#30 and #31 - Rhys Date and Engagement Ring

30. Take Rhys on a Date.
31. Buy Rhys an engagement ring.

For the blog entry about these two goals see here....

#90 Make Yogurt

I tried once in the midst of Winter- fail! All I got was a saucepan of milk.

I tried again and though there was some thickening at the bottom of the tub it was mostly sloppy milk.

I decided after these two attempts that it was all about how well the mixture was kept warm but not too hot over the span of time it takes for the yogurt to be created.

Ticked off with failure I bought an Easiyo device - essentially a large thermos that is filled with hot water which a smaller flask containing the mixture is set in. The next morning showed me lovely, thick yogurt!

I now make yogurt once a week, or at least once a fortnight. My preference is for plain Greek style yogurt. I love the thickness, the texture and how easy it is to change the flavour by adding a spoonful of honey, jam, sauce or fruit.

One of these days I am going to have a go at making yogurt from scratch inside the Easiyo but for now I'm riding the happy high of perfect yogurt each time.

#78 Go to Melbourne on a Road Trip

It was after Christmas 2008, only days from the New Year and Rhys and I decided, somewhat impromptu, to jump in the car and head out on the road. Rhys wanted to drive to Melbourne. He was born and bought up there and so has the same kind of tie to it that I do to my own birthplace.

We drove flat out the first day down the Pacific Highway, passing Coffs Harbour easily. We stopped in some small back town in a tiny motel then set out the next morning.

On the second day we stopped in at Gundagai and saw the Dog on the Tuckerbox.

Our car taking some shade under the old Gundagai bridge.

And the Dog sat on the tuckerbox, nine miles from Gundagai

We passed through Sydney that same day, getting very lost in the suburbs with no referdex or GPS to advise us how to get out. Eventually we escaped via Campbell Town.

Between Gundagai and Sydney there was some wide open scenery that reminded me of that famous line, "I love a sunburnt country - a land of sweeping plains."


We arrived in Melbourne, in the area of Chelsea, around 11pm on New Years Eve. After driving past Rhys' old house and his old school etc. etc. we looked for hotel to stay in - not an easy task just before 12pm New Years Eve with no referdex, no phone book and an iphone almost drained entirely of batteries. But at last we found one and got a good night's rest.

The next day we headed out early with an aim to travel down the Great Ocean Road.

The weather was with us... then it wasn't.... then it cleared.... then it was jolly cold and rainy again. I began to fully understand the jokes about fickle Melbourne weather.

We stopped off at a few interesting points along the Great Ocean Road.

A pee break for Rhys:

A pee break for me:

An old lighthouse built not long after the early 1800s:


And of course no Great Ocean Road trip is complete without the obligatory stop off at the 12 apostles:


We drove back towards Melbourne, had a Dominoes dinner then stopped in at a cheap motel just before the city. The next day we drove back up North, passing Sydney again but this time heading inland towards the New England Highway.

We stopped in just short of Tamworth, turned off the car lights and stared up at the stars above, so bold and bright in the darkened, country skies. Then we made the last bit of driving for the night before crashing and Rhys' grandparent's house.

The next morning we dropped over for a visit with Ada and James before heading on our way, stocked to the eye-balls with a packed lunch from Nan.

It was a good feeling to be heading home and I felt so boosted when we were past Warwick, Jessica blasting on the car stereo (Rhys' choice of course!) and a rainbow graced the sky across fields.

#92 Plant and Successfully Grow 7 Plants

Sweet Corn

Basil

Lavender

Cornflower

Capsicum

Dwarf Peas

Rhubarb

#64 Create a Budget

Three small little words changed my life a great deal and though I won't say too much about the achievement of this goal, it really had one of the greatest impacts on my life over the last 900 days.

I created a budget. A very simple act, a bunch of numbers and comments in an excel spreadsheet.

I first worked out what expenses I had, using historical data to determine an amount for non-fixed expenses (such as electricity).

Then I worked off a reducing tally like this:

income for the fortnight: x
less amount for bills paid through Rhys each fortnight: x
less amount for other bills (money to be put into a sub account) : x
less amount for food and $100 spending: x
figure I can save (money to be put into saving sub account): x


Originally I started with a food allowance of $200 and spending of $100. Slowly I reduced the amount I spent on food, mostly by starting to take lunch, cutting out junk food and not buying take-out until it was sometimes less than $75 a fortnight. This meant that the remainder of that I could use as spending allowance.

I've been saving at least $320 per pay for a few years now. A lot of that money went into the wedding but now there's a happy little nest egg put aside.... all thanks to the budget which helped me work it all out!

#14 Take an Optometrist Appointment and purchases Glasses.

It took all of three years and a bit of eyestrain from heavy use of the ipad in the dark before I got moving on the matter of improving my eyesight.

I chose my optometrist in a very unorthodox fashion. I decided on the frames I wanted (ones that Mel L. has had since I'd first met her) then tracked down which places in Brisbane sold frames from that company.

I ordered them in, made an appointment and a few days later was sitting in the eye-doctor's chair calling out letters and getting puffs of air in my eyes!

It was another few impatient days before I got my completed glasses but I was so happy with them!

#98 Learn to Play Whist

I first learned to play whist under the dodgy tutelege of Laura at History Alive 2009. It was a great deal simpler than I had imagined it would be though I seem to have no luck at it, especially when playing against such card sharks as Donna and Kerry!

A refresher of the entertaining game was had when we attended the ACG's Annual Regency Picnic this year.

However, as you can see from my face in the photo above, a lack of luck abounds!

#99 Go Barefoot Bowling with Friends.

For her birthday party my sister-in-law Nikki decided to have a barefoot bowls party at the Newfarm Bowling Club.

A number of us were there, including my cousin Jen, Nikki and her friend Donna. Though none of us were any good at bowling we had a lark.

The wording of this goal says that I go barefoot bowling with friends... but I'm going to count this party as satisfaction of the goal!

Very Organised...

The following goals were all achieved but there's not much to write about them that wouldn't be faff.

56. Clean and organise my sewing room.
57. Organise and backup all images on my laptop
58. Organise my sewing pattern collection.
61. Get a calendar and mark with birthdays of family and close friends.

Nuff said.

#34 Go to a musical

I have actually gone to two since the original list was created with this goal on it.

Rhys took me to Phantom of the Opera for an anniversary. It was spectacular, beautiful and wonderful to watch. It was also terribly sweet for him to do considering how much he would have preferred putting the money towards tickets to a Foo Fighters concert.

Then late last year I also got tickets with Lauren to go and see Cats. This was not exactly what I had expected but still an enjoyable musical.

#50 Do a face-up on my dollfie and give her a name.

Meet Penelope.

She started as a blank face, body parts and elastic. She was a Volks MSD - Muy face, bought from the Volks store in Akihabara, 2008.

I first became interested in ball jointed dolls when I read Aimee Major's book about her visit to Japan. When I did some more research on them I thought they were very beautiful. When I went to Japan on holiday with Rhys and Dan I was determined to buy one and I did!

But she sat in pieces, without a face for a long while. Then by luck I found out that my good friend Mel was into them too, and better yet, she did face-ups! It wasn't long before she was painted and put together. Now she's beautiful Penelope.

I've sewn one outfit for her. I no longer thing of this as her underwear because it's pretty enough to be an outfit.

#33 Go to a concert

I didn't actually TRY to go to a concert. A concert HAPPENED to me instead.

A friend had bought tickets to see the Grates in Brisbane. One of the ticket buyers pulled out leaving her with a leftover ticket with a few hours to spare. She invited me to use the ticket for free so I did - more with a sense of guilty penance for being a bad friend than any desire to go to the concert.

We arrived and I decided immediately that I love the Tivoli. It's grand look mixed with the grunge of a young crowd drinking and hollering good-naturedly was heady.

Then the band came on and it was the atmosphere that was awesome. Not to mention the choice of clothes by the lead singer. Any girl who sings "Science is Golden" while leaping around the stage in a cute pink tutu skirt and braces has me enthralled.

I bought their new album at the end of the night and replayed it over and over and over and over at work for the next few weeks.

I haven't TAKEN the opportunity to go to another concert but if the Grates concert was anything to go off I sure should.

#41 Visit Queensland Art Gallery.

The achievement of this goal came as something of a surprise sneak-attack.

I received a call from my brother and sister in law to see if I was free because they were in the Redcliffe area.

We went out for breakfast on the foreshore at the coffee club.

Then walked along the pier and saw the most awesome hyper-speed-boat made in NZ.
Then I took them to the other end of that particular part of shore where there was a wrecked boat rusting in the water.

Chris was about to drop me at home when he suggested that we all go off to see the GOMA. I looked skeptical and asked "What is a GOMA?"

It turns out GOMA is short for the Gallery of Modern Art. It's the newly built art museum at the cultural center housing modern and contemporary art. So I decided to go along for the ride.

The 'Optimism' display was on show and though we couldn't take any photos inside there, we were able to take photos inside the kids 'hands-on' areas and the usual display areas upstairs.

It was a hugely fun day as the photos show:

#43 Visit 3 locations around Brisbane registered as Heritage buildings.

A- Meigunya House

Run by the Queensland Ladies History Organisation, this house is slowly being restored back to the state it was in when it was first built.

It has gone through many changes in it's lifetime, from a grand family home for a prominent Brisbane family to being divided up in war time to house multiple families or individuals. Then the ladies bought it and are doing their good work.

The Australian Costumers Guild, Brisbane Chapter held an Victorian themed afternoon tea there and I've been back twice since.


B- Newstead House

This beautiful old building was home to one of the more influential families of Brisbane's early history. It has wide, sweeping verandas overlooking Brisbane river and surrounded by Newstead park. We visited this park and the house for afternoon tea with the organisers of an event for Brisbane's 100 years federation celebrations. Unfortunately we left the ACG before event came around.


C- City Hall

I have been to City Hall a few times in the last few years. The first was for photos of our 2nd retro afternoon tea. Another time I went for a doll exhibition with Mel L. A third time I went with Donna at lunch-time to view a display of historical garments.


(Also visited: Booval House, Wolston House, Fort Lytton.)

#28 Give Rhys a massage

Rhys was worn out from hiking up and down the hill at work all day, moving equipment and doing more labor than he does in general.

So I told him to sit and relax.

I first gave him a foot massage - using a small foot tub with a lotion that smelled, supposedly, of grapefruit but instead just smelled overpowering. I did his toes, his soles, the balls of his feet and then up his calves.

Following that I got him to lay on his belly while I massaged his back, then sit up so I could do his shoulders.

I'm nothing more than an amateur but sometimes a quick massage from an amateur is all you need!

#39 Buy 5 new albums of classical music

My tendency is to find an artist I like and stick with them until I'm in a foot-deep rut.

In my teens I found Vivaldi, Beethoven, Grieg and one or two other songs by Smetana. Then I didn't really listen to much outside of that.

I wanted to expand my view of classical composers and music a little more.All Angels
Though not strictly classical composers, the girl vocal quartet cover mostly classical pieces on this album, including Hosana, Ave Verum Corpus, Agnus Dei, Salve Regina, Barcarolle and, my favourite, The Flower Duet.

Their voices are angelic, as hinted at by their group's name. I enjoyed the album enough that I bought a copy for my Mum and Sister for their respective birthdays last year.


Ultimate Chopin
The next album I bought via itunes was The Ultimate Chopin. With five CDs of works by Chopin, who wrote predominately for piano, I was pretty sure I would like this buy. And I was correct! With Piano Concertos, Preludes, Nocturnes, Impromptus and Waltzes I had enough music to keep me happy for hours at work.

Chopin became a sanity pin at work - a bad day meant the headphones went on my head and Chopin went on my ipod.


Listening through the Nocturnes, I discovered that one song was a piece I had played during my last year of piano lessons as a teen. I loved it then and listening to a recording of it played expertly made me fall in love with it again.

The piece, Nocturne No. 2 in E flat Op.92, was played as the processional piece at my wedding recently this year.

Breakfast with Bach, Afternoon tea with Tchaikovski, 100 top romantic songs - 5 CDS)

#47 Get all achievements for one xbox game.

Achievement Unlocked!

I am sure no other pairing of words on my tv screen elicits as much excitement from me as those two.

Knowing my long history of loving Monkey Island it was little surprise to me that it was the first game that I got 100% of the achievements for.

The proof below from my xbox site (in tiny writing at the top it says 100% completed).

#55 Get the 2nd bookshelf upstairs and filled with books.

Rhys and I lived in a house by ourselves at Wilston for a few years after returning from Japan.

We then made the decision to move into a share house with our friend Guy to try to save money. For most of a year my bookshelves sat under the house and my books languished in boxes.

I started feeling irritated that the place couldn't feel like home because we had left so many things packed away so I added this goal to the list.

It was a simple enough matter of hassling Guy and Rhys into helping me move the shelf then unpack some favourites.

Sadly enough it wasn't long after that we got sick of share-housing and I had to pack everything up again...

#64 Fix my damaged anime models.

There were a handful of anime models that had been broken in our house-move from Wilston to Albion.

Repeatedly I had told myself it was high time they were to be fixed, that is, glued back onto the base. The list helped give me the impetus to do it at last.


Here is one of the damaged models now upright again. Kawaii! Moe!!

#32 Finish reading Wuthering Heights

I had forgotten my goal to read this book until my friend Laura began to talk about it at one of her parties. She said that it was a great book - that there were some truly spine-shuddering moments, like the one where Heathcliffe wonders to himself if he will be able to twist the son in the same way the father was broken.

My interest was piqued.

Then I bought an ipad and found Wuthering Heights downloadable for free on the ibooks store. I got busy reading.

I actually couldn't believe it was the same book I began in grade 11. It had an entirely different feel and I didn't find it a struggle to get through each chapter the way I had back then. I read through it quickly and found it interesting (though I wouldn't go so far as to say enthralling.)

I felt cheated somehow because it was made out to be a beautiful romance by the black and white movie I had watched as a teen and the notorious Kate Bush song. I suppose there was romance there but it was tortured romance, cheating and lying romance, hurtful romance. Indeed I found that the whole book read like a tretise on how to alienate and be cruel to your fellow man.

But I finished it and so can cross this off the list!

#52 Repair ‘Mrs Clucks’ for Kirsty.

I made Mrs Clucks on a whim - a cute, country inspired chicken mama with a little chick sitting in her apron pocket.

Like so many of my craft projects, once she was finished I gave her away - to my sister Kirsty. She was gratefully received and well loved by her new owner. Unfortunately her new owner's kids also took an interest in Mrs Clucks which left her short a leg and with a few other injuries.
Kirsty begged me to take Mrs Clucks under my wing and repair her and I agreed.... then I slacked for half a year.

To force myself to do the necessary fixing and return her to her worried owner I added it as a goal on the 101 list.

And this was one of the first tasks I was able to tick off. Mrs Clucks is now whole again and back with her happy owner. See that twinkle in her eye?

#20 Buy a Food Processor.

I once had a food processor. I loved it and used it and enjoyed many a soup made with it.

Then when I left to live in Japan I offered to loan it to my sister Kirsty. I wasn't sure how long I'd be living overseas so didn't expect it back - which is a good thing because a mishap meant that a part of it was broken by the time I returned. Kirsty promised to buy me a new one for my wedding present but my parents beat her to the punch.

They bought Rhys and I, as part of our engagement present, a hand blender with all the attachments that effectively make it a food processor.

I was seriously impressed with it's power when I made a delicious pumpkin and nutmeg soup. Less than 10 seconds and boiled pumpkin became fine puree! Cooking delight!

My one complaint with it is that it takes a while to puree large batches of soup as I have to do a little at a time - but otherwise it is a wonderful device.

#46 Get 1000 xbox Gamer Points.

Ok.... so despite my dislike of Microsoft I turned into an xbox fan.

I love xbox regardless of the fact that all my friends play on the PS network so I am left with no xbox friends to play against.

My strong love for xbox is why this gamer points goal ended up on the list.

And it was surprisingly easy to achieve this goal. Indeed - from the screencap of my gamer card below you can see I've thrashed it.


And as a side-note... I think I look rather fetching as a pirate.

#16 Get Health Insurance

*sigh*

To cut a long story short.... this took us ages to do.

It took failing health (i.e. back problems and holes appearing in teeth) before we got off our collective booteh to organise health cover.

THEN we didn't do all the paperwork correctly so it almost failed on us. Thankfully a lady who works for the company was awfully good to us and backdated a few things so it went through properly.

But now we have it. Family health insurance so that when we start thinking of 'baking buns' we are covered.

Now to start USING the cover by going to the dentist, optometrist and skin clinic.... see the other goals in the health section!

#27 Write 15 letters to friends (AND POST THEM!)

Letter writing was a lifeline for me when I lived in Japan. It was such a lonely place that having a little envelope with my name on it in the post was heartwarming and worth much excitement.

When I got back to Australia I allowed my letter writing to lapse. I added this challenge to the list of goals because I wanted to get back into the habit.



I have lost count of how many letters I have written but I can safely say that it has been more than 15!

I have sent (multiple) letters to the following people:

• Jolene in Singapore.
• Donna
• Guy
  
• Suzanne
• Ali
• Alison
• Melissa
• Tash
• Cass
• Kirsty
• Kelly.. and Kelly... and Kelly!

I enjoy writing on cute Japanese and Korean writing paper so I always buy a stash when I go to Japan. If I run out, I rely on an Aussie import company, Kawaii Imports.

This all reminds me that I currently owe letters to Guy, Tash, Cass and Melissa. Shame on me!

#11 Finish 'I'm late' lolita outfit to satisfaction

I unfortunately do not have any photos of this outfit...

The dress itself is by Innocent World. It is a lovely cream JSK with brown rickrack across the bottom and a print around the hem in brown of the white rabbit looking at his fob watch.

I had a lot of trouble putting this outfit together because it involved brown, a colour that was not popular in lolita fashion at the time.

I matched it with a white blouse, white socks, brown boots, a brown Innocent World bolero (bought new at Shinjuku), a brown Heart-E beret, a brown Heart-E ribbon accessory around my waist as a belt and cute key dangle earrings.

The dress is now sold to Li who looks MUCH more adorable in it than I.

#4 - Make a Regency Dress and Spencer

The Regency/Napoleonic period is one of my favorites when it comes to women's clothing. It was a real pleasure to make this outfit and the Australian Costumers Guild picnic that I wore it to for the first time was such a lovely, wonderful day.


The corset was made from 4 layers of cotton - entirely handsewn, the sewing, cording, quilting, eyelets and binding. It was my first attempt at a corset ever. The corset was based on a pattern from Jean Hunnisette's book 'Costume for the Stage and Screen 1800 - 1900'.

The cotton chemise was based on a Kannik's Korner pattern. As were the stockings.

The dress pattern was one from Jane Arnold's book for the period and made of cotton muslin. Mostly handsewn also - only because I doubted my ability to sew the curved back seams on a machine!

The spencer was a big deal for me because it was the first pattern I ever drafted myself. I used the sketch and details of a spencer in Norah Bradfield's book 'Costume in Detail', making a toille by draping fabric on my sewing dummy. It is made of a pretty blue dupion silk.

The bonnet is made based on a design in an Ackerman's fashion plate - the brim was made by sewing some woven straw braid together. I then added a circle of the same dupion silk then trimmed it with feathers and paper flowers.

#3 - Complete a jedi costumer for Supanova 2008

I did indeed make a jedi costume and wear it to Supanova 2008 (Brisbane)...


It was a good chance to make some fun props including my jedi belt and light saber.

Though I enjoyed making this costume but enjoyed wearing it even more.


The pants were a pair I already had - the texture of them is unusual and rough and so they worked into the roughed and natural jedi appearance.

The boots were a pair I had bought for my Selphie costume years ago.

The jedi robes and under-robes were made in one part based on a butterick kimono pattern. The fabric used for the robes and tabard was a synthetic fabric that had the look of linen. The tabards were just two long strips that were joined together in a few strategic places so they would stay in place over my shoulders when trapped by the obi-belt.

My belt was the most pleasing part of the outfit. I used some lovely suede leather with some brass findings and buckles that I found at Lincraft. It worked beautifully.

My light saber was made from some lightweight tubing with added bits and pieces found at our local junk recycle shop and Bunnings. I was pretty happy with it all considering my limited experience with prop-making. Unfortunately the rig-up I'd done to allow it to attach to my belt with magnets didn't work as well so it kept slipping off.

The List - as of today!

Colour Codes:
Completed (70/101)
Started (13/101)


Accomplishments
1. Finish all of Pimsleurs Japanese I lessons (30/30)
2. Learn the meaning, stroke order and pronunciation of all the kanji on our toilet-door poster.

Cosplay and Costuming
3. Complete a jedi costumer for Supanova 2008
4. Make a Regency gown and spencer.
5. Make a Georgian Chemise de la Riene gown.
6. Get my sewing machine serviced.
7. Finish bliaut/medieval outfit.

Fashion, Beauty and surrounding self with beauty
8. Buy/make 2 decorative things for each room of the house.
9. Buy fresh flowers 10 times (10/10) (pretty blue, red gerberas, west end roses, black jack violas, lavender, IGA liliums, daffodils, party stock, hyacinths, iris, sunflowers.)
10. Sell all lolita dresses.
11. Finish 'I'm late' outfit to satisfaction

Health
12. Create a training course for the nearby park. Post this on the fridge.
13. Get a skin-cancer check-up
14. Take an Optometrist appointment and purchases glasses.
15. Go to a dentist appointment.
16. Get health insurance

Food
17. Decorate 20 different cupcakes
18. Cook 40 recipes I’ve never made before (37/40) (apple & cinnamon quinoa, curry soup, white bean salad, caramelised beetroot, strawberry & mint daqueri, baked fish w butter and dill, waldorf salad, hasselback potatoes, swiss bircher muesli, corned beef, appleblossom cooler, all-bran tea cake, grilled mango & ricotta on toast, devils on horseback, apple and strawberry pie, breakfast fry-up, ice-cream cone cupcakes, green pudding, luxury semolina, carotein loaf, felafels, roast pork with pear and cider in slowcooker, baked apple dumplings, parmesan crumbed baked fish, turnip soup 1818 recipe, mushroom loaves, miso soup from scratch, soba noodles with dipping sauce, hash browns from scratch, pudding!, sausage and lentil salad, tart tatin, sedas, ice-cream, raspberry slice, BBQ kebabs, black sesame seed ice cream, )
19. Perfect the ‘crabapple bakery cupcake swirl’ with icing.
20. Buy a food processor.
21. Successfully complete another 30 days with no chocolate, sweets, softdrink and chips challenge.
22. Make a jam or preserve.

Friends & Others
23. Do puri-kura with 5 friends (5/5) (Damian, Guy, Alison, Donna, Dan - lost!, Mel and Lauren)
24. Have 5 girl friends over for afternoon tea (5/5) (Deb, Donna, Kerry, Mel, Jen)
25. Make a card for each of my siblings telling them how much they mean to me (includes in-laws). (0/6)
26. Send Ken a care package from Australia.
27. Write 15 letters to friends (AND POST THEM!)
28. Give Rhys a massage when he is least expecting it but needing it most.
29. Go to visit Grandma and Grandad’s graves.
30. Take Rhys on a Date.
31. Buy Rhys an engagement ring.

Culture
32. Finish reading Wuthering Heights (even if it kills me – the only book I have ever started and not finished.)
33. Go to a concert
34. Go to a musical
35. Go to a ballet.
36. Go to a play (Pygmalion)
37. Read 20 books (20/20)(Lireal, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, The Ill Made Mute, Battle of Evernight, Lady of the Sorrow, Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange, Fragile Eternity, Stardust, Mister Monday, Drowned Wednesday, Grim Tuesday, Fairytales of Oscar Wilde, Wuthering Heights, Alice in Wonderland, Books 1 - 5 of the Lemmony Snicketts series, Vanity Fair, Jane Eyre, Through the Looking Glass )
38. Buy 5 new albums from different music artists (5/5) (Muse, Lacuna Coil, Billie Holiday, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, KT Tunstall)
39. Buy 5 new albums of classical music – ensure I diversify my range of composers… not the same old tired ones! (5/5) (All Angels, Complete Works of Chopin, Breakfast with Bach, Afternoon tea with Tchaikovski, 100 top romantic songs - 5 CDS, 100 Debussy, 100 Bach, 99 Mozart, Lullaby songs, Jane Austen Songbook)
40. Watch 10 documentaries (The Floating Brothel, The Parthenon, Costas Gardening Oddessy, Costa's Gardening Oddessy series 2, The Time After Humans, The Story of Poo, Addicted to Plastic, Sex in the Ancient World - Pompeii, (multiple) Time Team episodes, Earth - power of the planet - amongst others!)
41. Visit Queensland Art Gallery.
42. Visit the Queensland Museum.
43. Visit 3 locations around Brisbane registered as Heritage buildings. (Old Government House, Booval House, Meigunah House, Newstead House, Brisbane City Hall.)

Pop culture
44. Watch all of Stargate SG1 (4.5/10)
45. Complete one console game.
46. get 1000 xbox gamer points.
47. Get all achievements for one xbox game.

Handcrafts
48. Complete my ‘polka-dot-girls’ quilt
49. Complete my cupcake stitchery.
50. Do a face-up on my dollfie and give her a name.
51. Make underwear and 2 outfits for my dollfie.
52. Repair ‘Mrs Clucks’ for Kirsty.
53. Complete the Holiday Queen embroidery.
54. Complete my sashiko project and turn into something useful.

Household Duties and Organisation
55. Get the 2nd bookshelf upstairs and filled with books.
56. Clean and organise my sewing room.
57. Organise and backup all images on my laptop
58. Organise my sewing pattern collection.
59. Create an up-to-date DVD collection database
60. Get my engagement ring resized.
61. Get a calendar and mark with birthdays of family and close friends.
62. Fix my damaged anime models.
63. Create a blog and blog at least 50 of the 101 tasks.

Finances
64. Create a budget
65. Open a joint savings account with Rhys.

Activities
66. Go bushwalking
67. Go to Montville Village for a day trip.
68. Go to a strawberry picking farm. (With Suey then again for Donna's party)
69. Go to a food festival. (Good Food and Wine Festival & Nighttime Noodle Market '14)
70. Go to a good jazz bar. (For Cherie's Birthday '13)
71. Go ten pin bowling with friends.
72. Go to 3 different markets (3/3) (West End, Redcliffe Foreshore, Northlakes, Nundah market, Caboolture market.)

Old Hobbies Die Hard/ Just for fun.
73. Find 10 Geocaches (6/10)
74. Do two jigsaw puzzles over 1000 pieces 
75. Take a photo a day for a month
76. Take a photo of Rhys every day for a month
77. Compose an i-photo book of Japan trips (3/4)

Holidays
78. Go to Melbourne on a Road Trip
79. Go on a honeymoon.
80. Go to Stanthorpe for a weekend with Rhys and Dad.

Parties
81. Have another ‘host a murder’ party. (plans for November)
82. Have another games night
83. Plan and organise an engagement party
84. Have a girls' PJ party.
85. Go to Queenies Tea Room with my family ‘girls’. (changed to Franklin Villa.  Queen's closed)
86. Organise Kin’s Night as previously planned.

Simplifying my life
87. Get a worm farm
88. Build/buy a chicken coop and get 4 chickens
89. Get a breadmaker
90. Make yogurt
91. build a compost 3 bin system
92. plant and successfully grown 7 plants (7/7) (oregano, cornflowers, viola, capsicum, lavender, sprouts, rhubarb.)
93. Go to a Northey Street seminar.

The Bigger Stuff
94. Plan and organise wedding
95. Design and make wedding dress and Rhys’ wedding attire.

Items relisted!
96. learn to play croquet
97. babysit for Chris/Nikki and Kirsty/Phil so they can go on a date. (1/2) (Chris & Nikki)
98. learn to play whist.
99. Go barefoot bowling with friends.
100. Finish the beginner’s set of classes for swing-dancing at local dance-school
101. Go to a day spa

The List - Take 4

This new list shows how my interests shifted towards sustainability, frugality and gardening. Fashion was entirely ditched and pop culture became mostly about the xbox. This was a pretty big overhaul of the previous lists.

Due to an error in the word document numbering I ended up with too many things on this list...

Colour Codes:
Completed 42/101
Cancelled 3/101
Started
Changes from original list (not yet completed)

Accomplishments
1. Finish all of Pimsleurs Japanese I lessons (30/30)
2. Learn the meaning, stroke order and pronunciation of all the kanji on our toilet-door poster.

Cosplay and Costuming
3. Complete a jedi costumer for Supanova 2008
4. Make a Regency gown and spencer.
5. Make a Georgian Chemise de la Riene gown.
6. Get my sewing machine serviced.
7. Finish bliaut/medieval outfit.

Fashion, Beauty and surrounding self with beauty
8. Buy/make 2 decorative things for each room of the house. 
 9. Buy fresh flowers 10 times (9/10) (pretty blue, red gerberas, black jack violas, lavender, IGA liliums, party stock, sunflowers, iris, hyacinths)
10. Sell all lolita dresses.

Health
11. Create a training course for the nearby park. Post this on the fridge.
12. Get a skin-cancer check-up
13. Take an Optometrist appointment and purchases glasses.
14. Go to a dentist appointment.
15. Get health insurance

Food
16. Decorate 20 different cupcakes (0/20)
17. Cook 40 recipes I’ve never made before (0/40)
18. Perfect the ‘crabapple bakery cupcake swirl’ with icing.
19. Buy a food processor.
20. Successfully complete another 30 days with no chocolate, sweets, softdrink and chips challenge.
21. Make a jam or preserve.

Friends & Others
22. Do puri-kura with 5 friends (5/5) (Damian, Guy, Alison, Donna, Dan - lost!, Mel and Lauren)
23. Have 5 girl friends over for afternoon tea (0/5)
24. Make a card for each of my siblings telling them how much they mean to me (includes in-laws). (0/6)
25. Send Ken a care package from Australia.
26. Go through my inbox and respond to every unanswered email (as of today – 27/03/12) and repeat this 27/03/09 and 27/03/10.
27. Write 15 letters to friends (AND POST THEM!) (0/15)
28. Give Rhys a massage when he is least expecting it but needing it most.
29. Go to visit Grandma and Grandad’s graves.
30. Take Rhys on a Date.
31. Buy Rhys an engagement ring.

Culture
32. Finish reading Wuthering Heights (even if it kills me – the only book I have ever started and not finished.)
33. Go to a concert (spiderbait, The Grates, Sting, Gotye, The Whitlams, Kyary PP)
34. Go to a musical (Mary Poppins, Les Miserables, Legally Blonde)
35. Go to a ballet (Snow Queen)
36. Go to a play.  (Pygmalion, Tequila Mockingbird)
37. Read 20 books (20/20) (Lireal, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, The Ill Made Mute, Battle of Evernight, Lady of the Sorrow, Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange, Fragile Eternity, Stardust, Mister Monday, Drowned Wednesday, Grim Tuesday, Fairytales of Oscar Wilde, Wuthering Heights, Alice in Wonderland,  Vanity Fair, Jane Eyre, Through the Looking Glass)
38. Buy 5 new albums from different music artists (5/5) (Muse, Lacuna Coil, Billie Holiday, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, KT Tunstall,)
39. Watch 10 documentaries (The Floating Brothel, The Parthenon, Costas Gardening Oddessy, Costa's Gardening Oddessy series 2, The Time After Humans, The Story of Poo, Addicted to Plastic, Sex in the Ancient World - Pompeii, (multiple) Time Team episodes, Earth - power of the planet - amongst others!)
40. Visit Queensland Art Gallery.
41. Visit the Queensland Museum.
42. Visit 3 locations around Brisbane registered as Heritage buildings. (Old Government House, Booval House, Meigunah House, Newstead House, Brisbane City Hall.)

Pop culture
43. Watch all of Stargate SG1 (4.5/10)
44. Complete one console game.
45. get 1000 xbox gamer points.
46. Get all achievements for one xbox game.

Handcrafts
47. Complete my ‘polka-dot-girls’ quilt
48. Complete my cupcake stitchery.
49. Complete knitted laprug. 
50. Finish Japan scrapbook.
51. Do a face-up on my dollfie and give her a name.
52. Make underwear for my dollfie.
53. Make 2 outfits for my dollfie.
54. Repair ‘Mrs Clucks’ for Kirsty.
55. Complete the Holiday Queen embroidery.
56. Complete my sashiko project and turn into something useful.

Household Duties and Organisation
57. Get the 2nd bookshelf upstairs and filled with books.
58. Clean and organise my sewing room.
59. Organise and backup all images on my laptop
60. Organise my sewing pattern collection.
61. Create an up-to-date DVD collection database
62. Get my engagement ring resized.
63. Get a calendar and mark with birthdays of family and close friends.
64. Fix my damaged anime models.
65. Create a blog and blog at least 50 of the 101 tasks.

Finances
66. Create a budget
67. Save a house deposit of min $20 000. (by myself) (In retrospect this was an unreasonable goal when the wedding planning and cost was considered.)

Activities
68. Go bushwalking
69. Go to Montville Village for a day trip.
70. Go to a strawberry picking farm.(Sue and Donna)
71. Go to paniyiri (missed every paniyiri before the deadline but went with Lauren later.)
72. Go to a food festival. (Good Food Festival, Night Noodle Market)
73. Go to a good jazz bar. (Brisbane Jazz Club - for Cherie's Birthday)
74. Go ten pin bowling with friends. (For my birthday)
75. Go to 3 different markets (3/3) (West End, Redcliffe Foreshore, Northlakes, Nundah market, Caboolture market.)

Old Hobbies Die Hard/ Just for fun.
76. Catch 2 bookcrossed books and play them forward.
77. Release 5 books in bookcrossing.
78. Find 10 Geocaches (6/10)
79. Do two jigsaw puzzles over 1000 pieces
80. Take a photo a day for a month
81. Take a photo of Rhys every day for a month
82. Compose an i-photo book of Japan trips.(3/4)

Holidays
83. Go to Melbourne on a Road Trip
84. Go on a honeymoon.
85. Go to Stanthorpe for a weekend with Rhys and Dad.

Parties
86. Have another ‘host a murder’ party.
87. Have another games night
88. Plan and organise an engagement party
89. Have a girls' PJ party.
90. Go to Queenies Tea Room with my family ‘girls’. (change to Franklin Villa.  Queens Closed)
91. Organise Kin’s Night as previously planned.

Simplifying my life
92. Get a worm farm
93. Build/buy a chicken coop and get 4 chickens
94. Get a breadmaker
95. Make yogurt
96. Make cheese.
97. build a compost 3 bin system
98. plant and successfully grown 7 plants (7/7) (oregano, cornflowers, viola, capsicum, lavender, sprouts, rhubarb.)
99. Preserve or dry fruit.  (dried kiwi fruit)
100. Go to a Northey Street seminar.
101. Make Soap.

The Bigger Stuff
102. Plan and organise wedding
103. Design and make wedding dress and Rhys’ wedding attire.
104. Become a Justice of the Peace. (training course and exam).


Items removed from previous lists but possibly to be re-added:
learn to play croquet
babysit for Chris/Nikki and Kirsty/Phil so they can go on a date.
learn to play whist.
Finish 'I'm late' outfit to satisfaction *This to be relisted because it was an achieved goal.
Go barefoot bowling with friends.
Finish the beginner’s set of classes for swing-dancing at local dance-school
Create a vintage wardrobe with 4 dresses, 3 skirts and 3 blouses. (later added- have completed!)
Go to a day spa (later added again - have completed!)
Collect and read the remaining Lemony Snicketts novels.
Organise my sewing pattern collection. 
Buy 5 new albums of classical music – ensure I diversify my range of composers… not the same old tired ones! (9/5) (All Angels, Complete Works of Chopin, Breakfast with Bach, Afternoon tea with Tchaikovski, 100 top romantic songs - 5 CDS) * This is to be relisted because it was an achieved goal.

The List - Take 3

There were only a few minor changes done to create this third list - but the changes are worth noting. So here we go - list take three!

The main changes in this list tend to be the complete ditching of lolita fashion and changes in plans for scrapbooking.

Colour Codes:
Completed 32/101
Cancelled 15/101
Started
Changes from original list (not yet completed)


Accomplishments
1. Finish all of Pimsleurs Japanese I lessons.(30/30)
2. Learn the meaning, stroke order and pronunciation of all the kanji on our toilet-door poster.
3. Finish the beginner’s set of classes for swing-dancing at local dance-school
4. Do a short TAFE course on photography with Rhys.

Cosplay and Costuming
5. Complete a jedi costumer for Supanova 2008
6. Complete my planned cosplay for Alice from Aria. (No longer cosplay)
7. Get my website online – even if it’s just a skeleton site. (Don't believe that another cosplayer's website is worthwhile)
8. Get my website up to date. (as #8)
9. Make a Regency gown and spencer.
10. Make a Georgian Chemise de la Riene gown.
11. Get my sewing machine serviced.
12. Finish bliaut/medieval outfit.

Fashion, Beauty and surrounding self with beauty
13. Try the OCM method
14. Create a vintage wardrobe with 4 dresses, 3 skirts and 3 blouses.
15. Buy/make 2 decorative things for each room of the house.
16. Grow my fingernails so that all are at least 2mm past the fingertip. 
17. Buy fresh flowers 10 times (10/10) (pretty blue, red gerberas, black jack violas, lavender, IGA liliums, party stock, sunflowers, iris, hyachinths)
18. Collect all kimmi dolls (cancelled because there were more releases than I could collect!)
19. Go to a day spa
20. Sell all lolita dresses.

Health
21. Create a training course for the nearby park. Post this on the fridge.
22. Get a skin-cancer check-up
23. Take an Optometrist appointment and purchases glasses.
24. Go to a dentist appointment.

Food
25. Decorate 20 different cupcakes (0/20)
26. Cook 40 recipes I’ve never made before (0/40)
27. Perfect the ‘crabapple bakery cupcake swirl’ with icing.
28. Buy a food processor.
29. Successfully complete another 30 days with no chocolate, sweets, softdrink and chips challenge.
30. Make a jam or preserve.

Friends & Others
31. Do puri-kura with 5 friends (5/5) (Damian, Guy, Alison, Donna, Dan - lost!, Mel and Lauren)
32. Have 5 girl friends over for afternoon tea (0/5)
33. Make a card for each of my siblings telling them how much they mean to me (includes in-laws). (0/6)
34. Send Ken a care package from Australia.
35. Go through my inbox and respond to every unanswered email (as of today – 27/03/12) and repeat this 27/03/09 and 27/03/10.
36. Do a ‘Fly-by day’ once each year (0/3) (thanks to fatalfille for the inspiration).
37. Write 15 letters to friends (AND POST THEM!) (0/15)
38. Give Rhys a massage when he is least expecting it but needing it most.
39. Go to visit Grandma and Grandad’s graves.
40. Take Rhys on a Date.

Culture
41. Finish reading Wuthering Heights (even if it kills me – the only book I have ever started and not finished.)
42. Go to a concert  (spiderbait, The Grates, Sting, Gotye, The Whitlams)
43. Go to a musical  (Mary Poppins, Les Miserables, Legally Blonde)
44. Go to a ballet (Snow Queen).
45. Go to a play. (Pygmalion, Tequila Mockingbird)
46. Read 20 books (20/20) (Lireal, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, The Ill Made Mute, Battle of Evernight, Lady of the Sorrow, Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange, Fragile Eternity, Stardust, Mister Monday, Drowned Wednesday, Grim Tuesday, Fairytales of Oscar Wilde, Wuthering Heights, Alice in Wonderland, Vanity Fair, The Colour of Magic, Lady Susan.)
47. Buy 5 new albums of classical music – ensure I diversify my range of composers… not the same old tired ones! (9/5) (All Angels, Complete Works of Chopin, Breakfast with Bach, Afternoon tea with Tchaikovski, 100 top romantic songs - 5 CDS)
48. Buy 5 new albums from different music artists (5/5) (Muse, Lacuna Coil, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, KT Tunstall, Doo-Wop Classics)
49. Watch 10 documentaries (The Floating Brothel, The Parthenon, Costas Gardening Oddessy, Costa's Gardening Oddessy series 2, The Time After Humans, The Story of Poo, Addicted to Plastic, Sex in the Ancient World - Pompeii, (multiple) Time Team episodes, Earth - power of the planet - amongst others!)
50. Visit Queensland Art Gallery.
51. Visit the Queensland Museum.
52. Visit 3 locations around Brisbane registered as Heritage buildings. (Old Government House, Booval House, Meigunah House, Newstead House, Brisbane City Hall.)

Pop culture
53. Watch all of Stargate SG1 (4.5)
54. Complete the PS2 game ‘Atelier Iris 3.’
55. Collect and read the remaining Lemony Snicketts novels.

Handcrafts
56. Complete my ‘polka-dot-girls’ quilt
57. Start a costuming scrapbook. (No longer scrapbooking).
58. Do a face-up on my dollfie and give her a name.
59. Make 2 outfits and underwear for my dollfie.
60. Repair ‘Mrs Clucks’ for Kirsty.
61. Complete the Winter Queen embroidery (Winter Queen has too much white, has been dirtied and stained by age. I have altered this to be the Holiday Queen which I had also started in 2005.)
62. Complete my sashiko project and turn into something useful.

Household Duties and Organisation
63. Get the 2nd bookshelf upstairs and filled with books.
64. Clean and organise my sewing room.
65. Organise and backup all images on my laptop
66. Organise my sewing pattern collection.
67. Create an up-to-date DVD collection database (as at 27/03/2008, again 2009 and 2010.)
68. Get my engagement ring resized.
69. Get a calendar and mark with birthdays of family and close friends.
70. Fix my damaged anime models.
71. Get health insurance.
72. Create a blog and blog at least 90 of the 101 tasks.

Finances
73. Create a budget
74. Save a house deposit of min $20 000. (by myself) (In retrospect this was an unreasonable goal when the wedding planning and cost was considered.)

Activities
75. Go bushwalking
76. Go to Montville Village for a day trip.
77. Go to a strawberry picking farm.
78. Go to paniyiri
79. Go to a food festival.
80. Go to a good jazz bar.
81. Go ten pin bowling with friends.
82. Go to 3 different markets (3/3) (West End, Redcliffe Foreshore, Northlakes, Nundah market, Caboolture market.)

Old Hobbies Die Hard/ Just for fun.
83. Catch 2 bookcrossed books and play them forward.
84. Release 5 books in bookcrossing.
85. Find 10 Geocaches (6/10)
86. Do two jigsaw puzzles over 1000 pieces
87. Take a photo a day for a month
88. Take a photo of Rhys every day for a month
89. Compose an i-photo book of Japan trips.(3/4)

Holidays
90. Go to Perth on a holiday. (Wedding funds restricted this, as did trip to Japan and honeymoon.)
91. Go to the Daintree on a holiday (same as above.)
92. Go to Stanthorpe for a weekend with Rhys and Dad.

Parties
93. Have another ‘host a murder’ party. (planned)
94. Have another games night (Redcliffe party)
95. Plan and organise an engagement party
96. Have a girls' PJ party. (Vintage PJ Party organised with Donna)
97. Go to Queenies Tea Room with my family ‘girls’. (Changed to Franklin Villa.  Queenie's closed.)
98. Organise Kin’s Night as previously planned.

The Bigger Stuff
99. Plan and organise wedding
100. Design and make wedding dress and Rhys’ wedding attire.
101. Become a Justice of the Peace. (training course and exam).


Items removed from previous lists but possibly to be re-added:
learn to play croquet
babysit for Chris/Nikki and Kirsty/Phil so they can go on a date.
learn to play whist.
Finish 'I'm late' outfit to satisfaction *This to be relisted because it was an achieved goal.
Go barefoot bowling with friends.