Things I Learned While Creating My 101 in 1001

Last year, I made 8 new years resolutions.  Each month, I wrote a post describing my current progress and feelings about those goals.  And by December (actually, much sooner than that), I was really tired of doing so.  I felt like the posts weren’t especially interesting, I wasn’t making remarkable progress, I wished I chosen different goals and I hated feeling obligated to write those posts.

So several months ago I decided not to have traditional resolutions for 2012.  Instead, I decided to attempt creating a 101 in 1001 list, as I’d seen many of my friends do.  Instead of a list of things I want to change about myself, my 101 items are things that I want to do or accomplish in the next 1001 days. I will not write update posts about my progress for the majority of these goals, though I will update the new 101 in 1001 page linked in the navigation bar.

Things I Learned While Creating My 101 in 1001

• I’ve done a lot in the past 1001 days: Since April 5, 2009 I’ve moved out of my parents house, gotten married, moved to Massachusetts, moved my blog to self-hosting, visited the Pacific Ocean, saw one of the Great Lakes, went to a blogging conference, started several new positions at work, earned another teaching license and did so many other awesome things.  As a result, those sorts of things didn’t make it onto this list.
• There are a lot of things I don’t want to do: I have no desire to go skydiving, ride the world’s biggest roller coaster, backpack through Europe, complete a triathlon, win a bake off or any number of other things.  Generally speaking, I’m pretty happy with where I’m at.
• It’s tricky to come up with reasonable goals: My list is full of things that I’ve been intending to do for a long time, so I’m not too worried about being disinterested in them 2.75 years from now.  Part of me sort of feels like I should’ve chosen more things that would be a challenge, but I also wanted to choose items that I could actually accomplish. As a result, a range of items from fairly simple and quick (such as #8, 20, 55) to time consuming and difficult (#2, 33, 84).
• I’m not as young as I used to be: This list officially kicked off on January 1, 2012.  As the day approached, I realized that 1001 days later is my 30th birthday.  So the list became a bit of a “things I want to do before I turn 30” list as well.  Overall, that reality didn’t change the content of the list much but now I feel like I’m counting down these days for an even more significant reason.
• Coming up with 101 things is difficult: I thought that a couple days of brainstorming would yield my list, but I’ve been working on it for months.  I read lists on blogs including Heather’s, Cynthia’s, Julie’s, and Kelly’s, sometimes outright stealing from them.  I also checked out the “official” 101 in 1001 site, the Day Zero Project.  I’ve added to, subtracted from and reworded this list more times than I’d like to admit.

My 101 in 1001

Personal
1.  Pay off at least 1 student loan
2.  Participate in NaNoWriMo
3.  Keep the kitchen table clean for a month
4.  Unplug from the phone, internet and television for a weekend
5.  Go without makeup for a week
6.  Leave a 100% tip
7.  Leave 25 Operation Beautiful notes
8.  Update my passport
9.  Participate in Black Friday shopping at some ridiculous hour of the morning
10.  Consign or give away 20 items
11.  Take a personal day to do something fun
12.  Own real diamond earrings
13.  Create a photo book of my summer 2011 vacation
14.  Learn how to apply eyeliner
15.  Join/start a bible study group
16.  Write a letter to myself to be opened in 10 years
17.  Memorize a Psalm or other bible passage
18.  Get together with at least 3 college friends
19.  Spend 2012 going through this decluttering/organization calendar

Friends and Family
20.  Make and send a photo Christmas card
21.  Give everyone locally made Christmas gifts
22.  Write 15 snail mail letters to friends
23.  Go on a trip with my sister
24.  Visit each of my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents on both sides at least once
25.  Make a recipe book for my sister

Fitness
26.  Take a Zumba class
27.  Hike Mount Greylock
28.  Run a race in Maine
29.  Read The New Rules of Lifting for Women
30.  Be able to touch my toes
31.  Go indoor rock climbing
32.  Begin practicing yoga again
33.  Run an entire 5k (no walking breaks)

Travel
34.  Go to Canada
35.  Visit 2 more (new) states
36.  Travel by train
37.  Explore Albany, NY
38.  Visit the Susan B. Anthony museum in Rochester, NY
39.  Go to Katz’s Delicatessen
40.  Eat at a David Chang restaurant
41.  Get postcards for states I’ve visited but don’t have cards for (CT, PA, NH, etc.)
42.  Go to the Troy Farmer’s market

Food
43.  Go to a wine tasting
44.  Make a perfect loaf of bread from scratch
45.  Bake a birthday cake
46.  Host Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner
47.  Surprise my coworkers with baked goods
48.  Eat only locally grown/made food for a day
49.  Successfully can applesauce
50.  Make pierogies from scratch
51.  Grow my own tomatoes
52.  Host a cookie swap
53.  Can jelly or jam
54.  Make and perfect my own tea blend
55.  Make sangria
56.  Try 5 new restaurants in Berkshire County
57.  Buy, try and cook with Sriracha
58.  Mail someone baked goods
59.  Cook using tea as an ingredient
60.  Create 15 original recipes

Home
61.  Decorate the outside of our home for the holidays
62.  Save enough money for a house down payment
63.  Buy a house
64.  Get a chest freezer or second refrigerator
65.  Refinish a piece of furniture
66.  Complete 3 projects posted to Pinterest
67.  Find a way to display my elephant collection
68.  Have a complete set of Fiesta for 12, including lunch plates and mugs

Entertainment
69.  Beat Portal 1
70.  Watch the first 50 movies on IMBD’s top movies
71.  Watch Gone with the Wind
72.  Go a week without watching TV, Netflix or Hulu
73.  Attend a Steeple Cats game
74.  Go to a performance at Tanglewood
75.  Return to the Big E
76.  Attend Gordon College homecoming
77.  Attend a free local college concert
78.  Host a party
79.  Go caroling
80.  Go to 3 local productions
81.  Attend a poetry reading
82.  Read 7 Pulitzer Prize winning books

Work
83.  Attend a game for each high school sport
84.  Complete an entire MIT Open Courseware course for a subject I teach
85.  Earn my special education certification
86.  Take a grad level science class–and pass
87.  Create full year curriculum for all classes I teach
88.  Write all of my lesson plans a week ahead of schedule

Blog
89.  Write 5 guest posts
90.  Conduct and post an interview
91.  Do 5 vlogs
92.  Write a “day in the life” blog post
93.  Add 5 new quality food blogs to my reader
94.  Do a “what I ate Wednesday” post
95.  Learn to use my new camera
96.  Read 5 food related nonfiction books
97.  Post to the Food in Jars Flikr pool
98.  Participate in Pimp My Preserve
99.  Move all recipes to Recipage
100. Back up my blog
101.  Participate in a blogger penpal exchange