My failed 101 Things in 1001 Days

Hails of Coffee Helps inspired me to take part in this challenge.

The mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.
The criteria: Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e. represent some amount of work on my part).

I decided to start my project on my 26th birthday, 13th August 2009, which makes my end date Thursday, 10th May 2012.

Tasks that are completed will be crossed out.
Tasks that are in progress will be in italics.

The Places I will Go
1. Take an intensive Spanish course in Spain
2. Visit 5 places in Germany that I’ve never been to before (5/5) (Mainz 12.12.09, Weil der Stadt 21.11.2010, Koblenz 23.4.2011, Hildesheim 22-24.9.2011, Bad Wimpfen 30.11.2011)
3. Eat frog’s legs in France, fondue in Switzerland and goulash in Hungary (0/3)
4. Go to Europapark (theme park near Freiburg)
5. Go for a ride  in a hot air balloon
6. Go to the Christmas market in Ettlingen (Done on 10 Dec. 2010)
7. Go to 5 other Christmas markets (not including Karlsruhe) (4/5) (Cologne – Nov 2009, Mainz, Mannheim – Dec 2009, Heilbronn – Nov 2011)
8. See the Northern Lights
9. Go on the London Eye (Done in August 2010)
10. Go to Berlin with my boyfriend
11. Go to Luxembourg
12. Buy a 24 hour ticket for the Karlsruhe transport network and spend the day visiting different towns
13. Go on a boat on the Rhine
14. Go on an overnight train journey and spend the night in a sleeping compartment (train to from Munich, Germany to Padova, Italy, 28.12.2009)
15. Have a picnic in a town I’ve never been to before (English picnic in Ludwigshafen, 23.08.2009)

Reading, Watching, Listening

16. Read 50 books from the list of books I want to read (which you can find here). (45/50)
17. Read 15 non-fiction books (12/15) (1. Brilliant Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, 2. Emotional Intelligence: Journey to the Centre of Yourself, 3. Eating for Britain, 4. Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue, 5. Teach Yourself Philosophy, 6. A Brief History of the Circumnavigators, 7. Names & History, 8. The Making of Modern Britain, 9. Tales of Hi and Bye, 10. A Brief History of British Kings and Queens, 11. Why the West Rules – For Now, 12. How the Mind Works)
18. Read all 20 of the Little Vampire books in the original German (7/20)
19. Read War and Peace
20. Read all of the Anne of Green Gables books (0/9)
21. Read 5 biographies/autobiographies (these will not count towards the 15 non-fiction books!) (4/5) (1. The Tale of Beatrix Potter, 2. Essential Biographies: Charles Dickens, 3. Farewell But Not Goodbye (Sir Bobby Robson)) 4. Alan Shearer: My Story So Far
22. Read 5 German children’s books (5/5) (1. Das doppelte Lottchen by Erich Kästner, 2. Märchenmond by Wolfgang & Heike Hohlbein, 3. Konrad oder Das Kind aus der Konservenbüchse by Christine Nöstlinger, 4. Das Vamperl by Renate Welsh, 5. Der durch den Spiegel kommt by Kirsten Boie)
23. Watch every episode of ER – to make life easier for me I will count it down by season. (3/15)
24. Watch 10 films from the “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die” list (1/10) (1.  Crash)
25. Watch a film in Spanish (Biutiful on 14 March 2011)
26. Go to the cinema 10 times (4/10) (Up on 19.09.2009, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus on 12.01.2010, Inception in Aug..2010, Antalya in 2011, Iron Sky on 8 April 2012)
27. Watch 5 films from the year I was born (0/5)
28. See a Shakespeare play (not Oddsocks!)
29. See a German play (Die Physiker in Sept. 2011 – I know it’s Swiss, but I meant German language rather than nationality.)
30. See Eddie Izzard live
31. See a musical (Evita on 26.02.2011)
32. Discover 3 new (to me) bands/artists that I like and buy an album of theirs (3/3) (Kassidy, Milow, Howie Day)
33. See 3 bands/artists live (not at Das Fest) (3/3) (Imogen Heap on 24 Nov 2010, KT Tunstall on 1 Jan 2011, Tina Dico on 28 March 2011)

It’s All About Us
34. Kiss my boyfriend under the mistletoe (Completed: December 2009)
35. Cook a 3 course meal for my boyfriend on 3 different occasions (2/3) (25/10/2009, 5.2.2012)
36. Bake Jan a birthday cake
37. Go for a nice meal together at a restaurant we wouldn’t usually go to; get dressed up for it (Kaiserhof, 25.12.2011)
38. Kiss outside during a thunderstorm
39. Make Jan an advent calendar (completed: December 2009, and again December 2011)
40. Get a flat with my boyfriend (Completed May 2010)

Getting Creative
41. Complete a cross stitch picture converted from a photograph that I took
42. Complete 3 other cross stitch pictures (3/3)
43. Hand make 10 cards (birthday, Christmas, etc.) and send/give them to family/friends (10/10) (Completed December 2011 when I handmade all my Christmas cards!)
44. My photo challenge! Assign a theme to each month of the 1001 days & take at least 20 (preferably 50)  pictures during that month. (9/33)
45. Make something and sell it (Cross stitched greeting cards sold in aid of Shaken Baby Awareness in Feb. 2011)
46. Make a dreamcatcher
47. Take a photo for each letter of the alphabet and make an alphabet book with them (A is for…)

For My Health
48. Eat a portion of fruit every day for 2 weeks (=14 days) (Done 7-20 January 2011)
49. Do not eat chocolate, cake or sweets for 1 month
50. Be in bed before 10pm 50 times (30/50)
51. Walk home from the train station instead of taking a tram 10 times (10/10) (Completed June 2010)
52. Take vitamins every day for 30 days in a row
53. Go to the dentist

Learning and Education
54. Take 2 more OU courses (apart from the one I already have booked for October 2009) (0/2)
55. Learn calligraphy
56. Learn basic Russian
57. Learn basic Japanese

Eat Me! Drink Me!
58. Find 10 restaurants in Karlsruhe that I’ve never been to and have a meal there (9/10) (Mille Stelle on 06.02.2010, Dudelsack Hügels Restaurant on 01.03.2010, Salmen, K33 in 2010,  Panorama Restaurant on 13.11.2010, Kommödchen on 05.02.2011, Vapiano on 28.05.2011, Trompeter von Säckingen on 15.07.2011, Kaiserhof on 25.12.2012, Church Chill on 20 April 2012)
59. Bake 10 different cakes (3/10) (Chocolate fudge cake, Chocolate brownie cake, Carrot cake)
60. Make jam
61. Have sparkling wine for breakfast (Done on 20 November 2010)
62. Go vegetarian for 2 weeks
63. Make lemonade
64. Drink a cup of green tea every day for a week
65. Eat fish twice a month for all months of the 1001 days (33/33)
66. Make gingerbread people (Done in December 2011)
65. Make mango chutney
66. Find a recipe for garlic soup and make it
67. Find 6 recipes that use pumpkin and make them (6/6) (Pumpkin risotto, pumpkin lasagne, pumpkin & sausage casserole, pumpkin & vegetable hotpot, pumpkin curry, roast pumpkin with garlic and chilli)
68. Attend a wine seminar
69. Eat one meal with chopsticks every day for one month

Because other people are important too…
70. Host a pancake party (Done on 12 March 2011)
71. Host a tea party (Done on 9 July 2011, in aid of FSID)
72. Give (at least) 30 euros or pounds to 3 different charities (1/3) (UK PKD Charity on 26.01.2011, 4Ellie-Phant several times in 2011, Medical Detection Dogs on 29.02.2012)
73. Visit someone I haven’t seen for a while (= more than a year) (M. on 18th August 2010)
74. Bake biscuits, put them in a nice tin and give them to someone as a birthday present (Baked shortbread for C. on 11.11.2010)
75. Write a letter to my grandparents = 2 letters: One to my dad’s parents and one to my mum’s mum (1/2)
76. Send 20 postcards for no particular reason (12/20)

Getting Organised
77. Get all my photos from Hamburg, Prague, Belgium, Paris and Rome printed and put them in albums
78. Sort out my underwear drawer. Throw away anything that is holey, losing its elastic or just generally looks shabby.
79. Sort out the clothes I still have at my dad’s. Give anything that is too small or I’m obviously never going to wear again to charity.
80. Find all my recipes and put them in a folder. No more searching the entire flat every time I want to make something! (17.08.2009)
81. Do my taxes for 2008
82. Find all my bank statements and put them in a folder

Money, Money, Money
83. Pay off my overdraft
84. Buy a pair of red shoes
85. Pay Jan back
86. Start paying off my student loan

The Flat
87. Get a new quilt to go with my new bed
88. Get tubs/jars for everything in the kitchen that evil moth beasts might be interested in
89. Get curtains for the flat
90. Do the dishes on the same day I use them for 3 weeks (Completed in May/June 2010 – since moving in to our new flat we’ve actually been keeping up with the dishes!)
91. Get my Rosina Wachtmeister picture framed and hang it on the wall
92. Buy new pillows for the spare bedroom (done in january 2012)

I like making  lists!
93. Identify 101 things that make me happy (17/101)
94. Make a list of 101 quotes that I like. The list can include song lyrics. (3/101)

Other stuff, or the I couldn’t be bothered to think of more categories section
95. Buy a colouring book and colour in the whole thing
96. Do a jigsaw puzzle. (Completed on 1 April 2012)
97. Join trip advisor/Qype and write 10 reviews (2/10)
98. Go bowling
99. Buy myself flowers
100. Release 10 bookcrossing books into the wild… the proper wild that is, not official bookcrossing zones! (10/10)
101. Leave the computer off for an entire weekend. Not when on holiday – it has to be a weekend where I am actually at home!