New 101 in 1001

Last time, I really lost steam about 2/3 of the way through. I'm going to try and do it again, but be a bit more realistic with my goals.

Start: January 1st, 2015 End: September 28, 2017

The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks/goals/challenges in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and represent "stretching."

Ideas:

Friends, Family, and Love - Send out homemade holiday cards in December
Build a snowman
Complete 52 once a week photos of Arthur
Spend a day at the beach
Date nights x 20
Complete a Jar of Life
Host a tea party
Choose and document One Little Word 2015 and 2016
Write a personal manifesto
Take a picture of myself every first day of the month
Give 5 Just Because gifts
Give Arthur 25 pictures books in 25 days for December 2015
Pass 500 books for Arthur's 1000 Books Before Kindergarten
Throw a Favorite Things party
Host a Pinterest party/crafting day/crop
Take Arthur and twins to go see Santa
Crafting and Culture - Attend an opera or musical
Reread the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit
Create and order my own personalized stamp
Finish one of my Perpetual Reading Challenges
Make 10 non-greeting card crafts on my Pinterest boards
Ask 20 friends to suggest one book, and read them all
Watch a meteor shower
Attend 5 concerts
Complete 10 Day in the Life posts
Read 50 of my owned unread books
Tour a factory
Read 100,000 pages toward 1,000,000 page goal
Finish 2015 and 2016 Project Life book (family and Arthur)
Finish 2015 and 2015 December Daily
Catch up the twins scrapbook albums
Watch 100 different TED Talks and do a short review/analysis on the blog (new series)
Watch/rewatch every Academy Awards Best Picture since the year I was born (1982)
Make 250 different greeting cards
See a drive-in movie
Listen to every song by The Beatles
Finish watching every Star Trek television episode and movie
Have a Pixar movie month
Complete The Artist's Way
Complete a year of no book buying
Learn Ruby on rails
Participate in 30 Days of Lists 2x
Go to 5 tourist things in San Francisco
Food and Drink - Take a cooking class
Make 50 new recipes
Open a cookbook to a random page and make what ever is one it
Give up dining out for one month
Try Whole30
Make a pie on PI day
Meal plan for an entire month
Make fresh pasta
Learn to make a good martini
Do a brewery tour
Try 25 new restaurants
Try 5 new to me foods
No pop for a month
Health and Fitness - Lose 2 pants sizes
Walk a 5K
Get a massage
Take a yoga class
Get three pedicures
Do a spa day
Meditate daily for a month
Complete a 30 miles in 30 days challenge
Get lasik
Get CPR certified again
Travel - Stay at a Bed and Breakfast
Go on a vacation with Josh
Visit the Redwoods (any park)
Travel to a new state
Philanthropic - Give a 100% tip
Donate something extra at each MVPA social x 10
Pay it forward at Starbucks/coffeeshop
Donate to a Kickstarter campaign I love
Financial - Two week money fast (starting with full gas tanks and a full pantry)
Open an Etsy shop
Cash in my piggy bank for something special and frivolous
Invest in blog business cards
Miscellaneous - Get Arthur's tattoo
Get a passport
Get rid of 100 things
Learn how to use our DSLR
Take one free online class
Make a chalk mural on the balcony/driveway
Finish a Soduku puzzle
Grow something from a seed
Complete a coloring book
Buy the perfect LBD
Take an IQ test
Play Bingo in a bingo hall
Go horseback riding or hiking
Participate in 30 Day Wardrobe Challenge
Unplug completely for 24 hours
Officially close my Hotmail account
Go to a convention (blogging, SU, etc)
Dye my hair purple
Revamp my wardrobe
Take real photos of me for my blogs
Post a vlog
Go apple/berry/etc picking
Find and buy a signature piece of jewelry

2015 Goals and Resolutions

It's the New Year. Time for my yearly goals and resolutions...

Blog and Reading Resolutions:

Read 30,000 pages -- Figured I'd try and make this an attainable goal this year.
Read at least 75 books -- Passed this number in 2014, hoping to keep the momentum going.
Read 20 new fiction authors -- I have a ton of never read authors on my shelves. Want to get to some of these this coming year.

Life Resolutions:

Focus on OLW 2015 Home -- I have an entire blog post about my choice and intentions, but I also put it here to stress the importance of incorporating Home into everyday life.
Set up more 30 Day Challenges -- I liked the idea in 2014, I want to continue this for 2015.
Write more personal posts -- I don't want to rely on too many memes... I want to write more personal blog posts.
Be intentional about meal planning -- Did decently in 2014, really want to focus on this in 2015.
Create and stick to an exercise plan -- Yeah... I'm not going to say that I will lose all the baby weight, but I definitely want to start some sort of exercise regime.
Work on creating livable rooms -- New house = randomly decorated and placed rooms. Now to focus on creating a home and truly livable spaces.
Make progress on my 101 in 1001 list -- I'm restarting this challenge in 2015 after failing the last one. Hopefully I made my list challenging by doable.

Revisiting 2014's goals and resolutions:

Read over 50,000 pages —Fail. I didn't even make it to 30,000 pages this year. But my reading was good considering the baby.
Get rid of at least one box of books —Success! I ended up taking probably 10 bags of books to sell at HPB over the course of the year.
Add in my new features/update weekly schedule —Success! I changed a few things around and it seemed to work a lot better. More changes will be coming this next year.
Focus on reading my own books — Success! I really got a ton of those long languishing books read. Want to keep this up for next year.
Focus on my perpetual lists —50% Success! I got a decent start on these lists, but need to read from them more.
30 Day Challenges —Success! I planned a ton of these and completed at least half of these.
Documentation through Project Life —Success! 2014's albums are 90% complete. Being in Indiana for 5 weeks put me a bit behind, but I'll catch up by the start of February.
New food adventures —Success! We tried some great new restaurants and made some new recipes this past year. Want to keep this going.
Losing the baby weight —Fail. Yep, I didn't lose a single pound this year.
Exploring the Bay Area —50% Success! The baby and I explored a ton of parks and baby related spaces, but could have done more. Next year will include a ton of exploring by necessity. We now have all of East Bay to explore.

#FitReaders: January

This is a new challenge for myself. I want to set some monthly exercise goals. Unfortunately I am still in Indiana until January 6th. I just can't get into the exercise mindset until getting back home. It may be cheating a bit, but I'm not going to start until January 7th. Even if I decide on goals today, I know I'm not going to follow them until I get home. That means that I have a few days to accomplish my first goal...

Get a fitness tracker (looking for a deal)
Walk at least 4 times a week
Create an intentional meal plan for the rest of January
Find a yoga routine I can do at home & start doing it!

2015 goals:

Lose two pants sizes
Get more energy
Create and keep an exercise routine
Gradually increase my steps goals throughout the year

#FitReaders Sign-up

Welcome to #FitReaders hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog and That’s What I’m Talking About.
I’m excited about the New Year and the focus on all things fitness. This post is really a call to arms so you can get excited and prep for the New Year. I am not much for New Years Resolutions so this gives you a few weeks to prep for your new regiment or make tweaks to your current one. I am so proud of all #BookBlogWalkers that have been at this for a year. You guys have done great, kept moving, and were great at motivating each other.
We want to keep that momentum going in 2015 and include all types of fitness. So whatever your fitness regime is please feel free to join us :)
How it will work:
Jan, Feb, March hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog
April, May, June hosted by That’s What I’m Talking About
July, August, September hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog
October, November, December hosted by That’s What I’m Talking About
There will still be weekly check-in posts and monthly “are you in” posts!
Are you in? Hope to see you in 2015!

One of my big life goals is to be more active and create an exercise routine. I plan on utilizing the giant hills in my neighborhood to get active. Hopefully being a part of this group will help keep me accountable.

Blogging Break

It's the Monday before Christmas so that mean's it time for my annual blogging break. I like to take the two weeks around Christmas to recharge away from the blog. I'll be back after the New Year with my 2014 wrap-up posts and new content.

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for this week:

Usually I hate shopping in person during Christmas, but this year I'm digging it... especially with my little two foot helper in tow
Having a lot of fun making my December Daily album
Loving hitting up all my favorite Fort Wayne only (or at least not in California) restaurants: Culver's, Moe's, Seoul Garden (new favorite), Ruby Tuesdays, Tucanos (new Brazilian place), Coney Island, Noodles and Co.
Kicking myself for not bringing another pair of pants. Really sick of jeans or cords...
Will probably throw away these black shoes when I leave Indiana. They now pinch my toes a bit and the sides are being broken down. One less thing to haul back home!
Excited to spend the next two weeks with the twins. We have to go see a movie, hit some restaurants, and go shopping!
Randomly lost a #9 for my DD album. Bummer! Now I need to recreate it after I get home.
Can't wait for all the packages arriving this week

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

I forgot how much I loved driving around and seeing the Christmas lights
Itching to organize my new crafting area
May have taken on too much with 4 December memories albums (but I'll get them done!)
Glad I packed a travel craft bag
Mad at myself for leaving my iPad at mom's house (t-10 hours)
How have I not watched Marry Me before? That show is hilarious!
I love getting packages in the mail!

Monthly Life Goals December 2014

Before I get to this month’s goals, let’s check in on Novembers’s goals and my progress.

30 Day Challenge: Gratitude Daily -- Success! I actually kept up with it and now have two nice spreads in my PL album.
30 Days Challenge: Pinterest Project a Day -- Fail. Bad idea with all that was going on in November. Maybe I'll try again in February...
Clean out my closet -- Success! I chucked a fair amount of non-fitting things.
Plan and execute a date night with J -- Fail. Sickness and moving got in the way.
Clean out the boys' toys and books -- Success! Now it needs to be put away in the new house.
Take bags to GW and books to HPB -- Success! Well, okay, J physically took the bags, but I did put the bags together.

This month's goals: These are a little different as I am in Indiana all month visiting family.

30 Day Challenge: December Daily -- I'm finally doing it. Now I just need to keep up with everything. I packed myself a small crafting case so that I have some embellishment options for Indiana.
Prep and finish all my year end blogging posts before the 31st -- I always take a blogging break during Christmas break. I like to take some time away from the blog. And it gives me an opportunity to get a jump of early 2015 and finish my year end posts without much rush.
Create our Christmas break bucket list for the twins -- Nothing fancy, but I want to have some ideas before they arrive.
Prep my 2015 TBR list -- I love having my options laid out early. 2015 will be about women authors. I have a giant list, but want to pare it down a bit to those that I am super excited about.

Thanks from Me to You

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

American Airlines and pilots -- For getting Arthur and I safely to Indiana. Especially the pilots on the Fort Wayne flight for successfully navigating high wind gusts to land.
Family -- For gathering together for the holidays and giving Arthur and I a place to stay for this extended visit.
Online Shopping -- For helping me avoid the crazy that is Black Friday. Already have most of my presents bought.
The weather -- For maintaining a decent temperature to enjoy the downtown lightings on Wednesday.
Ninja Movers -- For successfully getting all our crap (turns out we have a lot of it) to East Bay with nothing lost or broken.

Odds and Ends

My randomness from this week:

Moving is so tiring... I'm already over this and we haven't even moved yet
Moving has helped me decrease my craft supplies
I love grapes
How did I get so far behind on reading my Entertainment Weekly? Good graciousness, I have at least 8 unread issues laying around
Going to the Children's Museum on Veteran's Day was a bad idea
Super excited to start planning our mom's retreat. However I really should finish my current projects first.
Got my 2015 planner; ready to use it to take notes for PL

Monthly Life Goals November 2014

Before I get to this month’s goals, let’s check in on October’s goals and my progress.

30 Day Challenge: Card a Day -- Success! I actually accomplished it as crazy as a plan as it was.
Clean out my closet -- Fail. Seriously has to be done before I leave for Thanksgiving.
Plan and execute a date night with J -- Fail. This month was super busy. Need to do this before Thanksgiving.
Take, print, and send pics for Arthur's 1st birthday -- Success! I printed his monthly pics and sent them to the usual suspects.
Clean out the boys' toys and books -- Fail. Need to do before we move which might be at Thanksgiving.
Take bags to GW and books to HPB -- Fail. Seriously needs to be done.

This month's challenges (lots of repeats from leftover October goals):

30 Day Challenge: Gratitude Daily -- I decided pretty last minute to jump onto the month of gratitude. Instead of blogging daily, I will be adding my daily gratitude to my premade PL pages. Check out what I did to prep here.
30 Days Challenge: Pinterest Project a Day -- This may be another crazy huge project, but I really wanted to participate. Every day I will be actually be doing a pin from one of my Pinterest boards. The projects could be a homemade card, a recipe, a house project, a craft, or anything else that I've thrown onto my board. My only concern is to plan for the week and a half that I'll be in Indiana. I obviously won't have my complete craft stash, but I'm sure I can find little things or online things to complete.
Clean out my closet -- Has to be done before we move!
Plan and execute a date night with J -- Really want to do this before I leave for 6 weeks!
Clean out the boys' toys and books -- Has to be done before we move!
Take bags to GW and books to HPB (currently 4 bags and 5 bags respectively) -- Has to be done before we move!

Thank You Thank You Thank You

1. Peet's Coffee -- For fueling my coffee addiction and giving me a place to escape and blog for a bit.

2. The Awakening by Kate Chopin -- For getting my reading mojo back. I was in a reading slump, but I'm excited for my next book and to finish the year off right.

3. Sleep training -- For getting Arthur back to some sort of sleeping schedule after a bit of a hiccup.

4. Kaiser Permanente -- For keeping all my medical records and automatically assigning me my old doctors. It made changing insurance (again!) just a little less crazy. We switched on Friday and had Arthur's 12 month appointment on Monday. Easy peasy!

5. My fellow members of the MVPA Social Committee -- For helping to throw an awesome fall social/Halloween costume party for the littles. Despite having a weather hiccup and a few mishaps here and there, I think we pulled off a great event.

Odds and Ends

My random thoughts from this week:

I see the light at the end of the tunnel crafting wise... at least for October.
Cows are really big. Being two feet from one made me feel small. And Arthur was not exactly thrilled.
Watching three episodes of Doctor Who in a row makes my head spin, but also love Peter Capaldi even more.
Looking forward to me few hours off Arthur watch next week. I desperately need to organize my blogging schedule and posts.
Christmas in Indiana is coming and I'm getting excited!
Really hope my Halloween costume comes today. Our event is Saturday.
Still haven't put away the party supplies from Arthur's party almost two weeks ago.
Changing medical insurance is a pain, but Kaiser thankfully makes appointments and prescriptions easy with their online system.
It's hard to imagine Arthur as a 2 month old now (new baby in the parent's group is 2 months old!)

Thanks of the Week

1. All my mommy friends -- I've been feeling lost in the shuffle and a bit frustrated lately. Hanging out with some awesome ladies and their babies has helped get me back on track.

2. Starbucks -- For the pumpkin spice lattes making me feel like it's fall even though it's over 90 degrees here lately.

3. South Bay Feminist Book Club -- For providing an arena for me to express my thoughts on feminism. This past month's discussion on transgender exclusion was very thought-provoking. Thoroughly enjoyed the articles and the discussion. I can't for next months reading of The Handmaid's Tale and watching of Half the Sky.

4. City of Sunnyvale -- For still having the water on at their splash pads. I know we are in a serious drought, but when it's 90+ degrees in October, having a bit of water time is great for the littles.

5. The Milk Pail -- For selling some amazing bake-at-home croissants. I am so addicted!

Odds and Ends

Here are my random thoughts from the week:

So many events in October, I don't even know where to start...
I hope the house we're seeing this weekend works out. It looks amazing and is definitely big enough and in a good location.
Why do we have 10+ cookbooks in the house? I only ever use Pinterest and Paprika.
I love fall, especially cider and pumpkin anything
Christmas is coming... already started thinking about gifts and activities
Speaking of Christmas, I want to start my December Daily album like now!
Crafting classes have started off well, but having more than one guest per class would be nice
Feeling the need to drastically change my wardrobe; I at least need to clean out my wardrobe

Monthly Life Goals October 2014

Before I get to this month’s goals, let’s check in on September’s goals and my progress.

30 Day Challenge: Book of Lists - Success! I did it! And really really loved it! I may just have to do this again in March...
30 Day Challenge: Daily yoga - Fail. Morning are so crazy, I just plan forgot.
Finish planning Arthur's birthday party -- Fail! I got the site secured and tons of supplies bought, but I need to finish planning, buying, organizing, and making. I have 11 days. I can do this!
Clean out my closet and random office bin -- Fail! I got the office bin cleaned out but didn't touch my closet.
Clean out the kitchen cupboards -- Success! I did a complete clean out and inventory. Filled an entire garbage bag with expired crap. Filled another half with GW donations. And just reorganized everything. I feel so much better.
Pinterest Challenge: Organize my Christmas themed boards -- Success!I consolidated and then separated out the December Daily posts. Hopefully this helps me get through the holiday season.

This month's challenges:

30 Day Challenge: Card a Day -- Probably a completely crazy plan, but I am shooting for making 30 differently designed cards in 30 days. Let's get this party started.
Clean out my closet -- Seriously need to finish this.
Plan and execute a date night with J -- Now that the babysitting coop is up and running, we need to do this. Even if it's just fondue at Rok, we need a night out.
Take, print, and send pics for Arthur's 1st birthday -- It's been months since I sent family pics of the baby. I'm going to do this!
Clean out the boys' toys and books -- I know there are broken toys and trash in that room. I want to clean out and then hopefully reorganize before we move.
Take bags to GW and books to HPB -- Need to get this crap out of here. The bags have been sitting for awhile.

Thanks For All the Fish

1. Great Clips -- For not screwing up my haircut for once. I actually really like my short flippy do.

2. J -- For making me feel like I'm not the only one in the world that has certain thoughts. Yep, we are in sync when it comes to the multitude of stupidity in the world.

3. Keurig -- For making it easy for me to make a cup of coffee with a baby hanging on one leg and blurry eyed.

4. California -- For the beautiful weather... can't get enough.

5. Bay Area citizens and government -- For providing some awesome parks for the little one and I to enjoy with our friends.

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

My crafting addiction is renewed (not that it really went away...)
Loving pumpkin spice lattes, of course!
Missing the typical fall weather of the midwest
Contemplating Halloween costumes
Trying to develop some business strategies
5:30am wake up calls are so not my jam
I have three book clubs at the end of September/beginning of October and I haven't read a single selection... must get going on this!
Getting super excited about making a December Daily album this year

Monthly Life Goals September 2014

Before I get to this month’s goals, let’s check in on August’s goals and my progress.

30 Day Challenge: Daily picture book – Success! We only read 14 new picture books, but hit some of our favorites to help round out the 30 books.
30 Day Challenge: Daily walk – Fail! Everyday just seems to escape me. I get at least three in a week, so that's better than nothing.
Prep TBR piles for rest of year – Success! I pulled the physical books we have, updated my iBooks accounts, and noted which ones I needed to get from the library. I'm all ready to read for the rest of 2014.
Clean out my closet and random office bin – Fail! Never got around to it.
Pinterest Challenge: Create and weed through a board for Arthur’s 1st Birthday Party – Fail! Completely slipped my mind until the end of the month.
Pinterest Challenge: Try 5 new recipes – Success! I even went beyond my goal of 5 recipes:
- Ham and Cheese Sliders: oh so yummy!
- Cajun Peper Jack and Spinach Stuffed Chicken: spice it up yum
- Apple and Garlic Pork Roast: easy peasy
- Black Bean Soup: added spice and yum
- Reese's PB Cup Bottom Cheesecakes: OMG yummy!
- Sausage Breakfast Casserole: burned top and bottom, but with tweaks could be good
- Cake Mix Lemon Cookies: delicious!
- Potato Ham Bake: mediocre
- Sweet Garlic Chicken: decent

This month's challenges:

30 Day Challenge: Book of Lists - Signed up, prepped my pages, ready to go. Just hope to stay on top of this project.
30 Day Challenge: Daily yoga - I want to be consistent with my yoga. It always makes me feel good afterward. Now to schedule the time...
Finish planning Arthur's birthday party -- The party's not until Oct. 11, but I like to have everything planned ahead of time. Need to get my butt in gear.
Clean out my closet and random office bin -- Carry over from last month. I really do want to get this done.
Clean out the kitchen cupboards -- They need a good weeding out and cleaning. I'm getting sick of how cluttered and crazy my cupboards look at the moment.
Pinterest Challenge: Organize my Christmas themed boards -- I have so many ideas, but I definitely need to get these boards a bit more organized (delete repetitions, check links, make a to-do board).

Odds and Ends

Here is my randomness for the week:

Is it wrong to be that person in the group that says what she says out loud?
A little more sleep from the little one is helping get us back to a happy place
I found my book reading people this week!
Meet some great people on Wednesday night, hope to see them again soon
Excited about all the books
Realized I'm happier with multiple projects going on, they keep me moving
Want to finish prepping my 30 Days of Lists cards this weekend
Mom's Night Out on Saturday -- can't tell you how excited I am
Looking forward to my next crafting event (need to get my craft on)
SU shipment arrives tomorrow -- new toys!