I heard about this challenge last week from the blog of a fellow JBer at her blog and being someone who loves a personal challenge I decided I’d give it ago. I threw the idea out to one of my best girlfriends – Amy – and she is just as excited to get started so we are compiling our 101/1001 lists this weekend and will be comparing notes on Monday (via email since we live on opposite sides of the country). Basically the idea is similar to the concept of a bucket list but you have a deadline, you have to make list of 101 things you want to do and you have 1001 days to complete the list.

My Countdown started yesterday and my deadline is FEBRUARY 24 2012.. which sounds far away but really isn’t!

Here is my list in no particular order:

1. Move to NZ
2. Learn to drive
3. Meet Ben
4. Start a Bachelor of Arts
5. Get a new tattoo
6. Give Blood
7. Walk the Milford Track
8. Walk the Routeburn Track
9. Take 101 hour long walks (0/101)
10. Write a novel and send it to a publisher
11. Try Snowboarding
12. Take a trip by myself
13. Have 101 vegan days (101)
14. Cook hubby 101 meals (0/101)
15. Learn to use my DSLR camera properly
16. Learn Tai Chi
17. Make 5 new friends
18. Get to my ideal weight (70kgs?)
19. Successfully manage my weight (@ approx 70kgs)
20. Learn sign language
21. Write 101 articles send them to various blogs to see if they get published (0/101)
22. Have 2 picnics by lake Wakatipu, one during the day and one by moonlight
23. Send out at least five books on BookCrossing
24. Join and begin using BookMooch
25. Sleep under the stars
26. Write a weekly cleaning roster/timetable for our house and stick to it
27. Write 101 hand written letters to friends (0/101)
28. Go camping for a weekend
29. Visit at least one new country
30. See Uluru
31. Spend a weekend in Wellington
32. Master 5 fabulous recipes
33. Backup my laptop every month (0/33)
34. Watch a sunrise
35. Frame and hang our wedding photos
36. Inspire 5 people to make a list like this! (1/5)
37. Bake 30 cakes (0/30)
38. Bake 50 batches of cookies (0/50)
39. Learn a foreign language
40. See 101 of the top 250 movies from IMBD (0/101)
41. Write a list of 101 places to see before you die
42. Visit the ocean at least 4 times (0/4)
43. Complete C25k plan – but a walking version, to help me get fit
44. Organise my blogs so that I have one for everything instead of 6 different ones.
45. Make bread
46. Learn to Meditate and do it at least 101 times (0/101)
47. Make a list of 101 things that make me happy (0/101)
48. Successfully complete NaNoWriMo (0/50,000)
49. Unplug’ for one whole weekend – no mobile phone, no Internet, no TV, no computer
50. Get rid of my TV
51. Participate in http://gimmeyourstuff.blogspot.com
52. Write a letter to myself 10 years in the future.
53. Do 50 things off Keri’s 100 fun things list http://www.kerismith.com/funstuff/100ideas.htm (0/50)
54. Make my “I love hubby because..” box and give it to him on a special occasion
55. Plant a tree
56. Go whitewater rafting
57. Do the Doubtful Sound cruise
58. Do a BTAT for a whole year (Best thing about today)
59. Read at least 50 of the 100 best novels: http://www.best100novels.com/ (o/50)
60. Make my own reading list of 101 books I own but haven’t read and read each book (0/101)
61. Participate in a walk for a cause
62. Say yes to more social situations
63. Volunteer to help with organizing the Queenstown Winter Festival
64. Create a ‘hottest 100’ songs list
65. Celebrate my 30th birthday by doing something fabulous
66. Participate in a photo scavenger hunt
67. Write a blog entry about completion of each of at least 75% of these list items (0/75)
68. Invite someone new over for dinner three times (0/3)
69. Get rid of 101 things that I don’t use or need (0/101)
70. Go one week without chocolate
71. Buy a houseplant and keep it alive
72. Take a ride on the Kingston Flyer
73. Write a thank you letter to someone who has made a difference in my life
74. Learn to knit (again) and actually finish an item of clothing
75. See the Franz Josef Glacier
76. Dance with Hubby
77. Write up my own personal history
78. Hand in my official resignation
79. Find a place to hang my hammock
80. Help Hubby start a small veggie garden in our backyard
81. Finish doing the 1001 questions for couples
82. Learn basic first aid
83. Make the switch to radpads/diva cup
84. Create a http://www.postcrossing.com/ account and send at least 20 postcards (0/20)
85. Read all my back issues of Kindred Magazine
86. Read all my back issues of Bitch Magazine
87. Read all my back issues of New Scientist
88. Save and keep $1000 in an ’emergency’ savings account
89. Make a roadtrip CD for our NZ roadtrip in June
90. Sell/Give away clothes that don’t fit anymore
91. Walk to the Skyline Restaurant instead of catching the gondola
92. See a movie with my Sister
93. Get a beautiful rug for our new house
94. Donate 10,000 rice grains through http://freerice.com/ (0/10,000)
95. Organise something fun for our wedding anniversary
96. Take myself out on 5 photo safaris (0/5)
97. Organise my printed photos into albums/boxes
98. Buy a bicycle and ride at least 101kms (0/101)
99. Eat 101 meals outside (0/101)
100. Create a savings budget and stick to it
101. Make a new 101/1001 list (just before the 1001 is up)

I tried to stay true to the 101 theme by making some of my goals things to do 101 times. I might create a few individual lists as well have them as separate pages, like the 101 book list, so I can cross them off individually… that will make it easier to mark my progress as I go.