No rest for the wicked...

Happy new year.....better late than never. I've neglected this blog for a while now but the upside of that is having LOADS to update!

First up, and most importantly, I finally got the fringe cut in that I have been changing my mind about for the last two months. I was still changing my mind about it right the way through the haircut but thankfully the end result was worth it. How does it look? I'm happy even if you think it looks crap! So that's number 73 crossed off.

Mr Fanny and I had a bit of a fun day out just before Christmas. We went to see A Christmas Carol in 3D at the cinema. We had some time to kill before the film started so went for a drink in Costa. Thought it would be rude not to brave a cup of coffee - my first ever! I went for a gentle introduction with a creme brulee latte. It was, well, just a bit 'meh' really. I'm not sure I get the point of coffee if I'm honest, it's not exactly a thirst quencher. Anyway, I drank it all although Mr Fanny claimed it was a cop out having latte and forced me to drink his Americano. Utterly grimmola. Here's a picture of my latte to prove I had it (number 88)!

We went for a meal after the film. Mr Fanny let me choose where we went. Having been to most of the restaurants in Esher already (and I'm not counting chain ones as once you've been to one Pizza Express, you've been to them all) I thought I'd take the opportunity for us to try a new one (number 23). So Good Earth it was. And yes, it was good. Very good in fact and I ended up eating far more than I needed to. Just for a change, like.

A pre-Christmas night out with a friend also saw a few cocktails being consumed (number 66). Damn things cost me a fortune but did they get me smashed? Did they arse. Anyway, the Lemongrass Wokka and Passion-Vanilla Martini were divine. All from Glo in Walton on Thames.

After Christmas Mr Fanny and I went down to Padstow for a week. Lovely place but like a bloody theme park with all the hoards of tourists in the streets. Not quite the quiet getaway I was hoping for but it did give me the chance to make a massive dent in the list. We picked the wrong day for a trip to Polperro (number 82) as it was lashing down. We got soaked walking from the car park down to the village so had to spend a while drying off in the pubs. Shame. Anyway, here it is, one of my most favourite places in the world...

We also went to the Eden Project as well (number 70) Which was....well, which was like wandering round a garden centre really. Not really of much interest to either Mr Fanny or myself. So we went back to our cottage and finished off series two of The Inbetweeners (number 55). Much more fun. Bus wankers!

Some other bits and pieces I've managed are....

• 30 days without fizzy drinks ended on 13 December 2009 (number 72). Easy peasy!
• Managed to visit two restaurants in Padstow that I'd obviously never been to before (obviously!) - Jack's for some delicious tapas style food and Rick Stein's St Petroc's Bistro for a pretty average New Year's Eve meal (number 23).
• I sent a package to a child from the Post Pal website for Christmas (number 24).
• I joined the library (number 94) and have so far read one book from the list (number 37), Rosamunde Pilcher's The Shell Seekers.
• Another car loan payment (number 39).
• One trip to the village butchers to buy MASSIVE chicken breasts and some Cumberland sausages (number 40).
• One solitary gym session (number 61). Hey, it's a start!
• Still plugging away at Free Rice (number 21). Getting pretty tedious now though and haven't bothered for a while. Am I allowed to say that about a good cause
• I've joined Slimming World (number 49). Watch this space. Probably for a very long time as progress is always slow as far and Fanny Langers and weight loss is concerned. Accordingly, I am going to change number 60 from Weight Loss Resources to SW.
• I took Karen some flowers when I went to visit at the beginning of December (number 93).

The best laid plans....

So I had the best of intentions to cross a few more things off the list this weekend but it didn't quite go to plan. The inlaws were staying this weekend so I wanted to impress with a lovely meal. I'd already phoned the butchers earlier in the week to check whether they'd have any beef fillet on Saturday. 'Oooh yes love, got a lovely big bit in, see you Saturday'. Great stuff. Except when I went there on Saturday they'd bloody sold out and I had to get it from Tesco instead. So no progress on number 40 for now.

After the butchers, I popped across the road to the library to sign up (number 94). Except I had no ID with my name and address on it. Back again next week with a bank statement I think!

So after my not so flying start, I was a little worried about cooking the beef for dinner on Sunday. Mr Fanny nearly had a coronary over the butcher's counter in Tesco when he saw the price of it so I felt a little under pressure to get it right. It was a Jamie Oliver recipe (another one to cross off for number 8) which involved wrapping the meat in prosciutto and mushrooms - I got in a bit of a pickle trying to get it to stay together and it took much longer to cook than the recipe said but my god was it worth it! Utterly delicious. I served it (at the dining table as per number 54!) with proper roasties cooked in goose fat, sweet potato, seasoned cabbage, peas and broccoli. And of course it was washed down with plenty of wine!

Other things that are underway:

Still plugging away at Free Rice. Zzzzzz....

Have now been fizzy drink free for 17 days

Have watched Series 1 of The Inbetweeners, Series 2 is on it's way

Another £120 paid off the car loan

Goodbye treadmill, hello spacious garage

It's gone! The most expensive and cumbersome of all my failed get fit plans has finally left the building (number 18). Mr Fanny's friend came and picked the treadmill up last night and we managed to get £150 for it. I'm hoping that Mr Fanny will finally let me live this down (although he used it about as little as I did so I'm not the only failure!).
Diet Coke avoidance is going well. I even struggled through a super hangover yesterday without succumbing to the cool, fizzy charms of an ice cold can. I am convinced this was responsible for my headache lasting all day though.
I've had to change my Free Rice target after working out that 1,000,000 was pretty unachievable. It would average out at 1,000 grains every day for the 1001 days - not quite sure how I'd be able to catch up after holidays or days when I am not in front of the computer. I'm trying not to let the thought of some poor child with sad eyes in a far away land going without rice because some lazy cow in England couldn't be bothered with an extra 900,000 clicks play on my mind too much....

So, what's on my to do list this week? The in-laws are a-visiting this weekend and we are out to a Chinese restaurant in somewhere I forget so I can cross one of the restaurants off for number 23. I'm planning on cooking them a roast on Sunday so will get the meat from the village butcher (number 40) and will be following a Jamie Oliver recipe that I've never used before (number 8). I also want to join the library (number 94) - I'm going to be needing lots of books to get me through Christmas! Must also try not to be quite so vacuous and dig out the Love Film bits that we've had since March so that I can send them back and start on some of the films.

Pop goes the fizz....

I've just realised that my last Diet Coke was last Friday. That's six days ago. May as well go for the full thirty and hope that I don't get a humdinger of a hangover that necessitates guzzling gallons of ice cold Coke.

Ding dong the bike has gone....

Last I night I dug my bike out of the shed and very kindly offloaded it to my sister (number 25). Having used it about three times since I bought it over two years ago, I don't think I'll miss it. We also have a buyer for another failed fitness venture of mine, the treadmill (number 18). A friend is going to take this off our hands and will be picking it up soon. I shan't be crossing it off until the cash is in my hand and the it has departed from the garage though!

I'm loving trying to cross all these things off the list and do have a few things in progress. I discovered I could join the library (number 94) online yesterday so tried to give that a go. They seem to think someone of my name and address is already registered with them (I'm not) so I'm going to have to go in and do it in person. They are closed for refurbishment until next week so won't be able to do it until next Saturday. Once I've done that I will be able to make a start on number 37.
I have booked a haircut for a couple of weeks time and am considering a radical new look (number 73). Am currently debating a rock chick look with a heavy fringe. Watch me change my mind fifty times before then though....

Yum yum piggy's bum

Tonight saw my first attempt at a new recipe (number 8). I ordered a couple of low calorie cook books from Amazon which turned up today. I really wanted to try something out but wasn't too hopeful as the fridge is in need of restocking quite badly. However a quick flick through one of them and I realised I could just about rustle up a toad in the hole. I've never cooked this before so was a little worried but I think it turned out beautifully! The batter was a touch soggy -a lower heat and longer cooking time should fix this. I served it with seasoned cabbage. Mmmmm....

And she's off....

And it's a flying start. I've obviously set the blog up and my technical skills are amazing me. It's also causing moments of utter frustration but nothing a bit of Google won't fix. So now it's up and running I just need to make sure I keep it updated. Fifty times to be precise.....however for now I can cross off number 11.

Lisa came over to stay on Saturday night so I seized the chance of getting a bit of use out of the much neglected dining room table (number 54) by knocking up a bit of chilli, rice and garlic bread. All washed down with wine, profiteroles, champagne, wine, chocolate and wine. Number 49 on the list is going to have to wait a while....

I've also started on the 1,000,000 grains of rice. 1,010 down, quite a few more to go.

The List....

So here it is. I spent three days writing this and it really was a labour of love....and quite possibly hate. Getting up to about 50 or so wasn't too bad. After that I struggled. It's a hell of a lot harder than I first thought. I've really tried to make it achievable for the most part, I could easily have made a list of all the exotic places I wanted to visit and fancy restaurants I wanted to eat in but the reality is, I'd barely have been able to manage ten of those, never mind 101.

1. Ride a horse
2. Stay in a ‘haunted’ hotel
3. Bake 3 cakes for other people
4. Go to Las Vegas
5. Go without Facebook for 30 consecutive days
6. Go without alcohol for 30 consecutive days
7. Make my own piccalilli
8. Cook 20 new recipes
9. Have a curry in Brick Lane
10. Swim with dolphins
11. Make a blog to record my 101 things
12. Update my blog at least 50 times
13. Send 25 postcards from Postcrossing
14. Receive 25 postcards from Postcrossing
15. Send 5 ‘just because’ cards to friends
16. Choose the pictures for our wedding album and get the album made.
17. See 5 films at the cinema
18. Sell the treadmill
19. Eat fish and chips on a harbour in Cornwall
20. Successfully grow garlic
21. Donate 1,000,000 grains of rice here
22. Eat in a Michelin starred restaurant
23. Eat in 10 restaurants I've never been to before
24. Send a gift to 3 children on Post Pals
25. Get rid of my bike
26. Go to 3 stand up comedy nights
27. Visit the London Dungeons
28. Visit the Science Museum
29. See a West End show
30. Go ice skating at an outdoor rink
31. Visit 3 different UK towns/cities for an overnight break
32. Write Trip Advisor reviews for the above hotels
33. Order an organic veg delivery
34. Have a session in a flotation tank
35. Clear my credit card
36. Write a will
37. Read 7 books from here
38. Watch 5 films from here
39. Pay back my car loan to Paul
40. Buy meat in the village butchers 10 times
41. Have afternoon tea in a hotel
42. Carve a pumpkin for Halloween
43. Visit the village farmer's market
44. Go on a European city break
45. Finally fill up my terramundi pot with £1 and £2 coins
46. Replace the rugs in the lounge
47. Record every penny I spend for a week
48. Win something. Anything.
49. Lose 3 stone
50. Stay overdraft free for three consecutive months
51. Go to a fireworks display
52. Not have a puff of a cigarette for three consecutive months
53. Clean and box my wedding dress
54. Eat at the dining table 50 times
55. Watch all available DVD box sets of The Inbetweeners
56. Buy false eyelashes and wear them on a night out
57. Make a photo book from our honeymoon pictures
58. Change my name and address on my driving license
59. Visit Wisley Gardens
60. Stick to my calorie allowance for seven consecutive days and log it on WLR
61. Take 50 gym classes
62. Go swimming 50 times
63. Use our new gas barbeque 15 times
64. Save £10 each payday for a shopping spree at the end of my 1001 days
65. Buy myself flowers 10 times
66. Drink 10 new cocktails
67. Go without takeaways for two weeks
68. Get my charms fixed onto my bracelet
69. Complete a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle
70. Visit the Eden Project
71. Host 5 dinner parties
72. Go without fizzy drinks for 30 days
73. Change my hair colour and/or style
74. Eat in a vegetarian restaurant
75. Visit a zoo
76. Go to a casino
77. Order and eat a vindaloo
78. No cabs from work to the station for 20 consecutive working days
79. Own a designer handbag
80. Go on a Caribbean holiday
81. Buy Paul 5 ‘just because’ presents
82. Visit Polperro again
83. Watch the Chinese New Year celebrations in Chinatown
84. Feed the ducks
85. Buy a bra in Rigby and Peller
86. Ride on a rollercoaster
87. Make pizza from scratch
88. Drink a cup of coffee
89. Grow a sunflower
90. Make homemade bread
91. Go to a ‘pick your own’ farm
92. Have 3 facials
93. Buy flowers for someone else 5 times
94. Join a library
95. Spend a night in a tent
96. Make 10 meals in the slow cooker
97. Watch a film from my year of birth
98. Buy 5 copies of the Big Issue
99. Get my cholesterol checked
100. Fit smoke alarms in the house
101. Drink Krug champagne

In the beginning....

So why am I doing this? I keep asking myself this question over and over again. I am well known for starting things and never finishing them. I am Queen of Giving Up- I'll go flying into something with gusto then start making excuses as to why I don't carry on with it and eventually it just slips by the wayside, never to be mentioned again. I have a graveyard of Good Ideas that is littered with good intentions, failed diets, exercise plans and all sorts of other things that seemed like a good idea at the time. So it may seem odd that I'm embarking on a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days. It's more of a challenge to see if I can actually stick at something and also it's a way of doing all those things that I keep saying I want to do but never get round to.

So, the rules....

The Challenge:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on your part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple challenges such as New Year's resolutions or a 'Bucket List'. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips, study semesters, or outdoor activities.