December 2019 Update - A Decade of 101 Lists

It's the end of a decade, and in fact, the end of the decade in which I started doing these crazy lists. It's so weird to think I've had one on for the majority of the past ten years, but it's so hard to imagine life without one now at the same time.

Completed:
48. attend a midnight or candlelight Christmas Eve service

• We attended the midnight service at Eureka Methodist Church with my mom and her husband. It was pretty okay. I would have chosen a different one, but Mom was already going and it is right down the street from her isolated residence. They alternated between scripture readings and hymns and then they turned out the lights and we lit our candles before the last song - "Silent Night." I think I would go to one again if it was a larger church with a more involved service. 

97. get an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, and Procreate

• On Black Friday, G and I were shopping in Spokane and we went to Best Buy where I found him grinning in a wily manner near the iPads after a restroom break for my tiny bladder. The way he was looking at me made me think he had already purchased one for me, but he had not. We tried one out and tested the different sizes and while very tempting, I still wasn't sold that it was the time to spend so much on myself, so we left. Then G launched into a very passionate defense of the purchase, saying that I'd already proven I can make art every day without it, and it's obviously something I'm going to continue doing, so I might as well level up my tools. Thinking of it more as a reward/investment changed my mind and we ordered one (along with Apple Pencil and case) when we got home! I wouldn't let him give it to me until Christmas, so I've just received it, and man, is it fun. I am looking forward to using it a ton and learning from Procreate tutorials this coming year!

Updates:
23. see 30 new animated films (13/30)

• We saw two new movies this month: Frozen II and Klaus. We enjoyed Klaus, mostly for the animation, as it's 2D, hand-drawn. Didn't super love the flow of the story, but it had some good moments. Frozen II, on the other hand, is a masterpiece. I've seen it twice this month and cried, like, the entire time both times. I love the music and the animation and the story. The story really resonates with me at this point in my life, so I think that's also why it has such a big impact, but heck, it's a good film. I've been listening to the soundtrack on repeat and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. I might even see this one in the theater a couple more times.

24. add 10 new enamel pins to my collection

• G got me two new pins for Christmas! One is NSFTB (not safe for the blog - whoops!) and the other is a pink Pokemon cartridge with Jigglypuff on it, because we always joke about how I would want to play a Pokemon game with just the cuties. It also sparkles. :)

56. make and give 10 art gifts (9/10)

• Christmas is over and if I had just made one more gift I could be done with this one!! I made so many things for people this year, though. I always worry that people won't appreciate my art gifts, but I think if they don't appreciate them, they're not the right people to give them to. Everyone I gifted to liked them immensely and it was a real self-esteem booster and it made me happy to have created something so personal for each of them, as well. 

59. publish a yearly best of list

• I think this is replacing our Christmas newsletter, as it kind of contains everything we put in one anyway. :) As usual, it was super fun to look back on the year and put things together.

91. play 20 games from Board Game Geek's top 100 (4/20)

• With many thanks to Emily and Jonathan, we played 3 new games just in the past 2 days! We played A Feast for Odin (liked it), 7 Wonders: Duel (loved it!), and Rising Sun (which was full of betrayal and disaster and I hate it, but I did get cute turtle strongholds).

2020 Focus:
15. Wilkes Weekly newsletter
16. visit 3 new National Parks (1/3)
17. create a workable studio space in our home
21. read 30 new Newbery award or honor books (22/30)
31. a year of (silly) holiday celebration
32. go to Japan with Garrett
33. attend ECCC or another major con with Garrett
44. see a touring Broadway show
46. keep a cleaning schedule throughout the list (I have been miserably terrible at this so far)
47. go through the Coverville backlog56. make and give 10 art gifts (9/10)
60. r/52weeksofcooking - year-long cooking challenge
75. get business cards
76. maintain a personal website
77. create an etsy shop
80. enter art into the county fair
87. cook all recipes from Spice Madam subscription (4/6)
99. complete a reading challenge
101. learn 10 new calligraphic hands

We'll see how things go! I'm optimistic heading into the new year!

Wow, 6 months, really? November 2019

Forgive me, as this will probably post in December, but please know that I started it on November 30th. :)

Completed:
None, actually! Whoops! I did feel like I did a lot of work on things, though. Have some updates!

Updates:

11. study 12 famous chefs and cook 5 of their recipes each (1/12)

• I finished my last recipe from Molly Yeh - her recipes are such a delightful combination of cultures. 

17. create a workable studio space in our home

• I lucked into some free art storage pieces when a friend was cleaning out their garage, so hopefully I can get this done soon! I should take a before picture, haha - it's pretty bad - but I have hopes it will be organized soon!

21. read 30 new Newbery award or honor books (22/30)

• Just two this month, but I finished up the Little House books! I liked the last two best, probably. 

23. see 30 new animated films (11/20)

• We saw Smallfoot yesterday evening, so we just squeezed it in for November! The message was a bit heavy-handed, but one that resonated with us deeply. We had originally written this one off as not worth our time, but I'm glad we watched it!

43. subscribe to 5 art magazines for a year (2/5)

• I got year subscriptions for Bound and Lettered and Letter Arts Review from John Neal and they already sent me my first issues! The former is more instructional, and the latter more inspirational. I think they'll be good for me!

87. cook all recipes from Spice Madam subscription (4/6)

• I got the New Orleans recipes done this month! Jambalaya, gumbo, maque choux, and roasted oyster mushrooms. Yum! I skipped the dessert, though, because it was deep-fried, and it didn't even use any of the spices from the box, haha. 2 more boxes to go and I'll be done (Israel and Goa, India)

91. play 20 games from Board Game Geek's top 100 (1/20)

• We got the first one in: Agricola! It's a fun farming game and it's been around for a while - if it's still in the top 100, I guess you know it must be good (it was)! I might need to expand this to the top 200, or allow for replaying ones in the top 100 I've played before because otherwise this one is going to be very expensive, haha.

As 2019 wraps up, I'm thinking about plans for 2020! I'm currently planning on doing the year of holiday celebrations (#31), the year-long reading challenge (#99), and along with that, truly reading 100 books in a year on the list (#4). We'll also be going to ECCC (#33) and maybe even Japan, too, if we can swing it (#32)! I'm wrapping up my year of daily art (not even a 101 list item) and thinking about a year of beautiful writing for next year to focus on lettering and calligraphy (again, not even a 101 list item, but I may be getting a special Christmas gift that will help me with that and also fulfill a goal item :) [#97]). I probably need to add a cooking goal to 2020 so I'm not doing all the huge cooking projects in 2021, though. Gotta think it all through!

I also can't let 2020 take over quite yet - I have a few things to take care of in December still! I should have good updates for you next month. I hope you're all making it through this busy time of year!