Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Thursday Thirteen - 74 - 13 Things I Long To Do

Last week I listed 13 things I'll always take a pass on. But what do I long to do?


1 - Go to the home venues of all the great ballet companies of the world to see these elite artists perform.




Which ones? Oh, let's start with the Mariinsky Ballet Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.





Originally the Imperial Russian Ballet, and afterwards known as the Kirov Ballet, it's now been restored to its proper theatre-based name.





A Mariinsky production of Swan Lake.







Other companies I long to see:

The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, London, England
American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House
Paris Opera Ballet at the Palais Garnier
Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen, Denmark
La Scala Ballet in Milan, Italy
The Australian Ballet at the Sydney Opera House


2 - Walk the red carpet as an Oscar nominee.










3 - Attend the Cannes Film Festival as a filmmaker.









4 - Direct my favorite actors and actresses in my films.










Gerard Butler











Richard Armitage















Ewan McGregor
















Hugh Jackman
















Scarlett Johansson
















Natalie Portman
















Shirley Henderson
















Emma Thompson







5 - Learn to stage-fight with swords.





6 - Go to a Romance Writers of America national convention as a published author and meet up with all my blog buddies.

These are two writers from my RWA Atlantic chapter at this year's San Francisco convention - my cousin Julianne MacLean and Stella MacLean.


7 - Drop into a book store and see all my books on the shelf. In the meantime I do that now with many friends' books.


Like this one by my chapter mate Cathryn Fox.










Or this one by my cousin, Julianne MacLean. That's my friend Lisa as my partner in crime.

Look at Julianne's shelf of books! Sweet.






8 - Have my engagement and wedding rings remade. If you put these two rings together, you'd get a close approximation of what they looked like. Losing them ranks up there with one of the worst things that has ever happened to me. I lost them when we moved from Toronto to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.


I wasn't wearing them at the time because I'd lost a diamond out of the wedding ring and had them in a container, packed in a box of all my most precious things (including my diaries. I know.) Needless to say, this box did not get put on the truck.

At the moment I'm wearing a simple gold chevron ring with a small diamond which I bought on my trip to Toronto last October, with money my gram gave me. (Gram: "Come here, you. Take this, now. Don't spend it all in one place.")


9 - Drive a black Jag XJ6.











10 - Live in a restored Victorian mansion.

























11 - Attend a reenactment Victorian all-night ball.









12 - Visit historic gardens with exceptional rose displays.










13 - Go to Scotland.

13 comments:

Wylie Kinson said...

If I had the means, I'd give them all to you.

Julia Phillips Smith said...

Oh Wylie! ((hug) Thanks!

Kailana said...

Learning to swordfight would be cool...

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Go for it. Each is a goal worth pursuing.

Jennifer McKenzie said...

I'm with Wylie. If I could, I'd make it all happen for you. Of course, the RWA conference is the FIRST one I'd try and make happen.

M. said...

Sigh. How I love the beautiful graphics you always find to illustrate your thoughts.

That's my second-blog-year resolution - to learn how to enhance my blogposts with pictures.

Akelamalu said...

I hope you get to do all the things you long to do Julia.

You lost your wedding rings? Oh my dear it must have devastated you! I can't actually get my rings off my finger so there's no chance in my losing them, thank goodness.

Shelley Munro said...

Julia - great dreams. I love it when people dream big, and I'm sure you'll make several of these things happen.

About RWA - you know they have scholarships every year, right? I know because I won one a few years ago so that I could go to the conference. You should apply next year.

HeatherK said...

Wow those are fantastic I want to be there on some of those too... "what one's mind can conceive, one can achieve"
BTW my Hubby Meme is posted. Thank you for the tag.

Tempest Knight said...

I'm with on going to Cannes and Scotland. *wg* Great list of things to do, Julia! I'm sure you'll be able to accomplish some soon. ;)

Unknown said...

Where do you find all of these great images? Eye candy, all of them, although I've never seen the appeal of Scarlett Johanson. To me, she's such an ordinary-looking person without all the makeup. Have a great weekend, Julia!

Amy Ruttan said...

Yep we're the same. Things I long to do as well.

Joy Renee said...

what marvelous dreams. i identify most with lurking in bookstores to spot my own books on the shelf.

i came to let u know that i finally completed the meme you tagged me with awhile back. silly me forgot to save the permalink as i was certain i would get it done before your post went off the front page. now i gotta go huntin..