It has been 626 days since I started and so far I have completed 55 of those 101 items. That leaves just 46 to do.

Forty-six over the next 375 days. I can do that, right?

Here’s a look at my list. The stuff in bold is what I have left to do. Well, except the start/end dates and category names which are also in bold. But I made those a different color to keep from confusing you and shit. Everything else on the list has been completed and marked with the date I finished and any relevant details.

Start date: Saturday, April 19, 2008    Finish date: Saturday, January 15, 2011

For Others
1. Participate in a walk for charity
2. Volunteer for a least one hour somewhere
3. Donate to a worthy cause (12.03.09–Sparrow’s Nest)
4. Write a letter to someone (4.19.2009)
5. Send a “just because” package to a friend
6. Send a “just because” package to a blogger buddy (5.13.08)
7. Give $5 to a stranger in need (4.10.09—Spohr family)

Health & Nutrition
1. Get back to goal weight
2. Exercise (cardio) 3 days a week for one month (6.5.09–7.5.09)
3. Do Strength Training 2 days a week for one month (6.5.09–7.5.09)
4. Do Yoga 3 days a week for one month (6.5.09–7.5.09)
5. Eat whole foods (nothing processed) for 3 days in one week
6. Buy bikes (again) and go on a long ride (6.07.08 rode to Penguin Palace & back—approx. 7 miles)
7. Do 10 “regular-style” push-ups
8. Eat breakfast (by 10 am) everyday for one week (7.18.08)
9. Do not eat after 10:30 pm for one week (7.18.08)

Family Time
1. Take G-tot to Butterfly House 8.05.08)
2. Take G-tot camping (just the 3 of us)
3. Travel overnight with G-tot (3.5.09–3.8.09—Rockford/Chicago)
4. Go to a corn maze
5. Take a hayride (9.26.08)
6. Take G-tot to Storytime at the library (9.18.08)
7. Take G-tot to the Art Museum (7.31.09)
8. Have a picnic with JQ & G-tot (7.11.08)
9. Become Zoo Members (4.27.08)
10. Take G-tot to an outdoor music event (7.11.08)
11. Get a family portrait taken
12. Take G-tot to the pool/beach (6.12.08)

Cooking & Entertaining
1. Make bracciole
2. Make a cake and frosting from scratch
3. Can something (homemade pasta sauce, homemade pickles, etc.) (6.29.08, rum soaked cherries)
4. Make creme brulee
5. Host an “Appetizers” party
6. Host a wine and cheese party
7. Make homemade ice cream (6.14.08)
8. Showcase the harvest from our garden in one meal (7.10.08, 7.15.08)

Arts & Crafts
1. Make a wooden “g” for G-tot’s door
2. Take an art class (preferably glass blowing)
3. Learn CSS (fall 2008)
4. Edit home movies into DVD’s
5. Learn Screenprinting (5.13.09)
6. Letterpress something again
7. Sketch everyday for one week (6.30.08)
8. Enter a photography competition
9. Exhibit my artwork in a gallery setting (Madhouse 6.18.09–6.30.09)
10. Create a short art film (abstract, documentary, or conceptual)
11. Create photo books
12. Make plaster hand print (G-man’s)

Gardening
1. Grow Melons or Pumpkins (2009 season, pumpkins/animals ate all blossoms)
2. Finish bird sanctuary in backyard (7.05.08)
3. Plant bulbs (4.19.08)
4. Enlarge garden (5.9.08)
5. Make a worm bin (composting)
6. Make a rain barrel
7. Make a yard compost bin
8. Build a platform bird feeder
9. Build a birdhouse
10. Make homemade suet cakes for birds (11.22.08)
11. Grow a root veggie (spring/summer 2008, green onions)

Domestic Life
1. Remodel bathroom (11.26.08)
2. Repaint the living room (7.24.08)
3. Create prints for the bedroom
4. Tile the back steps
5. Compile an emergency kit for home
6. Organize the office
7. Put up cabinets in office
8. Sell or donate unwanted items in basement (12.29.08)
9. Get all items from Gam’s that belong to us (7.26.08)

Meeting New People
1. Meet neighbors (Toby’s wife & son) (Christine & Chase 11.12.08)
2. Befriend Amanda (other neighbor) (Fall 2008)
3. Network at a design function (1.29.09—AIGA Toledo event)
4. Contact a stranger for a student group function (10.14.08 Madhouse)

Enriching our Lives
1. Canoe
2. Take a train ride
3. Visit an arboretum (preferably w/ Japanese gardens)
4. Go to planetarium
5. Meditate on regular basis (2-3 times per week for one month)
6. Learn to play Chess
7. Play Risk with JQ (12.25.08)
8. Go on a guided tour (park, museum, etc.)
9. Attend two Summer/Fall Festivals (Blackswamp, Crosby Gardens, Apple Butter, etc.)
10. Take at least one class towards my Master’s Degree
11. Take a dance class
12. Attend a religious service
13. Go to a book/poetry reading (Artomatic 4.18.09)
14. Go to an open mic event at a cafe/coffee shop (8:15s @ Manhattan’s 7.20.09)
15. Attend a play put on by a local theatre group (The Full Monty @ Toledo Rep 7.24.09)
16. Learn to play a kid’s tune on the guitar

General/Others
1. Obtain domain and launch website (2.02.09 & 3.24.09)
2. Launch Etsy shop (9.06.08)
3. Sell something on Etsy (9.11.08)
4. Take G-tot to a Mudhens Game (8.18.09, got game ball)
5. Enjoy a cup of coffee with a sunrise (12.25.09)
6. Read 10 books in 2008 (8.21.08)
7. Read 15 books in 2009 (11.10.09)
8. Read 20 books in 2010
9. Get up by 7:30 am every morning for one week (7.26.08)
10. Take public transportation (or walk/ride bike) for an entire day (5.27.08)
11. Wear fingernail polish for entire week (11.20.08)
12. Wear toenail polish for entire week (5.31.08)
13. Write a reflective essay about the process of 101 in 1001

I hit the 2008 goal in August of last year and this morning I hit the 2009 goal. I’m considering exchanging an unfinished item on my list with a new goal—read 20 books in 2010. Either way, setting those two goals have me back on the path to enjoying all the great—and not so great—literature out there. Plus, there is just something special about reading an actual book. Not listening to one—which is also great—or reading one on an electronic device, but an actual book. The crisp pages, the black ink set in a specific font, the cover art, the smell of the pages that instantly declare whether the book is new or old. I love it.

So here is what I read this year to hit my goal. Some were better than others with #13 and #14 being the worst. In any other situation I would have given up on #14 but I got to a certain point and I was committed. I could not give up. But the payoff? Not worth it. Oh well. I do find it interesting that entirely by accident I started and ended with a books written by David Sedaris. I guess I like his writing, #15 was a quick 2 day read after two painstaking weeks of reading a poorly typeset 250+ page crap heap that might have been a good story had it been only 20 pages.

But anyway, the list.

1. Me Talk Pretty One Day—David Sedaris, 1.09
2. The Graveyard Book—Neil Gaiman, 2.09
3. Watchmen—Moore/Gibbons, 2.09
4. Tuesdays with Morrie—Mitch Albom, 3.09
5. When You are Engulfed in Flames—David Sedaris, 5.09
6. It Sucked and Then I Cried—Heather Armstrong, 6.09
7. The Road—Cormac McCarthy, 6.09
8. Ender’s Game—Orson Scott Card, 7.09
9. World War Z—Max Brooks, 9.09
10. I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone—Stephanie Kuehnart, 9.09
11. Slaughterhouse Five—Kurt Vonnegut, 9.09
12. The Alchemist—Paulo Coelho, 10.09
13. The House on Mango Street—Sandra Cisneros, 10.09
14. The Picture of Dorian Gray—Oscar Wilde, 10.09
15. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim—David Sedaris, 11.09

Next up is Mercury Falls written by fellow blogger Rob “Diesel” Kroese. I’ll let you know what I think.