I long to accomplish a great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.”
~Helen Keller

Here is my list of 101 goals in 1001 days. To find out more about the project, read other people’s lists, and learn tips to starting your own, visit the Day Zero website.

This specific post will not be updated, but I have added a link to a page above where I will update as I complete tasks. I’ll also be posting about them as I go, and that page will have links to those posts. Make sense? Great! Here we go!

Start date: April 22, 2009
End date: January 18, 2012

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” ~J.R.R. Tolkein

FOOD
1. Shop at a farmer’s market.
2. Cook dinner once a week for a month. (0/4)
3. Cook something with my Crockpot.
4. Be a vegetarian for a month.
5. Make David’s lunch three times a week for a month.
6. Compile a recipe book of go-to meals.

Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it.” ~Plato

FITNESS
7. Do a bike race.
8. Run another 5k.
9. Unlock all the exercises in Wii Fit.
10. Do a Wii Fit body test once a week for twelve weeks. (0/12)
11. Buy a nice pedometer and wear it at work.
12. Buy ankle weights and start wearing them at work twice a week.

“It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before.” ~Jane Austen

HEALTH & BEAUTY
13. Spend an entire day at the spa.
14. Buy three new pairs of heels. (0/3)
15. Drink 64 oz. of water a day for a week.
16. Find the perfect mascara.
17. Get my teeth whitened.
18. Learn how to style my hair.
19. Try microdermabrasion.

“Ah, nowadays we are all of us so hard up, that the only pleasant things to pay are compliments. They’re the only things we can pay.” ~Oscar Wilde

FINANCIAL
20. Pay off my credit card bill.
21. Put at least $1000 in my IRA.
22. Make a habit of paying extra principal on the mortgage each month.
23. Transfer my old 401k.
24. Implement a system for David and I to save our change.

“The Internet? Is that thing still around?” ~Homer Simpson

COMPUTER AND INTERNET
25. Back up all of my computer files.
26. Learn CSS/HTML/PHP well enough to design and run my website independently.
27. Set up an eBay seller profile.
28. Do a video blog post.
29. Spend a week without internet, except email once a day.

“The door that nobody else will go in at, seems always to swing open widely for me.” ~Clara Barton

NURSING
30. Become oncology certified.
31. Take the charge nurse class.
32. Take the preceptor class.
33. Get promoted.
34. Get ACLS certified.
35. Thoroughly research nurse practitioner programs in the area and decide whether or not to enroll.

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.” ~Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

CULTURE
36. Watch all of the movies that have won Best Picture. (33/82 – List)
37. Track down this classical piece by Mendelssohn that I used to own but lost, and only know the melody to.
38. Read 5 Pulitzer Prize winning books that I haven’t read. (0/5)
39. Read 5 books of David’s recommendation. (0/5)
40. Read all the books I own but haven’t read.
41. Attend a Messiah sing-a-long.
42. Learn conversational Spanish.
43. Learn the clarinet solo in “Desperate For Love” by Over the Rhine.
44. See another live musical.

“I have an affection for a great city. I feel safe in the neighborhood of man, and enjoy the sweet security of the streets.” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

HOUSTON
45. Eat Sunday brunch at Birraporetti’s again.
46. Walk the Kemah boardwalk.
47. Go to another Dynamo game.
48. Go to a Texans game.
49. Drive through River Oaks at Christmas.
50. Go to Dickens on the Strand.
51. Visit Moody Gardens and do the penguin encounter.
52. See the Beer Can House.
53. Visit the Orange Show monument.

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” ~Jack Kerouac

TRAVEL
54. Drive down the California coast.
55. Change passport to married name.
56. Go saltwater fishing with David.
57. Take David to Tabor’s homecoming.
58. Stay in a bed & breakfast.
59. Take David to visit my aunt and uncle in South Carolina in springtime to see their dogwoods and azaleas.

“No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home.” ~L. Frank Baum

HOME
60. Get the house painted.
61. List all unwanted books, CDs, and DVDs on eBay and/or Amazon.
62. Sell/give away/donate all the books I don’t need or want.
63. Plant flowers in the backyard.
64. Get patio furniture.
65. Have the locks changed so they all open with a single key.
66. Get all the electrical outlets working again.
67. Build a pretty and well-organized home office.
68. Obtain a vacuum cleaner.
69. Refinish my old desk chair.
70. Get the drywall in the bathroom ceiling replaced.
71. Buy 5 original/handmade art/craft pieces from local creators to display in our home. (0/5)

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ~Marcel Proust

RELATIONSHIPS
72. Write David a list of 100 things I love about him.
73. Babysit my new nephew.
74. Get pregnant.
75. Send 10 ‘just because’ cards. (0/10)
76. Hand write a letter to my Australian pen pal.
77. Host a game night.
78. Host a book club meeting.
79. Send out timely Christmas cards.
80. Attend my 10-year high school reunion.

“A boy doesn’t have to go to war to be a hero; he can say he doesn’t like pie when he sees there isn’t enough to go around.” ~Edward H. Howe

GIVE BACK
81. Donate blood once a quarter.
82. Register to be a bone marrow donor.
83. Start using reusable shopping bags.
84. Send Mary, the child we sponsor in Uganda, a picture of us.
85. Make an achievable plan of steps to take to have a more environmentally friendly life.

“Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.” ~Beatrix Potter

BE CREATIVE
86. Write a “This I Believe” essay and submit it to NPR.
87. Complete NaBloPoMo.
88. Make and send birthday cards to everyone on my birthday list for three months.
89. Make an inspiration board.
90. Have a custom stamp made.
91. Take a sewing class.

“Christ says, ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You.’” ~C.S. Lewis

SPIRITUAL
92. Memorize Philippians 3.
93. Memorize Romans 8.
94. Fast for 24 hours and evaluate.
95. Be a regular at a women’s Bible study.
96. Complete a Beth Moore Bible study with homework (on my own with downloaded sessions or live).

“Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!” ~The King and I

ET CETERA
97. Buy another leash and walk the dogs simultaneously.
98. Get new windshield wipers for my truck.
99. Become a true fan of the Texans by watching every game and discussing with David.
100. Complete a New York Times crossword puzzle without help.
101. Beat Mario Galaxy on Wii.

For everything I don’t complete on this list, I will add $50 to my IRA.