Bucket List

What is a bucket list? According to google, a bucket list is made up of experiences that one hopes to accomplish in their lifetime. 

So, what do you hope to accomplish in your lifetime?

Have you ever taken the time to write out your bucket list? It is actually pretty difficult. It takes both a considerable amount of time and thought. 

Before I worked on revamping my bucket list (I had written one last year in my counseling, growth journal), I began by asking friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors if they had a bucket list. Everyone that I asked, replied NO. This surprises me, especially coming off of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Where to start? R E F L E C T I O N . 

What have you already accomplished in life that you wanted to do? What do you want to do next? What about in the next five years, ten years, or twenty years? What do you want to do before you die? Bucket lists are common for those you who may have some sort of time-limit on their life. Why wait until then? Why not create and start working on it before that time comes? Stop waiting, start doing.

Do you have any recurring themes? I definitely do. 

The majority of my bucket list is focused on travel and music. 

Travel within the USA and around the world. I love traveling because it allows me to learn, grow, experience, and see the things you always hear about. 

Music through various concerts and Broadway musicals. I connect with lyrics and rhythms deeply and it typically brings me happiness. Music can transport you to another time.

I encourage you to write your own bucket list. At the very least, perhaps you can borrow mine. 

Amanda Marie’s Bucket List

• Adopt a dog ✓
• Attend a Christian concert ✓
• Attend a country concert ✓
• Attend a folk-rock concert ✓
• Attend Jingle Ball iHeartRadio concert ✓
• Attend a pop concert ✓
• Attend a rap concert ✓
• Attend Warped Tour music festival ✓
• Attend Bonnaroo music festival
• Become a mom (birth or adoption)
• Do a boudoir photoshoot ✓
• Donate blood ✓
• Dye my hair a fun color ✓
• Earn a Master’s degree ✓
• Fall in love ✓
• Get a tattoo
• Get scuba certified/go scuba diving
• Go axe throwing
• Go bungee jumping
• Go deep sea fishing
• Go on a tropical romantic vacation
• Go on a service or religious trip abroad in Africa or South America
• Go paint-balling in an old, goodwill dress
• Go parasailing ✓
• Go skydiving ✓
• Go to a burlesque club
• Go to an all-inclusive vacation with girlfriends
• Go to Disney World ✓
• Go whitewater rafting
• Graduate from college ✓
• Have a drink in an ice bar ✓
• Hike with Luna
• Horseback riding on the beach
• Join a band
• Lead a women’s empowerment tour trip abroad
• Learn how to play the piano
• Learn sign-language
• Make a wish in the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy ✓
• Marry the love of my life ✓
• Own a sauna
• Own my own home ✓
• Participate in a murder mystery party ✓
• Participate in a yoga retreat
• Plant a garden
• Read a new book every month for an entire year
• Release a paper lantern
• Ride in a helicopter ✓
• Run a 5k ✓
• Run in a color-run ✓
• Run in a mud-run
• Sing at church ✓
• See Aladdin on Broadway ✓
• See Anastasia on Broadway ✓
• See Chicago on Broadway
• See Flashdance on Broadway ✓
• See Hamilton on Broadway ✓
• See Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway
• See Jersey Boys on Broadway ✓
• See King and I on Broadway
• See Les Miserables on Broadway ✓
• See Lion King on Broadway
• See Mama Mia on Broadway
• See Mean Girls on Broadway
• See Moulin Rouge on Broadway ✓
• See Phantom of the Opera on Broadway ✓
• See Rent on Broadway
• See Wicked on Broadway ✓
• Sip on a glass of rose in front of the Eiffel Tower
• Ski in Colorado ✓
• Snorkeling ✓
• Spend Day of the Dead in Mexico
• Spend New Years Eve abroad 
• Spend New Years Eve in NYC ✓
• Start my own business ✓
• Stay in an over-water bungalow
• Swim under a waterfall
• Swim with dolphins ✓
• Swim with manatees
• Swim with pigs in the Bahamas
• Take a cross country RV road trip
• Take a solo trip abroad ✓
• Take a wine and design painting class ✓
• Throw a dart at a map and travel wherever it lands
• Travel with students abroad ✓
• Visit a vineyard in Italy
• Visit an elephant sanctuary
• Visit the Moulin Rouge in Paris, France
• Visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with friends ✓
• Walk on the Great Wall of China
• Watch the sunrise ✓
• Write a letter on Juliet’s wall in Verona, Italy
• Zip-line somewhere tropical

Travel Bucket List- USA

• Alabama
• Atlanta, Georgia ✓
• Asheville, North Carolina ✓
• Austin, Texas
• Boston, Massachusetts ✓
• Charleston, South Carolina ✓
• Charlottesville, Virginia (tour VA wine country)
• Chicago, Illinois ✓
• Columbus, Ohio ✓
• Dallas, Texas
• Destin, Florida ✓
• Denver, Colorado
• Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona ✓
• Greenvillle, South Carolina
• Houston, Texas
• Key West, Florida ✓
• Lake Tahoe, California
• Las Vegas, Nevada ✓
• Los Angeles, California (The Hollywood Sign)
• Maine
• Miami, Florida ✓
• Nashville, Tennessee ✓
• New Orleans, Louisiana
• New York City (Statue of Liberty) ✓
• O’ahu, Hawaii (Stairway to Heaven)
• Orlando, Florida ✓
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (The Liberty Bell)
• Raleigh, North Carolina ✓
• Savannah, Georgia ✓
• San Francisco, California (Golden Gate Bridge) ✓
• Santa Barbara, California
• Salt Lake City, Utah
• Seattle, Washington
• Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
• Washington, DC ✓

Travel Bucket List- World

• Agra, India (Taj Mahal)
• Alberta, Canada
• Argentina
• Aruba ✓
• Athens, Greece
• Bahamas ✓
• Bangkok, Thailand
• Barcelona, Spain
• Brazil
• Beijing, China (The Great Wall)
• Belize
• Cairo, Egypt (Great Pyramid of Giza)
• Cancun, Mexico ✓
• Chile
• Dubai, United Arab
• Florence, Italy ✓ 
• Jerusalem, Israel
• London, England ✓
• Machu Picchu, Peru
• Madrid, Spain ✓
• Paris, France (Eiffel Tower & The Louvre) ✓
• Phuket, Thailand
• Rome, Italy (Colosseum & Trevi Fountain) ✓
• Santorini, Greece
• South Africa
• Switzerland (The Swiss Alps)
• Toledo, Spain ✓
• Turks and Caicos ✓
• Venice, Italy
• Vatican City, Italy (Sistine Chapel) ✓

I am glad I dedicated the time to establish my bucket list. I have been fortunate and blessed enough to have traveled and had great experiences in my lifetime thus far. I am excited to continue to work through completing this list. I look forward to being accompanied by incredible individuals, including my amazing friends and my loving family on some of these adventures. Optimistically, I will have to continually add new items to my bucket list because I would have made progress crossing items off.

Life is remarkable, live it.

The world is breath-taking, explore it.

Next up, New Years Eve abroad in Thailand on another solo trip.

*Interested in the women’s empowerment tour trip abroad mentioned above on my bucket list? Let this moonchild know for future reference!

**If I were to enter heaven early, I would hope that my loved ones collectively worked on completing this list for me.