101 in 1001

Happy Thursday friends! I hope y’all have been having a stellar week especially since it’s shorter due to fourth of July kicking it off! This post is one I am really excited about because I’ve been wanting to do it for a while now but haven’t really sat down to think about it. If you have been following along for a while then you probably know how much I love lists so naturally this post is right up my alley!

If you’ve never seen a 101 in 1001 list before then you may not know that Mackenzie Horan started this concept as a happy medium between a to-do list and short term bucket list to take place in the next 2.75 years. This time frame in my life will be a pivotal one as I’ll exit the world of college student and enter the so called “real world” with a lot to learn and experience in new exciting ways. I also fully expect there to be some weird days when it comes to living without my best friends in the next room, struggling through earning my masters while also hopefully teaching full time, and wanting to socialize but struggling to get enough sleep. Hopefully this list will be the perfect motivator when I find myself in a funk or want to push myself to continue to excel in a way that I am sure I can.

As a college student sometimes it is hard to think about anything but the short term. Sure we think ahead to exams or when our next school holiday may be but really thinking well into the future isn’t something that really truly consumes our time. So here’s to thinking about the big picture and all of the numerous dreams and ambitions swarming around in my head and actually accomplishing some of them! Hopefully I’ll have some updates for y’all along the way that you can follow using the label “101 in 1001.”

Start Date: July 7th, 2016
End Date: April 5th, 2019
Progress: 54 Completed // 47 To-Go

1. Come up with 101 things (yippee one down, this was more of an undertaking than I imagined it would be // July 2016)

personal (14/26)

2. Take 150 Barre Classes (100 as of June 24th)
3. Recover lost travel photos
4. Unsubscribe to unwanted emails
5. Go to bed by 11pm for an entire week (December 2016)
6. Go a week without hitting snooze (April 2017)
7. Do an intense closet clean out (summer 2016)
8. Unplug for 24 hours  (July 2017)
9. Go a month without shopping (January 2018)
10. Vote in an election (November 2016)
11. Save up and purchase an iMac (May 2018, does a new laptop count?)
12. Go a week without sweets
13. Buy coffee for the person in line behind me
14. Properly prepare my sorority’s next president (November 2016, reflection post here)
15. Go a month without Chickfila (May – June 2016)
16. Workout before class or work everyday for a week
17. Go through and minimize Facebook friends and likes
18. Run a half marathon
19. Learn how to properly blow out my hair (September 2016)
20. Go to the dermatologist
21. Make a “yearbook” of college photos and memories
22. Go two weeks without coffee
23. Have 5 go-to meals to cook ( 6/5 // chicken, rice, kale bowls // chicken lettuce wraps // lime chicken with avocado salsa // skillet chicken with sweet potato wedges // meatloaf burgers // poppy seed chicken )
24. Go a week without complaining (March 2017, I tried giving up complaining for lent)
25. Show more emotion / be vulnerable
26. Give a speech in front of a larger audience than the members of my sorority
27. Go to the eye doctor

blogging (9/15)

28. Redesign Prep In Your Step (summer 2017)
29. Attend a blogging conference
  30. Write an e-book
31. Reach 50,000 followers on Instagram
32. Find a reliable photographer to help with the blog (Nell!)
33. Be featured on another major blog
 34. Post to my blog instagram (@prepinyourstep) everyday for a month (June 2017)
35. Host a meet up (October 2016)
36. Collaborate with a brand I am really excited about (Barbour, April 2017)
37. Collaborate with a large scale brand (Southern Tide)
38. Invest in blog business cards
 39. Learn Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator (Fall 2016, photoshop)
40. Join a blog group relevant to my posts (May 2017)
41. Share blog more openly with real life friends
42. Become good friends with another blogger

“real world” (as a college student I feel like that’s the only way we refer to our future) (15/16)

43.  Keep my resume updated
 44. Get a job out of college (May 2017, 4th grade teaching here I come)
45. Find and decorate my first apartment (May 2017 although decoration is on-going).
46. Get straight As (4.0 my final semester of college, May 2017)
 47. Graduate college with above a 3.6 GPA (May 2017)

48. Create a budget and stick to it (June 2017, doing my best)
49. Get my masters in early childhood education
50. Begin a retirement savings account
51. Build a professional wardrobe
52. Set up my first classroom (August 2017)
53. Start Building Credit (purchasing a car)
54. Learn to balance a social life with a job (Spring 2018)
55. Create an address book (and not on the computer)
56. Invest in real luggage (can’t always depend on mom and dad’s suitcases) (December 2017)
57. Create an emergency account
58. Find time for things I love (blogging, Spring/Summer 2018)

family and friends (4/15)

59. Surprise 10 friends with hand written letters (3/10 Macy, Bowen, Nell)
60. Go on a road trip with friends (December 2017, Athens)
61. Give 5 just because gifts (5/5 Nell, Sophia, Ellison, Chandler, Porter, Caroline)
62. Visit 3 friends in their post-grad towns (1/3 Caroline in Charlotte)
63. Take a trip someplace new with a best friend (Athens with Sophia)
64. Celebrate 5 exciting life events for friends (4/5 Sophia’s Engagement, Nell getting into PA school, Gil’s Engagement, Another friend’s engagement)
65. Reconnect with an old friend
66. Host a brunch for friends just because
67. Do something on a friend’s bucket list with them (Sophia, January 2018)
68. Surprise my parents by coming home
 69. Plan (and execute) a reunion with college friends
70. Ship homemade cookies to a friend just because
71. Make a new close friend
72. Surprise my dad at one of his races
73. Give 5 gifts I am really proud of to family (3/5 Watch for my brother // bike tool for my dad // sports car driving experience for father’s day)

travel (2/10)

74. Visit my brother while he’s in law school (Stanford) (June 2018)

75. Watch the sunrise at Pretty Place
76.  Visit 3 new states (1/3 California)
 77. Plan another trip outside of the US
78. Go to the Kentucky Derby
79. Visit some place tropical
80. Take a real vacation with my immediate family (dad, mom, and brother) (June 2018)
81. Visit a friend’s hometown
82.  Have a friend visit my hometown
 83. Visit Seattle

for fun (10/18)

84. Re-design my room at my parent’s house (Summer 2016)
85. Go apple picking in the fall (October 2016)
86. Find a signature cocktail (do margaritas count?
87. Take a cooking class
88. Re-read the Harry Potter series
89. Go to 3 concerts ( 4/3 Dixie Chicks, Cannan Smith, T-Pain,  Jon Pardi)
90. Paint something worth hanging (September 2016 blogged here)
91. Go to a drive-in movie

92. Try 15 new restaurants ( 17/15 Chuys, Locals, Cantina, Caviar and Bananas, Grill Marks, Halls, Mary’s Lunchbox, Tako Sushi, Happy & Hale, Sushi Go, Farmers Fishers Bakers, Jianna, Up on the Roof, Stella’s, Amelies, Biscuit Head, Red Bowl)
93. Take a calligraphy class
94. Read 30 books ( 16/30 Grace Not Perfection by Emily Ley, Positive Discipline in the Classroom, Understanding Poverty in the Classroom, Bitter is the New Black, The Husband’s Secret, The Defining Decade, You are a Badass, The Woman in Cabin 10, In A Dark, Dark Wood, Whistling In Dixie In A Nor’Easter, The Year of Yes, Behind Closed Doors, Outliers, Unequal Childhoods, The Wives Between Us, Something in the Water)
95. Be in a wedding (Maid of Honor in Sophia’s 7/19, Bridesmaid in my Brothers 8/19)
96. Learn to use chopsticks
97. Do something way out of my comfort zone  (Havoc, blogged about here)
98. Purchase a piece of art I really love that I’ll have for years
99. Try 5 new foods (sushi, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, fig, ricotta)
100. Keep up with a line a day book
101. Bike to the farmers market

101 things to do in 1001, I think I’ve just ensured that I won’t be bored anytime soon! If you’ve created a list of this nature let me know as I’d love to support you with your endeavors!