101 Things in 1001 Days

I'm jumping on the bandwagon here. I've been doing a lot of soul searching in the last two years and it seems appropriate to try to prioritize my life goals. At least, life goals in the short term...

Health:
1. Lose 10 pounds by my 31st birthday
2. Fit back in a size 12 (or less) by the end of the 1001 days
3. Get a physical (it's been a couple of years)
4. Give yoga another try – every other day for 2 weeks
5. Walk for at least one hour every week
6. Hike to find at least one letterbox per month
7. Finally go see a dermatologist
8. Find a counselor to help me work on becoming less angry
9. Eat 3 solid meals a day instead of skipping meals & bingeing on junk
10. Eat as vegetarian for 3 months
11. Dance with the babies at least once a week

Travel:
12. Get another stamp in my passport book before it expires (2013)
13. Visit the Thousand Islands
14. Bring all 3 kids to Disney World
15. Explore my mother’s new hometown of Homer
16. Go cross country skiing in Ludlow VT
17. Take a ferry to Martha’s Vineyard and have a picnic
18. Show the boys Plymouth MA
19. Spend a week enjoying the beach at Falmouth, Cape Cod
20. Perform in the Horribles' Parade on July 4th in Rockport MA
21. Spend a weekend in Boston
22. Drive to the Outer Banks and spend some time exploring Kitty Hawk
23. Take a family train ride to the Midwest (Chicago maybe?)
24. Visit the Bronx Zoo at least twice before our membership is up
25. Take the boys to see the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan
26. Spend a day at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan
27. Go back to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan
28. Visit and take pictures of historical sites of family significance with Uncle Paul
29. Go to CT for Zandra’s doctoral dissertation
30. Plan a trip to stay with Shahin after he starts medical school in NV or FL

Books:
31. Read a minimum of one book per month
32. Read a biography of someone influential to American History
33. Read most of the books on the list I gave to my classes for their book report project (My Sister’s Keeper, Never Let Me Go, Stem Cell Symphony, Next, Mutation) by the end of Summer 2009

Home:
34. Revamp the kitchen with new counters and new appliances
35. Remove the old air conditioner in the living room
36. Fix the wall in the living room (after removing the a/c)
37. Repaint where necessary (i.e. living room after babies drew on the wall)
38. Clean out the attic AGAIN
39. Convert the attic into useable space by installing heating
40. Donate old baby clothes and toys to Salvation Army
41. Disassemble the IKEA kitchen table & find it a new home
42. Vacuum the house at least once a month (since DH does it most of the time)
43. Fold and put away laundry as soon as it’s been washed and dried
44. Fix the Rubbermaid tool shed or sell it on Craigslist
45. Add topsoil and grass to the side yard this spring
46. Price out a new deck for the front of the house (if affordable, build it)
47. Price out new siding for the entire house (if affordable, install it)
48. Replace the overhead fluorescent light in the living room

Music:
49. Buy a new iPod to transfer old iTunes library off of our wedding iPod
50. Purchase two albums per year – one at Christmas time and one at birthday time
51. Join a choir

Money:
52. Establish a household budget that we actually adhere to
53. Find another source of income for the summer months
54. Help Corbin get his first job & establish a savings account
55. Pay down my student loans ahead of time (due to end 2014)
56. Purchase a gas-efficient vehicle & keep the monthly payment below $200/month
57. Help Corbin set aside money for college applications
58. Donate 1% of take home salary to charities

TV/Film:
59. Sign up for NetFlix to avoid movie theater prices
60. Watch more TMC (Turner Movie Classics) than Comedy Central movies
61. Limit the twins to no more than 2 hours of TV a day
62. Determine if we need a digital converter box for our TV

Art:
63. Finish writing my novel
64. Start writing poetry again – shoot for one poem a month
65. Write a history of Grandpa Dotzert & the FBI
66. Develop a digital photography portfolio
67. Enter some photographs in the Morris County 4H Fair
68. Participate in NaJoWriMo in 2009 and 2010

Professional:
69. Write and publish a journal article
70. Become active in the BTANJ
71. Establish a molecular biology research program at work
72. Commit to spending no more than 10 hours a day on work stuff
73. Develop a teacher portfolio CD/binder for job interviews
74. Study to take the MCAT exam
75. Shadow my mother in law at her radiology practice

Misc:
76. Participate in Gimme Your Stuff (http://www.gimmeyourstuff.blogspot.com)
77. Send a postcard to Post Secret (http://postsecret.blogspot.com/)
78. Take photographs of all of the graves in St. Patrick’s Cemetery in the woods
79. Fill 5 photo requests for findagrave.com
80. Get Thorn registered with the town every year on time
81. Get Thorn's teeth cleaned
82. Finish my state quarter collection
83. Visit my grandparents’ graves at Hillside Cemetery & replant flowers
84. Spend an afternoon with my grandmother’s sister, Aunt Joyce
85. Help Grandma and Aunt Patti organize Grandpa’s Korea pictures
86. Get all the FBI records possible for Great Great Grandpa Dotzert
87. Join the Historical Society
88. Be trained as a guide for historical walking tours this summer
89. Plan a bi-monthly Girl’s night with my sister, my aunts and cousins
90. Spend at least 20 minutes every night talking to my husband without distraction
91. Learn to make “healthier” desserts for the family
92. Use Freecycle.org to declutter semi-annually (December – April – August)
93. Say “I love you” to each of my children every day
94. Set up an area next to house for Chester the pet bunny to stay during the summer
95. Research and visit towns in central/southern Jersey, upstate New York, southern VT, and CT in order to find the “perfect” place to settle until the twins graduate high school in 2024
96. Call my father to chat at least once a month
97. Call my mother to chat at least once a month
98. Plan a get together with my father’s family (BBQ anyone?)
99. Make a list of potential suggestions for DH’s family reunion in 2011
100. Begin collecting original genealogy documents to gain entrance to the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution)
101. Set up a schedule of “mother-son” dates with Corbin

My end date is Monday, November 28, 2011. Wish me luck.