Getting There!

In Progress - 12. Read and review 50 books.
P.S. I Love You
This book took far longer than I would have liked to read. I kept getting too busy to read, so it was set aside far too many times. It was *so* good though.

I saw the movie before I read the book, which I hate doing. Although I feel both of them were good, I think I liked the ending of the book better. ;) The book was a tearjerker, I managed to keep my emotions under control for most of it, but I know I shed a couple tears in reading Holly's journey. I would definitely recommend it to anyone, although I'm sure most guys wouldn't even give it a chance. . .

The Notebook
When I went to my cousin's wedding last weekend, John drove and when I ride, I have to do something or I will sleep. So, I chose to read. In fact, I read the entire book "The Notebook" before we made it to Dundee.

Once again, I saw the movie before reading the book. (Ugh.) I definitely liked the book more. It focused more on their reunion and life "now" than on their summer romance. It was harder than hell to make it through that book without shedding a tear. Once again, I would recommend it. . . .but I think it's time for Stephen King and I to reunite. ;)

In Progress - 14. Watch 101 New Movies.
Saints and Soldiers.
Miracle at Santa Anna.
Get Smart.

I LOVED the first two, and honestly, missed the last 1/4 of the movie because I fell asleep. But I am still listing it because I WILL watch it sometime in the next week or so. :)

In Progress - 19. Complete a cross-stitch project.
It's bought and started!! I am going to cross-stitch and apron for myself. And I also bought John's stocking for next year, felt applique. I'm also hoping to get mine done by Christmas, but won't be buying it until I finish his. Now, with the wedding to plan, wedding crafts to do and all that fun stuff, I'm not so sure that I will be getting the stockings done this year. . . .we'll see.

In Progress - 34. Eat 5 things I have never tried before.
When we went down to the wedding, we ate at Olive Garden. Now, I love Olive Garden and ate there quite a bit when I was in Kalamazoo. But John ordered some seafood thing and it had mussels in it. I've never had mussels, nor had any desire to try them. He wanted me to though. . .

So I did.

I don't recommend them.

I would eat them if they were served to me, but I would never order them.

In Progress - 40. Try 101 new recipes.
We had dinner at Jason and Shawnia's and I was told to bring dessert. So, I tried two new recipes.

Kiss Pies.
These were very easy to make, very cute, and very yummy. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of them. Oh well, next time.

I made them with the Mint Truffle Kisses and the Chocolate Meltaway Kisses. My favorite were the mint truffle ones but I *LOVE* mint chocolate. (John's not a fan.)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip.
My whole family loves chocolate chip cookie dough. So when I found a recipe for a DIP, I had to try it. It was delicious. I used Nila wafers to dip in it and they were perfect. Warning though: the dip is very sweet and very addictive. (I left the batch at Jason and Shawnia's to save my waistline. :) )

In Progress - 42. Try 10 New Restaurants.
Denny's.
When we went down for Dan's wedding, we got there on Thursday night and ate with Dan, Leah and Rachel at Denny's. Believe it or not, I had never been to a Denny's. Bob Evans, yes. Denny's, no. And we ended up eating there with Mom and Dad for breakfast on Sunday too!

El Ranchero
Last Sunday, when I got out of work, Tierney, Mom and I went dress shopping. After dress shopping, we were all starving, so we went to El Ranchero for dinner. As you can probably assume it's a mexican restaurant. The food was pretty good, and the fried ice cream was amazing!! :D

Completed - 44. Become an organ donor.
A couple weeks ago I got my enhanced driver's licence so I can go to Canada, or Mexico, or the Caribbean. When I got my new license, I also signed up to become an organ donor.

In Progress - 52. Send or give 101 cards.
I've been slacking here! But I have given three more.
One was to John, just because.
Another was for Dan and Leah for their wedding gift.
And the last was for Tierney, asking her to be a bridesmaid. (I failed to take a picture. . . my bad, I was in a hurry, she was walking in the door as I was finishing it!)

Completed - 82. Have a Successful New Year's Celebration.
Our New Year's celebration was nothing "special." We didn't go out. We didn't do anything special. But it was special to me. I have a horrible track record with New Year's. For some reason it always ends up in a fight over something ridiculous or one of the people involved being mad. So successful just meant happy to me. And I don't think I could have been happier.

We stayed in, watched TV and cuddled. Then after the ball dropped we went to bed. I had to be lame because I had to work at 7 am the next day.

Completed - 95. Go fishing.
Ice fishing counts, right? John has been asking me to go fishing with him for weeks, no months, now. I've always been working, or busy, or it's too cold, or. . . .or. . . . or. . .

Well on Wednesday, it was GORGEOUS out. So when John texted me and asked me if I wanted to go ice fishing, I said yes. Now, he didn't believe me at first. . . but I was serious. So, he got stuff together and when I got home I changed my clothes and put warm clothes on then we headed out.

I thought it was great! (And even caught a fish, even though it wasn't big enough to keep. . .) That is, until the sun went down and we all instantly froze. But I think I'll go again!! :)
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Sorry it took so long to update. . . my life has been so crazy in the past month or so (see other blogs for those stories!).

♥ Sara

Two Movies. One Postcard. And Long Hair?

Welp, I've been working on a couple of my 101 in 1001 tasks.

16. Watch 101 new movies.
I've watched two this week! I was wrapping gifts and working on stuffing my Christmas cards so I decided to take advantage of my Netflix on demand and watched The Bounty Hunter and Nothing Like the Holidays. Two very different movies. . .

I liked the Bounty Hunter just because it wasn't as predictable as I expected. Plus I like both Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. I knew nothing about Nothing Like the Holidays but it was the only Christmas type movie that I could find on there. It has a lot going on in it and a star-packed cast for being an indie film. I really enjoyed that one as well, although I did have to rewind it a couple times when I got distracted and missed parts.

63. Grow my hair with trims for 1001 days. Donate it when I cut it.
Surprisingly, I'm not having much trouble with this yet. I still have days where I want to chop it all off, but I'm beginning to like the long hair. . .We'll see how long that lasts though!

84. Join postcrossing.com. Send and receive 10 postcards.
I sent my first postcard to a girl (woman?) in the Netherlands this week! :)

Here's a picture of the postcard:

I'm hoping to get my gingerbread house built this week sometime. And there are some of the tasks (such as not eating fast food, or wearing my hair down every day) that I have completed or partially completed but as far as I am concerned it doesn't count unless I am intentionally (not) doing it for the project. :)
♥ Sara

Smoke Stories, Grown-Ups and Christmas.

Ok, you're gonna get a few posts in a row here. . . First and foremost I need to update my situation with the 101 in 1001 challenge.

12. Read and review 50 books.
Well, I finished my first one. (And am close to finishing the second one.) I read Smoke Stories by Mike Davis.

Remember the quilter's retreat we had at the Best Western Dockside a month or so ago? Well Mike's wife, June, was in charge of this retreat. They had a vending area in the garden room and June was selling Mike's book there.

One of the quilter ladies was also a firefighter and we had struck up conversation about it. She told me about the book and I said I'd have to check it out. One of the other quilters ended up buying it for me as a thank you. So, I had to read it.

My review of the book: I would give it 2 out of 5 Stars. I didn't think it was well written *at all.* There was no flow to it. It skipped around a lot, was very vague and just didn't go together well. Luckily, it wasn't very long and therefore didn't take much time for me to read. It did have a couple funny stories, but wasn't worth my time and made me very happy that I didn't pay for the thing.

The Book.

16. Watch 101 new movies.

I've watched two new ones! The first was Grown-Ups with John. It was pretty good. While it was funny, I felt it should have been funnier with the cast, but oh well. It wasn't bad and it's nice to cuddle up on the couch and watch a movie with him now and then.

The second was A Charlie Brown Christmas. For some reason, I had never seen this. I know, there's something wrong with me. But it's John's son's new favorite movie, so I've actually seen it a few times and there's a good chance I could quote a few parts of it.

20. Complete a fill-it-in book without Dad taking it over.

I've started it! I finished the first two puzzles. . . it'll help me keep my sanity when I'm at work and it's dead. :)

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That's all I have made any head way on. My life has been fairly busy lately and I haven't spent much time thinking about it or working on it. I'm sure it will get done though!

♥ Sara

"The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from
it."
-James Bryce

Number 73 Completed. Updates on WIP.

Completed: 73. Write a letter to myself to open at the end of 1001 days.

Believe it or not, I was surprised to find this task to be rather difficult. I mean, what do I say to myself that I would want to read in 2.75 years? What will make sense? What will make me happy to hear? What will upset me? I have no idea. . .

But, I wrote it. I tried. And it's 3 pages long. I'll let you know on August 14, 2013 whether it was what I wanted to hear or not. Maybe I'll even share what it says then. :)

The Letter, Signed, Sealed and Delivered.

Just waiting for the end.

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Works In Progress:
12: Read 50 books.
I've started two. Hoping to have at least one done by the end of the week, at which point I will write a review and post a picture of the book for you. :)

52: Send or give 101 cards, not including Christmas cards.
Before I left Friday, I dropped off a card at John's house for him to get when he got home. He has been so good to me and I just wanted him to know that I *really* do appreciate it. (See Happiness post for the entire story about John.)

The Card I Gave John.

63. Grow my hair (with trims) for the next 1001 days. Donate hair when I finally cut it.
This might be one of the hardest (or one of the easiest) tasks on my list, depending on the day. I'm beginning to really love my hair longer (and will take a "before" picture soon here, probably tomorrow or Tuesday), but growing it for almost three more years. . .that could be a chore. And then donating it at the end could be rather difficult as well. Then again, by then it will be so long that I could cut off a bunch and it would *still* be long! We'll see!!

69. Save $10 for each task I complete.
I transferred $10 into my savings account. But I'm debating whether I want it there or in a jar somewhere. What will I do with it in the end? Well, that is TBD. I still don't know where I'll be, what I'll be doing or what I'll need in 2.75 years!

84. Join postcrossing.com. . . .
Well I got that much done! And I received my first address. Tomorrow I'll mail out my first postcard (along with my bills, ew!). . . I'll keep updating on that one.
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Just a note: the list is subject to change, especially if I find the tasks easy to complete. :)
♥ Sara

"We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to spend the
rest of our lives there."
-Charles F. Kettering