Monday, January 27, 2020

101 things in 1001 days



There was a video I saw awhile ago where they asked people of all ages what advice they would give to someone younger. It starts with the youngest person being interviewed and ends with the oldest. One thing I couldn't help noticing was that most of the older people tended to give advice about doing the stuff you want to do now and not putting things off. Recently, I've been feeling inspired by Bev's 40 before 40 and Risha's 101 things in 1001 days lists and I loved the idea of doing something similar. Sort of like a short term bucket list. Initially coming up with 101 things was quite hard so I ended up looking at other people's lists for some inspiration but I have been trying to choose things that are relevant to me.

I'll be starting in February as January is almost over at this stage. So 1001 days from then would be October 29th 2022.. At that stage I'll go back over my list and see what percentage I accomplished! Ideally at least 90%. Realistically maybe only 70%. As you'll see I tried to put a mixture of easy and difficult to accomplish tasks in there.

I've divided my list into categories.

Health & Well being
  1. Exercise more (ideas- swimming, dancing)
  2. Eat 2-5 portions of vegetables a day 
  3. Get eyes tested again to see if eyesight has worsened
  4. Get skin checked for moles
  5. Flu vaccine
  6. Check all vaccines are up to date
  7. Train for a 5k
  8. Do a 5k run
  9. Cut out dairy for at least 2 weeks
  10. Cut out processed sugar for a month (or at the very least go a week without eating dessert)
  11. Dentist checkup and teeth cleaning

  12. House
  13. Hang more paintings and photographs
  14. Declutter our entrance hall
  15. Declutter our bedroom
  16. Declutter Mini's room
  17. Declutter attic
  18. Declutter basement
  19. Declutter living room
  20. Declutter kitchen
  21. Get rid of old clothes
  22. Tidy up bathroom cabinets and find better ways of storing things
  23. Plant some flowers
  24. Create a vegetable patch

  25. Self improvements /style
  26. Update my style
  27. Get a makeover
  28. Try out several new hairstyles
  29. Read some self help books
  30. Improve my upper body strength. Not sure what a good goal here is. Would be cool if I were able to swing from monkey bars at a playground or do a decent number of push ups without collapsing(10?)

  31. Family
  32. Take Mini to local swimming pool once a month to get her used to the water and teach her about water safety
  33. Get a yearly zoo pass and use it
  34. Create a photo book /milestone book
  35. Reduce screen time - no phone during mealtimes
  36. Connect with family abroad more often
  37. Get professional photographs taken
  38. Bring Mini to a kid friendly museum
  39. Bring Mini to an aquarium

  40. Marriage
  41. Take a class together
  42. Try to have a regular date night
  43. Write a love letter
  44. Read a book about marriage together
  45. Celebrate our wedding anniversary
  46. Try 5 new-to-us restaurants for dates

  47. Travel
  48. Go on a holiday by the beach
  49. Visit Barcelona
  50. Go on a trip away with friends
  51. Visit other parts of Germany I haven't seen yet such as Hamburg
  52. Travel to other parts of Ireland
  53. Go camping or glamping

  54. Fun
  55. Get a massage
  56. Get a facial
  57. Go for afternoon tea
  58. Take more photos
  59. Make pancakes
  60. Bake scones
  61. Build a snowman
  62. Bake and decorate a cake
  63. Create some artwork/crafts. I used to enjoy painting when I was a child but now I can't even remember the last time I painted or took on a creative project
  64. Sort of random but I've always loved the idea of dressing up like I was from another decade - 1920s or 1950s probably being my favourite looks. Would be a fun photo shoot
  65. Go to a show /play
  66. Plan a party for someone else

  67. Blog
  68. Write a featured blog article
  69. Update old posts and labels
  70. Post at least twice a month
  71. Finish and publish posts in my drafts folder
  72. Join in more blogging challenges
  73. Write at least one MicroblogMonday post a month
  74. Post pictures of recent meals I've enjoyed
  75. Get my blog or part of it printed as a hardcover photobook

  76. Hobbies / skills
  77. Read at least 15 books
  78. Write a short story
  79. Submit my writing somewhere, e.g short story competition
  80. Learn how to cook a turkey and make stuffing for Christmas dinner
  81. Try 10 new recipes
  82. Create a family recipe book ideally with photos
  83. Get some driving practice in Germany
  84. Do something that scares me (eg. public speaking) /get out of my comfort zone
  85. Watch 5 films in German
  86. Read 3 books in German
  87. Learn a new skill (e.g. dress making/ cake decorating/ photography)
  88. Take a class
  89. Learn 100 new German words - write down new words or phases into a notebook

  90. Friends
  91. Get in touch with some old friends
  92. Host a dinner party
  93. Host a game night
  94. Mail someone a birthday card
  95. Have friends over for brunch
  96. Throw a birthday party
  97. Send a card to someone “just because”
  98. Send someone flowers
  99. Skype a friend abroad

  100. Making an impact
  101. Donate to at least 3 charities
  102. Offer my time to help others
  103. Give away old stuff to charity
  104. Use less plastic
  105. Throw a clothes swap party
  106. Vote
  107. Use bamboo toothbrushes
  108. Write to a politician about something I feel strongly about or campaign

  109. Admin
  110. Write a Will
  111. Scan old photos so I have digital copies
  112. Save old photos to a hard-drive or buy storage space online for photos and keep them all in one place

Monday, January 20, 2020

We can't all have marriages like the Obamas #MicroblogMonday


Would you believe I'm still not finished reading Michelle Obama's book, Becoming? I first mentioned it back in October. The thing is I have been really enjoying it and I am almost at the end of it by now, it's just been so hard to find time to sit down and read without interruptions. Anyway I need to finish it soon as my book club have already started reading The Testaments by Margaret Atwood.

There's a section in the book where Michelle talks about the now famous date with Obama where they flew to New York for dinner and a show which caused some controversy among their opponents. Anyway she writes about how much they enjoy each other's company and conversations and constantly erupt into laughter when together. The day I read that passage hubby and I had just been squabbling about some household thing as usual. I presume other couples also have countless silly arguments about things around the house - who hasn't put their laundry away? why haven't these dirty plates been put into the dishwasher? I could easily go on but you get the idea.

There are many times when hubby tells long stories about work while I'm barely paying attention. I know he often doesn't listen to me a lot of the time either since I end up having to repeat myself. This just felt like a stark comparison when I imagined the Obamas sitting there during their dinner dates finding each other totally fascinating! They seem to have a strong happy marriage which I admire.

Recently when hubby and I did finally get a moment to ourselves we ended up talking about how parenting a young child means our minds always seem to be distracted and elsewhere a lot of the time! It's rare to have opportunities to give something our sole focus (apart from when we are in work). So I think (and hope) that it's pretty normal that these days we don't have a perfect marriage like the Obamas but hopefully one day again in the future we will!