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I’m just about 10% of the way through my second 101 in 1001 challenge! Based on that, I should have about 10 items complete, and I’m happy to say I’m way ahead of schedule!
I’ve had a lot of fun with this so far, because I was so intentional when I started my list. These are truly things I want to accomplish, instead of things that would just be fun. They help me inform my monthly goals, which I think is why I’ve been so successful with it so far.
Without further ado, here’s where I’ve made progress so far in my 101 in 1001, Take 2!
21 Goals Completed
Wooooo! 21 goals down! I’m really proud of this number, only 10% of the way in. A lot of them were easier to cross off than the remaining ones, but that’s okay. As I said before, these were things that I really wanted to happen, so even if I’ve started with the easy ones, I’m still glad they’re crossed off.
14. Replenish our emergency fund.
This one was huge for us. With unexpected wedding and honeymoon expenses cropping up at the end of 2017, our emergency fund took a bit of a hit. We really prioritized this for our savings goals and got it back up to a much more comfortable spot!
17. Begin saving for a down payment.
On a similar note, we started saving for a down payment! We have no idea when we’re going to buy a house, but we want to have that money set aside in case we find one we love.
21. Stick to the keto diet for at least 3 full months.
I’m really proud of this one! Sean and I tried to do the keto diet a few years ago and failed, but we decided to try again. It’s basically a diet where you severely limit your carb intake and eat lots of healthy fats and protein. We started it as soon as we got back from our honeymoon in January, so we’re now at the 3-month mark! I talked with my doctor about it and she said she wanted me to try it for more than 3 months, so we’re going to stick with it!
It’s been a lot easier than I expected. We make a lot of our food from scratch, so it’s just changing up what we buy at the grocery store and have on hand. The hardest part is going out to eat, but we’ve been pretty lenient about it. We go out so rarely that if we want to order a burger on a bun, we get the burger on a bun.
24. Invest in a new fitness tracker.
I was so fortunate to receive this for my birthday from my parents and in-laws! My Fitbit Blaze that I got for my birthday in 2016 randomly stopped holding a charge, so I started researching new ones and decided on the Fossil Q Venture! I really wanted a round smartwatch, and the Venture was right up my alley! It’s not as robust as a Fitbit or an Apple Watch, but it’s exactly what I need.
37. Start and finish five blogging classes that I’ve already paid for.
I decided to crank this one out in about two weeks in February! I’m not sure it was the best approach because it felt like I was crossing things off of a list vs. actually implementing the things in the classes, but I’m still glad I did it. A lot of it wasn’t super applicable to my current situation, so I was glad to at least have them off of my list. Plus, I know what’s in the classes now, so I can always go back if I need to.
The classes I completed are The Productive Solopreneur by XO Sarah, Trello for Business by Think Creative Collective, Build Your Own VA by Brittany Berger, Hashtag Hero by Alex Tooby, and Tool School by Brittany Berger!
39. Order business cards with my new branding.
So proud of this one! I had been getting business cards for free at my old job, but they were now really out of date and had my maiden name on them. I decided to go big on these and ordered some from MOO with raised gloss on them. They look so good and professional! You can check out what they look like on my Instagram.
46 – 48. Print engagement / wedding / honeymoon photos and hang them up around the house.
I’m really glad I included these 3 on my 101 in 1001 list, because I’m not sure I would have done it if I hadn’t! Sean and I haven’t really put photos up in our house until now, so it was great to have an excuse to crank these out. We got our frames at IKEA and printed our photos at Costco, and they all turned out great!
53. Get a printer for the home office (or make the one we have actually work).
This one I crossed off as “good enough” because we don’t have a huge need for a functioning printer, but the one we had was taking up space and we couldn’t get it to work. We couldn’t find the right cords and we were out of ink, so I did some research and found both the cord and the ink on Amazon. The black ink doesn’t work for some reason, so we have to print things in blue or pink in order to read them, but again… not a huge, pressing need, so I’m calling it good enough.
56. Reorganize and consolidate my music files.
After having three different computers, my music files were a mess. They were in 3 different folders on my computer, plus there were some stragglers on my hard drive. I finally opened them all up in iTunes, stored them all on my iCloud account (so I can avoid this mess in the future) and sorted the songs that were missing artist or song information. It took a while but it feels so good to have it done!
61. Fix the button on my pea coat.
This is one of those “small bug nagging” tasks that was really easy to cross off. One of the buttons on my pea coat fell off a few years ago, and when it was fixed, the button was sewn back on through my pocket, meaning my pocket was sewn shut in the middle. Getting my keys out of it was a pain in the ass.
We had to take some of Sean’s clothes to the tailor, so I decided to take my pea coat there, too. She did a great job fixing it, and it was only $5! I probably could have fixed it myself, but I know the tailor did a much better job than I could have done. Maybe “learn to sew a button back on” can be on my next 101 in 1001 list?
63. Use up the yarn I have on hand by knitting hats and / or scarves to donate.
This one was really fun and relaxing! I had a ton of old yarn laying around, so I got out my knitting needles and made a bunch of scarves while binge-watching Grace and Frankie. Yes, please! I donated them to a local food bank, and they were super appreciative.
66 & 71. Go on a road trip. / Visit Chicago.
In March, Sean and I took a road trip to Chicago for St. Patrick’s Day! Some college friends live there and invited a big group of us since it fell on a Saturday this year. It was a bit overwhelming, but a lot of fun! Sean and I stopped at 3 Floyds on the way there and the way back and picked up some Zombie Dust and LazerSnake, too!
77. Go to a Paint and Pint class at Darkness.
Every few months, Darkness Brewing, the brewery down the street from us, hosts a Paint and Pint class. Sean and I had wanted to go for a while, so we decided we’d sign up for the next one we saw. Turned out it was a Valentine’s themed one, and we’d be painting each other. Not exactly what we expected, but still a lot of fun! We will not be hanging the paintings up in our house.
82. Go to a Cincinnati Cyclones game.
I love going to ECHL games because the tickets are so cheap. Sean and I went to a Cincinnati Cyclones game (they’re two levels below the NHL, for reference) back in February when they played the Kalamazoo Wings. We got really good seats near center ice, and I’m pretty sure we payed more for beer than we did for our seats.
92. Make cold brew coffee at home.
I’m sad to say I wasn’t very impressed with this experiment! I was looking forward to a good, strong cup of coffee, but I’m used to Americanos from my espresso machine, so I’m a bit spoiled. The cold brew just tasted watered down to me.
95 – 97. Beat LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 / Get all of the trophies in LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4 and 5-7.
These three felt silly and nerdy to include, which is why I loved them! I got LEGO Harry Potter for Playstation last year and never really did much with it, so I decided I needed to beat the second game and then go back and get all of the Playstation trophies for all of them. I spent way too much time with the Playstation in January, and I have no regrets.
17 Goals in Progress
In addition to the 21 goals I’ve completed, I’ve got another 17 that are in progress!
1. Beat my past 101 in 1001 record of 42.
First, most obviously, is to beat my previous record of 42. And amazingly, just a few months in and I’m halfway there! Here’s hoping I can keep up the momentum.
3. Read 75 books.
I’ve been reading a bit lately, but not quite as much as I’d like to. My goal is to read for 30 minutes every day, and hopefully in the future I can increase that to 45 minutes or an hour every day.
So far I’ve finished 5 books of the 75: Brisingr by Christopher Paolini, Inheritance by Christopher Paolini, Turtles All the Way Down by John Green, First Test by Tamora Pierce, and Page by Tamora Pierce. Don’t forget, you can keep up with my progress on Goodreads!
4. Ready and get rid of 25 books that I already own.
On a similar note, I’m hoping to downsize my book collection by actually reading the books I own instead of getting all of them from the library. So far I’ve read and gotten rid of two books: Brisingr by Christopher Paolini and Inheritance by Christopher Paolini. The other books I’ve read have been Kindle books from the library.
6. Officially change my last name.
I’ve made progress on this! I’ve done the first step, so now I just need to keep up the momentum.
16. Pay off our student loans.
We make pretty good progress every month. One set should be gone by June, then it’s just tackling the last big chunk!
20. Fulfill all of the prerequisites for Advanced Adult Aerial classes at the Cincinnati Circus.
There are 14 prerequisites to be able to join the Advanced Adult Aerial classes at the Cincinnati Circus. I’ve currently met three of them: standard climb to the ceiling, Russian climb to the ceiling, and Man in the Moon with 3 wraps. I need to start going back consistently and working out my arms outside of class before I’ll be able to cross any more of them off!
22. Lose 30 pounds.
I’m doing much better than expected with this one! I thought it would take a solid 12 months of really hard work, but apparently for my body it only takes a little bit of exercise and the keto diet (#privilege). It’s been 3 months so far, and I’m down 16 pounds!
33. Update my portfolio website, including my new URL.
This was on my list of goals for February, March, and April, but I’m… making progress. I really hope to be done with it this month, but we’ll see what happens!
34. Decorate and settle into my new office at work.
When I originally wrote this list, I was referring to a different office than I’m actually in now! I was going to be sharing an office with our graphic designer (whom I shared an office with before construction as well), but then we were offered our own offices and we jumped on it! I moved in a few weeks ago and love it. I’m around people again (our other office wasn’t), and it’s really cool to have my own space.
I’ve got some decorations up, but I’m giving myself some time to get used to the layout and make sure everything flows well before I continue with more decorations. I’m thinking I’ll get a macrame wall hanging and lots of plants once I’m at that stage!
38. Donate at least $250 to the ACLU of Kentucky via my business income.
At the beginning of the year I decided to set aside 10% of all of my blogging income to go to the ACLU of Kentucky. I love the ACLU, and I wanted to support the local chapter, so I set a goal of $250 within my 1,001 days. I’m hoping it doesn’t take that long!
I’m making donations quarterly, so the first one happened on April 1! So far I’ve donated $54, which is a really good first step!
41. Post to Instagram Stories every day for at least a month.
I’ve tried and failed this challenge two or three times now (I’ve lost count), but April is going really well so far! I’ve come up with a better reminder / tracker system, so I’m not randomly forgetting a day. To check out what I’ve been posting, give me a follow at @andpossiblydinosaurs!
44. Completely finish the And Possibly Dinosaurs rebrand.
I’m so close guys! I’ve finished all of the header images for the live site. I just need to go through and republish old posts / create header images for them, and then make sure all of my MailChimp automations are updated. I’m confident this will be done by the end of April!
52. Reorganize the laundry area.
Our laundry area was a mess before, with those wire shelves that everything wants to fall through. I got this vinyl cover for them which helped a lot, and then I organized everything and got rid of things we weren’t using. Now I just need to hang up the Swiffer, the broom, etc. and I’ll be able to cross this off the list!
59. Create a “home book” with information for our bills, etc.
I added this to my 101 in 1001 after two family friends died suddenly. It freaked me out, since I’m the one who manages our finances and pays our bills. If I died suddenly, I don’t know that Sean would know where to begin. (Sorry to be morbid! But it’s the truth.)
I started this project and have it outlined, but having the motivation to fill it in has been hard. Probably because of how morbid it is. Here’s hoping I can crank it out soon!
75. Try 10 new restaurants or breweries in Cincinnati.
This one is a bit more fun! So far Sean and I have tried 3 new restaurants or breweries in Cincinnati: West Side Brewing, Tap & Screw, and Barleycorn’s. Okay, Sean wasn’t there for Barleycorn’s, but I’m still counting it.
We get so stuck in our comfort zone that it’s been nice having an excuse to try some place new!
88. Try 25 different dark beers.
I’m not a big dark beer fan, so I added this to my 101 in 1001 list to give them another shot. It’s hard to tell if I don’t like dark beers in general, or if I just haven’t found the right dark beers for me yet. So far I’ve tried 5 and I can tell I’m warming up to them!
The dark beers I’ve tried so far are: Founders KBS, Braxton Labs Buckeye Stout, Braxton Brewing Graeter’s Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip Milk Stout, Darkness Brewing Beach Park After Dark, and Left Hand Brewing Company Nitro Milk Stout.
90. Try 10 different IPAs.
I had a similar approach to IPAs, but I was already more comfortable with IPAs than dark beers, so I decided to limit this one to 10 instead of 25. Clearly it’s been easier for me, since I’m already at 6!
The IPAs I’ve tried so far are:Darkness Brewing Raygun IPA, Braxton Labs IPA #001, Stone Brewing Hop Revolver IPA, Stone Brewing Ruination Double IPA 2.0, Stone Brewing IPA, and 3 Floyds LazerSnake, March 2018.
Whew! Lots of progress has been made on my 101 in 1001: Take 2 list, but I’ve still got a long ways to go. Thanks for joining me on this journey!
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