If you remember, I posted an update last October, and at that point we were right around halfway through our list. Since we only had six months left to complete the remaining tasks (and although I didn't say it at the time, I knew some--like skydiving--weren't going to happen since I was pregnant), I made it my new goal to get to 75 items. Sadly, we didn't even make it through that many, but we were just a little busy with the whole pregnancy thing during those final six months. Here's the rundown (and I really don't feel like linking up to all the related posts... If you are interested, just click on the "101 in 1001" label at the end of this post and it'll pull up all the linked posts):
Get a dog: We had a baby. That's a bigger accomplishment in my book. I consider this one complete
Landscape the house: We have trees and we have a rock trim. We don't have any shrubs--or even any decorative pots--in our rock trim, but whatevs. Still a success in my book
Skydive: Yep, nope. Maybe still on my "to-do" list for sometime in the future, but hard to say
Go skiing in the Rocky Mountains: I definitely see this one happening someday, especially since we now have good friends living in Montana... But it hasn't happened yet
*Personal*: Done! And no, you don't get to know what it was
Build a lower deck in our backyard: Done! Love my husband for making this one happen
Go to a professional dinner theater: It wasn't technically a dinner theater, but it was Phantom of the Opera and it was in London. Good enough in my book
Go horseback riding: Turns out they don't recommend doing this while pregnant. Not that I ever found any place around here to do this anyway....
Get passports and use them: Done and done!
Reach $20,000 in savings: Done! And remarkably, we've even managed to keep it above that figure even with a little one and my not working
Go to an amusement park: Eh, no. We never even went to the Sioux Empire Fair, otherwise I'd totally try to make that count (hey, they have rides!)
Go on a date once a month: Mission accomplished! We did take a three-month break after William was born, but we plan to get back into that routine
Take a wine tasting course: I came across a few possibilities for this, but only after I was pregnant (and what's the fun in that?) I was going to find a cooking class for us to take and count that as a substitute, but it just never worked out for us to make it to one. Although there are some fun-sounding ones locally--definitely a new goal!
Go white-water rafting: Sadly, no. You definitely would have heard about this if it had happened
Go to a real zoo: Well, we did go to the Great Plains Zoo, although we had said that didn't really count as a "real" zoo. Next summer I'm definitely thinking we'll take William to the Omaha zoo though!
Camp in five State Parks: Done! Four of the five were in SD, but we did manage to throw a WI park in there
Take old-timey photos: Done. And have we ever done anything with the photos? No. Whoops.
Play all of our classic board games: How sad is this? We had all but one game played by November 2011, and we never played that final game. In our defense, the remaining game is Clue, which requires more than two people, and the opportunity just never presented itself. Played or not, it sure does look nice with the rest of our collection
Put a puzzle together: We've done this one a few times over
Bike around the Sioux Falls bike trails: Another one I'm sad to say we didn't cross off. Hopefully, though, all the construction they've been doing on them will be finished this summer, and then next summer we can take William along with us (just have to get one of those fancy bike trailer things)
Go to a DI football game: Done and I definitely want to do again! Darrell even got to go to a DI basketball game too
Organize the basement: Considering we've now moved our guest "bedroom" down there, definitely complete. Sure, there are always more organizing projects I could find to do... But it's at least clean
Have a movie marathon: We watched (and I enjoyed!) the Bourne Trilogy
Watch five classic movies: Well, we got the Netflix membership that we needed to help us complete this one. And we did watch four (Breakfast at Tiffany's, Les Miserables, Casablanca, and Sleepless in Seattle). But then we discovered all the awesome TV shows on Netflix... And the rest is history (and for the record, I realize that Sleepless in Seattle isn't a "true" classic. But it's a movie that is commonly referenced, and neither of us had seen it, so we decided to count it. It's our game, we make the rules)
Go cross-country skiing: Honestly, we never really had good winters for this. When we had snow, it was miserably cold (or it was March 2013 and I was eight months pregnant). I still think it would be fun some day
Spend a night on the Appalachian Trail: Never got to this one, but I would still love to someday
Go snowshoeing: See note on cross-country skiing
Go sledding: See note on cross-country skiing
Take ballroom dance lessons: Well, before our wedding (and before this list existed) we took Jitterbug lessons... And at my sister's bachelorette party we got belly dance lessons... So no, I don't think we accomplished this goal
Help someone pulled over on the interstate: Honestly, this was a totally random one to have on the list. And no, we didn't do it
Go to a shooting range: Also random--and totally not Darrell and I. As it turns out, I don't have much of a desire to shoot a firearm, which is why I was never gung-ho about making this happen
Shop at a Farmer's Market: We went to one once, although we didn't buy anything. Now we do that Bountiful Baskets thing, which is kind of like a farmer's market, so we have even less reason to go to an actual farmer's market
Order a restaurant meal that we can't pronounce: We've actually done this a few times. Nothing like the good old "point at the menu item because I don't feel like trying to pronounce it" trick
Eat at Touch of Europe: Still one of our favorite places to eat downtown. Hard to beat a carafe of wine for under $15 (although Darrell discovered last time we were there that they serve beer by the liter... So I may be on my own for drinking the carafe next time...)
Have a romantic picnic: I was going to say no, but we actually did do this--in London no less! We bought some sandwiches, fruit, chocolate, and a bottle of wine and headed to a park to enjoy. Granted, there was no fancy picnic basket, no blanket, or even wine glasses... But good enough in my book
Go stargazing: I was so convinced that we could complete this one anytime that I wasn't really worried about getting it done. And really--we could have done it. Anytime. But we didn't. At least not intentionally (and as much as I want to make it count, randomly seeing a shooting star while driving is not "stargazing")
Go skinny dipping: Didn't quite see this one through. You can all breathe a sigh of relief.
Eat a lobster: Sadly, no lobster in this house. And honestly, I've heard that they are a fair amount of work to eat, so maybe I'm okay with having skipped over it
Be greeters at church: We've definitely done this a few times, and I'm pretty sure people at church are starting to make the connection that we're married (and what my new last name is). It took some people a little bit of time though
Play bocce ball: Yup. Somewhat anti-climatic with just two people, but we make it work
Ride a trolley: We actually never got on the trolley. We also never spent much time downtown, which is where the trolley is. Double fail, right?
Go on a carriage ride: We did manage to accomplish this downtown one night... Way cooler than riding the trolley I suppose
Start a garden: I'm on my third year of gardening. And I'm pretty much just as clueless as I was when I started
Host a holiday party: Hmm. We never actually hosted a themed/costume holiday party, but I did host my book club last December and made lots of Christmas goodies. And Darrell helped clean. So it totally counts in my book
Buy new kitchen chairs: Had them for years, still love them
Go to a homecoming at Wartburg: I think we've only actually made it back for one Homecoming, but we've also gone down a handful of other times for soccer related stuff. And let's be honest--my heart lies more with the soccer team than the college as a whole (although there is an alumni beer tent at Homecoming...)
Visit the State Capitol: This was a surprisingly enjoyable venture. Glad we ventured out there
Go ice skating outdoors: Probably picked one of the coldest days to do this, but we did it. And mostly enjoyed it
Give $3000 in offerings to church: I know I could go back through our bank account and figure out the exact amount, but I quite certain it's over $3000. So I'm not going to calculate the exact donations
Take a canoe trip: Unfortunately, no. I was envisioning some sort of canoe rental, a day paddling on the river to some secluded campsite, a night in the tent, and then some more canoeing the next day. And while I know there are plenty of places in MN that offer trips like this, we never had the time to do one. But I did look into it--and I do still hope to do one someday
Fly a kite: Quite certain we didn't do this. And if we did--clearly it wasn't very memorable
Go to a Pow-wow: Although I'm not exactly jumping at the bit to go to another, I will say that it is definitely worth the experience to go if you've never gone
Go to a State Fair: Totally loved the MN State Fair. I've heard IA is pretty good too... But I'd be hard pressed to ever choose IA over MN (mostly because we have family up there. But also a little because I just don't like IA as much)
Throw a dart at the map and go where it lands: Doesn't this just sound so fun? I wish I could tell you just how fun (and random) it was, but we never did it. Definitely an idea to keep in the back of our minds though
Spend a weekend at my parent's lake cabin: Very much enjoyed doing this one. And as William grows up, I'm sure there will be many more weekends at the lake
Read "The 5 Love Languages": If you've never read this, it's definitely worth the read. I won't say that it was totally relationship changing for us or anything, but very interesting and enlightening
Go to a Pheasants game: Well, we went to a baseball game at the Pheasants (actually, now they are back to being the Canaries) stadium, but it was to watch my brother play. Not quite the same thing
*Personal*: Still not saying what this was, but we didn't get it done
Tour a battleship: Took care of this during Beach Week one summer. It was cooler than I thought it would be--definitely something we'll take William to tour (once he is quite a few years older)
Make one of the drinks on our drink mixer: We've done this quite a few times now. Pretty sure our (my?) favorite is the Tequila Sunrise--Darrell just made one for me a few nights ago actually!
Go to a driving range together: Well, we went together. I don't actually remember if I swung a club or not, but that's a minor detail
Carve pumpkins: Did this a few Halloweens ago, and I hope to do it again this year (maybe we'll even go pick the pumpkin ourselves at the orchard! Sounds like a fun tradition to start with William, right?)
Make a decision by flipping a coin: I'm pretty sure we used a coin to help us decide want kind of alcohol to buy one day. It's the important things
Clean and organize the garage: Did this over two years ago and I'm happy to say that it's pretty well stayed that way (our basement though... Kind of a different story)
Insulate the garage: Nope. And probably not going to either
Celebrate Christmas morning at our house: We did! And not only was it the first Christmas morning that we celebrated in our house, but it was our last Christmas as a family of two. I'm pretty sure we did something super remarkable, like make pancakes or something :-)
Go to a museum: We went to a South Dakota Museum when we were out in Pierre for Labor Day a few years ago... And we went to a bunch more in London
Go to an art gallery: Definitely hit up a few of these on our London/Paris trip (including the Louvre... So that should count as like double points)
Stay at a Bed and Breakfast: Stayed at one just outside of London for our three-year wedding anniversary (again--we should get bonus points or something for that. Plus it was a winery was well--double awesome)
*Personal*: We talked about this one a few times, but never actually did it. So I suppose that doesn't count
Complete the wine passport for downtown Sioux Falls: They stopped doing the Wine Passport promotion shortly after we complied this list, but we still made it our goal to visit the majority of the restaurants downtown. I'm pleased to say we did (in fact, it's about the only place we go for date nights anymore; there are so many good eating establishments to choose from!)
--Darrell's items--
Get an eagle (while golfing, not the animal): Well, he got a few birdies... So pretty close?
Golf eighteen holes in under 85 strokes: The closest he came was 87. And that was this summer, which was technically after our 1001 days expired. Darrell's resigned himself to the fact that he just doesn't have the time (or money) to be as good of a golfer as he would like
Visit Mount Rushmore: We did the lazy way of driving past it on the highway and taking some pictures from the shoulder, but it beat paying the park admission
Learn a song on the guitar: I think the only time he touched his guitar in the past three years was to move it out of William's room and into the basement. And even then it was in it's case
Get a new computer: We did get a new laptop... And I'm already itching to get another new one (but a Mac this time!) since I had to turn my computer back in to work
Randomly send Jess flowers: He did! It was sweet--he sent them the day before I ran my 10K. And actually, he sent a plant, not flowers (he didn't realize the difference...) I think my mom planted it and has managed to keep it alive
Be hoakey and agree to see the project through to completion: Eeh, I give him about a 75% on this. He never rarely remembered to do anything without my prompting, but he was usually pretty willing to do things that I reminded him were "on the list"
Hang hammocks in the basement: We did. And not really for fun/pleasure, but more out of shear frugality. He refused to turn the air on the night before we left for London, even though the house was oppressively hot, so he hung the hammocks to give us a place to sleep that was reasonably cool. I think we left them up for the rest of the summer; I may have used mine a few other times, but that was it
Build a wine rack for the kitchen: We've been back and forth on whether or not we're going to do this. So suffice to say it hasn't been done
Surprise Jess with a romantic dinner: Our definitions of romantic may be a little different, but I'm not going to cut him slack on this one. No spontaneous romantic dinners at this house
Take a photography class: Does reading through manuals count? No?
Learn how to drive a boat/pontoon: Well, I don't think he got this one in before the deadline, but he's driven the pontoon without my dad around this summer
Pay off car: Two years and counting without any car payments! Woot!
Start swimming laps again: Meh.. He made swam laps a handful of times after we made this list. I wouldn't exactly call that getting back into the habit
Donate one gallon of blood: He never remembers to ask, but he does a pretty good job of going every eight weeks, so I have to imagine he's hit the gallon mark
--My goals--
Donate hair to Locks of Love: Chopped it off over two years ago, and I'm getting close to be able to again (although I don't know if I'm going too)
Run a 10K: It wasn't pretty, and saying that I ran the whole thing is maybe being a little generous, but I did it
Read 25 books: Oh gosh. I totally lost count on this. Considering I currently have 38 book reviews posted on the blog I think it's safe to say I hit 25 before April
Not buy clothes or shoes for two months: I did manage to accomplish this. And it was actually harder than I thought (turns out I'm a little bit of a compulsive shopper)
Enter a writing contest: That would have meant I needed to write something. And something more substantial than a grocery list
Have a "Pirates" marathon: Unfortunately, no. Doesn't mean I love Captain Jack Sparrow any less though!
Mow the yard: We closed on our house four years ago this month. I've mowed once. Whoops
Finish our wedding scrapbook: It only took me nine months, but I did it. You can't rush craftiness!
Score a goal: I scored one two summers ago, didn't play last summer because of the whole baby thing, and scored one again this summer! At this rate I'll be in the record books in no time!
Get comfortable driving Darrell's car: Well, I did drive it a few times. But only when Darrell was in the car. However, I did drive it all by myself this summer--and only killed it once!
Bake a cheesecake with no cracks: I've managed this only a few times. And not because I've had cheesecakes that have cracked, but simply because I haven't made very many cheesecakes (much to Darrell's disappointment)
Sing karaoke: Well, we kind of cheated because it was a group karaoke thing at the MN State Fair, but I'm totally counting it
Subscribe to a cooking magazine and make a recipe out of every issue: I got the magazine... I clipped at least one recipe out of each one... And made maybe half. The magazine was just a little too fancy for us and had too many specialty ingredients that we never have on hand
Get and use a gym membership: I was really good about using it for about a year/year and a half. And then... Not so much. In fact, Darrell and I both cancelled our memberships this year. It just wasn't worth it anymore. But I'm still counting this one as successfully completed
Get all my stuff cleaned out of my parent's house: It's cleaned out of my parent's house AND nicely organized in my house (for the most part). Definitely a success!
If you combine some of the ones that were partially completed, I'd say we completed 65 items. Not awful... But I'm hoping for better results on my "30 before 30" project. (Which, for the record, I have been making progress on, even though it hasn't been showing up on the blog. Someday I'll get around to it... Someday...)
