Starting Round 3

I've spent the week working on a new list of goals.  This will be my third round, and I approached the process of adding goals to this list much differently than last time.  Rather than transferring all the undone items that were still interesting to me from my old list, I decided not to look (much) at the round two list and come up with ideas from scratch.  So, there are a few items from the previous two lists - but not a significant number.  Another component in writing this list was a feeling that I need to balance my life a little (or a lot, depending on who you ask) because I've spent so much of my energy on work in the past few years, so you may notice in reading through the items that many are purely fun things that I'd like to try or haven't had time for recently.

I did spend quite a bit of time looking at the DayZero site for ideas.  I also sailed through the blogsphere looking for what other people are trying.  It was an interesting experience.  I never realized that there is such a blogging community since I am fairly choosy in how I spend my online time and have never really considered meeting others who blog as a goal to achieve - it was sure on many lists though.  Some people were working on goals that are not really applicable to my stage of life - not interested in pregnancy, thank you very much!  While other goals just didn't interest me - "milk a cow" for example doesn't mean much as a goal to someone who grew up on a working dairy farm.  And, I just can't afford the amount of travel that was on many lists.  I do want to be realistic about goals that are achievable, and more than 10 big trips in less than 3 years just isn't in my budget (especially considering my #1 goal on the list for this round).  I did find 11 ideas that I either borrowed as is or used with a tweak as a result of my searching; there were others that were very similar to ideas that I already had as well.

So, here's my new list - which will end, by coincidence, on two of my nephews' birthdays!

Day Zero Take 3

1. Pay off my mortgage 
2. Cash out my first paycheck after paying off mortgage and spend it all frivolously 
3. Take a trip to London
4. Take a Trip to the amethyst mines by Thunder Bay
5. Take a trip in United States
6. Take a trip to somewhere I haven't visited before
7. Run / walk a 5K
8. Go to a baseball game
9. Take a free online course 
10. Go to Gen Con
11. Make a rag rug like the ones Grandma did
12. Drive the Lake Superior circle tour
13. Create a computer font with my own handwriting 
14. Make a piñata 
15. Make a photo worthy dessert
16. Visit a zoo
17. Do one thing off my lifetime bucket list
18. Visit at least two nephews or nieces 
19. Keep a gratitude list for a month
20. Go on a carnival ride
21. Learn the steps to a dance
22. Host a murder mystery party
23. Write a mystery party script 
24. Make faces on cars in fresh snow
25. Host a wine tasting party 
26. Go on a picnic 
27. Finish my Dewey reading goal
28. Finish reading the essential section of the Proulx list
29. Play croquet at the farm
30. Solve an escape room
31. Buy a pair of dance shoes
32. Have professional photos taken of me
33. Donate blood
34. Leave May baskets for my friends 
35. Play mini golf
36. Go on a factory tour
37. Do at least half of the challenges in Creative Photography Lab book
38. Make fortune cookies 
39. Learn to throw knives well enough that they stick in the target board at least 50% of the time
40. See an IMAX movie
41. Do 5 random acts of kindness 
42. Host 10 game nights
43. Visit 10 museums
44. Go to a circus
45. Hatch butterflies 
46. Make ice cream from scratch 
47. Teach Amanda how to make a basket 
48. Make snow cones
49. Play Shenandoah perfectly on my harp
50. Play the harder version of Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella perfectly on my harp
51. Go caroling
52. Make caramel apples
53. Find my way out of a corn or hedge maze
54. Send out 5 care packages that are a surprise for the recipient 
55. Host a fondue dinner
56. Make a new main dish recipe that doesn't include chicken or ground beef
57. Make German pretzels 
58. Make first snow doughnuts 
59. Send a letter or postcard to a friend or family member each month of the challenge 
60. Get a 4 star rating on a 30 minute free run in WiiFit
61. Make ice candles
62. Give myself an unplanned mental health day when I need it
63. Do a coin toss road trip for a day with a friend 
64. Finish one of the craft projects that I currently have in progress 
65. Use all of the supplies from one of my baking subscription boxes before the next one arrives
66. Watch a silent film
67. Attend a concert
68. Give / loan through Kiva.org
69. After completing goals 1 & 2, put 10% of each paycheck into savings
70. Make a list of 50 places I would like to visit 
71. Complete all of the beginner level units in German in Duolingo
72. Finish 5 pages in my adult coloring books
73. Learn 15 yoga poses to do without help from memory 
74. Eat 5 things I've never tried before 
75. Write the family traditions book
76. Make my own vanilla extract 
77. Convert 3 reels of Mom and Dad's slides to digital 
78. Try 3 new photography techniques 
79. Do a 30 day photography challenge
80. Make a denim quilt from old jeans
81. Go to an air show or fly-in
82. Visit all of my siblings 
83. Make a 50 state map with photos for the states I have visited 
84. Grow crystals from a solution 
85. Have a themed movie marathon 
86. Host a wine and cookie tasting
87. Leave a $20 tip for a meal that costs less than $20
88. Buy a real smartphone 
89. Write a "if anything happens to me" letter
90. Organize my recipe clipping binders
91. Take a cider making / cheese making / cooking class
92. Watch 10 TED talks
93. Distribute 20 "you are beautiful" cards
94. Have 5 local photography sessions 
95. Update my resume
96. See 10 live theater performances including at least one Shakespeare play
97. Ask 10 friends to recommend a book they loved and read each
98. Watch 5 movies from my "to watch" list
99. Do something that makes me nervous 
100. Do something that I feel is worthy of this list but I didn't think to add
101. Put $10 in the fun jar for every goal I complete or donate $10 to charity for each goal not completed by my finishing date of January 20, 2019

Wrapping Up DayZero Round Two

First ... yes, it's been a long time since I posted.  Second ... no, I'm not going to offer any reasons/excuses!

That being said ... I had the day off today and thought it would be a great opportunity to wrap up this round of DayZero (which ended for me last weekend).  In going through my goal list, I realized that I had finished a few that I never got around to blogging about.  I also found (and expected) that I completed less from my list this time around than the first time.  This was not from lack of interest on my part - rather outside demands on my time over the last three years keeping me busy.

So, what did I enjoy from this round?  I found that wine tasting parties (#12) can be lots of fun and are a lot less work for the hostess than the normal parties that I throw.  I loved seeing new spots in Minnesota (#31); it was a great reminder that you don't have to go so terribly far to get the experience of traveling.  Though it was a goal that I didn't complete, writing down the items that make me happy (#51) was an enlightening experience - I found that it is definitely simple moments that bring me joy.  Writing murder mystery party scripts (#36) is definitely something that I will continue to do for big life moments.  I was actually sad to finish Eowyn's Challenge (#66) since it was the best exercise motivation tool that I've found yet!  And making pie (#87) was a good experience for me too since I had sort of convinced myself that was a type of baked good that was just not for me and now I've reconsidered - particularly concerning the apple hand pies!

There were about 20 goals where I had made some progress but didn't get close enough to the end to put in a last push and finish.  And, a lot of goals on this round that I didn't start.  Over the next few weeks, I'll be making my charitable contributions and deciding on the list for Round Three.  Despite my lack of attention recently, I plan to make a fresh start on a new list somewhere in the end of April.  I have a friend in town who just started on a DayZero list of her own, so I'm hoping that some of our items overlap, and we can have adventures together!

#53 - State Fair Alphabet

While at the Minnesota State Fair, I challenged myself to look at the signs in a different way and make an alphabet of the fonts I liked best.  Though I came home with several varieties of most of the letters, here are my favorites.  For those people who have been to the MN State Fair, you may recognize many of the letters from buildings on the grounds or as logos from around Minnesota.

#59 - Bring on the rocks and waterfalls!

One of the reasons that I chose to move to northern Minnesota was that I had this fantasy that I would be able to go out hiking a lot.  Sadly, it just doesn't seem to work out that way; everyday life seems to get in the way far too often in the form of meetings that force me to do laundry on weekends, uncomfortable weather conditions, etc.  I can tell that I am so much more relaxed after spending a day in a spot where I can't hear the neighbors mowing lawn or the dog down the street barking, so I need to make it more of a priority.

Here are some of the beautiful scenes I captured while completing this goal:

#60 - Henna

just after removing the glue

I have very little interest in ever getting a real tattoo ... I just can't think of anything that I want permanently on my skin. I even shudder at the thought of some of the things that I might have chosen as a design when I was younger.  However, I do like the idea of henna - where the design only exists for a few weeks - as a way of saying something positive (a wedding, a vacation, a fun day with friends) happened recently in my life.

I got this design at the Minnesota State Fair.  The process was a bit different at the booth than other places I've gotten henna tattoos.  This group covered the paste with a glue layer after the henna had dried for a bit.  I'm not convinced of the effectiveness of this additional step; my henna bracelet seems to be fading more quickly this time than any of the designs I've gotten in the past (and faster in the areas where the glue stayed on the longest).  Additionally, it was annoying to wait another 20 minutes for the paste to dry, so they could add the glue layer when I had already waited in line for about half an hour to get the paste applied.  However, the glue did keep the paste from flaking off when bumped by other people - a big thing when moving through a big crowd - even though it looked like my skin was molting by the end of the day.