Well I am definitely failing at posting my 20 updates per year... I only had 4 updates in 2017 between this blog and my main page.
Even though I've done a terrible job keeping up my blog, I am making pretty good progress on my 101 list.
Here are some updates:
1. Send Aunt Nancy thank you gift
Done! I sent her a thank you card around Christmas with some caramels, a bracelet that I found in Charleston, and some fun cocktail napkins. She sent me a lovely email afterwards and I think that I did well with my choices. :)
3. Participate in a Food Stamp Challenge each year during 101 list (1/3)
This I'm not doing very well with. I am trying to reduce our spending, so we might do two weeks of Food Stamp challenge in 2018, but not sure that I'll get a chance to blog about them.
4. Be a relentlessly positive person for an entire week
I need to choose a week to do this - it's going to be tough!
5. Draft MGAS administration policy
I am planning to discontinue my involvement with the scholarship. I'm not going to get into it, but the organization has left a bad taste in my mouth and I really don't think that my dad would be thrilled with the direction it has gone.
6. Find a cause that I love and donate money or volunteer my time
I'm marking this off. I've been donating to a lot of different organizations over the past year or so. Time is something that I don't have in large quantities right now, so I'm choosing money. I also discovered a cool app called Charity Miles, where companies sponsor your miles and you earn 25 cents per mile for walking/running. So far I've logged 73 miles, which is a bit shy of $20. I love that I'm doing double duty - raising money for Feeding America WHILE I'm getting some exercise.
8. Pay it forward – pay for a stranger’s coffee or lunch at least once per year of 101 (2 of 3 complete)
I do this somewhat regularly (maybe 10 times since I started this list) - typically when I'm in a bad mood. It's a good way to reset my day and do something positive.
11. Decide if I'm going to get my Bachelors in Business Admin and sign up to do it
I have my transcripts and just need to set up a meeting with an advisor at UMUC to go over my options. If there is another bachelor's degree program that will get me the piece of paper faster, I will go that route.
12. Participate in a Lady Caroline’s Players Production
I'm currently in rehearsals for My Fatal Valentine! I have a larger role than I really wanted or expected to get, so jumping back in to this kind of thing last minute has been slightly more stressful than I was expecting.
14. Take a one month Facebook vacation
I know that I've already done this, but I wanted to throw it out here again - I was much happier without Facebook on my phone. I'm thinking of deleting the app again. Unfortunately, my book club group is on there and there is no more Facebook groups app.
18. Determine cost basis for my two lonely MTB shares
This is completed and I sold my shares. It amounted to about a $1400 loss... crazy!
19. Get a new headshot
Done!
20. Update my LinkedIn profile
Done!
27. Make Jay a new mug
Took care of this while my SIL Colleen was visiting over Christmas.
29. Decide on our next vehicle for when Roxie (Civic with 300k+ miles) finally dies
We bought another Forester back in November. Roxie was not actually dead - and she has 350k miles on her. However, her CV joints needed to be replaced along with some other things. The repair bill was over $1000, which was more than she was worth. She was a damn good car and she served me well for 13+ years.
34. Come up with a food storage plan/supplies for our family for 2+ weeks
We have this - I can't remember if I posted about it or not. Mostly it's rice and beans and cereal. We just have extra and cycle everything through so that it doesn't get stale or go bad.
36. Come up with a regular date night plan
I said that I was going to mark this off, but we do need one. Jay is in the show with me too, so right now our date nights are a lot of work!
37. Use our timeshare at a sister resort (not in the DR or Mexico)
We're planning to use the RCI exchange sometime this year.
40. Go on a last-minute vacation
We may do this sometime this year with a Travelzoo deal.
43. Go on a 3 (or more) night girl's trip and act totally ridiculous at least one night
We had this somewhat planned, but I am not sure if it will happen.
44. Go on a book club trip (Debbie must be there!!)
The girls trip was / is the book club trip. :)
45. Spend a fun weekend in DC with Angela and Tiffany
We need to make this happen!
47. Blog about each UNESCO site I visit (0/5)
I need to do this.
48. Plan a trip to the Outer Banks
Not only planned, but we have booked the
Great Blue Heron in Avon for August.
49. Attend a murder mystery dinner theatre
This will be done on February 10th - I am attending it AND acting in it. I think I should get bonus points for this.
55. Do an Escape Room adventure
We did this for Jay's birthday at
Shore Escape Rooms - we got out and it was a lot of fun!
60. Dive a wreck
We will probably go wreck diving while we are in the Outer Banks.
61. Get to 50 dives (20 @ time of list) by the end of this 101 list – (current 34)
We'll be getting some diving in this summer at Dutch Springs and possibly getting a few dives in with any last minute trips. I think we might need to get a new dive computer for Jay too, his battery back is all jacked up.
62. Try out diving at Dutch Springs
I think we'll do that this summer before our OBX trip. We have some friends who are about to get their certifications, so I am pretty excited to have some other buddies to go diving with.
63. Hike Old Rag
Some old coworkers of mine and I were talking about having a reunion of sorts this fall. Maybe this will happen then, or maybe Jay and I will celebrate our anniversary early and have a weekend away to do this.
65. Go one week without coffee and/or caffeine
I'm not afraid to say it - I am addicted and if I go one day without caffeine, I get a migraine. SO I think the best way to do this is to just cut back to 1 or 2 cups of coffee a day. This one just seems unwise for me from a health perspective!
69. Make at least six attempts to duplicate Sara’s favorite pasta sauce
Sara hasn't told me which is her favorite, so we're starting to run out of time. Also, six attempts is kind of a lot. Maybe three tries is more realistic. I just found a recipe for Vodka sauce, so I think I'm going to try to make that more often. It's kind of pricey at the store, but it's also an expensive sauce to make, since it has vodka and heavy cream in it.
71. Dinner with Jay at Charleston in Baltimore (tasting menu w/ wine)
Jay and I had an extraordinarily expensive dinner IN Charleston at
McCrady's Restaurant. It was slightly obscene with the amount of money we spent, but I don't regret it at all. It will be a meal that I remember for the rest of my life. It was that good, and that imaginative. Maybe we will eat there to celebrate our 8th anniversary.
75. Have a yard sale or take a load to the auction
We really need to do this... in our to-dos for 2018, we are going to begin cleaning out the attic. It's time to get rid of stuff.
76. Can tomatoes or sauce from my garden
I think that this will be more realistic once I'm comfortable making sauces from scratch.
81. Help Jay design & assemble outdoor fire pit area
Our fire pit itself is complete, although we want to dig out the area around it and put in some gravel or river rocks. Jay also was thinking of building a swinging bench on one side.
83. Print and frame pics of at least ten new friends/family to hang in hallway
I ordered them, but then realized that I ordered the wrong size. SO I will need to redo this.
85. Build a backyard deck
This was supposed to happen in the spring, then the summer, then the fall of 2017. It never came to fruition. Maybe in 2018.
89. Find a place that will butcher our chickens for us
Sudlersville meat locker will do this, but I think we will probably give them away instead. I had planned to give them away before winter set in, but alas it did not happen.
92. Make a donation at least once a year to Purple Heart (2 of 3)
I have another pick up scheduled for January 25th. Although I do choose Purple Heart sometimes, I have also been donating to National Federation for the Blind, because they are higher rated on Charity Navigator.
99. Buy a new DSLR
I'm not going to do this because I'm not using the one that I have often enough. Now if I begin to take more photos, I may do this.
100. Post at least 20 updates a year to blog/101 list
Failing miserably. But I will say that if I make it to 60 posts between 2017, 2018 and 2019, I will count the aggregated total.
That's my update for now! I'll be posting some fun stuff on the main blog... check it out!
