000 blog views for Blonde Ambition
See Bruce Springsteen in concert
Bake a soufflé
Go to the moonlight outdoor cinema
Have a spa day
Visit a health retreat
Eat in Brick Lane, London
Spend a weekend in the Cotswolds, UK
Visit the Tate Modern Gallery, London
Go to a rodeo
Cook a mascarpone and ginger crème brûlée
Ride a mechanical bull
See in the New Year on Sydney Harbour
Learn to make risotto
Do the penguin experience at Seaworld
Watch the Sunset from Oia, Santorini, Greece
Bake an impressive looking cake
Pay off my credit card debt
Raise awareness of an issue I am passionate about
Send cards to friends and family
Have a paintball fight
Let go of a floating lantern
Visit Lord Howe Island, New South Wales
Watch ET
Go cage diving with sharks at Port Lincoln, South Australia
Drive Victoria’s Great Ocean Road
Take ballet lessons
Take regular yoga classes
Be the first in Australia to see the sunrise
Walk through the treetops in Lamington National Park
Visit the Margaret River area, Western Australia
Join a camel train along Cable Beach
Complete the Uluru Base Walk
Go to the Birdsville Races
Go to the Watermelon Festival, Chinchilla
Attend the Pumpkin Festival, Gympie
Save sea turtles threatened with extinction
Go boating in London
Have High Tea and scones at the world-famous Dorchester Hotel
Try clay pigeon shooting
Picnic and take a dip in one of Hampstead Heath’s ponds
Have dinner in the dark at Dans Le Noir in Clerkenwell
Have drinks at the Ice Bar
Visit the Royal Observatory, Greenwich and stand in two hemispheres
Have dinner at Jamie’s Italian, Canary Wharf
Enjoy a red velvet cupcake (or two) from Hummingbird Bakery, Notting Hill
