Day Zero Project Update: Week 63-66

Instead of daily posts, I thought it would be a lot easier for me and you if I did weekly update posts.  These will track my progress each week.  I will highlight what I’ve done, what I want to do, and any interesting tidbits.  Sometimes I’ll add pictures and/or links.  Hopefully these posts will keep me accountable to me list…

What I Did

1. Go to 5 concerts (1/5) — Free tickets to see Live 105’s Not So Silent Night featuring Grouplove, M83, Tegan and Sara, Passion Pit, and The Killers.  Merry Christmas to me!

9. See 101 new movies (91/101)

• The Dictator — Had a few funny parts, but the rest was so-so
• Love, Wedding, Marriage — Pretty subpar romantic comedy…
• 21 Jump Street — Way funnier than I thought it would be
• Our Idiot Brother — Not as bad as everyone said, but I do love me some Paul Rudd
• 12 Dates of Christmas — ABC Family cheesy awesomeness
• The Game — Fincher’s second film.  Really good mind bender.
• The Hobbit — In IMAX 3D!  Holy Crap!  Amazing!

12. See all of IMDB’s Top 250 movies  (25/250)

• 119. Blade Runner — Always a great science fiction movie.

24. Keep a journal for this project

28. Blog 1001 times — 50 this time period   (709/1001)

32. Finish 30 reading challenges (25/30)

• Telling Tales
• Books2Movies
• Science Fiction
• What’s in a Name 6
• Back to the Classics
• Mixing It Up
• 2012 Goodreads Challenge
• Historical Fiction

37. Pass 250,000 pages read for my 1,000,000 pages challenge (109,486/250,000) 

Overall Progress

25/101

 

Day Zero Project Update: Week 59-62

Instead of daily posts, I thought it would be a lot easier for me and you if I did weekly update posts.  These will track my progress each week.  I will highlight what I’ve done, what I want to do, and any interesting tidbits.  Sometimes I’ll add pictures and/or links.  Hopefully these posts will keep me accountable to me list…

What I Did

5. Make a playlist of my favorite 101 songs — Narrowed down to 101, prepping posts for January.

9. See 101 new movies (84/101)

• We are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists — Awesome documentary chronicling the history of hacktivism with an emphasis with Anonymous.  Beautiful piece of film.
• Tim Minchin: Rock n Roll Nerd — J absolutely loves him and has been wanting me to watch this documentary about him for awhile.  Very entertaining and poignant.
• The Five Year Engagement — Not so great.  A little too awkward weird.
• Seeking a Friend for the End of the World — Beautifully uplifting for an end of the world movie.
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter — Pretty disappointed as I loved the book.  I updated my book review to include a movie review.
• Safety Not Guaranteed — This movie was great.  I loved the mystery of it.  And the characters were amazing.  Must see.
• The Campaign — Very relevant look at our political spectrum told with laughs.
• Skyfall — Amazing Bond film!  A must see.  Really enjoyed all the nods to the previous films.
• Wreck It Ralph — Took the boys, a very good animated movie!

24. Keep a journal for this project

28. Blog 1001 times 39 post this period.  (659/1001)

30. Finish 100 creative writing prompts (8/100)  — I joined Michelle @ Stories Inside for Sit Down and Write 2 (ending today).  This allowed me to focus on my writing for two weeks.  And of course, I failed miserably.  Being away from home and back in Indiana distracted me with everything else.  I only got 4 prompts completed…

32. Finish 30 reading challenges (17/30)

• Shakespeare Reading Challenge

Overall Progress

25/101

 

Day Zero Project Update: Week 55-58

Instead of daily posts, I thought it would be a lot easier for me and you if I did weekly update posts.  These will track my progress each week.  I will highlight what I’ve done, what I want to do, and any interesting tidbits.  Sometimes I’ll add pictures and/or links.  Hopefully these posts will keep me accountable to me list…

What I Did

5. Make a playlist of my favorite 101 songs — Slowly working through the songs to narrow the list down.  I hope to have Music Monday posts highlighting these starting in January.

9. See 101 new movies (75/101)

• The Expendables — Thank goodness it was free on Netflix.  A movie that takes itself way too seriously.
• Battleship — Just a crazy action film.  No substance, but still pretty fun.
• Iron Sky — Nazis from the ark side of the moon…  hee hee.  Loved it!
• Snow White and the Huntsman — So much better than Mirror, Mirror.  Loved the supporting cast, especially Charlize Theron.
• Chronicle — Awesome movie.  We like to think of it was what Episodes 1-3 should have been.
• Rock of Ages — Cheesy, but Tom Cruise was awesome!
• Tucker and Dale vs. Evil — Way too funny!  Laughed my ass off.

12. See all of IMDB’s Top 250 movies  (24/250) — I forgot to notate these for the last few months, so I’m doing it now.  These are all movies I rewatched.

• 132. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two
• 181. How to Train Your Dragon
• 131. The Wizard of Oz
• 194. The Princess Bride
• 108. Die Hard
• 75. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• 101. Up
• 57. Lawrence of Arabia
• 124. Snatch

20. Reread all of Jane Austen’s novels (2/6)

24. Keep a journal for this project

27. Make a list of 101 inspirational quotes (61/101)

28. Blog 1001 times  — 38 for this period (620/1001)

32. Finish 30 reading challenges (16/30)

• Zombie Reading Challenge — Another 24 books read for this year!

35.Join or create a book club — Randomly a crafter friend asked if I wanted to be in a new book club with some fellow crafters.  Of course I said yes!  Which gave me three days to get and read our first book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  We are going to meet every month.  Books choices will be presented by the month’s “Host” and voted on by the group.  For December we’re reading The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott.  I’m really excited to read and discuss some new books!

71. Donate 100,000 grains of rice on freerice.com  (2040/100,000)

What I Plan to Do Next Week.

19. Complete The Artist’s Way — The local library has a copy.  I plan to pick it up this week and make my preliminary plan.

Overall Progress

25/101

 

Day Zero Project Update: Week 49-54

Instead of daily posts, I thought it would be a lot easier for me and you if I did weekly update posts.  These will track my progress each week.  I will highlight what I’ve done, what I want to do, and any interesting tidbits.  Sometimes I’ll add pictures and/or links.  Hopefully these posts will keep me accountable to me list…

What I Did

3. Listen to 26 new bands (one for each letter of the alphabet) (26/26)

9. See 101 new movies (68/101)

• Lockout — Luc Besson’s new scif(ish) adventure film.  It was fun, but there were a few scenes that just confused me.
• Ran — Akiro Kurosawa’s film is based partly on Shakespeare’s King Lear, so perfect to watch after reading the play.
• The Blind Side — Good feel good movie.  Grabbed it at the library
• Safe — J had been wanting to see this for awhile.  And I love a good action flick, especially starring Jason Statham.
• The Mechanic — Another Statham film, but one I hadn’t seen and it was sitting on our shelf.  Not quite as good as Safe.
• Moneyball — Surprisingly good movie
• End of Watch — Got few tickets through AMC’s Stubs program. Thank goodness we didn’t pay.  Many issues with this one.
• The Vow — Redbox afternoon pick.  Typical Nicholas Sparks, but I do like fluffy romances every once in a while.
• Friends with Kids — A great, honest love story.
• The Cabin in the Woods — I loved the big twist concept.  Amazing movie!

12. See all of IMDB’s Top 250 movies  (15/250)

• Ran

17. Reread all of the Harry Potter books (7/7)

25. Buy a moleskine notebook — Done!  I grabbed a classic black unlined one for my design inspirations.

28. Blog 1001 times  — 59 times this period.  I’m past the halfway point for this challenge!  (582/1001)

32. Finish 30 reading challenges (15/30)

• Fables reading challenge — Finally finished this by reading Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love
• Romance reading challenge — completed this one with the help of rest of Susan Wiggs’ Tudor Rose trilogy
• Harry Potter — Loved rereading these and then watching the corresponding movie.

33. Read my height in books (68/68in.)

37. Pass 250,000 pages read for my 1,000,000 pages challenge (97,642/250,000)

65. Save $5 for every task completed ($75)

72. Complete “50 Questions that Free Your Mind” (50/50)

What I Plan to Do Next Week.

35. Join or create a book club — I’ve found a club that will meet later in October.

5. Make a playlist of my favorite 101 songs — I finished putting all the music on the server.  Now I need to sort through it…

Overall Progress

24/101

 

Day Zero Project Update: Week 45-48

Instead of daily posts, I thought it would be a lot easier for me and you if I did weekly update posts.  These will track my progress each week.  I will highlight what I’ve done, what I want to do, and any interesting tidbits.  Sometimes I’ll add pictures and/or links.  Hopefully these posts will keep me accountable to me list…

What I Did

5. Make a playlist of my favorite 101 songs — I have almost completed getting all my music onto the server so I can start sorting through them to find my favorites…

9. See 101 new movies (58/101)

• The Dark Knight Rises — I liked it, but it definitely had some drawbacks and inconsistencies.
• The Decoy Bride — Starring David Tennant.  A cute little romantic comedy.  Seen on netflix.
• God Bless America — J has been wanting to watch Bobcat Goldthwait’s new movie for awhile.  Very dark but good.
• New Year’s Eve — romantic crap, but just the ticket sometimes
• Tonight You’re Mine — Awesome music romance…  pick it up!
• Wanderlust — I thought it was really funny, but then again I am in love with Paul Rudd
• John Carter — An entertaining old style scifi movie
• The Raid: Redemption — crazy action flick from Singapore.  J just had to watch it.  It was intense.

10. Spend a day in PJs watching movies — I was feeling particularly crappy.  Thankfully I needed to watch The Wizard of Oz and Tin Man for my book review and I added the mini series Lost in Austen for a bit of fun.  √

12. See all of IMDB’s Top 250 movies  (14/250)

• 113. Batman Begins — in preparation for going to see The Dark Knight Rises we had to rewatch the first two
• 9. The Dark Knight — Thankfully we own both movies

20. Reread all of Jane Austen’s novels (1/6) — Finished Northanger Abbey as part of Austen in August event

24. Keep a journal for this project — ongoing

28. Blog 1001 times — 35 times this period.  Not a huge amount, but a respectable number. (523/1001)

32. Finish 30 reading challenges (12/30)

• YA Challenge — I didn’t read all the books I wanted to for this one, but I did have some great substitues.

33. Read my height in books (65/68in.)

37. Pass 250,000 pages read for my 1,000,000 pages challenge (84,418/250,000)

65. Save $5 for every task completed ($65)

72. Complete “50 Questions that Free Your Mind” (34/50)

100. Scrapbook 100 pages (100/100) — completed, but I’m still behind on my scrapbooking…

What I Plan to Do Next Week.

17. Reread all of the Harry Potter books (6/7)

35. Join or create a book club — Still waiting to find a good one.

72. Complete “50 Questions that Free Your Mind” (20/50) — I’m getting through them very slowly

Overall Progress

19/101

 

Day Zero Project Update: Week 41-44

Instead of daily posts, I thought it would be a lot easier for me and you if I did weekly update posts.  These will track my progress each week.  I will highlight what I’ve done, what I want to do, and any interesting tidbits.  Sometimes I’ll add pictures and/or links.  Hopefully these posts will keep me accountable to me list…

What I Did

3. Listen to 26 new bands (one for each letter of the alphabet) (20/26)

• Alex Clare “Damm Your Eyes”
• The Lumineers “Ho Hey”

5. Make a playlist of my favorite 101 songs — in progress

8. Have a Pixar marathon — ongoing

• Wall-E — A’s pick
• Brave — I loved it!  A great new Pixar movie starring a girl!

9. See 101 new movies (50/101)

• Rio — Fairly decent kids movie
• Brave — Amazing!
• The Amazing Spider-Man — Great movie!
• In Time — so so
• This Means War — I could have done without the romance angle.  Would have been better as a buddy cop movie.
• The Last Legion — pretty boring retelling of the story of fall of Rome and Excalibur
• One Night with the King — a badly acted version of Esther’s story from the Bible
• 9 — Great children’s flick with an interesting message
• Crazy, Stupid, Love — Amazing movie with Steve Carrell and Ryan Gosling.  A Must See!
• Bright Star — This story of John Keats has been on my list forever.  Grabbed it from the library.  Good, if a little moody.
• Unknown — Liam Neeson being Liam Neeson.  Better than I thought it would be, but not really great.
• 30 Minutes or Less — Not the best…
• Mirror, Mirror — Loved that Snow White wasn’t a damsel in distress, but the rest was a bit jokey.
• Casa de Mi Padre — Amazing Will Ferrell movie!  Loved the little touches.
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes — Better than I thought it would be…

12. See all of IMDB’s Top 250 movies  (12/250)

• Wall-E

24. Keep a journal for this project — Ongoing

26. Keep a “Six Words to Describe the Day” journal for 6 months — Finished!

27. Make a list of 101 inspirational quotes (45/101) — added to the page

28. Blog 1001 times (488/1001) 76 posts this period

32. Finish 30 reading challenges (11/30)

• Graphic Novel
• Vampires
• Support Your Local Library

33. Read my height in books (60/68in.) — 5 inches this period

95. Participate in or create a scavenger hunt — I made one for the boys

What I Plan to Do Next Week.

35. Join or create a book club — Still waiting to find a good one.

72. Complete “50 Questions that Free Your Mind” (20/50) — really slacking on these…

Overall Progress

17/101

 

Day Zero Project Update: Week 36-40

Instead of daily posts, I thought it would be a lot easier for me and you if I did weekly update posts.  These will track my progress each week.  I will highlight what I’ve done, what I want to do, and any interesting tidbits.  Sometimes I’ll add pictures and/or links.  Hopefully these posts will keep me accountable to me list…

What I Did

3. Listen to 26 new bands (one for each letter of the alphabet) (18/26)

• Kindness “House”
• Birdy “Just a Game”
• Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros “Home”
• Radical Face “Welcome Home”

5. Make a playlist of my favorite 101 songs — in progress.  I am currently working through the Js.

6. Watch all the James Bond movies (22/22) — Finished!

8. Have a Pixar marathon — ongoing

• Up — started with the saddest one, but a good one

9. See 101 new movies (35/101)

• Super 8 — Great story.  Could have done with the Abrams patented lens flares.
• Like Crazy — Awesome quiet little story of love.  Most of it was improvised dialogue between Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin.
• One for the Money — Ugh!  Thank goodness this was a Redbox movie.  Crap!
• Secret of My Success — How have I not seen this awesome 80s Michael J. Fox farce?  And we even own it.
• Haywire — Good action sequences, blah storyline…
• The Three Musketeers — Overly hyped and stylized.  Just didn’t get me at all.  I was laughing at the ridiculousness.
• The Woman in Black — Very predictable.  And hard to see Harry Potter as a widow with a young boy.

12. See all of IMDB’s Top 250 movies  (11/250)

• Up — Always makes me cry

14. Choose an actor/actress and see all their films (1/ 22) — I picked Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.  One movie complete this week.

• The Rundown

16. Spend an afternoon in the park reading — Perfect week to do this when the boys were at summer camp.

17. Reread all of the Harry Potter books (6/7) — One to go…

24. Keep a journal for this project — Ongoing

26. Keep a “Six Words to Describe the Day” journal for 6 months — Ongoing

28. Blog 1001 times — 45 posts this period (412/1001)

30. Finish 100 creative writing prompts (4/100) — I only do these at the coffeehouse…  I need to do more.

32. Finish 30 reading challenges (8/30) — Completed the Read Your Name Challenge with 23 books.

33. Read my height in books — 5 inches this period (55/68in.)

37. Pass 250,000 pages read for my 1,000,000 pages challenge (79,394/250,000)

60. Try 30 new recipes (25/30)

• Chocolate avocado muffins
• Blueberry buttermilk cake

65. Save $5 for every task completed ($55)

100. Scrapbook 100 pages (84/100) — 16 pages in the boys’ books completed.

What I Plan to Do Next Week.

35. Join or create a book club — Still waiting to find a good one.

72. Complete “50 Questions that Free Your Mind” (20/50) — Have the templates ready, just haven’t answered them yet.

Monthly Goal — July

My day in 6 words.  Ongoing for the next three months.

Take 26 photos of things that inspire me (one for each letter of the alphabet).  I am going to try and complete this goal this month…  Maybe the bosy can help me think of things.

Overall Progress

14/101

 

Day Zero Project Update: Week 32-35

Instead of daily posts, I thought it would be a lot easier for me and you if I did weekly update posts.  These will track my progress each week.  I will highlight what I’ve done, what I want to do, and any interesting tidbits.  Sometimes I’ll add pictures and/or links.  Hopefully these posts will keep me accountable to me list…

What I Did

3. Listen to 26 new bands (one for each letter of the alphabet) (14/26)

• Zulu Winter “We Should Be Swimming”
• St. Vincent “Cheerleader”
• Walk the Moon “Anna Sun”
• GROUPLOVE “Tongue Tied”
• Imagine Dragons “It’s Time”
• Punch Brothers “Dark Days”

5. Make a playlist of my favorite 101 songs — I started sifting through my 9400 songs on iTunes.  I’m only in the Ds, so this will take a while.

6. Watch all the James Bond movies (20/22)

• The World is Not Enough
• Die Another Day

9. See 101 new movies (28/101)

• The Avengers

17. Reread all of the Harry Potter books (4/7) — Finished Goblet of Fire, heading to Order of the Phoenix

24. Keep a journal for this project

26. Keep a “Six Words to Describe the Day” journal for 6 months — Ongoing

28. Blog 1001 times — 45 posts this period (367/1001)

30. Finish 100 creative writing prompts (1/100) — I started a new notebook to collect all of my writing exercises.

33. Read my height in books — 4 inches this period (50/68in.)

37. Pass 250,000 pages read for my 1,000,000 pages challenge (74,946/250,000)

54. Throw away all my underwear and start again

60. Try 30 new recipes (23/30)

• Pumpkin dessert
• Buttermilk chicken
• Orange teriyaki chicken
• Farmer’s casserole
• Sloppy joes
• Clam chowder
• Lemony flank steak

What I Plan to Do Next Week

12. See all of IMDB’s Top 250 movies  (10/250) — I really need to get moving on this.

16. Spend an afternoon in the park reading — There are some great parks around here.  I need to start scouting.  And with a bike, it will be much easier.

32. Finish 30 reading challenges (7/30) — Hope to knock out a few this next session.

35. Join or create a book club — I found a couple on Meetup for the area.  I sent a join up email and am waiting to heart back.  I hope one of them is a perfect match for me.

72. Complete “50 Questions that Free Your Mind” (20/50)

Monthly Goal

My day in 6 words.  Ongoing for the next four months.

Overall Progress

12/101

 

Day Zero Project Update: Week 29-31

Instead of daily posts, I thought it would be a lot easier for me and you if I did weekly update posts.  These will track my progress each week.  I will highlight what I’ve done, what I want to do, and any interesting tidbits.  Sometimes I’ll add pictures and/or links.  Hopefully these posts will keep me accountable to me list…

What I Did

9. See 101 new movies (27/101)

• Journey 2: The Mysterious Island — Impromtu movie while in Philadelphia.  The boys loved it and I actually enjoyed it.  A fun little adventure.
• Sleeping Beauty — Not the Disney version.  The art house indie version.  I just didn’t get it and was bored for most of the movie.  It helped that I was packing while watching.
• Take Me Home Tonight — Typical boy obsessed over girl in high school, meets again years later.  Although having this movie set in the early 80s was a bit of a treat.
• Titanic — The ABC mini series that just aired.  You could definitely tell that it was written by Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey).  It was definitely Downton on a sinking ship.  Entertaining, but nothing that I would want to own.

24. Keep a journal for this project

26. Keep a “Six Words to Describe the Day” journal for 6 months — Ongoing
28. Blog 1001 times — 25 posts this period (322/1001)

33. Read my height in books — 4 inches this period (46/68in.)

65. Save $5 for every task completed — $10 for these weeks ($45)

85. Stay at a Bed and Breakfast — We stayed at one in the Philadelphia area during our Spring Break trip.

96. Visit 5 museums (5/5) — all visisted on our Spring Break road trip

• Carnegie Mellon Museum of Naturla History — my favorite from the trip
• Franklin Institute
• National Museum of the Air Force
• Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater

What I Plan to Do Next Week

Not much as we are in the process of moving.  I will still be doing my journal and possibly some reading.

Monthly Goal

My day in 6 words.  Ongoing for the next five months.

Overall Progress

12/101

 

Day Zero Project Update: Week 25-28

Instead of daily posts, I thought it would be a lot easier for me and you if I did weekly update posts.  These will track my progress each week.  I will highlight what I’ve done, what I want to do, and any interesting tidbits.  Sometimes I’ll add pictures and/or links.  Hopefully these posts will keep me accountable to me list…

What I Did

3. Listen to 26 new bands (one for each letter of the alphabet) (8/26)

• Cake “Mustache Man”
• Fun “We are Young”
• Of Monsters and Men “Little Talks”

6. Watch all the James Bond movies (18/24)

• GoldenEye
• Tomorrow Never Dies

9. See 101 new movies (23/101)

• Swimming with Sharks — Awesome Devil Wears Prada-ish story before DWP and with evil boss Kevin Spacey.  Loved it!
• Catch-22 — One of J’s favorite movies and I’d never seen it.  Alan Arkin was just amazing.
• The Hunger Games — OMG!  Had to see it.  Loved it, even with the changes from the book.

17. Reread all of the Harry Potter books (3/7)

24. Keep a journal for this project — Obviously an ongoing goal. I got a beautiful black soft cover journal to use.  I am determined to journal at least a bit each day.

27. Make a list of 101 quotes that inspire me — 11 more added to the page (36/101)

28. Blog 1001 times —   for this week 48 blog posts (297/1001)

33. Read my height in books — This week’s height: 3.5 in   (42/68 in.)

37. Pass 250,000 pages read for my 1,000,000 pages challenge — This month’s pages 3739  (70,702/ 250,000)

38. Have a facial
39. Get a full body massage

55. Have manicure or pedicure

60. Try 30 new recipes (16/30)

• Poppy Seed Pound Cake Muffins
• Sour Cream Cornbread Muffins

96. Visit 5 museums (1/5)

• Rosicrusian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, CA

100. Scrapbook 100 pages — 10 pages this week (68/100)

What I Plan to Do Next Week

The next couple of weeks are going to be very busy with vacation and readying to move to California.  I probably won’t get a whole lot checked off of the list, but I’m going to try.  I won’t do another update post until the end of April…

Monthly Goal

I am going to start my “Day in 6 words” challenge.  I have a “One Line a Day” 5 year journal, so I will just modify that.  I might also keep a running tally on my update posts…  And I swear we are going to finish James Bond Month(s) soon.  We only have a few to go.

Overall Progress

7 / 101