Bucket List Blog

Hi all! Apologies again for being a phantom for a few weeks, but I officially graduated this weekend, so now it will be easier to keep up with Project Light to Life and to stay in touch with my lovely readers.

I am thrilled to announce that May 23^rd marked the one-year anniversary of Project Light to Life, which has now reached 15,000 followers. Thanks to PLTL, I have interacted with some incredible people and cannot wait to “meet” more of you.

When I first set out to start a bucket list blog, I was unsure what direction it would take me in, but starting this blog has pushed me to pursue some of the best experiences of my life.

When I started this blog, here was my goal: I hope to do one kind act for someone else/help someone cross off an item from his or her bucket list each time I cross off several accomplishments on my list.

If you are thinking about starting your own bucket list or bucket list blog, my only advice is: Do it! Many people suggest that when we write things down, we are more likely to do them. I can definitely attest to that advice, as there is a certain satisfaction that comes with seeing goals in list form and then crossing them off the list.

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of PLTL, I decided it would be fun to do a year-in-review post, share the items I was able to cross off my bucket lists within the past year, along with some of the motivational stories sent in by Readers of the Month, interviews I conducted with inspiring people, and the man on the street interviews I conducted with strangers.

Listed below are the items I crossed off my Activities & Adventures bucket list this year:

Activities & Adventures

5). Swim with and ride a dolphin.

6). Drive a jet ski without a partner.

10). Ride a mechanical bull.

11). Go to an indoor trampoline park.

16). Create a bucket list blog.

19). Go parasailing.

24). Ride a Segway scooter.

28). Go hiking.

41). Attend a wine tasting.

42). Go to a vineyard.

44). Visit a butterfly farm.

56). Drive and ride on the back of a quad.

61). Take surfing lessons.

63). Make a photo book for someone (Grandpa J.) on Shutterfly.

77). Go strawberry picking.

83). Put a message in a bottle and throw it in the ocean.

90). Go geocaching.

98). Watch a sunrise and sunset in the same day.

100). Get a penpal.

101). Write at least one nice thing that happened to me everyday and put it in a jar.

103). Go mountain biking.

Here are the activities I crossed off my Kind Acts & Volunteering Bucket list this year:

Kind Acts & Volunteering

1). Leave inspirational messages on sticky notes in public places.

2). Pay for someone behind me in a drive-thru line.

8). Pay for someone’s coffee, who is in line behind me.

11). Leave $5 where a kid will find it.

12). Leave flowers on a stranger’s doorstep.

13). Spend time at a nursing home summer 2013.

15). Make a shutterfly album for grandpa.

20). This summer 2013, donate to the American Heart Association.

21). This summer, 2013 give money to someone who needs it more than I do.

23). Write a nice letter and leave it in a book for a stranger to find.

24). Pay the toll for the car behind me.

29.) Anonymously mail letters of encouragement to strangers.

36). Pick up a piece of trash lying in the street and put it in a trashcan.

38). Hand out flowers at a nursing home.

41). Bring old magazines to a hospital or doctor’s waiting room.

44). Feed someone’s parking meter that is about to expire.

Here are the places and activities I crossed off my travel bucket list this year:

Travel

1). Australia

2). United Arab Emirates (Dubai)

3). Go on a spring break trip with friends (in St. Martin).

United States

1). Georgia

Here are some new restaurants in NYC I enjoyed this year:

New Restaurants I Enjoyed this Year

1). Ninja in NYC

2). Jekyll and Hyde in NYC

Life

While I did not specifically list these goals on PLTL, here are some personal milestones I crossed off my bucket list within the past year.

1). Graduate college.

2). Make a speech as the valedictorian at my college convocation.

3). Get into graduate school.

4). Reach 15,000 followers on Project Light to Life

5). Lose ten pounds.

One of my favorite parts about starting PLTL has been all of the inspiring people I met and interacted with thanks to this blog.

For one, I was amazed to read the inspiring stories sent in by PLTL’s Readers of the Month.

For example, I had the honor of featuring:

– Carl Honeysett, a 20-something volunteer from Australia, who travels the world and runs a website called VOLUNTEERING ABROAD. As he wrote in his original article, “I’ve since left the comforts of my Australian coastal surfing hometown to give, inspire, learn, adapt, share & teach abroad. I made a decision to volunteer and help others instead of chasing monetary wealth in a pointless rat race. I haven’t always made good choices and I’m glad to be on the right side of life now. Let me tell you about my journey so far.”

–  Michael Boyd, who after discovering he had eye cancer, now volunteers for Guidedogs for the Blind and the Royal National Institute for the Blind, helping people with similar problems

Those, however, are only a few of the inspiring readers that were featured. Read all of their stories here:

In addition, I got to meet more inspiring people through the interviews I conducted.

– Summer Schantz, who, only fourteen at the time of the interview, already had 78,000+ followers on Instagram because of the artsy and inspirational photos she posts. She now has her own website.

– Keith Maginn, an author who has self-published two books and is now working on publishing he third. He began his own pay-it-forward movement across the Southeastern United States.

– Heather Von St. James, a mesothelioma survivor who writes for the Huffington Post and is now a mesothelioma research funding advocate, as well as a speaker for the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization and Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation.

– Emily Dayton, a student who began a pay-it-forward movement that was 14,000 members strong at the time of our interview.

Read their interviews here.

Finally, I started a section known as “Bucket Listories,” in which I approached random people on the street and asked them what the number one item they want to cross off their bucket list is, along with the best thing they believe they have ever accomplished in life.

Read more here.

Thank you all for helping me to have such a wonderful year and blogging experience. I think the most exciting part about continuing to run this blog is having no idea where it will take me within the next year.

Check out my Inspiration page, to see some of the people and projects I find extremely motivational and that encouraged me to start my own project.

As I mention above, before starting this blog, I had no idea I would travel to Australia, form a great international connection with someone from there, or meet so many great people.

So thank you readers for continuing to make blogging at PLTL so much fun.

I’d love to hear from you guys. What were some of your accomplishments this year? What are some things you still want to cross off your bucket list?

Has anyone started a bucket list or hope to start his or her own bucket list now?

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