633 days to go...

Well, I'm a year into this process and have completed 20 of 101 things. I had wanted to get to 30 by the end of the year, but sadly that did not happen.

However, I'm pretty happy with my progress to date. The following "things" have now been completed:

#7: Read a Brave New World
#9: Read Lord of the Rings trilogy
#12: Start a journal
#15: Get a manicure/pedicure (I definitely did this more than once!)
#19: Drink 6 glasses of water a day for 1 month
#22: Make a home first aid kit
#23: Keep a food diary for 30 days
#28: Find a white wine that I really, really like (also did this more than once!)
#31: Find a good farmers' market in Boston
#38: Refine the chore schedule
#39: Stick to chore schedule for 2 months straight
#40: Send Christmas cards in 2009
#54: Start a rainy day jar for change
#73: Celebrate our 1st anniversary
#74: Take a Duck Tour
#88: Finish converting family videos to DVD
#89: Start a blog to document this process
#92: Start a cooking blog
#93: Complete a proper spring cleaning
#94: Go to a Red Sox game at Fenway

In addition, I have another 10 things underway, though most will probably take a while longer to complete (quilt, I'm looking at you...)

Looking back, I think this year has been fairly productive. The blogging process has been so important in keeping me on track and encouraging me to complete many of these tasks. If I didn't feel like it was breathing down my neck all year, I probably wouldn't have finished half of these!

It's also a nice way to reflect upon the past year and all that has happened. While most of the things are minor, every day life sort of events, remembering the circumstances under which they were completed helps to remind me of all the fun stuff we've done this year. The Duck Tour was first completed when my mom and Isabel came to visit, and the Red Sox game was a result of Yuna's arrival. The spring cleaning was part of the ongoing process of falling in love with our apartment, and the food diary helped to make me more conscious of what I'm putting in my mouth every day.

All in all, I'm really excited to be continuing this process into 2010. Thanks again to everyone for their ongoing support!

#63: Complete 5 DIY projects (wherein the author does a happy dance)

In the ongoing attempt to finish decorating our living room, I've been trying to add more colour and pattern to the room. I'm happy we chose neutral/solid prints for our couches (which are more permanent), but it means that the room can look a little plain without some pops of pattern in accent items.

One place I really want to add this accent is in the pillows on our couch. I picked up this fabric last time I was in Hamilton, and although I was originally planning on using it to recover a lampshade, I decided it would work better as a pillow cover.

I'm really happy I made this choice, since I think it looks fabulous! I'm really happy with the result, and even have leftover fabric to make another cover or use somewhere else. This is the first of at least 4 pillows that need to be made, but I think it's a great start.

Directions are here: http://sewing.about.com/od/freeprojects/ss/envelopepillow.htm

#28: Find a white wine that I really, really like (wherein the author returns from an extended hiatus)

Hello folks. It has certainly been a while since I last posted here. I make no apologies for this however, as I've had an absolutely lovely summer, despite not having made much more progress on this list. That was one of the things that appealed to me about doing the 101 things: spreading out the list over such a long period of time allows for the natural peaks and valleys of commitment and success that come with goals and resolutions.

However, because I'm such a natural nerd, the return of the fall season can always be counted upon to spur me to do two things: 1) seek out a new fall wardrobe and 2) to renew my commitment to being organized and following through on goals. In my school-age years this obviously resulted in several weeks of meticulously organized binders and school planners, before I would inevitably return to my natural habits. In this case, I'm finding the colourful leaves and cool weather to be just what I needed to get going on my list again.

One of the accomplishments of the last few weeks included finding a white wine that I really enjoyed. I was a little hesitant about posting it here simply because it has such a silly name and certainly does not sound like a very serious wine, but I can't deny that this was one of the most enjoyable discoveries I've made in a while.

The Kung Fu Girls riesling from Washington State is described as follows:

An ever-so-slightly off-dry, zingy, wine with floral and pineapple aromas and flavors plus asian pear, apricot, quince, and a zesty lime peel with great minerality on the palate. This wine, from the strange mind of producer Charles Smith, is so sleek and racy that it never seems sweet. The grapes came from the rocky soils of the Evergreen Vineyard near the town of George, Washington. The vineyard lies on the crest of an undulating basalt ridge between 1300 and 1400 feet in elevation. The initial 250 acres were planted in 1998 with the balance of the current 450 acres completed in 2005. The soil is a shallow clay loam over basalt and caliche, contributing to the wines mineral tone and complex fruit flavors.

This wine is incredibly affordable ($14 in most places), and I'm hoping it's also available in Canada. If not, I'll make sure to stock up on a few bottles before my next trip home so that I can share the wealth.

Thank-you to the 2 or 3 remaining readers who have continued to check in on the status of this blog during my hiatus. I'm hoping to return to more regular posting in the coming weeks and knowing that there are a few people monitoring my progress is great incentive to get back to work.

I'd love to see some suggestions posted in the comments about which item from my list I should focus on next...

#22: Make a home first aid kit

Okay, so clearly I've been a little behind in keeping up on my 101 things. However, the gods were clearly smiling down upon me this week as I received a total 'gimme' on #22. Our office was holding a 'Vendor Day' (opportunity for companies to come into the office and hold a bunch of giveaways in an attempt to get us to become customers). In addition to having won a free night at a Starwood hotel (I swear Starwood Hotels is not paying me to endorse them), I also got this sweet, free first aid kit:




How on earth could such a small kit contain all the necessities of a first aid kit, you might ask? Well, my friends, I invite you to behold the glory that is the new Meneer household's first aid kit:



- 10 bandaid of varying sizes
- 1 sterile non-stick pad
- 1 packet of pain relieving gel for burn relief
- 3 packets of antiobiotic for general disinfection
- 1 nasal and sinus decongestant
- 2 extra strength pain relievers
- 4 alcohol prep pads
- 2 (fruit flavoured!) antacids
- 1 sterile gauze pad
- 6 antiseptic towelettes
- 1 roll of medical tape

I am totally not above taking 'things' where I can get them!

#63: Complete 5 DIY projects (wherein the author reminisces)

I totally stole this idea from one of my favourite new decor blogs, This Young House, and decided to make it my first DIY project. The idea actually came to me late at night a few weeks ago while I was staring at an already hanging picture frame and realizing it really needed to 'pepped up'. Once I remembered the scrapbooking paper I had stored in the back of a closet, the whole project came together.

I used keys from the various places that we've lived over the course of our relationship, and glued them to the scrapbooking paper. I inserted these pieces of scrapbook paper into the frames, and voila! instant nostalgi-art!

Isn't it super cute?

#94: Go to a Red Sox game at Fenway (wherein the author takes up citizenship in the Red Sox Nation)

One of our closest friends, Yuna, came to visit us this past week on her way back from a trip to Washington. Her visit was truly fantastic, and while I wish I'd been able to take time off work to be able to show her sights, I know Nate did a fabulous job playing host.

Having friends and family come to visit is wonderful for so many reasons, but one of those is the excuse that it gives us to play tourist in our own city. Although Nate and Yuna probably walked the equivalent of several Boston marathons over the course of the week (including hiking up to the summit of Wachusett Mountain!), I luckily got to participate in a few of their outings. One of these was the highly anticipated Red Sox game on Thursday night.

Yuna is a massive baseball fan, and she was gracious enough to take time from watching the game to explain a few particularities of the team and the rules, making the whole experience even more fantastic. Fenway Park has such a sense of history and nostalgia to it, and even walking around in the hours preceding the game was a lot of fun. Boston is so good at creating a mood of excitement around its sports games, and just watching and listening to all of the busy action around us got us more than pumped for the amazing game to come. The night got off to a particularly good start with a dinner of sausage on a bun, eating while sitting on the curb outside of Gate C.



Although we ended up opting for the cheapest tickets available, all of us were pleasantly surprised by the position of our seats. Fenway is a small enough field that you feel pretty close to the action regardless of where you sit. We were particularly lucky to be almost dead centre outfield, and even though we weren't sitting in the covered section, we avoided the pretty constant drizzle throughout the game since we were sitting directly under the jumbotron. Pretty sweet!!



And of course, the best part was the phenomenal game itself. The definite highlight was the record breaking TWELVE-RUN sixth inning!! Yuna commented that she'd never heard of a sympathy cheer such as the one that the Boston fans bestowed upon the Cleveland Indians when they finally got their first out. Needless to say, the Sox won 13-3- we're pretty sure it had to do with how loudly we were cheering...in French no less!



I also had to include this last photo, as it was the result of about 10 straight attempts to take a photo of the three of us. With every one of the first 10 being ruined by someone blinking, we decided to just screw it and take one with all of us blinking...much better!! (p.s. Don't you love how Yuna looks like an anime character when she closes her eyes like that?!)

103 days in...

So, I'm now 103 days into this process. According to the schedule, that puts me at 2 "things" behind, assuming I'm doing 1 every 10 days. I'm not overly concerned by this however, because I have several "things" that have been started (the quilt, AFI movies, perfecting casseroles, decorating the bedroom and living room, etc.) so I feel that there will inevitably be a bunch that get wrapped up around the same time.

I thought I would post this update thought to just put into words my thoughts about how the first 100 days have gone. I am loving this process: there are already so many activities that I would never have gotten around to beginning (or finishing!) if I didn't have the feeling of this blog breathing down my neck. They're mostly things that I have thought a lot about doing over the past few month or years (reading the LoTR trilogy and A Brave New World, developing a chore schedule, having fresh flowers in the house, trying new restaurants) but that I've never seemed to get around to accomplishing. I can only hope that this blog continues to compel me to get off my rear and put more of these idle daydreams into action.

I'm also enjoying having some people participate in this with me. I know of two other people who have begun their own 101 things list, and it's exciting to have others to share this experience with. And I really appreciate that there are other people reading this blog (we've been averaging 50 unique viewers per week), which is helping to hold me accountable for finishing this list. As I said from the beginning, my hatred for blogging has been overshadowed by my need for a mechanism for shaming me into following through on this.

Anyway, just wanted to give everyone who's been nice enough to indulge me by reading this blog a little update and a promise that there will be a bunch of new "things" getting crossed off the list in the next few weeks. Thanks for continuing to hold my feet to the fire!

#7: Read Brave New World (wherein the author blows her mind)

Nate has been on my case to read Aldous Huxley's "Doors of Perception" for quite some time, ever since he read it while writing his honours' paper last year and found it unbelievably profound and mind-altering.

I had tried to get a copy for myself in the summer, but when Chapters didn't have it in stock, I picked up Huxley's "Brave New World" instead, thinking it would be a good primer for "Doors".

It took me quite a while to get into, as I started and stopped reading it several times since then. But last week I decided to push myself and finally finish it (a clear influence of having this list, as I was driven mostly by wanting to find something easy to 'cross off').

I am so glad that I did. I don't think I have finished fully processing it yet, as there have been several times in the last week where I suddenly have a new thought or realization about the book's meaning.

But this is a truly staggeringly good book. Peeling back the onion-layers of its meaning, I find myself thinking and feeling about the various connections it has produced within my mind, as I find the articulation of thoughts that I have never myself been able to put into words.

The most obvious of these are the book's thoughts and implications about religion versus sprituality, and the human soul's need for a God. Huxley is able to so indirectly and without the usual self-consciousness of these type of futuristic, apocalyptic novels, make such piercingly honest statements about spirituality. One passage that almost literally knocked the wind out of me when I first read it was this:

"They say that it is the fear of death and of what comes after death that makes men turn to religion as they advance in years. But my own experience has given me the conviction that, quite apart from any such terrors or imaginings, the religious sentiment tends to develop as we grow older; to develop because, as the passions grow calm, as the fancy and sensibilities are less excited and less excitable, our reason becomes less troubled in its working, less obscured by the images, desires and distractions, in which it used to be absorbed; whereupon God emerges as from behind a cloud; our soul feels, sees, turns towards the source of all light; turns naturally and inevitably; for now that all that gave to the world of sensations its life and charms has begun to leak away from us, now that phenomenal existence is no more bolstered up by impressions from within or from without, we feel the need to lean on something that abides, something that will never play us false–a reality, an absolute and everlasting truth. Yes, we inevitably turn to God; for this religious sentiment is of its nature so pure, so delightful to the soul that experiences it, that it makes up to us for all our other losses."

If I'm not mistaken, the above passage was actually written by Cardinal Newman, and not Huxley. But the passage is so much more brilliantly underscored and heightened in its meaning by Huxley's narrative around it. The world that he creates, and its similarities and differences from our own, makes such a fertile ground for proving and disproving so many of our conceptions of God, spirituality, religion, love, society and government.

I can't imagine why this book is used in high-school curriculum though. I don't think I can truly appreciate its various messages at age 23 and after having already wrestled with some of these issues on my own; I can't imagine many 17 year olds who would do better.

I'd love to hear comments from anyone else who has read the book; as I said, I feel there's still a lot that I need to 'work through' in its meaning, and would love to hear others' takes on it.

#66: Make a quilt (wherein the author reassesses her timeline)

One down, 19 to go.

#35: Finish decorating the living room (wherein the author 'branches out')

Okay, so I've always loved learning about decor, architecture, interior design, etc. Except, my ability to actually apply this love to my own apartment has always been lacking. I have serious trouble actually translating the creative ideas I have in my mind into an actual decor scheme.

But since we have quickly fallen in love with our new Boston apartment, it seemed only appropriate that I try to finally apply myself to bringing my ideas to fruition. The apartment is just lovely; we've often remarked that even without a lot of furniture, and at times very little actual lighting, this apartment has felt more like home than our apartment in Ottawa ever did. The Ottawa apartment always seemed great on paper, but was never cozy or homey the way this place feels. We're lucky to have a south-facing position and a wall of beautiful windows running along one entire wall of the apartment, from the living room through the kitchen and bathroom to the bedroom. All the rooms have beautiful original hardwood and original plaster moulding, and the entire effect is one of an airy, light, slightly-deco cloud.

My recent decor obsession has been focused towards mid-century modern basics updated with some Edwardian architectural touches. I have a very clear idea of how I can combine these two seemingly disparate styles in this apartment, inspired by many hours skulking on Apartment Therapy. For a specific idea of what I'm going for, see here and here.

Here's a sampling of where I'm drawing my inspiration from:





In the spirit of trying to slowly gather pieces that will fit into this style, I convinced Nate to come with me on a hunt through some local used furniture stores. After suffering through a few disgustingly-odoured glorified junk yards, we stumbled across "Cheap Chic" on Harvard Ave. I think we will be spending many a Sunday afternoon here in the future, as both Nate and I got lost in the treasure trove of amazing antiques, old-school electronics and funky furniture. And we certainly did not leave empty-handed on this first visit, as I managed to convince Nate to let us add these two glorious new additions to our family:




















They obviously need some cleaning up and some new shades, but I'm very excited to begin planning the living room around these two works of art (which were only $10 each!). I'm thinking a plain, oval drum shade for the wood and tin lamp (something like this) and a graphic drum shade for the brass candlestick (maybe like this but in a different colour).

I've already picked out a few new pieces of furniture for the far-off day when we actually have money again:







I'll keep you posted!

#9: Read The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (wherein the author becomes apoplexed)

I have wanted to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy for ages. Although I started it from the beginning on many occasions, I never seemed to be able to get past the middle of the first book, as I found the complex and dense 'world' of Middle Earth, with its various names, adjectives, languages and geographical locations, to be very hard to keep straight and thus hold my interest.

So at the end of November, after having watched all three movies over the course of three days (thank-you Thanksgiving movie marathon channel!) I decided that if I was ever going to be able to get through the books, it would be best to do it when the characters and general plot outline were fresh in my mind from the movies.

Last weekend, I finally got to the end of the trilogy, having been reading the three books sporadically over the last two and a half months. While I greatly enjoyed the books (more of that below), I need to begin this post by expressing my extreme outrage towards the publishers of said trilogy.

Internet, I present you with Exhibit A:



If you guessed that the photo above is of the very last page of the 1,350 page trilogy, then you would be correct. Moreover, you would be correct if you guessed that the strategically placed smudge is located in the very last sentence of the very last page of the 1,350 page trilogy. Finally, you would also be correct if you guessed that this smudge made it impossible to know what were the final words of the best character at the end of the 1,350 page trilogy.

Internet, am I wrong to be outraged by this? Am I wrong to feel that, in exchange for having invested two and a half months of my time, the publishers owe me, at the very least, the confidence that at the end of such an investment, I can count on being able to read the final words of the book? That I need not spend hours after the fact wondering about the elusive message of the great J.R.R. Tolkien?

Anyway, once I had recovered from my aneurysm, I was able to actually reflect on the books themselves, and decided that I actually enjoyed the movie more than the books. This is quite unusual for me, because most of the time books are able to conjure a much more detailed and deep reality in which I can lose myself and my consciousness over the course of the reading. While I did enjoy the books, I found them to be overly complicated and long-winded, with some parts that seemed to be included merely for the sake of making the book longer.

The movie however, seemed to do a good job of streamlining the most important elements of the plot, without losing the underlying spirit and purpose of the book. Moreover, and I find this to be a rare accomplishment for movie-adaptations, I feel like the characters were much more fully developed and realized on screen than on the page (the only exception to this being the characters of Merry and Pippin).

While there were definitely some parts or characters that I wish had played a larger role in the film, or any role at all in the case of Tom Bombadil, I think Peter Jackson made all the right decisions in deciding how to pare down one of literature's most notoriously rambling and densely-packed books.

Now, if someone could just tell me the last words of book three, I would be much obliged.

#66: Make a quilt (wherein the author considers abandoning her current profession to take up a career in textiles)

I love fabric stores. I could spend days in them. I love turning a corner and having a new fabric catch my eye and instantly inspire in my mind a fantastic creation. The only thing more passionate than my love for fabric stores is my wish that I could do justice to even one tenth of the projects that I dream up.

Fortunately, quilting is a fairly easy way for me to get my fabric fix, as it doesn't require too much skill and allows for the pairing of multiple fabrics in one go. Picking these fabrics out, comparing their various tones and patterns to find the perfect combination of harmony and contrast, is my favourite part of the whole quilt-making process, and may go towards explaining why only a small portion of my quilts ever get finished.

This 'thing' will definitely take close to the full 1001 days to complete, as my aim is to produce a fully functional, queen-sized 'real' quilt. I'm super-excited about it and think that, as long as I don't hold myself to any unrealistic expectations of its final form or quality, it will turn out quite well.

The pattern for the quilt that I've chosen is here and looks to be fairly simple, although time consuming.

Unfortunately I couldn't seem to capture the fabrics on film to properly do them justice, but here is my best shot:



I've found (through frustrating trial and error) that the best way to keep my quilt pieces organized over the course of the process is to clearly label the various sizes/shapes and keep them in baggies:



While I have gotten a little more diligent and thorough about following all the proper steps in quilt-making, one habit that I doubt I'll ever break is cutting enough pieces to start the first block and then diving right in. The feeling of sitting in front of so much beautiful fabric and then being told to spend several hours painstakingly cutting tiny squares instead of getting to actually put needle to cloth is, in my mind, much like being told to carefully fold and put away wrapping paper before being able to see what present you got.

So instead of taking the time to cut out 320 3.5" x 3.5" squares, 100 2.5" x 2.5" squares, and 80 4.5" x 4.5" squares, I only cut what was necessary and went to it. Here is the first corner of my first block:



This is less than 1/4 of 1 of 20 blocks that will be needed to create the final quilt. A full bear-claw block looks like this:



I'm hoping that I can average 1 block a week, meaning I'll have all the blocks in about 20-22 weeks. Add in another 3-4 weeks for sashing and binding and the quilt top will be ready by sometime around August. And then, my friend, the actual 'quilting' can begin. Ack!

#92: Start a cooking blog (wherein the author discovers her potential addiction to searching for blog templates)

(Before I start, I want to point out that if I were a truly committed and vigilant blogger, I would have taken the time to manually change all of the numbers on the list so that any new additions from the 'Things to be Decided' section would move up to their appropriate category. Internet: I am not such a committed and vigilant blogger. Deal with it.)

A few people have mentioned to me in the past that they would like to get a few of my recipes or see photos of my more creative culinary experiments. So, I figured, what better way than to set up a blog, to serve not only as a new 'thing' but also to make it easier to complete #25, self-publishing my own cookbook.

So after several hours searching for the perfect template (which, to be honest, I still haven't found) I've set up Barely Barefoot, an homage to one of my favourite TV chefs and also a dig at some of my friends who enjoy joking about my fast descent into a trailer-living, barefoot-and-pregnant lifestyle.

Feel free to come on over and take a peek! I promise I won't be cooking moose, rabbit or any other kind of would-be roadkill!

#12: Start a journal (wherein the author takes pleasure in small victories)

Okay, so this one is a bit of a 'gimme'...the original list only said 'START a journal', so after having completed two entries, I'm calling this one a success.

I have to thank my mother for making this one possible, because if she hadn't so serendipitously purchased me a journal for Christmas, this probably would have lingered for months in the 'Easy things that require very little effort to complete but somehow aren't getting crossed off' pile.

I was hesitant to add this 'thing' to the list, because my forays into personal journaling as a child were so painfully self-aware and self-impressed; I remember very clearly sitting on my bed at age 11, chronicling the very torrid events of my middle-schooler life in such a way that, if ever my diary were to be found by future generations, I would be remembered on-par with Anne Frank. I don't think anyone had really explained to me what actually happened during the Holocaust, or else I was just so wrapped up in the daily goings-on of play-ground romances that I thought they were of equal importance. Not sure which.

Anyway, this go-around has already has proved interesting; yesterday's entry was a summation of my thoughts about President Obama's innauguration. Again I found myself slipping into a style and metre that was way too self-conscious of who might be reading my 'prophetic prose' in some distant future, but I'm working on that.

#58: Watch all of AFI's Top 100 movies (wherein the author begins to doubt herself)

So, here it is, a few weeks after my first post, and I have completed a grand total of one 'thing'...which was making list and posting it. Hmmm...this may prove harder than I first imagined.

In light of my need to begin crossing things off my list, I started reviewing some of my 'things'. Luckily, there are many which I believe I can complete in the coming few weeks, although undoubtedly there are some that will take months, if not the 1001 days to complete.

One of the 'things' that I am most looking forward to is #58 'Watch all of AFI's Top 100 movies'. Some of you may know that I am an amateur-amateur-amateur film buff, and really enjoy watching movies and retaining the useless array of trivia associated with them. I consider myself to know a fair amount about mainstream American cinema (and a tiny bit about its non-mainstream and non-American counterparts), so I was surprised to find that I had only seen 26 of the top 100.

Here now is the list of top 100 films that I have not seen, arranged in alphabetical (ie. not ranked) order:


12 Angry Men
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange
A Night at the Opera
All About Eve
All the President's Men
American Graffiti
Annie Hall
Apocalypse Now
Ben-Hur
Blade Runner
Bringing Up Baby
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Casablanca
Chinatown
Citizen Kane
City Lights
Do the Right Thing
Double Indemnity
Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
Easy Rider
Goodfellas
High Noon
In the Heat of the Night
Intolerance
It Happened One Night
Jaws
King Kong
Lawrence of Arabia
M-A-S-H
Midnight Cowboy
Modern Times
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Nashville
Network
On the Waterfront
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Platoon
Psycho
Raging Bull
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Rear Window
Rocky
Shane
Some Like It Hot
Sophie's Choice
Spartacus
Sullivan's Travels
Sunrise
Sunset Blvd.
Swing Time
Taxi Driver
The African Queen
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Deer Hunter
The French Connection
The General
The Gold Rush
The Graduate
The Grapes of Wrath
The Last Picture Show
The Maltese Falcon
The Philadelphia Story
The Searchers
The Silence of the Lambs
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Wild Bunch
To Kill a Mockingbird
Tootsie
Unforgiven
West Side Story
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

As I watch these films (and I have already set about my research assistant, Mr. Meneer, to downloading as many of these as possible), I'll post my thoughts and update the list of "seen/unseen". I'd love to hear comments from anyone who has seen any of these films and any recommendations as to which I should watch first.

For the full AFI Top 100 list, see here.