Time for Mondo Beyondo…Back to dreaming. Back to fertile ground. Back to reaching for hope.

UPDATE: Congratualtions to Tess Marshall of Anchors and Masts! She won the Mondo Beyondo drawing and will be recieving Begininngs, Tweet, and Reka Twige Kwifasha No Gufasha Abandi (Let’s Learn to How to Help Ourselves and Others) in the mail soon! Thanks to everyone here and on Twitter who played along!

Andrea told Jen, and Jen told me how to write Mondo Beyond Lists. These are the biggest of our big dreams — the real whoppers you can hardly admitt to. Making the list is a little like a prayer, sort of a request to the universe, and if you are very brave, the beginnings of an affirmation.

Since I’ve started the habit I’ve seen some things come to fruition (living abroad, getting out of the body image trap, making a life habit of yoga) and some of those hot desires have cooled down and gone away. (surfing, adopting, living in Italy)

There are new dreams in my being these days and I feel afraid for them, because they seem so fragile. So I decided to write them down today and make them a little more real — things always seem more concrete to me if they are on a page in word or in image. Usually I would want to make a list like this pretty — with watercolors and mixed media. But today all I had was a sharpie and some cardstock. And you know what? It was enough. So here is my Mondo Beyond List for now:

-Sing my lungs out in front of a big crowd, preferably with these folks.

-Transfer (in good time) to the UK, somewhere midsized like this.

-Get a paid, monthly column in a national magazine where I can feature pieces about seasonal rites and rituals.

-Publish three books: Tales from an Urban Abbess, Soulcrafting for Kids, and A Very Mild Narcissist (an image-based journal.)

-Have at least one good Muslim friend with whom I could really share my soul (and vice versa).

-Watch a sabbath community form organically where we could co-exsist with a few soulmates.

-Find a healthy way to practice the priesthood again.

-Travel to Africa with Jen, Mada, Odette, Grace, Lillian, Eden, and Cate to watch the women there step further into thier own power.

-Keep our ties strong with Souren; see him a couple of times a year long enough to reconnect.

-Be truly migraine-free. (Wow, it took all my breathe to whisper that one.)

-Stop fighting with time and be at peace with what I get done in any given day, month, year, season….

-Be on a first-name, call-any-time friendship basis with at least one artist I admire because they are learning to master his or her craft. Right now the short list would include Sabrina, John, Tim,Ira, or any voice from this show.

What is your Mondo Beyondo dreams? Make them real in the comments, give us your top choice on Twitter, or link to your blog below. One lucky Mondo Maker will get a copy of Jen’s new zine, one of the orginals, and just for fun, one of my zines from last year, Tweet. Contest will close on Monday morning. Go on now, dream big!

As you may know by now, Jen and I are constantly in the current of an on-going mutual love fest. Today she posted about the life-changing ‘writing’ retreat we embarked on last Summer. It’s fabulously written and you really must go over and have a gander. But the main reason I’m waxing poetic about Jen today is that I just got her amazing Zine in the mail. Beginnings is a full-color, hand-drawn, wisdom-and-wit-drenched glossy piece of goodness guaranteed to inspire the most stuck amongst us. Go order right now while you still can!

Without giving too much away, just let me say that one of the big themes in Beginnings is to dream big…Mondo Beyondo big. I tried very hard to be a good little girl and make my Mondo Beyond list last night – but I fear it might be a little tame in comparison to Jen’s heart-stopping list here. But still, it marks where my dreams are at in this moment, so I’ll Polaroid that here and now for future reference.

MONDO BEYONDO 2007

LIVE in Italy long enough that it feels like home.

TRAVEL each year to a far off destination until we feel like international pros.

SPEAK-TEACH in venues all over the place about art, spirituality, and all things Magpie-y and Urban Abbess-ish.

GET OVER my body issues and be at healthy weight once and for all. (actually this feels the most beyondo)

KICK ASS at being one or all of the following: Surfer. Pool Hustler. Yoga Guru.

SING my lungs out in front of a big crowd (and sound fantastic…maybe a little like her or her.)

GAZE out my apartment at Central Park before going to the Met to spend a day writing in the café overlooking the sun-filled sculpture garden.

FIND my long lost friend gay-best-guy-friend from college and be deliriously, platonically in love again.

INDULGE one week a year in a fabulous all-by-myself (or with one perfect partner) writing/creating retreat.

BE FEATURED in one fantastic interview with Ira Glass, or produce one fabulous story with him and the TAL crew.

EAT fabulous all-organic high-flavor food with Anne Lamott and a gaggle of girlfriends on a regular basis.

WEAR only handmade orginals like this, or this every day of my life.

ADOPT one fabulous child (or better yet a set of siblings) from anywhere improvrished and scary.

What are you dreaming about today? Put the link to your Mondo Beyond in the comments!