And done!

1001 days have come and gone and I accomplished 19 things on my list. The last time I only accomplished 12 I think. So I got a little bit further this time. That's good. Instead of doing this challenge once again I've decided to just add things to my to do/goal list on my main blog. No time limit, just things I want to accomplish. So check me out here if you want to continue to follow along.

13. Take a trip to California

I'm going going, back back to Cali Cali! I made it back to California in early April. I had a great time and blogged about it on my other blog. It was good to see the beach and Disneyland for the first time was AWESOME! I can't wait to go back in October for my birthday. I have a ton more places I want to see and places to eat at.

73. Read 50 books.

I didn't realize it, but back in November I hit the 50 books read mark. Woo! I knew I could do it. I really should've hit that mark much sooner, but I quit reading so much for awhile there, but I'm back at it. Let's see how long it takes me to hit the 75 mark.

69. Run/walk a 5K.

I DID IT!!! My first 5k. It was a blast and I can't wait to do it again next year. I'm taking friends with me next time. I'm already thinking about which race I want to do next. I'm thinking the Halloween themed race on my birthday, costumes and things. Sounds like fun doesn't it?

28. Run a mile.

I did it!!! I did it!!! I ran a little more than a mile on Sunday. That was the first time EVER that I've run a mile. It was awesome. I've been thoroughly enjoying this Couch to 5K training. I keep amazing myself every day. I may be a slow runner, but I'm making progress. I didn't think I'd ever run a mile. Which is why I put it on my list. I wanted to make myself do it. It makes me feel like I'm capable of anything. And I am. I can't wait to master this 5K next month. It's gonna be awesome!

26. Make a dessert from scratch.

I wish I'd taken a picture of the dessert I'd made. I'll have to remember to do that the next time I make it. Anyway, I made a Nutella cheesecake with a Leibniz cracker crust, topped with chocolate ganache. I didn't have enough cream cheese when I made this, but it still turned out fine. Everyone who tried it, like it. It'll be awhile before I make this again, but I WILL be making it again. It was just that good.

run, melly, run!

I decided that if I was ever going to run a mile, 5K, 10K and so on that I was gonna have shell out some money and register to run a 5K. If I'm gonna spend some money, I'm gonna do it. So I did. I registered for the Color Me Rad 5K in September and I started Couch to 5K a couple of weeks ago. I'm now running three mornings a week. And running isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I'm actually enjoying it and have a lot more energy through out the day. I do wish someone would join the Color Me Rad run with me though so I'd have a partner. Hopefully someone will at least come out and watch me run.

72. Eat vegetarian for a week.

I wasn't sure how this was going to go, going into it. I don't eat a lot of meat, but I do enjoy a good bacon cheeseburger every once in a while. A week was very doable. I drank a lot of smoothies in the morning for breakfast. Delicious. I don't feel like I ate very much in the afternoons and for dinner. But there are some decent options out there. I think my favorite was the spinach and ricotta stuffed ravioli I had. Yum. I'd like to try going for a longer period. I'd have to be more prepared though. I think eating for me is easier when my meals are planned out. Otherwise there's a lot of staring into the fridge trying to decide what to eat. Which for me results in eating a lot of random things together.

12. Give up beef for a month.

I've given up beef before and it wasn't fun. This go around it was pretty easy. The only thing I really wanted was a big juicy bacon cheeseburger. Maybe some beef stroganoff too. Anywho, I did mess up on the 3rd of the month. I wasn't even thinking about it and had a steak sandwich. I didn't even realize what I'd eaten until hours later, so I started over. My go to meal was beans and cheese on a tortilla. I love this meal because it's quick and easy. I ate a lot of chicken too, no fish surprisingly. I went several days where I had no meat at all. I think I wouldn't have a problem becoming a part-time vegetarian. If such a thing exists.

36. Take a photo everyday for a month.

I did it!!! I took a picture EVERY DAY for an entire month. I followed along with the #febphotoaday challenge. It was fun. Even though I did this with my camera phone, it inspired me to pick up my camera and take more pictures again. Exactly what I hoped it would do. I didn't really bother to check out other participants photos. I was doing this for myself so no one else really existed. :)

96. Complete 10 items on the list.

It only took me over 500 days to complete 10 tasks. I really procrastinated here. Heck I still haven't finished MAKING this list at this point. I don't expect to complete all the tasks, but at I do intend to get a good start on the list. I'll probably start making another list and attempt this for a third time.

56. Give up soda for a month.

Soda, sweet, sweet soda. I don't drink a lot of it (probably less than once a week), but when I get that craving...it's over. I went most of the month okay with not having any, but towards the end the craving hit hard. I really wanted a root beer. As a substitute I drank a lot of sweet tea. I'm not sure which is worse. I ended up having a soda today and was a little disappointed. :(

11. Give up candy for a month.

Giving up candy was actually pretty easy. I think giving up chocolate was much harder. I don't really eat a lot of candy, but when I do I tend to binge and then I'm good for awhile. I did miss my free chocolate from Godiva though. Good thing they give those out once a month. Bags of candy seemed to pop up all over our stockroom at work this past month. I shook my head and thought of course these folks would bring in candy THIS month.

3. Make and sell 150 hats and scarves.

It's crazy to think that I've sold that many hats and scarves already, but then it seems like I should've sold more than that by now. I'm kinda on the fence about that. I'm a little disappointed by this holiday season. I didn't sell nearly as many as I thought I would have. I need to work harder. I need to get my name out there. I can to do better. I'm glad to be able to mark another item off my list though. Slowly but surely. I want to do at least twice as much by the end of next year. I've got a lot of work to do.

two for one special

On Sunday I began working on task 11 and task 56, hoping that they help me accomplish task 66. Giving up soda should be easy peasy since I don't drink soda much anyway. Now candy on the other hand. Ugh. It didn't help today that there was a big bag of candy sitting around at work. I swear the Universe does that on purpose.

progress

I was checking out my sales log on how many hats/scarves I've sold...almost at 100. A little over a  year and I'm more than half way to the goal I set. Crazy. I'm sure I'll surpass that 150 before the end of Winter. I can't believe it.

57. Give up coloring my hair for a year.

It was actually a little easier than I thought it'd be to not color my hair for an entire year. Part of that is because I'm not allowed to have an unnatural hair color at work. So no red...not even a red rinse. That made me sad as I love, love, love the red. Tomorrow I go back to black. Cover up any grey that might be hanging out. I'm not sure I could give up coloring my hair indefinitely. I like being able to change it.

10. Give up chocolate for a month.

For the month I September I gave up chocolate and pretty much everyone I talked to about it thought I was crazy. It really wasn't that hard, I still had fruity candy and other sweets to fall back on. My cravings weren't too bad, they were mostly for things that had just the tiniest bit of chocolate. But I got through it. The first day that I was able to eat chocolate again I proceeded to eat a WHOLE sleeve of Thin Mint cookies and then passed out for two hours. All that sugar and chocolatey goodness. I think giving up candy for a month is what's actually going to kill me, but then again there are always all the yummy baked goods I can have since that's not candy. Maybe I just need to go ahead and give up sweets. Now THAT would be hard.

cravings

I'm working on 10. Give up chocolate for a month and today I'm REALLY craving a Snickers bar and some fresh chocolate chip cookies. Otherwise I think I'm doing pretty good. I just need to make it 19 more days. No problem. Ha!

working on it

I think I've made a pretty good dent in my goal to make and sell 500 cards. The making part is easy...it's the selling part that will be the hard part.

I need to get to work on more items on my list. I've been dragging my butt big time.

Now that I'm unemployed again maybe it's time to start making a bigger dent on this list. I also still need to finish this list. I'm not sure what else to put on it.

Suggestions?