Go 24 hours without saying anything negative

I couldn’t think of a better day than New Year’s Day to give this one a hack. It helped that I wasn’t at work, but it was a good start to a new year.

Make yogurt from scratch

I’ve made about three batches and there’s only been one edible one. I’m not keeping the yogurt at a high enough temperature overnight, but I’ve tried everything to fix this and still no dice. The one edible batch was so, so good though… I’ll keep trying. Maybe now that it’s summer it won’t be so hard to keep the yogurt above 80 degrees overnight.

Drink only water for a month

Never again, never again. I actually drank water and no other beverages for 40 days and it was downright painful. Admitting that may make me pathetic, but honest.

Participate in Lent

My water-only time coincided with Lent this year, but I actually chose to give up swearing to complete this task. I pretty much failed miserably at that (seriously, I live in Green Hills, you really expect me to stop swearing at the soccer moms?), but at the end of April, I’d at least broken my terrible habit of involuntarily spewing obscene word-vomit. Balance. I’m calling it a success and toasting to it, because I can.

I hope to have a big update with about 12 more items to cross off very soon. In the meantime, I’ll keep making enormous car payments and reading a handful of books every month. The most rewarding goals are slow in the making.

The months seem to pass so quickly. I have knocked a few things off the new list, though. This time around I’m going to keep the list updated with the dates of completion and completed items in chronological order, because um, I am a compulsive list maker and I’ll be damned if you can stop me? I’m also going to try to finish the first list, of which I have 37 incomplete items. So really, I’m nearly six months into a 138-things-in-1001-days project, and that’s not really that daunting to me for some reason.

I think I need to find a new home for this blog so that I will actually remember that I need to do something with it. But that’s a project for another day and another time, or at least not 2:10AM on a weeknight.

There are a lot of things I am fairly disappointed about not completing. I can’t decide if I should add them to my next list or not.

I saw Aaron Sprinkle live. That was a fun last-minute surprise.

Whittling down the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm this week. I know, it’s the important things in life…

Could complete crafty things. Probably won’t. Making headway on a few more tangible goals. I hope to buy a bike soon. Maybe I will go bike shopping this week.

At this point the list is beginning to not matter.

My new list will start on June 22.

MAKE: Polaroid wall board
MAKE: A mosaic art piece
MAKE: My life’s soundtrack
READ: Ten marketing books
WATCH: A sunset
WATCH: Every episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm
WATCH: All Academy Award Best Picture nominations from 2000 to present
GO: Cherry picking
GO: Hiking in the mountains
GO: To see Aaron Sprinkle live
DO: Collect every state quarter
DO: Finish a journal
DO: A 26things Photographic Challenge
DO: Make another list
GET: 2″ wearable heels
GET: Every Radiohead release
GET: A professional massage
GET: A good bike

This would leave only 26 things undone, with solid plans on the books for at least four to happen. I’m about to book my flight to Jerusalem for October, I’ll be running a 5k and hopefully a half-marathon before then, and when I return from Jerusalem I’ll be getting my tattoo.

GO: To an oxygen bar

My mom and I went to this oxygen bar in Opry Mills when she was here visiting the last week of January. It was a fun experience, but definitely not worth the money to do every time.

LEARN: What my favorite flower is

I realized that I’ve always sort of known that my favorite flower is the orchid. I wonder how I never figured that out before.

GET: Contacts

I just got back from the optometrist and I have some wonderful new contacts in my eyes as I write this. It’s pretty wonderful to be able to see without having my glasses on.

MAKE: Postsecret submission
I sent this off over the summer (2008). It was never posted on the website, but it really wasn’t all that interesting. It prompted some serious thinking about other, “better” secrets that I should have sent. I’ll be sending more. It doesn’t really matter if they ever see the light of day again.

READ: 100 books in a year
I completed this in 2006, technically before I started the challenge. BUT I believe it was a noteworthy accomplishment, so I included it.

GO: On a date with someone I actually like
I started dating my amazing boyfriend on July 22, 2007. We’ve been on some pretty awesome dates. My favorite was when we went to Knoxville to see Jimmy Eat World as an early birthday present to me. One of the best nights of my life.

GO: Sightseeing in Washington, DC
I flew to DC in November 2007 to visit one of my best friends from Belmont who spent a semester there. I grew up hitting DC a few times a year on homeschool trips, but had been wanting to go back now that I’m old enough to appreciate it in a different way. I didn’t get to visit the Holocaust museum, so I’d like to go back at some point and see that (and revisit the Smithsonian museums as well).

DO: Leave $1 in a library book
This was one of the first things that I completed, in early 2007, but I don’t remember exactly when. I’m surprised that I didn’t update about it, because it was pretty exciting and I would have liked to remember what book I left the $1 in.

DO: Have $20,000 in a savings account
I had almost $19,000 in my savings account before I dropped $10k on my car’s down payment. A friend owes me another $2,000 which puts me well over $20,000. Too bad it was short-lived – But I consider my car a worthy investment.

DO: Get recertified in CPR
I was able to take a free CPR certification class through the sitter service that I work with part time. I’m officially certified for two more years by the American Heart Association (well, one more year – I completed this in January 2008).

DO: Write a wish, tie it to a balloon, and let it go
Amy and I bought some awesome balloons from the party shop at the end of my street. My balloon looked like a globe, and Amy’s balloon was tie dyed. Honestly, I don’t even remember my wish. I think it had something to do with world peace as a pseudo-joke on the global balloon, but seriously… world peace would be sweet. This was spring 2008.

DO: Participate in a paid focus group
Friday, December 12, 2008. I got $150 to sit around at Griffin Technologies and tell them that their ipod cases were all pretty ugly. It was awesome, except for the part where they rescheduled without telling me from the night before and I drove out there in the snow twice.

DO: Work with Food Not Bombs
Amy was brave enough to do this with me, and I have to admit that it was a little awkward entering an established group of friends and trying to pitch in and help out. This was probably one of the more difficult things I’ve done. I didn’t go back, but I learned a lot… mostly about the people providing the food.

DO: Carve a pumpkin
I carved my first pumpkin in October 2008, and it was an Obamalantern. Hilarious. Also a bit pathetic that it was my first, but better late than never.

LEARN: To change a car’s oil & filter
My friend Adria was moving to Jerusalem in August 2007, so I drove to Indianapolis for one last goodbye before she hopped on a flight. Her dad is awesome and suited me up in a mechanic’s jumpsuit and he taught me how to change the oil and filter in a car. Thanks, Dave.

LEARN: To like and cook fish
I can’t pinpoint an exact time when this happened, somewhere between becoming a vegetarian/pescatarian and realizing I needed way more protein.

LEARN: To knit
I learned once in college but completely forgot. I re-taught myself how to knit in the fall of 2007 and made a bazillion hats for everyone I know. Necessity is the mother of invention!

GET: A multivitamin that doesn’t make me nausious
Getting a capsule instead of a compressed tablet was the trick.

GET: Another piercing
I completed this one today (January 3, 2009)! I got a rook piercing in my left ear. My friend Libby wanted her navel pierced, so I decided to go along for the ride and get a piercing that I’ve sort of wanted for a while. Piercings are fun and semi-permanent.

GET: A record player & start a vinyl collection
My boyfriend gave me a brand new record player and my first new vinyl for Christmas last year (2007). I had been wanting the record player – it’s a Crosley that looks antiqued but includes an iPod jack and CD player – and it was the perfect gift.

GET: A doctor that I like
I sort of cheated on this one. I found a gynecologist that I like, but am still shirking around and haven’t found a PCP. I’ll probably do that before the end of the 1001 days out of necessity, though. And I LOVE my dentist too!

GET: A real piece of furniture
I bought myself a beautiful couch & loveseat set in January 2008. It only cost $450 on Craigslist, and the people even delivered it from Clarksville for me. The furniture is almost brand new and I’ll probably resell it at some point for more than I paid for it.

STOP: Sleeping on the floor
Some friends gave me a mattress out of pity… so after two straight years of sleeping on the floor/couch, I got a mattress in spring 2007. It does wonders for one’s back.

STOP: Spending money for one week – excluding bills
This was harder than one might think, being only a week… but the week that everyone wanted to hang out and do fun stuff seemed to be that week. I don’t remember when I completed it, sometime in 2008.

That’s it – a summary of everything I’ve completed this far. I’m doing a 26Things project this month, and hope to run a 5k at the end of the month (after completing my gym goal), so lots in progress. Feeling good.

MAKE: A theme blog project
Nashvillest.com is all I have to say. Not quite what I had in mind when I said “theme blog project,” but Nashville is our theme, it’s a blog, and holy hell is it a project.

GO: To Seattle
I did this at the end of April, and it was incredible. I also made it down to Portland to visit a friend, so I can check off another city that I’ve always wanted to visit but didn’t put on my list for some reason. I can’t wait to go back, but I’m not sure that I’d want to live there like I’d always thought.

GO: To ten different coffee shops in Nashville
I have probably been to 20 by now, but I tried to hit up different chains. And no Starbucks allowed. Here’s where I ended up going… Sip Cafe, Crema, Cafe Coco, Portland Brew (Murphy Rd, East, 12 South), Bongo Java (East, West), Fido, Edgehill Studios Cafe, Caffeine (RIP), Sam & Zoe’s, and I don’t really remember where else. Pretty much anywhere that serves caffeine.

DO: Get promoted
Most people get promoted before they get laid off; I chose the alternate route. Got the axe at EMI in April, decided to be self employed, picked up a part time gig with a film company, got suckered into an awesome job with an artist-management-gone-booking-agency-gone-record-label, wherein I received a significant pay increase and better working situations, so I’ll consider that a promotion and count my blessings without getting hung up on the technicalities.

DO: Have an article published
Well, I publish approximately 2039820982 of my own articles every week on Nashvillest. Which I have decided to make count, because we are officially making money on the blog, which means I was paid to write those articles. Win, win.

DO: Put coins in expired parking meters
Had all the best intentions of doing this in one of the cool cities I visited this summer so I would have a better story. Ended up tossing some change in expired meters at Cummins Station where I get my hair cut in good ol’ Nashville, but at least I finally did it. A big middle finger to the cops at Cummins Station, if you will. Thanks for that completely illegitimate parking ticket you gave me last year that I paid anyway because I’m a peaceful, law abiding citizen.

DO: Take a rainy day off to curl up, read, and drink coffee
Unemployment makes this oh-so-easy. And with my new, flexible working schedule, I fully plan on doing this again. Maybe with the work computer at home so I can contribute to society while doing so.

DO: Plant a garden
I planted a garden this spring, but the jury’s still out on whether I will actually see anything grow. Like, you know, other than five-foot-tall leafy plants with no fruits. Whateva.

DO: Finish this list
I can’t really tell what I meant by “Finish this list,” if I meant finish everything on the list or if I meant finish making it. I’m interpreting that as “finish making this list,” because I did that, and I think it would be lame to have the last item completed on my list be “Finish this list.”

STOP: Drinking caffeine for one month
Ha ha ha, here’s a great story about irony. I decide to stop drinking caffeine for the month of April. I get laid off my job on April 2. I decide to go to Seattle at the end of April. Let’s all laugh at me again, okay? Okay. So I picked one of the days I was in Seattle to cheat because who goes to Seattle without drinking coffee, right? And I drank about six billion cups of coffee that day and then made up for it by going without caffeine on May 1.

STOP: Hitting snooze on my alarm
Another good story. I tried to do this for a long time. I tried to set the habit by doing it for 21 days. Nothing worked until I went through my bout of unemployment and suddenly started getting up at 7 solely on my body’s internal clock, and the need for a 7am blog post on Nashvillest. Now I don’t hit snooze. Bravo.

WATCH: Every episode of Arrested Development
WATCH: Every episode of LOST
Lest you think I have no life, I promise that this was over the span of February – October 2007. Three seasons of each and I can definitely say they were an enhancement to my life!

WATCH: A sunrise
October 7, 2007 – Watched the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean from Nags Head, North Carolina with the best of friends. It was great.

GO: To a drive-in theatre
August 3, 2007 – A bunch of friends and I went to the drive-in in Kentucky. Decided to sit all six on a sleeping bag on a gravel parking lot through the double feature. Wise? Not so much. It was an experience though!

GO: To visit family in Vermont
This past May, my cousin Jody got married in Boston. Perfect opportunity for a New England vacation, right? I took off for a week and rolled that over Memorial Day for a nice 10-day vacation. Flew into Boston, drove up to Maine, spent a few days and then returned to Vermont for a few more days before heading out of Boston again.

GO: To a Sounds game
September 7, 2007 – Went to the fourth game in the playoffs. The Sounds were down 3-0 but they somehow won the night we went… we must have been good luck for them.

GO: Skinny dipping
October 6, 2007 – Also in Nags Head, with about 5 other girls. It was way more fun than I expected. The end.

More updates later.

LEARN: Photoshop
4/6/07 – Took a two-day course (thanks, EMI) on basic Photoshop stuff… but it was very helpful, and I think I can teach myself from here. Now to get the program back on my computer after the great crash.

GO: To an advance screening of a film
Sometime in January, Christy and I went to see <i>Amazing Grace</i>. Since I’m working the “Inspired By” soundtrack at work, they held an advance screening for us.

DO: Use green power
1/1/07 – Set up the electricity at my new place and the first thing I did was sign up for green power. Right now we’re not replacing all of our power blocks with green power, but it’s a step in the right direction.

GET: A black dress
2/4/07 – Had to get a dress for a wedding, and I found the perfect black dress. I should probably still obtain a more formal version, but for now this works.

WATCH: Every episode of The Office (US)
Over the course of sometime in January, I tore through the first two seasons and then caught up on the current (third) season, thanks to my dear roommate’s iTunes subscription. It was the best time of my life.

DO: Smoke hookah
Liz visited for spring break, we had some apple melon hookah, I got sick and had to lay around on the lawn to breathe for awhile. That’s the end of that exciting story. Next time, something less sweet please.