Friday, December 18, 2009

101!!

Wow! So, I haven't posted in almost a month. Bad Blogger! Sorry about that folks. Things have been busy over here as of late!

Also, this is my 101st post! It's taken me quite awhile to figure out, so I also blame that for my lack of posting. (It's hard to come up with 101 things!)

In the past months I'd been realizing that I was frustrated with the way things were going. I didn't feel as though I had direction and felt like I was losing track of what is was that I really wanted to do and where I wanted to go. I think this can have a tendency to happen when you have a significant other who is very directed and pursuing things like a PhD. Therefore, when I realized I was at 101 posts, I thought it was high time I made myself a list. I had first seen a list like this awhile ago on my friend Sarah's blog and was intrigued. Upon googling, you'll find this is a pretty popular thing.

In any case, I love lists, and thought starting with something like this was as good as anything.

So, without further ado:

101 Goals in 1001 Days
(Approximately 33 months)

To be completed by approximately March 10th, 2013 :

Travel
(Clearly I have a MUCH longer travel list, but we're shooting for semi reasonable to complete by the due date. :-) Perhaps I will do another blog list with just my travel goals)
1. Have a definite plan with dates and tickets purchased to visit India by the end of this challenge
2. See the Alhambra in Spain and stay with our friend Oscar in Madrid
3. Visit Canada (Montreal and maybe Toronto)
4. Stay in a cute bed and breakfast in a little New England town
5. Go “Leaf Peeping”
6. Get my new passport with married name
7. Visit Long Island Wine Country with Alex
8. Go skiing in New England
9. Go to the beach in Long Island
10. Visit all the states in New England while we're living in NY
11. Take some really good photos of Machu Picchu on our visit in May


Finance
12. Create a second savings account specifically for travel
13. Build enough in travel savings for a significant trip (ie long trip to India)
14. Establish at least a 3 month emergency cash savings account
15. Actually learn something about investing and what I should be doing with my retirement account
16. Plan a budget and actually stick to it for two months

Professional
20. Learn what I want to be when I grow up, or, alternatively, at least figure out the general direction
21. Set up information interviews with people in fields I may be interested in
22. Select/apply to a graduate program (should goal #1 necessitate that)
23. Get accepted to graduate school (See above)
24. Develop new projects for myself at my current job
25. Find a volunteer position that more closely reflects what I would like to be doing

Photography
26. Take at least 3 more photography classes
27. Devote at least one hour, every other week to studying Photoshop for at least 2 months
28. Devote at least one hour, every other week to shooting for fun
29. Successfully build a wedding client base in NY with a number of "offbeat" weddings.
30. Shoot film and find a darkroom to develop/print it
31. Publish one piece of travel writing with photographs
32. Enter a photography contest
33. Learn to use flash more effectively/more effectively use the settings on my flash
34. Learn enough web design to improve my current website and add editorial work

Fun/Just Because
35. Take salsa lessons again
36. Go fruit or berry picking
37. Go hiking at least twice per summer
38. Go hiking once in the fall
39. Get SCUBA certified
40. Donate to a charity/non-profit or do an anonymous good deed once per month
41. Read at least one non fiction book every other month
42. Do more actual journaling, once per week for a month
43. Get a new pair of glasses
44. Vote in each election
45. Write a letter to my legislator
46. Go salsa dancing at least once every other month


In the kitchen
47. Make a pie entirely from scratch including the crust
48. Bake bread (leavening bread, not banana bread)
49. Continue to cook a new recipe per week or biweekly
50. Make pasta from scratch
51. Make lasagna or ravioli from scratch
52. Make cheese
53. Can something (preferably tomato sauce!)
54. Make curry paste from scratch
55. Create a new recipe, not from a cookbook, that is awesome.
56. Make homemade salsa
57. Make something truly gourmet
58. Plan meals for the week and purchase food accordingly so no food is wasted for one month
59. Avoid taking sandwiches to lunch for two weeks (This does not involve buying lunch, but having something else prepared besides a sandwich!)
60. Host a dinner party (Not Thanksgiving)
61. Host a sushi making party
62. Learn one new vegetarian recipe per month
63. Try a new slow cooker recipe once a month
64. Make Ice Cream
65. Make a recipe authentic to each country I have traveled to
66. Organize my recipe collection
67. Bake something not from a recipe

Athletics
68. Complete an Olympic distance triathlon
69. Compete in at least one triathlon per season
70. Run another 10K
71. Do yoga at least once every other week
72. Play in a recreational volleyball league


Language and Such
73. Find a way to speak Spanish on a regular basis
74. Find a volunteer position that involves Spanish
75. Read Harry Potter in Spanish
76. Practice Spanish grammar at least once a month


Organizational

77. Make scrapbooks/photobooks from RTW trip
78. Make photobook from honeymoon trip
79. Make scrapbook/photobook from Guatemala
80. Organize my filing of papers and office stuff
81. Clean out office file drawers
82. Go home for a weekend and clean out my bedroom in my parents house


NYC
83. Do free kayaking on the hudson
84. See a Broadway show with Alex
85. See the NY philharmonic
86. Go to the statue of liberty and Ellis island
87. Go to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden Cherry Blossom Festival
88. Have a fancy pants lunch at per sae
89. Go to a taping of The Colbert Report
90. Have a fancy picnic
91. Run the entire loop around Central Park
92. Eat somewhere international in Jackson Heights
93. Take pictures at the Hindu Holi festival in Queens
94. Have one super fancy black tie dinner
95. Take photos at a cultural event in the city at least bi-monthly
96. Find a good cheap happy hour in Manhattan and Brooklyn
97. Eat at a restaurant in every neighborhood
98. Join the Park Slope Food Co-op
99. Take photos from the Brookyln Promenade at night
100.Take photos at the Halloween parade

101. Complete as many goals as possible from this list, and update it each year!