Wednesday, April 27, 2016

My new friend

Hey guys! I'm still hard at work, riding the adrenaline of beginning my list. I think it's starting to set in just how much I have planned for myself, too, though.

However, I've greatly improved one aspect of the list this past week. I'd like to introduce you to my Fitbit:

I found him on sale on groupon (he's refurbished, but shh, don't tell him that - he's fabulous) for $40, so I couldn't resist. Now I can count all of my daily walking for my Walk to Mordor challenge (item #52), not just walks I take directly for that purpose.

I just got back from DC for a work trip and I'm so glad I had my Fitbit. On just one day of that trip I walked 6.5 miles. Heck (I also climbed 26 flights of stairs. Yikes!).

This will make things so much easier for me, and will also assist in doing my three months of health and sleep tracking (item #72). I also love love love all the graphs and data that Fitbit just keeps for you. So great.

How great is modern technology? The greatest, I would submit.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Week 1 Update

I love the energy I get when I start something new. I've gotten a lot done this week!

  • I read 4 Newbery Award and Honor books: Lincoln, A Photobiography (1988), Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices (1989), Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind (1990), and Maniac Magee (1991).
  • I walked 12 miles. What?
  • I started watching Your Lie In April for my Japanese language goal.
  • We had friends over for dinner: Spaghetti Carbonara, Za'atar crusted cauliflower, and Ginger Panna Cotta with Black Sesame Gelee. I'm not counting the panna cotta for my panna cotta goal because it didn't set right. I'mma try it again. But that's one dinner party down!
  • My first ponderizing scripture was 2 Chronicles 15:7: "Be ye strong therefore and let not your hands be weak: for you work shall be rewarded." I feel like writing it everyday is helping to internalize it.
  • Garrett and I started watching Adventure Time season 3. 
  • I decided on Uchtdorf to follow through his General Conferences, and I've read his first three talks. 
  • I listened to three episodes of This American Life: My Damn Mind, What I Did for Love, and Accidental Documentaries.
Woooooo 101 List! It's nice to have goals to work towards again. 

Thursday, April 7, 2016

101 3.0

It's hard to believe I'm on my third 101 List. By the end of this one, I'll have been doing them for almost 10 years! I'm pumped for this one. It's been a few months since my last one ended, so I'm raring to go!

Without further ado, I present my new list:

1. See Hamilton
2. Read all of the Yakitate!! Japan manga in Japanese
3. Watch 50+ episodes of Good Eats and cook 25+ corresponding recipes
4. See 10+ new plays live
5. Make 10+ recipes from Cooking With Dog
6. Send picture or video thank you notes for the duration of the list
7. Go to a banjo camp
8. Visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando with Garrett
9. For every feature film I watch during the list, watch a documentary
10. Year of baking
11. Ride the Heber Valley Railroad
12. Go to the Utah State Fair 
13. Attend at least one full day of the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival
14. Read the complete works of Shakespeare
15. Culling of the cookbooks
16. Finish a grown-up coloring book
17. Play 10+ Spiel des Jahres or Kennerspiel award winning games
18. Make bottle cap magnets
19. Re-read Harry Potter
20. Go to a food festival
21. Re-evaluate my favorite things (i.e. books, movies)
22. Watch the Up Series
23. Host a Rummikub tournament
24. Read a Newbery Award or Honor book for each year since I was born
25. Take one second of footage everyday for a year
26. Take a train trip somewhere
27. Keep a doodle journal for 3 months
28. Rank and chart Cinderella adaptations
29. Watch all Studio Ghibli movies in chronological order
30. Keep a gratitude journal for 3 months
31. Create my own topical guide of the scriptures
32. French "Fryday" blogposts for 3 months
33. Cook Meatless Mondays for 3 months
34. Pierogi making party!
35. go to 10+ new Provorem restaurants
36. Find the best dish of my choice in the area
37. Try 10+ new Indian dishes
38. Complete a 30-day project each month for 2 years
39. Take an internet course
40. Find my scent
41. Go on a new factory tour
42. Find the best waffle recipe
43. Read a biography of each President of the church
44. Become a master of small talk
45. Watch the nominees for Best Animated Picture for each year in the list
46. Make a 101 List report
47. Send a Christmas newsletter each year
48. Work through Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy
49. Learn 5+ songs on banjo
50. Learn 5+ songs on guitar
51. Learn 5+ songs on ukulele
52. Complete the Walk to Mordor challenge
53. Get a massage
54. Read/watch/listen to 30 min+ of Japanese media each week and keep vocabulary lists
55. No complaining for 1 week
56. Run a fun 5K
57. Take a road trip to Michigan
58. Have yearly family portraits taken
59. Visit a friend who lives far away
60. Either read or get rid of the books I own but haven't read
61. Try laughter yoga
62. Follow an elimination diet to see if I have food intolerances
63. Take a dance class with Garrett
64. Buy 5 new dresses that I love
65. Add pictures to our map for all western states
66. Make a new cosplay with Garrett
67. Build a fancy cake for someone
68. Have people over for dinner 10+ times
69. Cook a dish from 25+ different countries
70. Make homemade cheese
71. For 3 months, only buy what is on sale or what I have a coupon for
72. Track health and sleep for 3 months
73. Create a map of my heart
74. Find out my blood type and donate blood if they'll let me
75. See Saguaro National Park
76. Crochet an amigurumi
77. Watch 25+ new foreign films
78. Make mood playlists
79. Get up to 1000 HITs on Mechanical Turk
80. Make a young me/now me photo
81. Put $20 in the coin pusher games at the Nickelcade
82. blog updates weekly
83. Make a silly photo project
84. Keep a consumption instagram for 1 year
85. Go to the Penguin Encounter at the Living Planet Aquarium
86. Collect 10+ new smashed pennies and clean and organize my collection
87. Mark and annotate a Book of Mormon
88. Ponderize a scripture each week and handwrite that scripture each day
89. Create pie charts made of pie
90. Attend a Utah Old Time Fiddlers Association meeting
91. Beat Dinky Park
92. Catch up on Adventure Time
93. Try every available flavor of Red Button ice cream
94. Make 10+ new panna cotta recipes
95. Take a local cooking class
96. Follow an apostle through their General Conferences
97. Attend the Giant Pumpkin Regatta
98. Listen to 100+ episodes of This American Life
99. Make a peep diorama
100. Host a Miracle Berry party
101. Watch all of the Yakitate!! Japan anime with Garrett and re-create a bread from the show

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

101 Redux Results

Hi blogland! Long time no type, huh?

I finished my second 101 List on December 31, 2015 with a record-setting 75 items completed.

My reporting this time, though, was on my YouTube channel - I made a vlog for every item I completed - so I didn't post anything here. You can check out all the videos at this playlist: 101 List

I've waited a bit to start my next list and I'm feeling like that was a mistake. I quickly found myself starting to feel aimless. I wanted to wait, though, until I knew where I'd be living for the next few years, because, OH YEAH, I got married in the this gap, as well, and my husband was waiting for grad school decisions.

Now that we know we're staying around these parts for the next 2 years (woohoo!), I am ready to begin. Keep your peepers peeled for my new list, coming at you soon.