101 in 1001 #4, Check-In #3 – And Possibly Dinosaurs

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I’m now 30% of the way through my fourth 101 in 1001 list!

For those two don’t know, a 101 in 1001 is a list of 101 things I’d like to accomplish in 1,001 days, or about 2.75 years. I’m on my fourth list, with each one starting exactly one day after the previous one ends. I check in on my list with a blog post every 100 days, which is about 10% of the way through the list, and now that I’m 300 days in, it’s time for a check in!

Warning: there’s quite a bit of hockey in this list. 😅

9 Goals Completed

I’m excited to say I’ve completed 9 more goals in the last 100 days, which still puts me 6 goals ahead of schedule so far with 36 out of 101 completed.

8. Journal every day for a month.

I really love the idea of journaling, but I struggle to stick with it. (I have the feeling I’m not alone in that…) I thought I found a great solution in the Finch app, which I’ve been using religiously for just more than 6 months now. I wrote a medium-sized reflection every day for an entire month… and then promptly stopped journaling again. I still use the app a lot, but not for journaling. But oh well, at least I crossed this item off my list!

27. Upgrade our towels.

This is one of those “it was super easy, I just need to prioritize it” tasks. We had still been using our old towels from waaaay back when we lived in Cincinnati, and time had done a number on them. Those have since been turned into rags, and I ran to Target to get a really nice, fluffy set of blue bath sheets.

44. Go to a Red Wings home game.

The first of the hockey items to be crossed off the list! (Maybe for the fifth iteration there will be a whole section devoted to hockey…) At the end of January, Sean and I did a short weekend trip over to Detroit to see the Red Wings play the Vegas Golden Knights. It was so fun—and we won! Plus, we got to meet Lance, the team organist, who was so sweet! (And who inspired me to get a pair of sparkly red boots for the next item on the list…)

45. Go to a Red Wings away game.

Less than two months after the Red Wings home game, Sean and I traveled with some of my family members to Scottsdale for a Spring Training trip, and the Red Wings happened to be playing the Arizona Coyotes the same weekend! We knew we had to go, since the game was played at Mullett Arena, the arena for Arizona State’s hockey team. It’s a whole story, but it’s a humorous blip in the NHL timeline, and we knew we had to participate. And it’s a good thing, because they are no longer going to be playing at Mullett Arena (or in Arizona at all).

(And yes that photo is in Arizona, despite it looking like a Red Wings home game…)

46. See a Cirque du Soleil performance.

Another travel item off the list! Sean and I went to Orlando back in February for a work trip, and to celebrate my birthday, we saw Drawn to Life Presented by Cirque du Soleil at Disney Springs! There wasn’t quite as much aerial entertainment as I hoped, but it was still absolutely amazing.

50. Buy a medium-sized suitcase.

Sean and I each got a Carry-On and a Large suitcase from Away before our wedding so that we could use them for the combination wedding / mini-moon trip and again for our honeymoon. Of course, we needed the Large for these trips because we needed lots of stuff / were going to be gone for a long stretch of time. But on smaller trips, my Large now seems… like overkill. So I finally treated myself to a Medium Flex suitcase and got it in a super fun hot pink color! (P.S. use my referral link to get $20 off your first suitcase from Away!)

52. Go to a Kalamazoo Wings game.

I swear, this is my last hockey update for this check-in! When making the Local section of my fourth 101 in 1001 list, I knew I wanted to check out all of the local sports teams (and by local, I mean local—Kalamazoo, not Grand Rapids!). Sean and I went to one of the last Kalamazoo Wings games of the season, which was also the combination Scooby Doo Night and Bring Your Dog to the Game Night! We left Stanley at home (he would not have enjoyed himself) but had such a fun time seeing all the dogs. Plus, the themed jerseys were ridiculous. In the best way.

59. Make paczkis.

Growing up in Catholic school in west Michigan means I fell in love with paçzkis (POONCH-key). They’re a traditional Polish donut that are very common in Michigan on Fat Tuesday. In fact, I call it “Paçzki Day” instead of Fat Tuesday. I wanted to try making my own, and, well… I did. I’m glad I tried, but it was difficult and I don’t think they turned out great, so I’ll stick to purchasing them from here on out. 😂

88. Listen to all (previously unplayed) episodes of 99% Invisible.

If you’ve had any type of conversation with me in the last few years, I’ve probably brought up the podcast 99% Invisible. It’s my absolute favorite. It’s a podcast about design and architecture, especially the things we all interact with but don’t really think about (that is… the things that are 99% invisible to most of us). A few years ago I started at the very beginning (way back in 2010) and I finally made my way through aaaaall the episodes, up to the present. And don’t worry, I’m working on a post where I list out all of my favorites. (Warning: there are many.)

15 Goals in Progress

In addition to being quite a bit ahead, I’ve also made progress on another 15 goals!

1. Beat my past 101 in 1001 record of 68.

As mentioned above, I’m now at 36, which means I’m more than halfway to this goal!

9. Hike 5 times.

When we went to Arizona in March, I went on a hike with my husband and my sister called Tom’s Thumb. It was tough, so I ended up stopping about halfway and waited for them to finish the hike, but I’m so glad I went!

12. Be able to do the splits in any one direction.

I downloaded two apps to help me stretch! I need to get back in the habit of doing stretches every morning, but I’ve at least got the tools.

13. Finish my allergy shot treatment.

I keep going regularly! I’m just over two years into a 3-5 year process, and my allergist wants me to stop taking my daily allergy meds once pollen season is behind us so we can see how the shots have been impacting my day-to-day life.

16. Add built-in bookshelves to my office.

These still aren’t done, but I’ve made great progress, and they’re incredibly useful already! In the second check-in, I had one “leg” of my desk built, plus two bookshelves on top of my desk ready. I’ve now got three bookshelves behind my desk, and both “legs” of my desk (they’re two dressers, but they’re what my desk sits on, so that’s a leg, right?) plus the tabletop bookshelves still up. I need to get the extenders onto the desk shelves, then secure everything, trim it out, and paint it all!

28. Build a pergola in the backyard.

We’ve decided what we’re going to do for this one! We were originally going to build one ourselves, but Sean found a great option that’s metal with motorized louvers, so we’re going with that! Now we’re saving up before we order it.

34. Update our Home Book each year.

I updated the home book for 2024 in February! Now I just need to keep it up for the next two years and I’ll cross this one off.

47. Travel to 5 Holiday Inn Club Vacations resorts (not including Orange Lake Resort).

I took two trips to two more resorts in the last 100 days! We had a short stay at Orlando Breeze Resort back in February, and in March, my family and I stayed at Scottsdale Resort. Just one more and I can cross this off! Nothing planned yet, but we’ve got some ideas we’ve been throwing around.

53. Go to a Kalamazoo FC game.

We have tickets purchased for an upcoming game!

69. Learn to felt.

I’ve purchased a kit for this. Now I just need to start it up and see how it goes.

79. Read all of my Book of the Month picks.

I’ve read more books, but the total of books keeps going up, too! I’ve read 4 more books, but I’ve purchased 11 more, so I’m currently at 17/64. Thankfully my subscription is paused for a few months, so hopefully I can catch up.

82. Read the Animal Ark series.

I have read 3 more of these since the last check-in, putting me at 19 total out of 50.

85. Read 10 self-help books.

I’ve kind of made progress on this one. I started reading one in February, but I ended up really disliking it, so I didn’t finish. For this item, I really want to finish 10 self-help books, so I’m not counting it for my total, keeping me at 1.