It's Never Too Late

I had grand plans of doing a blog post at the first of year, like everyone does, and talking about what happened last year and what I want to achieve this year.  However, that post didn't happen when I wanted it to.  Better late than never, right.

Last year was filled with lots of ups and downs.  Infertility treatments dominated a lot of our thoughts.  Just when we thought that we had won over the IF devil, reality smacked me in the face and we were left to pick up the pieces of our broken hearts and mourn the loss of a baby.  However, I'm not one to stay down for long, and we quickly tried again.  Thankfully, that baby has proven to be our sticky baby and she is currently kicking away.  (She has a tendency to do that when I sit scrunched up, as if to tell me that I'm cramping her space.)

I also launched my photography business, Tania Beth Photography.  My website is in desperate need of updating, and that is definitely part of my goals.

We have been blessed that Drew has the job that he does.  He brings home a great paycheck and enjoys the work.  He works long hours, which we both dislike at times, but we know that it's not forever.

So, what are our plans for the upcoming year?  Well, we are so excited that we will be adding a daughter to our family.  We are so anxiously awaiting her arrival, just not too soon!  Our lives are going to change more than we can even imagine at this point.  And, we're excited for it!

We also plan on really focusing and working on our finances.  We plan on paying off some bills and bulking up our savings account.  We have some good foundations laid, we just need to stick to the plan.

We also have a bunch of home improvement projects that we want to do this year, both inside and outside. We've sort of dubbed this year "The Year of the Outside" since we haven't done a whole lot of work to the outside of the house.  Our house has wood siding that is in desperate need of repair and painting.  That will probably be our big project for the year.  I can't tell you how excited I will be drive to drive up to a newly painted house.

101 in 1001 Update

Wow, I haven't updated in a long, long time. And I really need to get my butt in gear if I want to make some progress on this daunting list of mine. If I calculated correctly, I only have until September 28 of this year to accomplish these remaining items. Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!

Again, items that have been completed are in red.

1. Take Drew to Arizona
2. Read the Bible
3. Visit the Daughtry’s in North Carolina
4. Visit the Landgren’s in Colorado
5. Make dinner every night for a week
6. Go to church at least one Sunday a month
7. Take a dance class
8. Move out of our apartment
9. Buy a house
10. Start our family
11. Pay off all credit cards (2/4)
12. Go to a Cubs game with Drew
13. Watch at least 5 Cubs games each season with Drew (and not complain about it) 10/15
14. Learn sign language
15. Learn to play the piano
16. Go on a spontaneous overnight trip
17. Go snowboarding or skiing
18. Don’t drink pop for an entire week
19. Go to Florida
20. Read 5 books that have turned into movies (4/5)(Twilight, My Sister's Keeper, The Time Traveler's Wife, The Other Boleyn Girl)
21. Watch the movies too (4/5)
22. Do a drastically different hairstyle
23. Get braces
24. Read the Twilight series (4/4)
25. Organize the closets
26. Host Christmas Eve for my side of the family
27. Go to bed before 10PM at least 60 times (60/60)
28. Go on a second honeymoon
29. Organize address book
30. Find 4 new recipes to cook for dinner (2/4)
31. Start a family tradition with Drew and me
32. Find a family doctor
33. Have 8 girls’ night (6/8)
34. Take a yoga class
35. Get a massage
36. Go to Starlight Theatre three times (0/3)
37. Clean out Drew’s clothes
38. Pick and print out wedding pictures for frame
39. Go to the movie theatre with Drew
40. Try 5 new restaurants (3/5)(Granite City, Land's End Tavern, Lucerne's)
41. Stay off the computer after work for one week
42. Get a job in my field
43. Take a cooking class
44. Put my feet in the Atlantic Ocean
45. Put my feet in the Pacific Ocean
46. Go golfing
47. Make a new friend
48. Teach someone something
49. Play hookie with Drew one day
50. Play a video game with Drew
51. Pick apples from the apple orchard
52. Plan a big surprise for Drew
53. Make dinner for my family
54. Make dinner for Drew’s family
55. Spend a day with my brother
56. Let Drew teach me something new
57. Learn one new word a week and blog about it (39/143) - Due to requests, I have stopped blogging about this.
58. Put at least $20 into my savings account every two weeks (31/71)
59. Eat dinner at the Signature Room again
60. Volunteer anywhere
61. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Museum of Science and Industry
62. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Shedd Aquarium
63. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Field Museum
64. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Hancock Observatory
65. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to Adler Planetarium
66. Go to Navy Pier
67. Stay at a Bed and Breakfast
68. Go to Brookfield Zoo
69. Go on a picnic
70. Go camping
71. Read “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” when I become pregnant
72. Take a photography class
73. Cross stitch a picture
74. Set up a 401k
75. Get a physical once a year (2/3)
76. Pay off bills as soon as they come in rather than waiting until they’re due
77. Host Thanksgiving
78. Throw a surprise party for someone
79. Send out birthday cards every month for a year (0/12)
80. Completely clean bathrooms every week for a month (0/4)
81. Recycle
82. Completely clean the tables off every night for a month (0/30)
83. Vacuum and dust every week for a month (0/4)
84. Don’t swear for a week
85. Go skydiving
86. Become known for making or doing something
87. Take a ballroom dancing class
88. Take an acting class
89. Research getting an MBA
90. Drink only water for a week
91. Splurge on a spa day for me
92. Splurge on a spa day for me and a friend
93. Encourage at least one other person to make a list like this one
94. Purchase a china cabinet
95. Purchase 5 new pieces of clothing and DON’T feel guilty about it (5/5)
96. Host a game night with our friends
97. Clean and organize garage
98. Do something I don’t want to that will make someone else happy
99. Preserve my wedding gown
100. Donate $5 to a charity for any uncompleted items on this list
101. Make a new list at the end of 1001 days and include any items I didn’t complete on this list

101 in 1001 - Update

Every month, I promise to be a better a blogger. And every month, I suck a little more at it. I'm going to start my better blogging with finally updating my 101 in 1001 list. I haven't updated since October - more than 6 months!! Shame, shame!

1. Take Drew to Arizona
2. Read the Bible
3. Visit the Daughtry’s in North Carolina
4. Visit the Landgren’s in Colorado
5. Make dinner every night for a week
6. Go to church at least one Sunday a month
7. Take a dance class
8. Move out of our apartment
9. Buy a house
10. Start our family
11. Pay off all credit cards (2/4)
12. Go to a Cubs game with Drew
13. Watch at least 5 Cubs games each season with Drew (and not complain about it) 5/15
14. Learn sign language
15. Learn to play the piano
16. Go on a spontaneous overnight trip
17. Go snowboarding or skiing
18. Don’t drink pop for an entire week
19. Go to Florida
20. Read 5 books that have turned into movies (3/5)(Twilight, My Sister's Keeper, The Time Traveler's Wife)
21. Watch the movies too (3/5)(Twilight, My Sister's Keeper, The Time Traveler's Wife)
22. Do a drastically different hairstyle
23. Get braces
24. Read the Twilight series (4/4)
25. Organize the closets
26. Host Christmas Eve for my side of the family
27. Go to bed before 10PM at least 60 times (30/60)
28. Go on a second honeymoon
29. Organize address book
30. Find 4 new recipes to cook for dinner (1/4)
31. Start a family tradition with Drew and me
32. Find a family doctor
33. Have 8 girls’ night (2/8)
34. Take a yoga class
35. Get a massage
36. Go to Starlight Theatre three times (0/3)
37. Clean out Drew’s clothes
38. Pick and print out wedding pictures for frame
39. Go to the movie theatre with Drew
40. Try 5 new restaurants (3/5)(Granite City, Land's End Tavern, Lucerne's)
41. Stay off the computer after work for one week
42. Get a job in my field
43. Take a cooking class
44. Put my feet in the Atlantic Ocean
45. Put my feet in the Pacific Ocean
46. Go golfing
47. Make a new friend
48. Teach someone something
49. Play hookie with Drew one day
50. Play a video game with Drew
51. Pick apples from the apple orchard
52. Plan a big surprise for Drew
53. Make dinner for my family
54. Make dinner for Drew’s family
55. Spend a day with my brother
56. Let Drew teach me something new
57. Learn one new word a week and blog about it (39/143) - Due to requests, I have stopped blogging about this.
58. Put at least $20 into my savings account every two weeks (31/71)
59. Eat dinner at the Signature Room again
60. Volunteer anywhere
61. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Museum of Science and Industry
62. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Shedd Aquarium
63. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Field Museum
64. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Hancock Observatory
65. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to Adler Planetarium
66. Go to Navy Pier
67. Stay at a Bed and Breakfast
68. Go to Brookfield Zoo
69. Go on a picnic
70. Go camping
71. Read “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” when I become pregnant
72. Take a photography class
73. Cross stitch a picture
74. Set up a 401k
75. Get a physical once a year (1/3)
76. Pay off bills as soon as they come in rather than waiting until they’re due
77. Host Thanksgiving
78. Throw a surprise party for someone
79. Send out birthday cards every month for a year (0/12)
80. Completely clean bathrooms every week for a month (0/4)
81. Recycle
82. Completely clean the tables off every night for a month (0/30)
83. Vacuum and dust every week for a month (0/4)
84. Don’t swear for a week
85. Go skydiving
86. Become known for making or doing something
87. Take a ballroom dancing class
88. Take an acting class
89. Research getting an MBA
90. Drink only water for a week
91. Splurge on a spa day for me
92. Splurge on a spa day for me and a friend
93. Encourage at least one other person to make a list like this one
94. Purchase a china cabinet
95. Purchase 5 new pieces of clothing and DON’T feel guilty about it (5/5)
96. Host a game night with our friends
97. Clean and organize garage
98. Do something I don’t want to that will make someone else happy
99. Preserve my wedding gown
100. Donate $5 to a charity for any uncompleted items on this list
101. Make a new list at the end of 1001 days and include any items I didn’t complete on this list

Wednesday's Word

Pecuniary / pih-KYOO-nee-air-ee / adjective:
1. Relating to money; monetary.
2. Consisting of money.
3. Requiring payment of money.

He lacked the finer element of conscience which looks upon Art as a sacred calling, she remembered, and because of "pecuniary necessities" he "scattered his forces in many different and unworthy directions."
-- James F. O'Gorman, Accomplished in All Departments of Art

The young man of the house was absorbed in his vegetable garden and the possibilities for pecuniary profit that it held.
-- Samuel Chamberlain, Clementine in the Kitchen

He sees the great pecuniary rewards and how they are gained, and naturally is moved by an impulse to obtain the same for himself.
-- David J. Brewer, "The Ideal Lawyer", The Atlantic, November 1906

Over the decades, Pitt built an impressive roster of similarly well-heeled clients who stood accused by the SEC of securities fraud, misstating their finances, other pecuniary offenses.
-- Jonathan Chait, "Invested Interest", The New Republic, December 17, 2001

Wednesday's Word

Verboten / ver-BOHT-n / adjective:
Forbidden, as by law; prohibited.

I'd observed several people taking photographs of these with their camera-phones, although a sign on a tripod just inside the door announced that all photography was verboten.
-- Stephen King, Duma Key: A Novel

Small assemblages by Hermann Glockner, for example, should come as a revelation even to Germans. Glockner, who died in 1987 at 98, concocted little sculptural gems in his studio, jus for himself: elegant Constructivist improvisations, talismans of verboten modernism, made by folding, twisting and tying together discarded matchboxes, cut-up soap containers, tin pots, wood blocks and newspaper.
-- Michael Kimmelman, "How art connected 2 sides of the Berlin Wall", New York Times, February 16, 2009

The girls eyed one another conspiratorially: the verboten pastry, stuffed with preservatives and refined sugar, offered without even the minutest of moral struggles; to what do we owe this great pleasure? "Yes!" said Daisy, running toward the house, not waiting for me to change my mind.
-- Deborah Copaken Kogan, Between Here and April

Wednesday's Word

Lacuna / luh-KYOO-nuh / noun
plural lacunae / luh-KYOO-nee / or lacunas / Lacuna is from the Latin lacuna, "a cavity, a hollow," from lacus, "a hollow.":
1. A blank space; a missing part; a gap.
2. (Biology) A small opening, depression, or cavity in an anatomical structure.

Like most other writers of his generation, he was a profoundly apolitical being, not from any lacuna in his education but as a matter or principle.
-- Walter Laqueur, "The Artist in Politics", New York Times, May 15, 1983

Between the time of my first memory . . . and my second and third memories, I remember nothing. The lacunae of these years I've been able to fill sketchily from the entries in my baby book, which notes such incidents as my first smile.
-- Jaime Manrique, Eminent Maricones

The exodus of wives, relatives, friends and hangers-on had left a big howling lacuna which wrapped the homestead in webs of glorious nostalgia.
-- Moses Isegawa, Abyssinian Chronicles

Wednesday's Word

Lapidary / LAP-uh-dair-ee / adjective:
1. Of or pertaining to the art of cutting stones or engraving on them.
2. Engraved in stone.
3. Of or pertaining to the refined or terse style associated with inscriptions on monumental stone.
noun:
1. One who cuts, polishes, and engraves precious stones.
2. A dealer in precious stones.

Here, disguested by venality and intrigue, the retired courtier would come to compose lapidary maxims and wise but sympathetic letters to ardent youth.
-- Michael Foley, Getting Used to Not Being Remarkable

If I asked how long it took to simmer the meat sauce, Emilia would answer with a grumble and her usual lapidary phrase: "Quanto basta. As long as it takes."
-- Patrizia Chen, Rosemary and Bitter Oranges

The settings for Jim Crace's fiction are always evoked with superb, lapidary precision.
-- Caroline Moore, "The timid Don Juan", Sunday Telegraph, August 31, 2003

Wednesday's Word

Flibbertigibbet / FLIB-ur-tee-jib-it / noun:
A silly, flighty, or scatterbrained person, especially a pert young woman with such qualities.

We discovered here not the flibbertigibbet Connolly describes but a serious reader (Goethe, Tolstoy, Proust) who found her cultural ideal in the 18th-century France.
-- Martin Stannard, "Enter Shrieking", New York Times, November 28, 1993

He argues persuasively that Millay's reputation has been harmed not only by academics who dread and fear her heartfelt "simplicity," but by the very admirers who wished to promote her as a kind of whimsical flibbertigibbet, a peotical Anne of Green Gables.
-- Liz Rosenberg, "So Young, So Good, So Popular", New York Times, March 15, 1992

That it was the Owenses who had got involved in this nonsense, rather than some flibbertigibbet johnny-come-latelies, counted for a lot, for the Owenses were respectable and respected.
-- Neil Gaiman and Dave Mckean, The Graveyard Book

Wednesday's Word

Presage / PRES-ij; pre-SEYJ / noun
1. An indication or warning of a future event; an omen.
2. A feeling or intuition of what the future holds.
3. Prophetic significance.
4. [Archaic] A prediction; a prognostication.
transitive verb:
1. To indicate or warn of beforehand; to foreshadow.
2. To have a presentiment of.
3. To predict; to foretell.
intransitive verb:
1. To make or utter a prediction.

Although the enlightenment and liberation which had been expected to come after the war had not come with victory, a presage of freedom was in the air throughout these post-war years, and it was their only historical meaning.
-- Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago

Never before, perhaps, in the history of the world, was an hour so fateful, so full of presage, as the present. Big with starting possibilities, unfolding vistas of unimagined boldness and beauty, it speaks with a very trumpet-call of eternally recreative energy to us "upon whom the ends of the world are come."
-- Clara M. Codd, Looking Forward

It [the comet] had been there for some time, said Todd, "and for the Sherpas it presaged things not going terrible well." A superstition, yes, thought Todd, but a matter of serious concern, because the people who knew the mountain best said it mattered.
-- Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt, The Climb

Earlier in the day a supply teacher I had never seen before sat down a few chairs away with the happy ostentatious sigh that invariably presages an invasion of privacy.
-- Michael Foley, Getting Used to Not Being Remarkable

Warhol, a wigged-out psychic, had presaged the whole thing.
-- Phoebe Hoban, Basquiat

Wednesday's Word

Clinquant / KLING-kunt / adjective
1. Glittering with gold or silver; tinseled.
noun:
1. Tinsel; imitation gold leaf.

Leaves flicker celadon in the spring, viridian in summer, clinquant in fall, tallying the sovereign seasons, graying and greening to reiterate the message of snow and sun.
-- Ann Zwinger, Beyond the Aspen Grove

The room had a twelve-foot high ceiling: hanging from it, four dimly lit antique brass chandeliers cast a clinquant glow on this sunless day.
-- Sally Koslow, The Late, Lamented Molly Marx: A Novel

The water, turned clinquant by the sunset, lay rather than stood.
-- William Least Heat-Moon, River-Horse: The Logbook of a Boat Across America

Wednesday's Word

Doff / DOF / transitive verb
1. To take off, as an article of clothing
2. To tip or remove (one's hat).
3. To put aside; to rid oneself of.

After I finished sweeping, I grabbed my check, went to the locker room, and doffed the monkey suit, slipped into my jeans, sneakers and T-shirt and broke camp.
-- Reginald McKnight, White Boys: Stories

Any moment now and Max Linder would ride out from around the corner on a pair of white horses, fire blanks at a passing beauty, and doff his top hat to hide his face from the policeman.
-- Nina Berberova, The Book of Happiness

Benny doffed his cap grandly.
-- Thomas Maier, Dr. Spock: An American Life

And he became as a pillar of fire to superannuated peoples who had but to doff the lethargy of custom to find themselves young.
-- J. F. A. Pyre, "Byron in Our Day", The Atlantic, April 1907

Wednesday's Word

Provender / PROV-uhn-duhr / noun
1. Dry food for domestic animals, such as hay, straw, corn, oats, or a mixture of ground grain; feed.
2. Food or provisions.

It turns out that he and thousands of other German immigrants have been acting as pre-invasion intelligence-gatherers, ensuring that "the German Army knew almost to a bale of hay what provender lay between London and the coast."
-- Niall Ferguson, The Pity of War

Frances Trollope, Captain Marryat, Colonel Basil Hall and Charles Dickens in 1842 all commented on the way Americans wolfed down their provender as fast as possible, cramming the cornbread in their sloppy maws and, worse, doing so in grim silence, punctuated only by noise of slurps, grunts; scraping knives and hacking coughs.
-- Simon Schama, "Them and US", The Guardian, March 29, 2003

Wednesday's Word

Exegesis / ek-suh-JEE-sis / noun
plural exegeses / -seez /
Exposition; explanation; especially, a critical explanation of a text.

It is a fiercely argued exegesis of Shakespeare's plays in the tradition of Samuel Johnson, Hazlitt and A. C. Bradley, a study that is as passionate as it is erudite.
-- Michiko Kakutani, "Vast Shakespearean Drama With All People as Players", New York Times, October 27, 1998

These are tightly argued, crisp exercises in literary and cultural exegesis which make perfectly clear the brilliant patterns of language and oftentimes strained analogic thinking of the poets.
-- review of Made in America, by Lisa M. Steinman, in the Journal of Modern Literature

No variety of love is too trivial for exegesis. No aspect of love is so ridiculous that it hasn't been exhaustively reviewed by the great thinkers, the great artists, and the great hosts of daytime talk shows.
-- P. J. O'Rourke, Eat the Rich

Their works are the subject of innumerable analyses, exegeses, seminars, and doctoral theses.
-- Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont, Fashionable Nonsense

Wednesday's Word

Forfend / for-FEND / transitive verb
also forefend
1. a. (Archaic) To prohibit; to forbid.
b. To ward off; to prevent; to avert.
2. To defend; to protect; to preserve.

The Tory leader sort of wanted to say that the government should deploy the army more rapidly, but -- heaven forfend -- he didn't want to imply that it was anybody's fault that the soldiers hadn't been deployed!
-- Simon Hoggart, "A greasy whiff dispels the stench of worthiness", Guardian, March 22, 2001

If one of us is missing, heaven forfend, then the king's forces are diminished.
-- Leon Wieseltier, Kaddish

The river of discovery will continue to flow without cessation, deepening our understanding of the world and enhancing our capacity to forfend calamity and live congenial lives.
-- John Maddox, What Remains To Be Discovered

Wednesday's Word

Skulduggery / skul-DUG-uh-ree / noun
also skullduggery
Devious, dishonest, or unscrupulous behavior or activity; also: an instance thereof.

And then the inquests, and the coroner's reports, and the hints of diplomatic cover-ups, and skulduggery in high places.
-- Hilary Mantel, Eight Months on Ghazzah Street

Laptop theft was the third most common electonic skulduggery, behind viruses (84 percent) and unauthorized employee use of computers and software (78 percent), according to the survery by the Computer Security Institute in San Francisco.
-- Michael Cooper, "Low Tech Joins the Fights Against High-Tech Theft", New York Times, April 23, 1998

For instance, the Federal Trade Commission already goes after some kindsof Internet skulduggery, like selling products that promise more than they deliver.
-- David Stout, "New Internet Anti-Fraud Center Announced by Attorney General", New York Times, May 9, 2000

Wednesday's Word

Conflate / Kuhn-FLAYT / transitive verb
1. To bring together; to fuse together; to join or meld.
2. To combine (as two readings of a text) into one whole.

Scott Reynolds's creepy debut feature [film] conflates the present and the past with ingenious use of flashbacks.
-- Anne Billson, "Bent beneath the weight of its own righteousness", Sunday Telegraph, March 1, 1998

Painting America as a drug-ridden society leads to bad policy -- as does the tendency in some quarters to conflate the various drug abuses into a single dreadful statistic.
-- William Raspberry, "Not a Drug-Ridden Society", Washington Post, April 21, 2000

. . .lean and mobile military units that conflate the traditional categories of police officers, commandos, emergency-relief specialists, diplomats, and, of course, intelligence officers.
-- Robert D. Kaplan, "The roles of the CIA and the military may merge", The Atlantic, February 1998

Wednesday's Word

Aesthete / ES-theet / noun
One having or affecting great sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature.

Beijing, with its stolid, square buildings and wide, straight roads, feels like the plan of a first-year engineering student, while Shanghai's decorative architecture and snaking, narrow roads feel like the plan of an aesthete.
-- "Sky's the Limit in Shanghai", Los Angeles Times, April 25, 1999

But he was also an aesthete with a connoisseur's eye for the wild modernist innovations with letterforms and layout of the 1920s.
--Rick Poynor, "Herbert Spencer", The Guardian, March 15, 2002

Where the standard Oxford aesthete of the 1920s had been slowily dissipated, full of wild talk about decadence and beauty, Auden was preaching a new gospel of icy austerity and self-control.
-- Ian Hamilton, Against Oblivion

Wednesday's Word

Pukka / PUHK-uh / adjective
1.  Authentic; genuine
2.  Superior; first-class

He talks like the quintessential pukka Englishman and quotes Chesterton and Kipling by the yard and yet he has chosen to live most of his adult life abroad.
-- Lynn Barber, "Bell book . . . and then what?" The Observer, August 27, 2000

If he does not have a house, the government gives him a pukka residence, not a . . . shack on the pavement but a solid construction.
-- Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet

Wednesday's Word

Foofaraw / FOO-fuh-raw / noun
1. Excessive or flashy ornamentation or decoration.
2. A fuss over a matter of little importance.

A somber, muted descending motif opens and closes the work, which is brief but effective. It provided much needed relief from the fanfares and foofaraw in which brass-going composers so often indulge.
-- Philip Kennicott, "Brass Spectacular is a Spectacle of Special Sound", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 17, 1997

As usual, with all cooperation with Tom Lea, Art becomes a "taking away" process rather than the adding of ornaments, rules, and other foofaraw.
-- David R. Farmer, Calgary Sun

Making the Times best-seller list, or a movie, or all that other foofaraw is not necessarily proof of [a novel's] lasting significance.
-- Roger K. Miller, "Peyton Place' was remarkably good bad novel", Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 29, 1996.

101 in 1001 October Update

1. Take Drew to Arizona
2. Read the Bible
3. Visit the Daughtry’s in North Carolina
4. Visit the Landgren’s in Colorado
5. Make dinner every night for a week
6. Go to church at least one Sunday a month
7. Take a dance class
8. Move out of our apartment
9. Buy a house
10. Start our family
11. Pay off all credit cards (0/4)
12. Go to a Cubs game with Drew
13. Watch at least 5 Cubs games each season with Drew (and not complain about it) 5/15
14. Learn sign language
15. Learn to play the piano
16. Go on a spontaneous overnight trip
17. Go snowboarding or skiing
18. Don’t drink pop for an entire week
19. Go to Florida
20. Read 5 books that have turned into movies (2/5)(Twilight, My Sister's Keeper)
21. Watch the movies too (1/5)(Twilight)
22. Do a drastically different hairstyle
23. Get braces
24. Read the Twilight series (4/4)
25. Organize the closets
26. Host Christmas Eve for my side of the family
27. Go to bed before 10PM at least 60 times (8/60)
28. Go on a second honeymoon
29. Organize address book
30. Find 4 new recipes to cook for dinner (1/4)
31. Start a family tradition with Drew and me
32. Find a family doctor
33. Have 8 girls’ night (0/8)
34. Take a yoga class
35. Get a massage
36. Go to Starlight Theatre three times (0/3)
37. Clean out Drew’s clothes
38. Pick and print out wedding pictures for frame
39. Go to the movie theatre with Drew
40. Try 5 new restaurants (2/5)(Granite City, Land's End Tavern)
41. Stay off the computer after work for one week
42. Get a job in my field
43. Take a cooking class
44. Put my feet in the Atlantic Ocean
45. Put my feet in the Pacific Ocean
46. Go golfing
47. Make a new friend
48. Teach someone something
49. Play hookie with Drew one day
50. Play a video game with Drew
51. Pick apples from the apple orchard
52. Plan a big surprise for Drew
53. Make dinner for my family
54. Make dinner for Drew’s family
55. Spend a day with my brother
56. Let Drew teach me something new
57. Learn one new word a week and blog about it (39/143)
58. Put at least $20 into my savings account every two weeks (19/71)
59. Eat dinner at the Signature Room again
60. Volunteer anywhere
61. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Museum of Science and Industry
62. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Shedd Aquarium
63. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Field Museum
64. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Hancock Observatory
65. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to Adler Planetarium
66. Go to Navy Pier
67. Stay at a Bed and Breakfast
68. Go to Brookfield Zoo
69. Go on a picnic
70. Go camping
71. Read “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” when I become pregnant
72. Take a photography class
73. Cross stitch a picture
74. Set up a 401k
75. Get a physical once a year (1/3)
76. Pay off bills as soon as they come in rather than waiting until they’re due
77. Host Thanksgiving
78. Throw a surprise party for someone
79. Send out birthday cards every month for a year (0/12)
80. Completely clean bathrooms every week for a month (0/4)
81. Recycle
82. Completely clean the tables off every night for a month (0/30)
83. Vacuum and dust every week for a month (0/4)
84. Don’t swear for a week
85. Go skydiving
86. Become known for making or doing something
87. Take a ballroom dancing class
88. Take an acting class
89. Research getting an MBA
90. Drink only water for a week
91. Splurge on a spa day for me
92. Splurge on a spa day for me and a friend
93. Encourage at least one other person to make a list like this one
94. Purchase a china cabinet
95. Purchase 5 new pieces of clothing and DON’T feel guilty about it (5/5)
96. Host a game night with our friends
97. Clean and organize garage
98. Do something I don’t want to that will make someone else happy
99. Preserve my wedding gown
100. Donate $5 to a charity for any uncompleted items on this list101. Make a new list at the end of 1001 days and include any items I didn’t complete on this list