101 In 1001

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

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

1. Read a great piece of literature I haven’t previously read, something long, maybe The Lord of the Rings.
2. Go to a winery and stomp grapes with my feet.
3. Go to a Yankee game.
4. Go to the beach in California, with friends, in my bikini.
5. Learn to cook tofu in a way which I will eat.
6. Climb Half Dome at Yosemite, which will entail actually learning to hike.
7. See someone famous while living in LA this summer.
8. Go to Hawaii.
9. Brush up my French.
10. Enough to watch Amelie without subtitles.
11. Own some diamond or other high quality earrings.
12. Purchase at least one additional season of The X Files on DVD.
13. Go skiing at Whistler-Blackcomb.
14. Cook all my meals for a week (leftovers are ok, but not frozen foods and no restaurants/fast food, no church suppers, nothing)
15. Write a letter to the editor on an issue important to me.
16. Wear my skinny jeans without fearing that the seams will burst.
17. Get an iPod.
18. Buy a pair of heinously expensive jeans that look absolutely fabulous on me.
19. Fall in love
20. Embrace the fact that I’m constantly planning my wedding despite not being the least bit close to actually having a wedding to plan.
21. Get a dog
22. Go on a vacation (a real one, not to visit family or for a wedding unless family or the wedding happens to be in an exotic location).
23. Get to my fighting weight of between 115-120 and keep it there.
24. Graduate from law school.
25. Find a legal job, a paying one.
26. Learn one cocktail I like well enough to order at a bar and make at home.
27. Teach a spinning class.
28. Do my own taxes.
29. Do something nice for a stranger (something = pay for their meal in the drive through when they are behind me, give $5 to a homeless person, something like that).
30. Buy more bookcases at IKEA (preferably, in West Sac when it opens within the next year).
31. Pass the bar exam.
32. Start to write a novel.
33. Keep my bedroom floor uncluttered for a full two-week period. Sound easy? You don't know me.
34. Every night for a week spend 15 minutes cleaning up my apartment.
35. Take ballet classes again.
36. Finish (well, start) my scrapbook from the 2002 trip to Europe with Mom.
37. Own a Coach bag (even if I have to buy it with Westlaw points instead of money).
38. Get a body scrub/polish at the spa
39. Get a facial.
40. Get a bottle of vitamins and finish it without missing a single day.
41. Run Bay to Breakers without collapsing (other people have “Run a half marathon” but I’ve already done this).
42. Purchase one piece of sexy lingerie (even if I don’t use it).
43. Wear it.
44. See Avenue Q (preferably on Broadway).
45. See Hairspray (ditto).
46. Spend from now until Angela’s wedding on July 9 exercising 5 times a week, and eating right (see below).
47. Eat more fruit every day.
48. Eat more vegetables every day.
49. Put another $1000 in my IRA (this can be done in stages, obviously).
50. Go one week (seven whole days) without watching any TV.
51. Stop buying Shape at the grocery store and get a subscription to it if I am going to continue to read it.
52. Do my Pilates-Yoga DVD every day for 28 days (it promises you’ll see the difference in 28 days).
53. Find 3 or 4 Bible verses/readings I enjoy.
54. Purchase at least one pair of Adidas running shorts (the kind with the stripes down the side. They’re really cute, but I never can find them in my size or am willing to pay for them but I continue to covet them).
55. Find a second flavor of yogurt I enjoy so when the grocery store is sold out of strawberry I have a second choice).
56. Read the biography of William O. Douglas, former justice on the Supreme Court, that is sitting on my shelf. He was a crazy guy – it’ll be fun!
57. Read Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe.
58. See Schindler’s List
59. See Hotel Rwanda
60. Go to the Getty Museum while in LA this summer.
61. Ride my bike everywhere for a week (includes going to the grocery store/church/gym).
62. Write an advance directive.
63. Grow an herb garden.
64. Clean out my closet.
65. Clean out the dresser.
66. Get a new dresser.
67. Write (and rewrite) a paper until it is considered suitable to submit for publication.
68. Put $5 into a slot machine somewhere. See if I win something!
69. Drink champagne on New Year’s Eve.
70. Take my old cell phones to Sprint and recycle them.
71. Do something different with my hair (by different this means, different from what I’m currently doing which is nothing). Doesn’t have to be radical. It could be forking over the dough for some high quality highlights again.
72. Go to Catalina Island.
73. Figure out how to use the more advanced features on my digital camera (I can point and shoot but the thing does more than that, even records movies in very short clips).
74. Take a boot camp class again (it gets you in excellent shape).
75. Read a book of poetry.
76. Learn a new skill.
77. Read Anna Karenina (all the way through).
78. Grow some vegetables in a vegetable garden. Spinach and tomatoes are supposed to be easy.
79. Go to Disneyland.
80. Get the whistling windshield in my car fixed.
81. Read Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey.
82. Read Jane Austen’s Persuasion.
83. Take a really long bubble bath.
84. Get a massage
85. Drive a convertible (even if it isn’t my own)
86. Drive a hybrid (ditto).
87. Take self-defense again.
88. Don’t drink soda for two weeks straight (I drink it only on weekends generally but I love it!)
89. Make a Lenten sacrifice and actually give it up for all of Lent.
90. Attend all the services in Holy Week (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday).
91. Attend church every Sunday in Advent.
92. Respond to a personal on Craigslist.
93. Get a personal trainer for a short period of time.
94. Get recertified in Spinning (have to do this every two years).
95. Watch Supersize Me.
96. Read Fast Food Nation.
97. For an entire week, eat no meat at any meal (this will not be fun and it will probably involve lots of veggie pasta).
98. Watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy (after I read the book).
99. Run 3 miles in less than 30 minutes.
100. Floss every day for a month (right now I’m more of a 2-3 times a week flosser)
101. Clean out my fitness magazine collection (tear out articles/workouts I like and put them in a notebook, and throw out everything else) and make a workout notebook where I can keep track of my workouts.

1001 days from today is Monday, January 21, 2008. The list begins NOW!