101 things in 1,001 days

I'm really excited about this!

It's no secret that I love a) resolutions, b) goals, c) lists and d) accountability. So when I stumbled across this site, of course I was thrilled. I've been mulling over this for three days now.
Some of these list items are, for me, pretty ambitious (become fluent in Spanish) and others are freebies (get a massage), but all of them are things I always say I intend to do -- or do again -- "some day." When I complete a goal, I'll mark through it on this master list and write a blog post about it.

If I actually accomplish every one of these things in the next 1,001 days, you're all invited to a party at my house on Aug. 25, 2010. Save the date.

Here goes:

1. Find out what those blue butterflies on cars stand for. Dec. 5, 2007
2. Memorize the Book of James.
3. For all of 2008, send a snail-mail birthday card to everyone I love.Jan. 9, 2009
4. Join or start a book club. June 3, 2008
5. Learn how to apply eye makeup.
6. Cut my hair too short for a pony tail. May 2, 2008
7. Know the names and faces of all of our neighbors on our new street.
8. Travel to another continent.
9. Find a gorgeous antique stained-glass window to go in our next house. Feb. 13, 2010
10. Establish a grocery-shopping, coupon-clipping system that works for me.
11. Get published in a non-local magazine.
12. Learn to speak and understand Spanish well enough to be considered fluent.
13. Learn how to work our TVs and assorted remotes. Dec. 9, 2007
14. For three months, go to Body Pump twice a week. (February, March and April 2008)
15. Sell something on eBay, Etsy or Craigslist. Feb. 28, 2008
16. Spend $25 in one morning at yard sales and thrift stores and try to make $100 selling those items at a consignment store.
17. Learn to drive a stick shift.
18. Attend a Roman Catholic church service. Dec. 24, 2007
19. Learn how to make yeast rolls.
20. Join a tennis league.
21. Make more money in one month from journalism than from real estate. December 2007
22. Write an opinion letter to our local newspaper.
23. Write letters to 10 people, businesses or community groups that I'm thankful for. (8/10: Chick-fil-A, Stein Mart, Deputy John Robinson, Jada, Angie, Tripps, Susan, Marcia)
24. Write a letter to Pizza Hut outlining suggestions for improving its lunch buffet. Dec. 14, 2007
25. Buy or borrow a keyboard and learn to play.
26. Have my legs waxed before one swimsuit season. May 17, 2008
27. Have a baby in my belly.
28. Learn to really understand (and like?) football.
29. Go on a fun trip with Mom and Amanda. April 9-12, 2008
30. Pay off our rental house.
31. Digitize all of our hard-copy photographs.
32. Put our wedding tape on DVD.
33. Visit three out-of-state cities that I've never been to before. St. Simon's Island, Ga.; Greenville, S.C.; Fredericksburg, Va.
34. Try 10 local restaurants I've never been to before. (Coach Light Cafe, That's a Deli, Caterino's Bakery, Sizzlin' Steak 'n' Eggs, Flynne's, Dog Nation, Chris' Family Restaurant; The Darling House Pub; La Poblanita; Blake's Restaurant)
35. Finish reading "Anna Karenina" once and for all. Sept. 1, 2008
36. Go to an amusement park.
37. Learn shorthand.
38. Give blood at least five times. (2/5)
39. Get a one-hour massage. May 6, 2010
40. Keep Kaleigh and Trevor one weekend so Mel and Thomas can go out of town.
41. Have my eyes examined. May 19, 2008
42. Shop around to see if we can get a better deal on auto/home insurance. April 28, 2008
43. Figure out a way to get paid for blogging that doesn't involve ads.
44. Start praying out loud in the shower. December 2007
45. Work up to praying out loud in front of other people without feeling like I'm onstage. March 22, 2008
46. Start keeping a list of every book I read. Dec. 1, 2007
47. Throw Dad a great retirement party. May 16, 2008
48. Start keeping decaf coffee, tea and Coke at home. December 2007
49. Watch all of the "Godfather" movies with Matt. Jan. 27, 2008
50. Suggest that our church's budget be posted on its Web site. April 27, 2008
51. Put together a construction portfolio for our work Web site.
52. Take a pottery class.
53. Surprise Matt with a gift he loves. Dec. 25, 2008
54. Eat for one week entirely out of our pantry, refrigerator and freezer.
55. Learn how to wrap presents attractively.
56. Plant a tree every Arbor Day. (1/3)
57. Learn CPR. March 1, 2008
58. Make a list of all the words I still don't know how to pronounce and look up their pronunciations.
59. Go through my closet and donate all the clothes that don't look good on me.
60. Persuade Matt to join me in not watching TV for a week. Dec. 23-30, 2007
61. Keep a maintenance log when I get a new car.
62. Have the couch and love seat shampooed or re-covered, and buy new covers for the pillows. April 24, 2008
63. Use Wikipedia's random-article tool to learn about 10 new topics, and then write blog posts about them. (1/10)
64. Learn to recognize at least five constellations that are not Orion or a Dipper.
65. Learn to operate a sewing machine well enough to hem a pair of pants.
66. Learn to identify at least 10 previously unknown (to me) trees and plants.
67. Book a last-minute trip on Travelocity the day before flying out.
68. Become a competent, confident parallel parker.
69. Figure out how to make use of the last slivers of bars of soap. Jan. 22, 2008
70. Go vegetarian for two weeks.
71. Inspire at least one other person to make a "101 things" list. Nov. 28, 2007
72. Read at least five banned books that I haven't read. (3/5: "The Bluest Eye," Toni Morrison; "The Catcher in the Rye," J.D. Salinger; "Animal Farm," George Orwell)
73. Read at least 10 books that I own but haven't read. ("Love, Again," Doris Lessing; "My Antonia," Willa Cather; "The Reader," Bernhard Schlink; "Hard Laughter," Anne Lamott; "Joe Jones," Anne Lamott; "The World According to Garp," John Irving; "The Robber Bridegroom," Eudora Welty; "The Foreseeable Future: Three Stories," Reynolds Price; "Sad Girl Sitting on a Running Board," Michael McFee; "The Bridge," Doug Marlette)
74. Read at least 10 Pulitzer Prize-winning books that I haven't read. ("Middlesex," Jeffrey Eugenides; "Independence Day," Richard Ford; "The Stone Diaries," Carol Shields; "Angela's Ashes," Frank McCourt; "The Good Earth," Pearl S. Buck; "The Optimist's Daughter," Eudora Welty; "A Summons to Memphis," Peter Taylor; "The Edge of Sadness," Edwin O'Connor; "The Shipping News," Annie Proulx; "A Thousand Acres," Jane Smiley)
75. Get rid of my toenail fungus.
76. See a movie at the Sunrise Theater. July 10, 2008
77. Get Mom and Dad's land under contract by the time they start building their new house.
78. Write a letter to the family of Mom's liver donor.
79. Take a road trip from Murphy to Manteo or vice versa.
80. Try every type of class offered at the gym at least once. (Body Pump, Body Step, RPM, Turbo Kick)
81. Memorize the location of every country in the world and what its capital is.
82. Memorize the location of every major body of water and mountain range in the world.
83. Put all my music on iTunes and create a perfect playlist for treadmill runs. Jan. 7, 2008
84. Complete a New York Times crossword puzzle. Dec. 12, 2007
85. Take a photo- or video-inventory of our personal property for insurance purposes.
86. Learn how to make mouth-watering fried-chicken gravy.
87. Become more intentional about observing Advent.
88. Have lunch with three high school friends with whom I haven't really kept up. (Angela, Scarlet, Katherine) (July 29, 2008)
89. Finish off my Clinique Happy Heart and find a new favorite perfume. May 24, 2010
90. Win some kind of luck-based contest. Feb. 15, 2008
91. Go camping with Matt (sleep in a tent and have a campfire). April 24, 2010
92. Go a month without drinking soft drinks. January 2008
93. Back up my computer hard drive at least once a month.
94. Write a blog post that draws at least 20 comments, even if I have to beg. Dec. 4, 2008
95. Get a copy of the CD mix Amanda made for our trip to Charlotte in September. Feb. 2, 2008
96. Visit someplace with a whole lot of snow on the ground.
97. Participate in NaNoWriMo.
98. Memorize the 12's times tables.
99. Decoupage one or more chairs. June 9, 2008
100. Donate $10 to World Vision for every item on this list not completed by Aug. 24, 2010.
101. Have a new "101 things" list in place to begin Aug. 25, 2010.

12/3/07: Check out Amanda's list.
1/15/08: And Brody's list.
7/29/08: And Lauren R.'s list.