101 in 1001: Let’s play catch (up)!

So I’m 295 days into my “101 in 1001” challenge. To date, I have completed 18 items, and I am in the process of completing 24 others. I guess that’s pretty good, right?

Anyway, one of my items is to document every completed goal, and I’m a little behind on that (again). Since it’s Friday, a typically lower-blog-traffic day, I figured I’d get it out of the way now so I can do some more exciting posts next week.

Item #15: Read an entire book (minimum of 200 pages) in one day.

I actually completed this one twice over, because I read the first Pretty Little Liars book one day in July, and then The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in August. This item was actually kinda scaring me, because it’s been years since I have been able to read a book for longer than half an hour or so without starting to nod off — no matter how amazing the book may be. So, I feel pretty good about being able to read TWO entire books in one day (each)!

Item #23: Make our home look more “homey” by putting up photos/art and other pretty things.

So I’m calling this one “done-ish” because I kind of did a bare minimum decorating job in our condo. There are some photos from our wedding up in the living room (along with curtains on the sliding glass doors! yay!), and I have some things set up on my side of the desk that are pretty and/or meaningful to me (souvenirs from Romania, for example). I would still like to paint the living room (and maybe bathroom) and come up with some sort of “theme” or decorative motif, but I gotta admit: I’m kind of waiting until we know we’re going to be settling down someplace. We’re not 100% sure whether we will be staying in Santa Barbara long-term, and if we do, we’re hoping that the housing market will turn around so that we can sell without losing money, and maybe look into getting a slightly larger place. (Basically, I’m kinda just deciding to drop this item for the time being, I guess. Call me a cheater if you want.)

Item #89: Volunteer for an event or organization.

Okay, I’m WAY overdue on blogging about this one. Back in April, I volunteered through work for a record-a-thon, where we got to read excerpts from various books that would be compiled for the benefit of students who are blind or struggle with dyslexia. The company that runs the program is called Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, and it was a really fun day for me! I have considered signing up to volunteer there more regularly, but it’s going to have to wait until my life is just a teensy bit less hectic. Like maybe after I get done with all this crazy ambitious stuff like paying off loans, losing weight, and completing 101 items in 1001 days (to name a few).

Item #93: Tip 100% to an exceptional server at a restaurant.

This one happened fairly recently, on the day that Joe and I got up early to watch the sunrise at the Goleta Beach Pier. We went to our favorite breakfast spot, Domingo’s, afterwards, and there was only one server on duty for the early morning shift. Despite having about seven or eight tables (a few with 5+ people), she was incredibly helpful and friendly. Our food came out as quickly as usual, and she stopped by frequently to make sure we had everything we needed. I think the bill came out to about $22, so I made sure Joe was okay with it, and then I wrote the tip for the exact same amount. I didn’t stick around to see her reaction, but I hope she felt our appreciation for her awesome service!

Item #100: Post ten video blogs.

Okay, so before VEDA happened, this seemed like a really big undertaking. But now that I have (almost) 31 consecutive days of vlogging under my belt, I can’t imagine stopping now! I will be writing a more in-depth post next week about VEDA, but for now I’ll just say that yeah, I totally killed this goal. And if you missed any of my awesome (pshaw) vlogging action last month, you can just click here to see them all in one place! (Or, of course, you can go to my YouTube page and not only watch, but comment!)

***

Woo! I’m all caught up for now. Happy Friday, pals!