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!