Eskimo Kisses

Exercise 61 Identifying Your Purpose. Completely clear your mind of any kind of practical thinking. Answer each question using the carefree, little-girl, creative "I can do anything I want" part of your brain.

1. What games did you play when you were little? My friends and I played house a lot, we also played Amish people and we'd wear bonnets and skirts and pretend to work outside. We'd play hotel sometimes and pretend to check people in. We played Surfer Girls a lot too, we'd dress up and be the girl version of the Beach Boys. We'd sing and dance on my deck and make my mom video tape us. We'd play dress up a lot and model and take pictures of ourselves.

2. When you were a small child and a teenager, what types of things did you just love to do? I loved dance and playing soccer, I loved ice skating, singing and writing. I liked to pretend I was a cheerleader and that I had a twin sister who was my best friend and we were very cool like Elizabeth and Jessica from Sweet Valley High books. I liked to make clubs with my friends, we'd have officers and memberships. We liked giving each other makeovers and pretending we had cute boyfriends. When I was a teenager, my friends and I liked to share notebooks that we would pass back and forth throughout the school day and we liked to have sleepovers and watch movies or pull pranks on whoever fell asleep.

3. What kind of events or activities have you looked forward to throughout your life and never wanted to end? Vacations - especially trips to the beach, Summers - warm weather, girl's get togethers, family traditions - playing board games, writing in pretty journals, cooking food with loved ones.

4. When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be an actress since I was in 3rd grade and saw the movie Shipwrecked. I also wanted to work with and train dolphins so I thought about being a Marine Biologist. I wanted to be the lead singer of a band like No Doubt when I was in middle and high school. I wanted to be a figure skater when I was in elementary school and I wanted to be a writer since being in college.

5. If you could have any job in the world, what would it be? In other words, what is your absolute pie-in-the-sky dream job? I would pretty much have Gwen Stefani's life. She is a super sexy woman who grew up in the punk rock/ska music scene. She gets to do the 3 things I love most in life for her career - travel the world, write down her feelings, turn them into song lyrics and then sing and perform to audiences! That would be the ultimate dream for me. She stays at the top of her game because she is constantly reinventing herself. She works hard but she also gets rewarded hugely and gets to enjoy life. She's at the point where she doesn't ever have to work again but she does because she loves what she does.

6. If you were independently wealthy and did not have to work, what would you do in your spare time? I would be a travel writer and I'd open my own organic teahouse.