101 things in 1,001 days...

So, I first noticed this whole list thing popping up in the bloggy world several months ago when I came across it on one of my favorite blogs, your wishcake, back in October. It only took reading through the first few items to get me insanely inspired and charged up about doing a list of my own. If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time, you know by now how much I truly love making lists... and this list... 101 things in 1,001 days... It just sounded like a list that had my name written all over it. There had been so many things that I've dreamed about doing and contemplating accomplishing over the past few years, but when it got right down to it, I didn't really have the motivation to get them done. Partially because I had no one keeping me accountable to achieve these things, but mostly because I don't do well without a timeline or an end-date to keep me motivated.

I hem-hawd around what would be on the list for a month or so... and then with my 'incident' back in November, my list went to the back of my mind as my main goal for the next few months became one thing: get well. Around the first few weeks of January I started to feel my "old-old self" (i.e., not the sad, lonely, depressed, anxious self from the past few years, but the super excited, crazy, zany, spastic, spontaneously ridiculous self from college and high school) started to slowly but surely reappear. With that came again the full force desire to have a few things to focus on in my life... a few things to motivate me to make some changes... a few things to help me be more optimistic and to challenge myself to constantly better myself.

Then in the beginning of this month another favorite blogger of mine, those corwins, also made a list of her own. I began to really feel the itch to focus on my list, to really think about what goals I had for my own life... and to get those goals down on paper so I would be more motivated to accomplish them.

Over the past few weeks, I've spent a lot of time thinking about my list. Some things I wrote down I actually accomplished just in this past week! So off the list they came and new items had to be added. Some items I had were just not possible in the short 1,001 days I've provided myself to finish the list (like going on a wine tour in Italy... or re-carpeting the house so that there aren't disgusting brown spots every few inches...). So off the list those items came, and new items were placed on it. This went on and on for a few weeks until finally... FINALLY... my list was complete.

I decided that today was the perfect day to publish and start my list. Today is a special day. My special day. My 26th birthday. And although I've never really thought that I had a set list of items I'd like to get done by the time I'm 30, this list seems to have become that. I'll be 28 1/2 years old when the time limit for this list is complete... and by that time, I hope to have not only accomplished every item on this list by then, but to have started a whole list that I hope to complete.

So enjoy my list, and come back and visit every once in awhile to check out my progress. Goodness knows I'll need some encouragement and cheering on from all my bloggy friends. And I'd love to see all of you join me in on this very fun adventure and crazy ride of completing 101 things in just 1,001 days.

in progress: italics / completed: bold

1. attend my first USC football game

2. take Swee'Pea to his first Dodgers baseball game

3. read my Bible and journal 30 days straight, 3 separate times

4. try five new restaurants (fast food not included) (5/5)

5. plant a vegetable and herb garden

6. go a week without caffeine, three separate times

7. drink no soda for a month, three separate times (1/3)

8. go wine tasting

9. document Popeye and my relationship from dating through our first year of marriage in a scrapbook

10. buy Christmas gifts for a needy family

11. visit a friend out of state

12. ride my bike or take a walk 5 out of 7 days a week for a month

13. send ten homemade cards to people, just because (2/10)

14. go see the Christmas lights at CALM

15. go to the zoo

16. spontaneously go out of town for the day with Popeye

17. send five gifts or gift cards to people, just because

18. complete the last two classes I need for my Master's Degree (2/2) Edit: Instead of going for my Masters Degree (cost: $15,000), I am instead just taking four classes to finish out the pay-scale in my district (cost: $1,200). :)

19. find and purchase a fabulous piece of furniture for my house

20. save $50 in change... take Popeye out to a restaurant of his choice with the money

21. throw a baby shower for a dear friend or family member

22. pay off my school loan

23. bake zweibach all by myself

24. make homemade jam for said zweibach

25. go on a "big" trip with Popeye without Swee'Pea

26. go shopping out of town with my mom for the day

27. find a lipstick that I love... wear it until the tube runs out (without losing it first!)

28. drink a Cosmopolitan in New York City

29. start the process of making me another baby

30. go to a play or theatre production

31. visit my best friend from Fresno State who I have not seen since 2004

32. pay for the coffee of someone in line at Starbucks

33. buy a good bra that actually fits... do not let price be an option

34. tithe faithfully from every paycheck for six months... even when it hurts... especially when it hurts

35. write notes to every pastor from our church, expressing my appreciation for what they do and how they have worked in my life

36. bring treats to my mother-in-law at work

37. treat my husband to an entire day of no work what-so-ever... including diaper changes and taking out the garbage

38. go on a double-date with my brother and his girlfriend

39. take Swee'Pea to story time at a local library five separate times (3/5)

40. invite our families over for dinner... both sides

41. go out of town with my sisters... and no kids

42. host a holiday

43. floss my teeth for 30 days straight, 3 separate times

44. steam clean all the carpets in our entire house

45. avoid using a credit card for any reason for an entire year

46. buy flowers for my mom

47. take a picture I am truly proud of... have it enlarged and hung somewhere in our house

48. go on a trip with my best girl friends

49. ride the train to a nearby town with Swee'pea... stop and have a picnic before we ride it back home

50. buy an adorable kitchen accessory in robin's egg blue

51. create and build something useful for our house

52. shhhhh... this one is a secret

53. create a prayer calendar... pray every night for 30 nights along with Popeye using this calendar

54. go an entire week without watching television

55. take someone out to lunch spontaneously... pay for their meal

56. beat my husband at Scrabble

57. go an entire day without using the computer or my cell phone

58. share a good bottle of wine with a great friend

59. have Popeye take me out on a real date like when we were boyfriend and girlfriend... have him pick me up, bring me flowers, and make a move on me on the way home... pretend to play coy, then make-out like mad in the car

60. bring breakfast to someone I love... enjoy the morning being lazy with them while still in my jammies

61. go an entire month without stepping foot into a Costco or Target

62. go through all the boxes in the garage that haven't been opened since we moved into the house three years ago... throw all the junk out that needs to be tossed and condense the stuff that is actually useful

63. eat 3-5 servings of vegetables a day for an entire week

64. go to a Condors' hockey game with Popeye... willingly

65. turn my office into a tv/play/craft room

66. ride all 18 miles of the Kern River bike path

67. replace three of my favorite VHS tapes with the DVD version... donate the old videos to Goodwill

68. power wash our house and clean the windows inside and out

69. replace all the old pictures in our living room frames

70. create and publish a book of my first blog

71. call a reproduction endocrinologist to get a second opinion on getting surgery... actually go to the appointment

72. go on a picnic at a state park

73. take Swee'Pea to SnoFun in Shafter... let him pick out any flavor sno cone that he wants to eat, no matter how gross I think it is

74. make a DVD of our wedding video and pictures

75. buy a luminary at Relay for Life in memory of my grandfather

76. clean my house from top to bottom in one day without taking breaks to check my email or look at blogs

77. discover a new show to be addicted to... purchase the DVDs of each season to add to my collection

78. make a really good mixed CD of all the "classic" songs that make me think of my best friends, my hometown, and really great summer nights just cruising around in the orchards

79. read 100 books (53/100) Plain Truth... Animal, Vegetable, Miracle... You Grow Girl...Keeping Faith... The Secret Life of Bees... Three Daughters... The Tenth Circle... James and the Giant Peach... Nineteen Minutes... Perfect Match... Vanishing Acts... Songs of the Humpback Whale... Handle with Care... Wolves in Chic Clothing... Change of Heart... The Right Address... Momzillas... Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing... Island of the Blue Dolphins... Mr. Popper's Penguins... Sarah, Plain and Tall... Twilight... New Moon... Eclipse... Breaking Dawn... The Lonely Bones... Personal Record... Ultramarathon Man... My Life on the Run... The Hour I First Believed... Every Last One... House Rules... Family History... Heart of the Matter... The Help...Devotion: A Memoir... Rooms... Little Bee... Sarah's Key... Eat This, Not That... The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo... The Girl Who Play With Fire... The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest... Mennonite in a Little Black Dress... Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone... Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets... Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban... Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire... The Hunger Games... Chasing Fire... Mockingjay... The Last Time I Saw You... Radical...

80. try five new recipes (5/5) Roasted Chicken... you know, like the WHOLE BIRD!/Lemon Bars and Cookies, Raspberry-Peach Jam, Applesauce Bread, Amish Oatmeal Bread

81. create and publish a family cookbook

82. send a note to each of my grandmothers, sharing with them a favorite memory I have of them and something they have taught me that has made me a better person (2/4)

83. sew an apron

84. buy five of my favorite childhood books for Swee'Pea's collection

85. trade in my old jewelry that I no longer wear and buy something meaningful for myself with help from the credit

86. go out for drinks and appetizers with my husband three different times (anniversary and birthdays not included!) (3/3)

87. babysit all of my nieces and nephews for the day so that their mothers can run errands or just relax at home without children to worry about

88. attend my childhood church on three separate occasions (funerals and weddings not included)

89. write a love note to my husband ten separate times... attach a Snickers bar or a Red Bull to it and leave the note in his car so he'll have surprise before work

90. organize my closet... get rid of any clothes that I have not worn for a year or more

91. convince my best friend to move back home

92. find a fabulous winter coat... buy it

93. write down five things I am thankful for every day for 30 days

94. go sledding

95. take all my nieces out on an ice cream date, just because...

96. write heartfelt letters to both my mother and mother-in-law

97. go a whole week without making a list... be okay with that

98. save $500 towards a trip for Popeye and myself

99. go out to drinks and dinner with my besties... forget about the troubles and stresses and worries of life... laugh and talk and eat and drink myself silly

100. make a home-cooked meal for three different families who have just had a baby (3/3)

101. be able to load, aim, and shoot a gun at a target without assistance from my husband or brother... actually hit the target... more than once