Internet deadlines mean nothing to me.

It's over. My lofty 101 goals I was supposed to complete in 1001 days came to an end today. I failed miserably.

Let me list all of these out for you one last time. Some I've completed since the last time I've updated you, but, not very many. One thing I learned is this: I do very few fun activities like movies, concerts, or even renting movies. I don't know why this is. I do enjoy those things, so why don't I do them more often? I mean, in THREE YEARS I saw 2 movies?

I can probably explain some of it. I am a little bit obsessed with this girl, who has existed for about 2/3 of this project. I have a hard time scheduling things during her waking hours while I'm with her. Since I'm a working mom, those few hours each weekday night and our weekends are precious to me, and I try to only schedule things for after her 8:00ish bedtime. Anyways, I'm going off on a tangent, and that could surely be a post for another day. Anyways, that's the best excuse I can come up with.

A secondary excuse: Made up internet deadlines mean nothing to me. Even when announced to the entire internet. I don't feel responsible to you!

So yes. I got a whopping 47% on this project! Not a passing grade no matter how you look at it.

Start Date: September 14, 2010

End Date: June 11, 2013

Items completed: 47/101 (these are bolded)

1. Read 101 books (28/101). (I,II,)
Add these to the last time I updated you:  

20. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
21. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larson
22. The Sea of Tranquility - Katja Millay
23. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
24. Still Alice - Lisa Genova
25. Looking For Alaska - Magic Hour
26. Magic Hour - Kristin Hannah
27. Those Who Save Us - Jenna Blum
28. Eleanor and Park - Rainbow Rowell

Which is still no where near 101, so yeah. Failed it. 
2. Volunteer.
3. Cook dinner at least once a week for 3 months. -  I probably did this. It wasn't something I kept track of. And how sad that I can't say for sure.
4. Take 1001 photos in 1001 days (1001/1001).
5. Get a pedicure.
6. Spend an entire day in pajamas.
7. Try 10 new foods (9/10). (I, II)
8. Have breakfast in bed.
9. Make breakfast in bed for someone.
10. Eat at 10 local restaurants I've never eaten at before (10/10). (I, II, III)
11. Take a trip for our anniversary.
12. Visit a state I've never been to before.
13. See a Broadway show.
14. See a show by Cirque de Soleil.
15. Go to the movies 10 times (2/10). (I)
16. Watch the sun rise.
17. Watch the sun set.
18. Get a massage. - First ever & wasn't that impressed. 
19. Take a bubble bath. - Soon though - thanks to my new jetted tub! Bubbles to the ceiling!
20. See the oral surgeon about my wisdom teeth.
21. Publish at least 101 blog posts. (101/101)
22. Have at least 10 real date nights. (0/10)
23. Spend an entire day without turning on the computer / no internet.
24. Bake cookies from scratch.
25. Carve a pumpkin.
26. Go on a picnic.
27. Go to at least 5 concerts (0/5).
28. Win something.
29. Participate in a charity run/walk.
30. Visit 5 places in the NC region I've never been to before (0/5).
31. Go through a corn maze.
32. Replace all the broken blinds in our house.
33. Learn to identify all 50 states on the map and their capitals. (I)
34. Watch 5 movies that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. (0/5).
35. Splurge on something nice for myself.

First ever non-Target/Kohl's/cheap-o purse. Although no way did I spend regular price. Thank you Kate Spade 75% off sale!

36. Donate $5 to charity for every challenge not met.
37. Make the on-time train every day for 2 weeks.
38. Move to a bigger house.

39. Collect all spare change until the last day of this project.
           TOTAL: $34.78. Apparently I don't use cash very much.
40. Visit Charleston.
41. Get parents’ home videos transferred to DVD.
42. See a drive-in movie.
43. Have a baby.
44. See a movie in 3-D.
45. Build a snowman. No snow around here in a while! At least not enough for a snowman!
46. Host a game night with friends.
47. Take pictures in a photo booth.
48. Learn 5 constellations.
49. Go to a fair.
50. Go to a theme park I haven’t been to before.
51. Get my legs waxed.
52. Upgrade to the latest iPhone.
53. Go camping with a group of friends.
54. Go to a haunted house.
55. Give a homeless person food.
56. Put away $10 for every goal completed.
57. Dress up for Halloween.
58. Use our fondue pot.
59. Have no soda for one month. (I, II)
60. Get a bike.
61. Watch 50 movies on IMDB’s top 250. (0/50)
62. Become 100% credit card debt free.
63. Get my car windows tinted.
64. Have at least 50 blog followers. (50/50)
65. Bring my lunch 4 days of the week for an entire month. (I)
66. Find, get, and like a new hairstyle.
67. Go out and play pool one night.
68. Go to the U.S. National Whitewater Center.
69. Exercise 3 days a week for a 4 continuous weeks.
70. Try 5 new cupcake recipes out of my “Cupcakes! From The Cake Mix Doctor” book. (2/5) (I)
71. Take 5 more photography classes. (1/5)
72. Finish my picture scanning project.
73. Visit New York City.
74. Get new [matching] kitchen appliances.
75. Beat Super Mario Galaxy II.
76. Take pictures of each item as it is completed in the 101 list.
77. Take a day trip to the mountains in the fall.
78. Go to a parade.
79. Attend the midnight premiere of a movie.
80. Rent and watch an entire season of a TV show on a lazy weekend.
81. Go swimming in our neighborhood pool 5 times. (1/5) (I)
82. Use another round of Crest White Strips.
83. Type, print and organize all recipes into a notebook.
84. Fix all of the “broken” clothes in my closet: missing buttons, broken hems, etc.
85. Go to a zoo.
86. Go to the mountains to cut down our own Christmas tree.
87. Do something with the wedding pictures – prints, photobook, etc.
88. Go to a festival of some sort that I haven’t been to before.
89. Buy a canvas and paint a piece of artwork.
90. Go canoeing.
91. Make my Christmas cards one year.
92. Babysit each of siblings’ kids so they can have a free night alone. (2/5)
93. Buy a sewing machine, Cricut cutting machine, or some other crafty machine.
94. Go to a movie alone.
95. Buy a digital video camera.
96. Buy a new lens for my camera.
97. Start a new tradition.
98. Inspire someone else to make a 101 in 1001 list for themselves.  Hey! How's yours going Laura?
99. Make a piñata.

100. Have professional pictures taken.
101. Complete a 365-day photo challenge. (365/365)

Am I going to specifically work on completing the other 53%? Nah. Goals schmoals. I know a few I'll complete soon anyways (going to NYC, going to a few concerts) but I'm not in the business of tracking them anymore. It's over. I failed. I must make you all so proud.

Updates and Write Offs

I have 134 days until my 101 in 1001 list is to be completed, and it's looking rather, um, not finished. But let's update first, shall we?

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10. Eat at 10 local restaurants I've never eaten at before.

• 9. Bad Daddy's Burger Bar
• 10. Buffalo Wild Wing
• 11. The Palm

Finished this one, and added an extra for good measure. And because the food at #10 was nothing to write home to the internet about so a #11 was needed.

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26. Go on a picnic.



Check. On a warm December day we took advantage of the crazy weather (and the fact that Charley was having peanut butter crackers for lunch and outside = less mess to clean) and had a picnic in my parent's front yard.

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40. Visit Charleston.



Back in October, Charley and I made our way down to Charleston to meet up with a couple of our friends. It was the first time I'd been to Charleston since our 8th grade class field trip, and I plan to go back ASAP! Oh, and Charleston is prettier than the background of our picture suggests. This was actually at the rest stop we stopped at on the way. I was a poor picture-taker that weekend.

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66. Find, get, and like a new hairstyle.



LOVE wasn't part of the requirements of this one. But I'm an overachiever because I LOVE it.

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67. Go out and play pool one night.


& I've still got it. I can kick some major booty on the pool table and can't wait to own my own table one day soonish.

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And that's it. I think that brings my totals up to this:

46 items are completed.
5 items are started but not yet finished.
4 items are in the works.
40 items are not yet started.
And these 6 things I'm going to go ahead and write off, meaning according to #36, I will be donating $5 to charity for each of these things.

81. Go swimming in our neighborhood pool 5 times.

Um yeah. No longer living in said neighborhood, and new "neighborhood" has no pool. Fail.

91. Make my Christmas cards one year.

I won't have another Christmas between now and the end date so this one is impossible. I technically did make my cards on Shutterfly or whatever each year, but that's not what I meant when I made this so I'm not letting myself off the hook.

92. Babysit each of siblings’ kids so they can have a free night alone.

My oldest nephew is now 15 and doesn't need to be babysat any longer. I don't know what I was thinking when I came up with this. Maybe I was trying to earn some good babysitting karma so that when I had my own child I would have siblings lined up to babysit her?

57. Dress up for Halloween.

Halloween will not come again before this is over, and this year I spent all of my efforts on Charley's costume.

54. Go to a haunted house.

Same as above. Although there is a year-round haunted house at Myrtle Beach I could go to if I really wanted to, but nah. I'm too much of a chicken these days anyways.

75. Beat Super Mario Galaxy II.

Another one I have no idea what I was thinking when I wrote it. I never did beat the last level and now it's been so long since I've played it I am positive I wouldn't even be able to beat the first level.

So, writing those 6 off, and writing a check to March of Dimes for $30.

Speaking of March of Dimes, I'll be walking in it this year in honor of Jen and her sweet boys Dylan and Noah whom I talked about here. Join my team if you'd like!

365 Day Photo Challenge Completed.

I actually completed something on my 101 list that I never thought I'd do. I have trouble completing anything for a week straight, so one would think a year straight would be laughable. But, I guess when the thing to complete doesn't involve dieting, exercising, cleaning, being on time or cooking - I'm all for it!

I took a picture every single day in the year 2012 and posted them to my other blog here. Charley was such a wee little thing back in January compared to the slightly larger thing she was in December. And then, I had an "original" idea to make each month's pictures into a collage for 2013. Like, January 2012's pictures are in the collage shown for January 2013. See?



I say "original" because it was one of those things I thought I came up with, and then a friend of mine said she does the same thing (she did her first 365 challenge a year earlier than me) and I then I remembered that's where my "original" idea came from. Duh. It was a great idea though, Kelly! Thanks for letting me steal it!

(I made the collages in Picasa, and had the calendar printed by Shutterfly. I had a free promo code emailed to me so I think I paid $6ish dollars for shipping total.)

So yeah. I spend a lot of my time at work now staring at my calendar. And analyzing things about the pictures. Like, it doesn't look like Charley repeated an outfit in all of January and I didn't even make her a spreadsheet! And, man our old house really photographed yellowy/orangey. I think I finally figured out the appropriate camera settings to use a month before we moved out.

Anyways, feel free to look at all of the pictures over on the other blog if you'd like. Or if you'd prefer not to scroll through 366 pictures, I made a set of the collages I used for the calendar over here on Flickr. Or not. I know looking through other people's pictures is kind of a snoozefest. Unless you are in them yourself of course. A couple of you ARE in some of them so now you must go play a game of Where's Waldo to find yourself.

I also said I'd keep up the picture a day thing in 2013. I'd like to go ahead and say nevermind to that. That's okay with you, right? You're not really missing anything in 2013 so far.

Except of course for a cutie pie baby rocking out with some old school headphones.

And her kissing concrete frogs trying to find her prince.



And then her playing in a bird bath on a warm January afternoon.



But that's it, really.

101 in 1001 Updates

I have 9 months to go in my 101 in 1001 challenge, so I thought it was time to give a little update. Well that, and the fact that I was ever so sweetly asked how it was going by a blog friend in a comment on this post. At first glance, it's looking like I'm approaching this project in true form: by procrastination.

Here's how it's going; I'm writing my updates in RED.


1. Read 101 books (19/101). (I,II) Yeah, not looking good AT ALL. Just haven't been into reading since Charley was born, and from the looks of things, I wasn't that into it before she was born either. 
2. Volunteer. Hoping to volunteer for Samaritan's Purse to process Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes in November. I forgot to call when they first opened up the volunteer opportunities, and am now on a waiting list.
3. Cook dinner at least once a week for 3 months. I am pretty sure I have already done this since I HAVE to cook for Charley now. I need to keep track of it to be sure though. That's pathetic, right?
4. Take 1001 photos in 1001 days (1001/1001).
5. Get a pedicure.
6. Spend an entire day in pajamas.
7. Try 10 new foods (6/10). (I)

2. Pad Thai...yum!
3. Chicken and Dumplings...delish!
4. Squash...eh.
5. Raisins...no, not so much
6. Fried Pickles...yes! You couldn't even taste the pickliness!

8. Have breakfast in bed.
9. Make breakfast in bed for someone.
10. Eat at 10 local restaurants I've never eaten at before (8/10). (I, )
Add three more to the list:

6. Harry's Grill and Tavern

7. The Penguin

8. Cheesecake Factory 

11. Take a trip for our anniversary.
12. Visit a state I've never been to before. Going to Louisiana in November!
13. See a Broadway show.
14. See a show by Cirque de Soleil.
15. Go to the movies 10 times (2/10). (I, )
16. Watch the sun rise.
17. Watch the sun set.
18. Get a massage.
19. Take a bubble bath.
20. See the oral surgeon about my wisdom teeth.
21. Publish at least 101 blog posts. (101/101)
22. Have at least 10 real date nights. (0/10)
23. Spend an entire day without turning on the computer / no internet. Check! You may think it's cheating, but to me, a full day is a full 24 hours, right? So, when we went to Germany last month I went 24 hours without accessing any internet at all. Sure, some of that included sleeping, flying, and at airports without free WiFi, but when we finally did get to a place with WiFi I resisted until my 24 hours were up. And let me tell you, that was not easy. That's so terrible, right?
24. Bake cookies from scratch.
25. Carve a pumpkin.
26. Go on a picnic.
27. Go to at least 5 concerts (0/5).
28. Win something.
29. Participate in a charity run/walk.
30. Visit 5 places in the NC region I've never been to before (0/5).
31. Go through a corn maze.
32. Replace all the broken blinds in our house.
33. Learn to identify all 50 states on the map and their capitals. (I, )
34. Watch 5 movies that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. (0/5).
35. Splurge on something nice for myself.
36. Donate $5 to charity for every challenge not met.
37. Make the on-time train every day for 2 weeks.
38. Move to a bigger house. (working on it)
39. Collect all spare change until the last day of this project.
40. Visit Charleston. (Doing this next month! YAY!)
41. Get parents’ home videos transferred to DVD.
42. See a drive-in movie.
43. Have a baby.
44. See a movie in 3-D.
45. Build a snowman.
46. Host a game night with friends.
47. Take pictures in a photo booth.
48. Learn 5 constellations.
49. Go to a fair.
50. Go to a theme park I haven’t been to before.
51. Get my legs waxed.
52. Upgrade to the latest iPhone.
53. Go camping with a group of friends.
54. Go to a haunted house.
55. Give a homeless person food.
56. Put away $10 for every goal completed.
57. Dress up for Halloween.
58. Use our fondue pot.
59. Have no soda for one month. (I) Check! For the entire month of June and probably an additional week into July I didn't have any soda at all and I never really missed it. I've had a few since then, but I really don't like the caffeine all that much. If only Dr. Pepper didn't taste so darn good! 
60. Get a bike.
61. Watch 50 movies on IMDB’s top 250. (0/50)
62. Become 100% credit card debt free. CHECK!! We paid them all off to a $0.00 balance and it feels so good. We owed so much just a few years ago, and we paid them all off fully with no late payments, thankfully, but I am so glad to be done with them. 
63. Get my car windows tinted.
64. Have at least 50 blog followers. (50/50)
65. Bring my lunch 4 days of the week for an entire month. (I, )
66. Find, get, and like a new hairstyle.
67. Go out and play pool one night.
68. Go to the U.S. National Whitewater Center.
69. Exercise 3 days a week for a 4 continuous weeks.
70. Try 5 new cupcake recipes out of my “Cupcakes! From The Cake Mix Doctor” book. (2/5) (I, )
71. Take 5 more photography classes. (1/5)
72. Finish my picture scanning project.
73. Visit New York City. (The plan: My 31st in April 2013)
74. Get new [matching] kitchen appliances.
75. Beat Super Mario Galaxy II.
76. Take pictures of each item as it is completed in the 101 list.
77. Take a day trip to the mountains in the fall.
78. Go to a parade.
79. Attend the midnight premiere of a movie.
80. Rent and watch an entire season of a TV show on a lazy weekend.
81. Go swimming in our neighborhood pool 5 times. (1/5) (I, )
82. Use another round of Crest White Strips.
83. Type, print and organize all recipes into a notebook.
84. Fix all of the “broken” clothes in my closet: missing buttons, broken hems, etc.
85. Go to a zoo.
86. Go to the mountains to cut down our own Christmas tree.
87. Do something with the wedding pictures – prints, photobook, etc. (MyPublisher - next sale)
88. Go to a festival of some sort that I haven’t been to before.
89. Buy a canvas and paint a piece of artwork. - Check! It was more of a class type thing instead of how I originally intended to complete this goal, but I did have to PAY for the class which included the canvas so I say it totally counts. I went with my sister Joy:

90. Go canoeing.
91. Make my Christmas cards one year.
92. Babysit each of siblings’ kids so they can have a free night alone. (2/5)
93. Buy a sewing machine, Cricut cutting machine, or some other crafty machine.
94. Go to a movie alone.
95. Buy a digital video camera.
96. Buy a new lens for my camera.
97. Start a new tradition.
98. Inspire someone else to make a 101 in 1001 list for themselves.
99. Make a piñata. Check! Charley's birthday cat pinata was 100% handmade by me! Meow!

100. Have professional pictures taken.
101. Complete a 365-day photo challenge. (262/365)


Here are my totals: 36/101 are complete. 18/101 are either planned or in progress. 45/101 haven't even been started or thought about. Which leaves us with 2, which can be contributed to my lack of counting skills. Based on the ratio, it looks like those 2 should be added to the other 45 that I've yet to start. Either, I'm about to fail miserably at this project, or I'm about to have a very busy remaining 9 months.

101 update: 1 year to go

So yikes. I have one year to go to complete my 101 in 1001 list, and it's not looking pretty. BUT, I have an entire year to get my stuff together and get it done. I never quit or give up on things so that's not even an option. But I have done some of the stuff listed and just never shared it with you, so let's at least get you up to date before I see how much is actually left.

93. Buy a sewing machine, Cricut cutting machine, or some other crafty machine.
Um, check. After borrowing my mom's brand new sewing machine for the first 30 or so bird mobiles we sold, we finally decided we could afford a sewing machine of our own. But, since my mom's was brand new when we borrowed it, it wouldn't be right to then give her back her used sewing machine and then go buy ourselves a new one. So, we went and bought the exact same one and gave the brand new one back to her. Maybe one day she'll actually open it and use it!

85. Go to a zoo.

Check. Did that on April 28, 2012 with a couple friends and their babies. And my best friend Amy, who serves as my memory and overall Lacey historian,  (since my own memory took a sick leave about a year ago and has yet to return) is the one that reminded me that this item was on my list and that I'd just completed it!


41. Get parents’ home videos transferred to DVD.




Calling them "videos" was a little forward thinking. They were more like home films as they were the rolls of film on 3" reels. For Christmas, my sisters and I started the process of getting them transferred to DVD for them and we got to watch them together on Christmas morning. Crazy how 50 feet of film really only accounted for about 5 minutes of play time, and how short the films were once they were all transferred to DVD. But they were thankful to have them saved to a type of media that wasn't going to break down or fall apart anytime soon so the mission was a success.

21. Publish at least 101 blog posts.

Published number 101 (since beginning the 101 challenge) on October 27, 2011, and it was just a quick little blog to say that Charley was now taking the cute pacifier. But that lasted for probably 30 minutes or so, and then she was done with pacifiers all together. She sucked her thumb for a little while, but doesn't even do that anymore. That stuff is for babies she says! (Although, this same pacifier resurfaced at the bottom of a toy basket not too long ago and Charley thought it was fun to play with it now. But she obviously doesn't need a pacifier therefore there was no need to start that habit at 8 months old, so I took it from her after taking a picture.)

There are a few items I'm working on:

15. Go to the movies 10 times.
In the 1 year and 9 months since this began, I have been to TWO movies. So, I'm obviously working on it, although very slowly and I better pick up the pace a bit to finish in time. The two movies were: Horrible Bosses and Hunger Games.

1. Read 101 books. 
Um, yeah. Like I predicted a way long time ago, I'm definitely going to need to start counting the books I read to Charley because the books I've read myself over this time period is a whoppingNINETEEN. I've been attempting to read my latest book for over a month now, and despite the fact that every other female whipped through this book and the following two in the series in just days, I just haven't been able to get into it. Although, once you get to certain 'scenes', the book should start to go by faster and I haven't got there yet. I'm still too busy reading through the 'inner goddesses' inner dialogue. So annoying.

Anyways, I'm going to make a valiant effort to finish all 101 books. Starting tonight. With, The Cat in the Hat.

To update you since I last did, these are the other 6 books I've read which brings me to my current 19:

14. Gods in Alabama - Joshilyn Jackson
15. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
16. Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
17. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
18. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
19. Room - Emma Donoghue

33. Learn to identify all 50 states on the map and their capitals.
Who put this one on my list? It's a dumb one, but oh well. It's there which means I have to do it. Plus, my mind could use a little exercising these days. I'm real close to saying I have them all memorized (not learned, because I know I'll forget them in a year or so) but that darn Frankfort, Kentucky and Concord, New Hampshire throw me every time. I did download an iPhone app to quiz myself with when I'm bored.

      

59. Have no soda for an one month.
I have probably already completed this one, in fact, I'm sure I did while I was pregnant as I rarely had soda then. But, because I didn't 'track' it per say, I'm going to make June the month of no soda just for fun. I love a Dr. Pepper as much as the next person, but I pretty much get a headache every time I drink one because I'm not used to the caffeine I guess. So, yesterday I had one just because I knew it'd be a month before I would have another, and yes, I got a headache. Why do I enjoy things that hurt me so?



65. Bring my lunch 4 days of the week for an entire month.

I'm pretty sure I completed this one without trying too, but I'll re-do it to make it official. I prefer to bring my lunch these days because 1) it's cheaper and 2) I'm too lazy to walk and get something. That's terrible isn't it? Today being Friday means I just completed my first week of this task as I only bought lunch once this week. It was Chinese food, in case you were curious.



So that's where we are. 30 completed and several in the works. And as I read down the list, I know of several that will be completed over the rest of this year. Looks like I'm procrastinating on this project as I tend to do with everything else in my life. Find me on June 10 next year (the day before my deadline) and I'll be running around going to movies whilst forcing John to go out on a date night with me, and reciting state capitals and constellations on our way.

101 Updates

I've still been working on my 101 list. I have nearly a year and a half left, and I really need to get moving on some of these if I expect to complete my goals. Eek. Here's what I have managed to complete so far.

43. Have a baby.

Check.

Oh, hi!

5. Get a pedicure.

This may come as a shock to some of you more high maintenance people and you may say this is a freebie item on my list because "who doesn't get a pedicure?!" but, I don't really get pedicures. I got my first pedicure before my wedding in 2009. I didn't even wear open toed shoes at my wedding, so it was really for my honeymoon since I knew I'd be spending a week barefoot. I enjoyed it, but didn't deem them necessary. After that, I went back to painting my own toenails and was quite satisfied with that.

Then, in August, I had a problem. Shoes weren't fitting so I was flip flopping around everywhere. On top of that, I had a big thing keeping me from my toes.

Yes, that big thing.

John did paint my toenails for me once, but then I decided I may as well just go get them done so that I don't have icky feet when I'm sticking them in the nurses faces during delivery. So I went for my second pedicure ever.  (And lucky for me Charley came just 4 days later!) It was nice of course, but, I'm back to painting them on my own again. I'm too cheap to throw money away like that!



8. Have breakfast in bed.

After Charley arrived, John was given a week of paternity leave to help out with our newest addition. My sweet husband made me breakfast in bed TWO days in a row! It consisted of cinnamon pancakes, bacon, and eggs and was so delicious!

Nevermind the fact that he woke me up to eat it when I was already waking every two hours to feed Charley. I'd say a hot, yummy, breakfast in bed more than makes up for that! ;)

23. Spend an entire day without turning on the computer / no internet.

Okay I lied. I have NOT completed this one, and this one is giving me the most anxiety. When I was on vacation last month I thought I would complete this one of those days, but no dice. I couldn't do it, and that's really sad to admit. A WHOLE 24 hours? Who made this silly list?!

25. Carve a pumpkin.

I actually did carve a pumpkin this year! I used the baby as an excuse to do it this year, because what kind of parents would we be if we didn't carve a pumpkin with our child!? I am an overachiever also, so I went with the classic carving: cat within a pumpkin.


If only I had taken a picture of Reese and Tuna next to it.

And also, I may still have this jack-o-lantern on my porch on November 15th. Since jack-o-lanterns are clearly a Halloween decoration, I just turned it around backwards since pumpkins can remain through Thanksgiving. What smell, neighbors?

60. Get a bike.

Got a bike. At a garage sale. Are you surprised? I paid $30, I think. It was somewhere between $20 and $40 at least. What a bargain!

Anyways, as number 76 in my 101 list states, I must take a picture of each item. I envisioned a cheesetastic picture of me riding the bike and waving at the camera, but, my impatience isn't going to allow that to happen. The bike is at my parent's house currently, and I am not going over there just to take this cheesetastic picture. Instead, I am going to share this lovely picture I text messaged to John after I bought the bike at the garage sale.

And, for added measure, you can also peek a glimpse of my bike on the left in this picture of my Mama riding her bike - which coincidentally was also bought at a garage sale.

63. Get my car windows tinted.

Remember how I just got a new Honda Pilot? Well, before that I had a Honda Civic and we traded that Civic in on the Pilot. Wanna know how to up your trade-in value by about $500? Tint the windows right before you trade it in!

Yeah, no. That's a lie. Tinting the windows does next to nothing to the value of the trade-in. Therefore when we got those windows tinted mere weeks before trading it in we essentially just flushed our money down the toilet. That's what we get for being impulsive.

Did I ever tell you about the time we bought brand new tires for a car we owned and then traded it in a month later? Yeah, that impulsive bug bit us again. We aren't very patient people.

Since apparently I never once took a picture of my Civic - windows tinted or not - you are getting this picture instead:

81. Go swimming in our neighborhood pool 5 times.

Okay, I haven't completed this one, but I've made some progress. Over the summer, when it was a million degrees outside and I was pregosaurus rex, I decided to cool off in the neighborhood pool a whopping ONE time. Only, we went at 8:30 in the evening, so it's not like it was even hot out in the first place.

So, the picture. I can't believe I'm going to share this with the entire inter-webs. But, I insisted on a picture for each item as it's completed so I hafta, right?

Remember when I said I was cheap? Well, I was also too cheap to buy a maternity bathing suit. So, I just wore my regular ol' bikini. Maybe THIS is why I only went to the pool one time this summer, and that one time was in the dark:

83. Type, print and organize all recipes into a notebook.

Check. I think John actually finished this one up for me. He was probably (mistakenly) thinking that if he organized all of my recipes I may actually start to cook for him.



And no, I didn't actually type and print them all. I changed my mind about that part. I kind of like when a recipe has hand written notes all over it. Especially in the case of the mac & cheese recipe pictured...the note says DOUBLE EVERYTHING because a single mac & cheese is never enough!

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So now I've completed a measly 25 items out of 101. If I plan on finishing this, I better start knocking some stuff off this list! Which item would you like to see me complete next?
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Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

From my 101 in 1001 list, I not only completed #28: Win something, but I was an over achiever and won lots of somethings.

A couple of months ago I entered a contest on a blog to win a gift certificate for birth announcements or other custom stationary. The lady giving it away was doing so in an effort to drum up business for herself by advertising her products on this blog I was reading. All you had to do to enter was leave a comment on that particular blog post. Easy enough, right?

So, a few days later after the contest ended I was extremely happy to get an email telling me that I had in fact won the credit to her stationary shop and I could pick out whatever I wanted to be custom made from her. At the time, it was right after my baby showers and I needed some thank you cards, so I requested that she design those for me. She did, and then told me that the thank you cards only used up about half of the credit I had won and I could also have birth announcements made with the remaining half. So far I've received the thank you cards and will get the birth announcements soon.



But, winning this contest got me curious. I wondered what the odds were to win a blog contest over say, a radio contest, because most blogs I read don't have nearly the same number of people that would be entering. So, I went back to the blog on which I had won this contest and took note of the number of entrants in the contest I had just won: there were 7. So, my great luck was simply because there weren't many participants and therefore winning had been a bit easy. This got the wheels in my head turning.

Because, if you read many blogs at all, you know that these contests happen ALL of the time. People are always giving things away to drum up readers or drum up buyers for their Etsy shop, etc. I decide that since winning this was so easy, I was going to win lots of other stuff too. Who doesn't love free stuff, after all?

So I did some expert googling, entered some contests on blogs I hadn't even ever visited before, and started winning things left and right. I don't know if this is against some bloggy code of ethics, but, in my defense, I actually did find some new blogs to read by doing this, so the people hosting the contests did in fact drum up new readers. This is how I justify my winnings in my head.

I entered blog giveaways for 2 consecutive days. I probably entered 20 or so contests each day, which took maybe an hour each day. This is what I ended up winning:

First, I won these two ceramic birds from here. Guess who has a bird themed nursery and could use these?



Then, I won a photographer's print here. Coincidentally, when I was running around looking for tape when my water broke, it was to tape this picture to the back of the mat in this frame.


Then I won this monogrammed acrylic tray from this blog which was advertising this Etsy shop.


I make great use of it on my night stand to hold all of my middle of the night essentials.



And my most favoritest winnings: this baby JaR gift basket I won from here. It contains a blanket, two burp cloths, a hooded towel, and a bib and is valued at only $150! Yes, seriously. Apparently this is a hip brand of baby products that celebrities are into, and if you were to buy just the blanket it would cost you $68.

I will say though, that this purple blanket has gotten a ton of use because it is by far the nicest blanket I've ever felt. Charley is getting spoiled by luxury already.

On top of those things, I've also won a couple of gift cards and gift certificates to Etsy shops that I've yet to use. Pretty crazy, right?

So I'd say I successfully crossed this item off of my list. And to think I was originally trying to win $5K from a radio giveaway to complete this item. I mean, who needs $5K when you can have ceramic birds and a acrylic tray!?

Maternity Pictures

I tried to be patient and wait to receive all of the maternity pictures back before posting this, but I can't take it anymore. My photographer was awesome to be able to get the ones I do have to me as quickly as she did, so I'm not faulting her at all, I just MUST. SHARE. SOMETHING. NOW.

I did share these on Facebook already, so if you are a friend there you may have already seen these. But pretend you didn't and tell me how much you like them one more time, will ya? I had a pity party last night and cried myself to sleep for no good reason (stupid hormones) so I'm in need of some ego boosting. And asking for the compliments will make absolutely no difference to me in genuine-ity.

When my photographer and I were discussing where to take the pictures and what to wear, she suggested cowboy boots and a cotton, summery dress for the pictures we'd be taking in a field with old barns and such. I did not have either of those items, so I ordered the boots from Ebay since authenticity isn't really all that important to me - I don't plan on wrangling a calf any time soon. For the dress though, I instantly pictured a dress in my mind that I wanted to find: blue, flowery, and scrunching around the bust. I hate when I get an idea like that in my head because chances are very slim that you'll ever stumble upon that same thing - especially when you are a cheap-o like myself.

So instead, I purchased this plaid, off white, non-maternity dress from the Target clearance rack to wear with the cowboy boots and called it a day. It was cheap, it looked good with my boots, and I only had to go to one store (which is about 1/2 mile away) to find it. Sold. Plus, I can wear it next summer too since it's not a maternity dress.

But, on the day of the shoot I had a haircut appointment which is a little further from my house. The salon happens to be really close to a Once Upon A Child store that has a small maternity section. I stopped by just to see if they had anything good. And would you believe I found that exact dress I had pictured in my head? For only $10? Crazy huh?

So anyways, these were taken 3 weeks ago at 33 weeks pregnant and the blue dress ones are my absolute favorites so far.

Oh, and you may notice that one of the super cliché maternity pictures is missing. The make-a-heart-out-of-your-hands-and-place-them-on-your-belly pictures are NOT my cup of tea, so I asked that we skip those. I can take some cheese, but come on. Talk about an overdone picture. So if you are upset that I don't have one of those then I'm really sorry. I just couldn't do it.

So, ya like? Can you blame my impatience? I mean, the world NEEDS to see these! My photographer is awesome!

Post Edit: Hey! I'm coming back to this post and editing because I just realized that I didn't mention that this maternity photo session helped me to mark one more thing off of my 101 list: #100: Have professional photos taken. Check!
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