101 in 1001 Update #11

Wow I can't believe it's September already.

I'm not really sure where the summer went! It just blows my mind to think that next summer I'll be getting married. I've still got a ton to do, and despite already having been engaged for a year now, I'm not that far ahead when it comes to wedding planning. Oh well, I'm not going to freak out about it for another few months. Then the craziness can begin.

I am happy to say that we had our engagement pictures taken by the lovely Heather from HRM Photography and I'm very pleased with how they turned out.

I love this guy

To be honest, I can't really recap the past month since it passed by in such a rush. I know I got my bridesmaid's dresses sorted, I know I nailed down a few accessories for my bridal outfit, I know I met with our minister, but it's all sort of a blur. I'm hoping that time will slow down a little bit now, and that I'll actually get to put in some time not only with the cool DIY projects I have planned for the spare bedroom (so I can finally do my first project reveal) but also so I can work on some of the customized things I have planned for the wedding.

I'm actually really happy it's September. I just love fall, it's probably my favorite season. I love the leaves, the crisp smell of the air, the lack of bugs, cool breezes, apples...I could go on, but I'll stop there. All of my nesting instincts kick in when the rush of summer is over, and suddenly I want to cook and bake, decorate, and get ready for Christmas!

Completed Goals:

2. Get my hair cut and highlighted (2/2)

14. Go one week without eating dessert for four weeks (4/4) - I did it! I'm pretty relieved to have accomplished this one, since I'm planning on making an apple crisp later on today
25. Plant a garden in my backyard and maintain it throughout the summer - I grew one cucumber, which I picked yesterday, and I am going to count this as a very small success, since for a while there it looked like we were not going to get any cucumbers! 
26. Grow and use three varieties of herbs (3/3) - I grew lemon thyme and lemongrass this summer, and managed not to kill them. I'm going to plant them in the ground, and hope that they survive the winter, since they're apparently perennials
69. Get engagement shots done (2/2) - I'm actually relieved to have this crossed off my list, I'd much rather be behind a lens than in front of one

70. Book a minister - the next step is to take a pre-marriage course of some kind, I'm actually (strangely) looking forward to it 

Goals I'm Working On: 
6. Go for a run/bike ride every week, weather permitting (48/143)
13. Eat a vegetarian meal once a week for three months (8/12)
32. Learn how to sew - I don't think this is ever going to be something I'm good at, but I hemmed a pant leg yesterday, with some of the messiest stitches I've ever seen
48. Go on one date night a month (10/32) - we went to the Western Fair, and I had SO MUCH FUN! I've never played fair games before, and Jeff kept laughing at me because I kept jumping up and down in pure excitement
49. Take a picture of Jeff and I once a month (10/32) - engagement pictures count, right? 

Completed Goals: 29/101

101 in 1001 Update #9 & #10

It's not the end of July yet, but since I'm crossing things left and right off of my list and I missed posting in June, I figured I'd post July's update a little early and June's update a little late!

This summer has been so busy so far! Work is absolutely crazy - I was warned it would be busy at this time of year, but I had absolutely no idea that I would be facing the amount of work that I do on a day-to-day basis. I find that it makes the days go by too fast!

Jeff and I have really been stepping it up in the exercise department. We are into our third week of Insanity, going for bike rides, and working outdoors. This is really great because...I just bought my wedding dress! Now that I have my dress as motivation I know I'll just keep pushing harder for the next year. I actually can't believe that Jeff and I have been engaged for a year now! When I think about how fast that year flew by, it honestly scares me (a little bit) to think of how fast this next year will go by.

I need to get a move on with some of my planning. We still need to meet with a minister and book a DJ, and I need to get my bridesmaid's dresses selected before my maid of honour jets off to England! I am going bridesmaid's dress shopping in the next week, so hopefully we'll find something awesome for my girls and I can check another thing off my list. :) I also created a wedding website in lieu of sending out Save The Date's, but I think it needs a little more tweaking before I send it out officially.

Not much else is going on right now since Jeff and I have been spending most of our weekends building stairs at our cottage, so nothing has really happened on our house. I do have some cool DIY projects that I'm excited to work on, so hopefully I'll get to those in the fall.

Completed Goals:
42. Go to the cottage for four weekends in one summer - With the stair project still ongoing, this one was easily completed back in May/June
45. Gamble in a casino - I must have forgotten to cross this one off when I crossed off #44 since they pretty much go hand-in-hand...
64. Go wedding dress shopping with my Mom - I said yes to the dress!
66. Pick bridesmaid dresses - I'm hoping that crossing this off doesn't jinx our upcoming appointment...
80. Finish changing my address
100. Take a yoga class

Goals I'm Working On:
6. Go for a run/bike ride every week, weather permitting (44/143)
13. Eat a vegetarian meal once a week for 3 months (7/12)
14. Go one week without eating dessert for four weeks (3/4)
25. Plant a garden in my backyard and maintain it throughout the summer - I'm hoping my cucumbers will grow a little more!
48. Go on one date night a month (9/32) - Jeff and I saw Man of Steel, and had our tasting at our wedding venue, so I'm counting that as a date too
49. Take a picture of Jeff and I once a month 9/32 - I need to step up the photos again, I still have time to take my photo for July!

I took this on our day trip to Rondeau

Completed Goals: 23/101

101 in 1001 Update #5 & #6....and #7 & #8...

Wow I'm so behind on my blog, it's almost time to do my update for #9! I was thinking I'd just combine them and get it all done at once, and hopefully also make it look like I got a lot accomplished at the same time (which I have not, so don't be fooled).

I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged, but in all honesty it's been pretty low on my radar. I've discovered that I really love biking, and playing catch in our backyard, and gardening, and working on projects around the house, and pretty much anything other than sitting in front of my computer. Maybe that's because it's so nice out, or maybe it's because I spend all day in front of a computer at work, who knows.

The past few months have been super busy, but awesome. In February we spent a weekend in Niagara Falls, went snowboarding, went to a comedy show and actually went out to the bar! (And drank beer! That's pretty wild for me right now) In March I went to my first baby shower, I'm hosted Easter for the first time at my house, watched world figure skating live (and watched Patrick Chan win the gold!) and we've accomplished some things around the house. In April we bought our bikes and went out to the bar again, and in May we started building stairs at the cottage and going on a few 10-20 km bike rides. I have temporarily switched up going for a run once a week to playing squash for one hour once a week (I did that from February to the end of April), or going for bike rides a few times a week. So I actually made my target for the past couple of months and had fun at the same time. Which is always awesome.

I'm also walking with some of the girls at work for 30 minutes every day, so we get in over 5 miles of walking a week on top of the other exercise I'm squeezing in. I love being outside at this time of year!

Hopefully I can upload our photos from the past couple of months and do some recipe posts since I've really slacked off with those too lately. I'd love to blog about our Niagara Falls trip as well as post some other posts about what I have planned for our spare bedroom, so hopefully soon doesn't turn out to be almost six months from now!

Completed Goals:
44. Spend a night in Niagara Falls - we spent two awesome nights at the Marriott! 
52. Have a picnic with Jeff - we packed a picnic lunch and took our bikes to Rondeau for a day :) 
56. Kiss in the rain
72. Figure out what music will be playing during the ceremony
87. Cut down diseased birch tree in backyard - now I can get crafty with some of the cool logs left from the tree

Goals I'm Working On: 
6. Go for a run every week, weather permitting (33/143) - I'm going to have to start my C25K from the beginning, but I just hate running on a treadmill and I've sort of fallen in love with biking
13. Eat a vegetarian meal once a week for 3 months (5/12)
14. Go one week without eating dessert for four weeks (2/4) - this wasn't too hard to do last week because I kept falling asleep on the couch before I could even get a chance to eat dessert!
25. Plant a garden in my backyard and maintain it throughout the summer
34. Try 8 new foods (6/8) - I tried fried cabbage and liked it!
48. Go on one date night a month (7/32) - we had our Niagara falls weekend, went out to dinner a few times, and have caught a movie recently
49. Take a picture of Jeff and I once a month (7/32) - I have seriously been slacking with photos of us...I'm not even posting photos today since I'm too lazy to upload any right now

Completed Goals: 17/101

101 in 1001 Update #4!

Wow, that month flew by!

I started thinking that I didn't really accomplish much on my list this month, but in reality I actually managed to get quite a bit done, although a few things really slipped. Running 4 times a month certainly has slipped since after work all I want to do is go home and take a nap. I only managed to squeeze in two runs this month, so I'll basically have to start over when I go for my next run. I battled a cold this past week, which has been the one week where I felt I had the energy to go to the gym. Ugh.. I guess I'll try and make up for it next month while doing my year-end balancing at work, busy days ahead!

That said, Jeff and I got a lot done in regards to our wedding and we got some important stuff done on our house! Which makes me very very happy :) We started off the month by booking a photographer, followed that up by booking a decorator, and painted our spare bedroom (finally). Only two of those things are on my list, but I'm getting excited!!

Completed Goals:
63. Book a photographer - the lovely Heather at HRM Photography will be taking all our shots!
76. Paint spare bedroom - I'll post photos once I get it decorated... this may take a while...

Goals I'm Working On:
6. Go for a run every week, weather permitting (12/143) - ugh, this number is not where it needs to be
13. Eat a vegetarian meal once a week for 3 months (1/12)
29. Read 10 classical novels such as 'Pride and Prejudice' or 'Wuthering Heights' (1/10) - thank you Sherlock Holmes!
34. Try 8 new foods (5/8) - I tried brussel sprouts..I still don't like them. Yuck!
48. Go on one date night a month (5/32) - we ate in, but Jeff cooked and set the table all fancy

49. Take a picture of Jeff and I once a month (4/32)

65. Create our centerpieces and wedding favours - the decorator is going to do the centerpieces so all I have to do is the favours now!
77. Organize and decorate the office - it'll get finished eventually...

Completed Goals: 12/101

101 in 1001 Update #3!

Wow this month flew by! I meant to update my running progress a few weeks ago, but I haven't had the chance since....I GOT A JOB!!! Wooo! After almost 7 steady months of job searching it finally happened. I am now an accounting coordinator at a large moving company. I started December 6, and it's been going very well so far! How I got my job is a fairly ironic story involving a deer and an isolated country road, but I think that story deserves it's own blog post. With that said, having a job is definitely the reason that I'm slacking with this whole blogging thing, as I thought I was getting a lot better at it recently. I've thought about adding a tab where I post recipes either weekly or monthly. At first I was thinking weekly, but when I come home from work I'm pretty exhausted, so I'm going to go with monthly. That was the new blogging development that I hinted at in my last update. So get ready for Menu Monthlies, where I will post a few of my tried and true recipes!

Moving on to my running progress, I was actually doing really well at the beginning of this month and did my four runs, but then I 1) Got hit by a deer and didn't have a car for a little while, 2) Got a job and was extremely exhausted after work every day, and 3) Caught a really bad cold and couldn't go out for a run anyways. With that stuff plus Christmas, I haven't been to the gym in at least 2 weeks. So the new year is a great excuse to step it back up! I did complete week 3 of my C25K with relative ease, and I may repeat it since I won't be as accustomed to running next week. I'm definitely getting more used to being up earlier every day and working, and since I'm over my cold now and have my car back I'm actually really looking forward to working it out at the gym again!

As for my 101 in 1001 list, this month I am adding one goal. This goal was incredibly important to me, caused me many sleepless nights, seemingly endless amounts of tears, and had me endure criticism from myself and others. You guessed it - the job thing. I never wanted to publicly put it on my list, but it has always been on there in my mind, so I've decided to put it in my freebie slot for my wedding. That may seem like an odd choice, but it's necessary wedding funding, so I say good enough!

Completed Goals:

59. Spend our first Christmas morning together in our new house - This was kind of a freebie, but it meant so much to Jeff, who really hasn't woken up in a home of his own on Christmas for quite some time

74. Get a job! (So I can start paying for all this wedding stuff) - I am so relieved now, it's cliche but it's really like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders!

78. Organize the storage area in the basement - We have finally gotten rid of our moving boxes in the storage area! 

85. Organize all closets - With the end of the boxes also came the end of the disorganization of our closets

Goals I'm Working On:

6. Go for a run at least once every week, weather permitting (10/143)

34. Try 8 new foods (4/8) - I tried venison this month after this whole deer incident (I never wanted to eat Bambi before he tried to run me off the road)

48. Go on one date night a month (4/32) - We're going on a New Year's date night tomorrow, we have reservations at a new restaurant and then we're seeing The Hobbit in 3D!

49. Take a picture of Jeff and I once a month (3/32)

Christmas Eve

58. Try three new restaurants together (1/3)
63. Book a photographer - We're meeting with a photographer in two weeks to see more of her portfolio, I like what I've seen so far!

I added one goal this month:
74. Get a job! (So I can start paying for all this wedding stuff)

Completed: 10/101

101 in 1001 and C25K Update

Ok so I'm slightly late on my C25K update as well as my 101 in 1001 update, but whatever. I said I'd post about how my running was going last week, but I never made it to the computer when I felt like writing the post. I have a whole slew of upcoming posts, plus a future thought for blog development, so I guess December will be a busy blogging month if I actually stay on top of things.

My running is going pretty well - I no longer feel as if I'm going to die when I run for longer than 60 seconds and I feel more confident in my ability to make it to 20 minutes on the treadmill, so I suppose that's progress. I completed all my week one runs, and am slightly behind on my week two runs, but I'm hoping to catch up this week. I have also been counting calories with a free Blackberry app and I find that it's really helpful to keep track of my food intake in relation to how much exercise I've had that day. I didn't think it was possible, but I am more glued to my Blackberry than ever now!

As for my 101 in 1001 list, things are still moving along fairly well. This month I decided to make two revisions to my list: #3. Lose 5 pounds for wedding, and #53. Do something nice for Jeff every week. I've lost over 5 pounds in the past two months, so I've decided to 'up the ante' a little bit in that regard. As for #53, it's just too hard to keep track of! I'm not saying that I'm going to stop doing nice stuff for Jeff or that I haven't done anything nice this month, just that I probably won't keep track of this one for the remainder of my 1001 days. Haha, sorry Jeff!

Completed Goals:
3. Lose 5 pounds for wedding - my new goal is to lose 15 more pounds before the big day, so I'm putting this goal in the 'freebie' slot
22. Make a new friend - I have a new workout buddy!
57. Write a letter to Jeff, for him to open 10 years from now - I'm pretty sure I won't be able to find this letter 10 years from now

Goals I'm Working On:
5. Skate once a week, once registered - I'm skating once a week right now, but I'm not registered at the moment so I'm not sure how long this will go on for
6. Go for a run at least once every week, weather permitting (6/143) - much better than last month!
11. Do a Couch to 5k running plan
34. Try 8 new foods (3/8) - I tried potato galette, profiteroles, and slow-cooked chicken tacos and I liked every dish!
48. Go on one date night a month (3/32) - Jeff and I went to see Victoria Park light up and then we grabbed a hot chocolate and talked, it was really nice :) 
49. Take a picture of Jeff and I once a month (2/32) - I got a photo of us at our date night in Victoria Park

Yes I know it's incredibly blurry, but I love how Christmas-y it is! 

67. Create slideshow of pictures of Jeff and I for wedding reception - Ok I've really only started asking people for wedding pictures of our grandparents, but that still counts as working on it right?
81. Hang Christmas lights every year (1/3)
82. Mail Christmas cards every year (1/3) - my Christmas cards never made it out of the box last year, so this is definitely an improvement 

I added one goal this month:
15. Lose an additional 15 pounds before I get married

Completed: 6/101

My First 101 Update!

I know it hasn't been a full month yet but I just couldn't wait to get started! Plus, I haven't blogged in a really long time. One of the goals on my list is to blog every day for a week...that's going to be much more challenging than I originally thought! I thought I'd write a monthly post regarding the progress of my 101 things in 1001 days checklist and keep up-to-date on my progress that way. Otherwise, I know I'd lose track of the fact that I'd started or completed certain tasks on my list. That's something I'm hoping to work on. I'm really good about starting new tasks, but I have a hard time following through on some of them. The state of my photo and scrapbook albums are a perfect example of that. (Plus, these updates will give me something definitive to blog about every month, which makes me happy!) What I've discovered this past month is that some of my goals are going to be extremely hard to keep track of, but I'll give it my best shot!

With that said, I made some great progress this month on my list. I'm not sure all months will progress as this one has, but whatever, I'm happy with my progress right now. There's just a certain satisfaction in crossing things off a long list! 

Completed Goals: 

16. Write a letter to myself, to be opened when the 1001 days are over 

62. Pick a venue - woo! This is the first legitimate thing we have done so far to plan our wedding!

79. Put in an island in the kitchen - I'm going to do a whole blog post detailing how we were able to save a lot of money and still get amazing results! 

Goals I Have Started Working On: 

2. Get my hair cut and highlighted twice (1/2) 

6. Go for a run once every week, weather permitting (2/143) - ugh, behind already 

26. Grow and use three varieties of herbs (1/3) - I grew trailing rosemary this summer, which smelled wonderful

48. Go on one date night a month (1/32) - Jeff made me a candlelit dinner at home, which totally counts I think!

49. Take a picture of Jeff and I once a month (1/32) - we had engagement pictures done on Thanksgiving weekend, a post on this will follow 

53. Do something nice for Jeff every week (4/143) - this is going to be so hard to keep track of! I don't know if I'll share every week what I've done, but so far I've cooked him special meals, made him hot chocolate, and watched one of his favorite movies with him. 

69. Get engagement shots done (1/2) - As I said, I'll blog about this experience in a separate post :) 

72. Figure out what music will be playing during the ceremony - I found two really cool songs, not sure if I'll share yet or if I'll keep them a surprise! 

I also added two goals this month:
100. Take a yoga class
101. Write my name in wet cement

Completed: 3/101 

101 in 1001

Am I crazy? Maybe. I've thought about doing one of these ever since Jamie S started one, but I didn't really have a lot going on in my life at the time. Now I'm planning this big event that's going to happen in two years, maybe you've heard of it, it's kind of going to be a pivotal moment in my life. I just thought that doing a 101 things in 1001 days challenge was such a cool thing to do - to challenge yourself to achieve your goals. Hopefully she won't mind me doing one too! I'm really excited about doing the things on my list over the next 1001 days.

You can check out my full list here.