101 Things

Here’s a list of 101 things to do before 2013. Ambitious? Yes. But I think this personal challenge is doable.

“Today is never too late to be brand new” – Taylor Swift

Total completed so far: 58/101

1. Run a half marathon. Completed: July 29, 2012

2. Ride 350 hours on Domino. Completed: August 26, 2012

3. Get an 80% average at school.

4. Knit a pair of socks for everyone in my family.

5. Make all/part of each gift I give at Christmas.

6. Cook a meal for my family.

7. Make a fresh smoothie for breakfast every day for one week.

8. Turn my cellphone off in class for an entire week and see if it helps me to focus. Done: September 6-12, 2012… I’m definitely continuing this for the rest of the year!

9. Knit a sock in a week. Done: September 22 – 25, 2012. Finished the Fuzzballs in 3 days!

10. Take a yoga class.

11. Be a vegetarian for a week. Done: September 6-13, 2012.

12. Find my favourite quote and design something around it that I will use everyday. Done: September 3, 2012. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself” – George Bernard Shaw (on a bulletin board).

13. Microphilanthropy – give away $20 in the most random ways possible.

14. Spend an entire day without any electronics – no phone, computer, iPod, etc. (alarm clock excepted). Done: August 13, 2012

15. Get a new bellybutton ring and change my current one.

16. Bake a loaf of bread from scratch.

17. Try out a new privately owned restaurant (not a chain). Done: September 23, 2012: Angel’s Diner for breakfast!

18. Visit the farmer’s market.

19. Wear only 6 items for 3 weeks (workout/riding clothes accepted).

20. Donate every piece of clothing that I haven’t worn at least twice in the past two months. Done: August 4, 2012 – Donated 35 items!

21. Talk to a professional counsellor. See what happens.

22. Write a letter to someone in another country. Done: August 1, 2012 – A letter to a girl in Pakistan, found through BookCrossing

23. Take 1 photo every day for a week of something that made me smile. Done: September 17-22, 2012.

24. Try a new fruit/vegetable. Done: August 14, 2012: Okra

25. Plant an herb pot for my new kitchen at school.

26. Write an article/essay about fear. Completed: August 1, 2012 – Needs editing and revising, putting another item on the list to cover this.

27. Learn to play a country song on the guitar.

28. Place in the top 1/2 of participants at Pony Club Nationals 2012. Done: October 7, 2012. Technically finished 9/16, but also 2nd as a team!

29. Write the first draft of a novel.

30. Make a budget for a month and stick to it.

31. Make a movie and post it on Youtube. Done: August 8, 2012 – Made a movie of my horse and put it on Youtube, titled Largo’s Domino

32. Go all out at Homecoming 2012. Done: September 22, 2012

33. Kiss in the rain (too much information?). 

Done, July 25, 2012

34. Look at the stars for longer than 10 minutes. Done August 12, 2012 in Florida at the beach!

35. Build a snowman!

36. Give money to a charity that I care deeply about.

37. Read a popular book & see what the hype is about. Write a review afterwards. Done: August 20, 2012 – The Help by Kathryn Stockett… Amazing book!

38. Pay with cash only for an entire month (phone bill & rent excluded). Done: September/October 2012

39. Write a fan letter to someone & mail it. Done: July 30, 2012. Letter to Danne from Lululemon, search for her blog 12 Months of Lent.

40. Treat myself after the achievement of a big goal. Done: August 6, 2012 – purchased the coolest backpack ever to celebrate the half marathon!

41. Read one of the Little House on the Prairie books again and relive my childhood.

42. Write my own knitting pattern.

43. Write a letter to my future self and actually wait until the date to open it. Completed: August 1, 2012. To be opened on February 27, 2013. My 20th birthday.

44. Purchase and use a planner. Done: September 8, 2012

45. Lay in the sand and don’t worry about getting messy.

46. Re-write my resume. Done: August 1, 2012. Should be critiqued by someone before using it.

47. Invent a new recipe. Done: August 20, 2012 – Not written down, just some noodles and sauce and veg thrown in a pan with a little egg.

48. Start making a recipe book to use when I “grow up”. Done: August 20, 2012 – Writing out all of my mom’s recipes in a book!

49. Organize a family jam session with my cousins.

50. Stop cracking my bones.

51. Use only one alarm clock for a week. Hopefully don’t miss class.

52. Get my G class Driver’s License. Completed: August 28, 2012 – I was so worried! But I did it!

53. Write in a journal every day for a week.

54. Knit a really scary pattern. Done: September 8, 2012. The Hat-Heel Socks!

55. Knit something that isn’t a sock. Finished: August 1, 2012 – a hat!

56. Use a whirlpool bathtub.

57. Surprise my mother with a clean house.

58. Splurge on artsy teas. Done: August 6, 2012 – Went to David’s Tea and got some “Secret Weapon”, one of my favourite teas!

59. Go to a cafe and people watch. Done July 29, 2012 – After the half-marathon, people watching while eating lunch at the mall! I totally forgot about this until just now.

60. Eat an apple at every meal for a day. Done: September 10, 2012.

61. Make brunch for someone. Done: September 8, 2012.

62. Write a list of pros and cons for a difficult decision. Done: August 8, 2012 – Okay I didn’t write them down but I outlined them in my head. It still didn’t help.

63. Jump 2’9″. Done: September 2, 2012

64. Go for a run with the running club.

65. Dedicate an entire day to nothing – read, knit, watch movies, whatever. Done: August 5, 2012 – Knitted all day.

66. Get an assignment done 3 days before it is due. Done: October 15, 2012. MBG 2040 (Genetics) Assignment finished!

67. Re-read my notes before classes for a week. Done: September 6-12, 2012. This helps so much!

68. Sit in the front 3 rows of a class. Done: September 10, 2012.

69. Cast on for a sweater. Done: August 28th, 2012 – We’ll see how long it takes to complete the sweater. I’m adding another number to the bottom of the list to address this.

70. Go to an Intraclub Horse Show with the University Team.

71. Do something different with my hair.

72. Make a photo book of our time in Scotland in 2005.

73. Write a letter to someone who is important to me.

74. Visit a yarn store in my city when I move back to school. Done: October 12, 2012. I will definitely be returning!

75. Put important photos in frames. Done: September 1, 2012

76. Make a fussy dessert and share it with someone.

77. Paint my nails in a new way.

78. Videotape my horses doing silly things. Done: September 3, 2012

79. Finally get that video of me riding so I can critique it. Completed August 3, 2012 – I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet, but its on the camera (out of batteries!)

80. Get rid of 100 things! Completed: August 25, 2012

81. Leave someone a thank you note for something they have done for me.

82. Scan some old photos and have them framed.

83. Can/preserve something (jam, peaches, pears, applesauce, salsa, pickles….)

84. Buy a disposable camera and use it for a night out.

85. Make needle rolls. Done: September 3, 2012

86. Go to a drive in movie theatre.

87. Drink a new kind of beer. Done: August 12-15, 2012: I think I tried about 6-8 different kinds, mostly all good!

88. Try a new type of wine. Done: August 14, 2012: A white wine, in Florida. Yum!

89. Clean my bathroom once a week for an entire month and love the shine.

90. Create an ongoing list of things I want/need for the barn. Completed: August 1, 2012 – saved on my computer, to be updated regularly

91. Enjoy a spending freeze – one month without buying anything, except food, rent, and phone bills. Done: September/early October 2012

92. Send Christmas cards to 5 people.

93. Get up to date & complete all of my half-finished Pony Club badges.

94. Donate the rest of my stuffed animal collection. Complete: August 5, 2012 – There’s still a few left that I can’t get rid of, but most are gone!

95. Post only photos on the blog for a week. Done: September 17-21, 2012.

96. Don’t use Facebook for a week. Done: August 8-15, 2012. I only cheated 2 times for a couple of minutes; it was really hard!

97. Comment positively on six different blogs in one day. Done: July 26, 2012

98. Have a bonfire and make s’mores with old friends.

99. Window shop in the mall. Done: July 29, 2012 – In Windsor with my boyfriend after our half-marathon.

100. Have tea-time for one hour every day for a week. Done: Last week of September 2012.

101. Try drinking coffee. Done: September 12, 2012. It was alright, but I would prefer to stick with tea. I may have also cheated and had a lot of sugar and milk in it.

And just for good measure, a few extra.

102. Edit/revise article about fear, & send it in to a magazine or newspaper to be published if possible.

103. Finish my first sweater!