101 things in 1001 days: A Journey In Identity Capital

4/13/15 EDIT: I recently was watching a TedTalk from Meg Jay, the author of The Defining Decade. Here's a link to it: Why 30 Is Not The New 20. In all honesty, I'd completely forgotten that I'd started this list. I've become caught up in all the things that I'm doing for work and church (all of which is great!). But as I was watching this talk, I realized that I'd stopped consciously working towards these fun, hard, and sometimes seemingly superfluous goals that I've written down.

In this talk, Meg encourages 20-somethings to "Forget about having an identity crisis and start getting some identity capital. Do something that adds value to who you are and do something that's an investment in who you might want to be next.” I really like the idea of investing in identity capital. Even if it's something as silly as finishing a book of Sudoku puzzles. They're all things that will become part of who I am as a person. Also - having a list like this is a great conversation piece.

I'm coming up on the 2 month mark since graduation. Cue brakes screeching to a halt and me getting out of the car and running for the wilderness in terror.

Just kidding... it's not that bad.

Post grad life has been crazy (but probably pretty normal as far as post grad life goes for people my age). I've moved to California, got a job, moved in with girls I found on Craigslist, found new friends, reconnected with old friends, had adventures, danced on the beach, and sobbed my eyes out while wondering what I was doing with my life and how other people make it look so effortless.

I have learned and done so many things...and it's beautiful. I've delved deeper into friendships, have discovered more about myself, have committed to a church (for the first time in my entire life), and have begun to look toward Jesus again. It seems strange to me that all of that has happened in less than 2 months.

From that... I have decided to do something that I've long wanted to do.

I've made a list of different things that I want to accomplish. Some of them are quite ambitious and I may fall short, but that's part of the process. My deadline for this list is MARCH 27, 2017. That seems like a long time away, but I have a long list.

I'll be documenting my adventures, successes, hardships, and musings on this blog for the next 1001 days. You are welcome to follow along, join me, cheer me on, or any combination of those three.

So... without any further ado.... Here is my list of

101 Things in 1001 Days

*disclaimer. I have counted and recounted this list and I'm almost positive there are 101 things here. But math is hard...

Body

1. Workout at least 3x a week for 6 months
2. Try a hot yoga class
3. Be able to do 10 pushups
4. Follow the eating plan my doctor gave me for at least 6 months
5. Stretch for 15 minutes every day for a month
6. Give up sugar for a year
7. Do a Whole30 Challenge
8. Do the couch to 5k program
9. Do PT twice a day for a month straight
10. Drink 2 Nalgenes of water every day for 2 weeks straight

Posessions

1. Go a week without buying ANYTHING
2. Splurge on a little black dress that fits perfectly
3. Build a wardrobe of things that I love
4. Only buy clothes/shoes/jewelry from thrift stores for six months
5. Donate all the clothes that I feel anything less than thrilled about

Mind

1. Expand my vocabulary by 100 words
2. Write 15 poems
1. Shorter. Thinner. More Fabulous.
2. Sober Questions
3. Shame
4. I am a Waterfall
5. Teacup
6. Rahab
7. Fata Morgana
8. For Safekeeping
9. Astraphobia
10. Ogdoad
11. Afebrile
12. Lonely
13. The In-Betweens
14. Neverland
15. Molasses Heartbeats
3. Keep a journal every day for a year
4. Cultivate an opinion on politics my opinion is that I don't care about it
5. Get a library card 9/12/15
6. Read 5 women's biographies
   1. Bossypants by Tina Fey
   2. Eleanor Roosevelt 
   3. Yes Please! by Amy Poehler
   4. Audrey Hepburn
   5. Maya Angelou - I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings finished on 8/25/15
7. Read 5 novels
   1. Outlander
   2. Pillars of the Earth
   3. A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea
   4. Dorothy Must Die finished on 4/14/15
   5. Revolutionary Road finished on 7/7/14
8. Read 15 Books nonfiction books (ideas below...)
   1. Women in the Word - from She Reads Truth
   2. Let's All Be Brave by Annie Downs
   3. The Cost of Discipleship
   4. The Real Face of Atheism by Ravi Zacharias
   5. C.S. Lewis
   6. The Best Yes
   7. Dirty Girls Come Clean
   8. Battlefield Of the Mind by Joyce Meyer
   9. Circle Maker
   10. Boundaries
   11. Scary Close by Donald Miller
   12. God Sex by Jill Sweetman
   13. Why 30 is Not the New 20 by Meg Jay
   14. Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist
   15. Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
   16. ...more to come...
9. Read the Bible all the way through
10. Re-read all of Maya Angelou's poetry
11. Spend a whole weekend without technology
12. Make a list of things I like to do
13. Re-learn German to a semi-conversational level
14. Learn how to make virgin rose mojitos (like the ones at the Rustic Spoon)
15. Take my last CLEP test to get my diploma Passed 7/27/14
16. Make a cauliflower pizza crust

Adventure

1. Have dinner at the restaurant at the Getty Center at sunset
2. Have a picnic at night on Mullholland Dr with Marisa and Steph on 11/4/14
3. Go sailing
4. Go paint balling
5. Go to a candlelight Christmas Eve Service
6. Hike to the Hollywood Sign
7. Have a beach bonfire  Bonfire w/ C3 peeps on 7/3/14
8. Go to a wine tasting
9. Ride the ferris wheel at the Santa Monica pier
10. Start a tradition for just me
11. Go skinny dipping
12. Perform at a poetry open mic night 7/24/15 at TeaPop's first open mic
13. Be an extra in a movie  DIANI & DEVINE FACE THE APOCALYPSE
14. Go to the LA flower district
15. Open a cookbook to a random page and make whatever is on it
16. Watch the sunset and sunrise on the same night
17. Watch the sunrise and sunset on the same day 7/4/15 - day at the beach w/ C3, 4:45am-11pm
18. Drive a vespa/scooter
19. See a musical at the Pantages
20. Show my family Los Angeles showed my mom LA when she was out here Easter of 2015
21. Go to a taping of a sitcom
22. Go to a shooting range
23. Get a hot stone massage 4/26/15
24. See a movie at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery  Saw Blue Velvet on 7/19/14
25. Go to a drive-in movie
26. Go to the Hollywood Bowl
27. Go Kayaking or Paddle Boarding
28. Go to a free concert of someone I've never heard of
29. Art Walk at PBR brewery (October)
30. Ride on the metro
31. Baldwin Hills overlook hike
32. Walk through Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery
33. Hike through the abandoned zoo in Griffith Park completed 8/2/14
34. Have breakfast at paradise cove completed 8//15 w
35. Go to the LA zoo went with Steph Peitzmeier on 4/18/15
36. Swim in an infinity pool on a rooftop
37. Go to an archery range
38. Go skydiving
39. Go to Griffith Observatory
40. Ring in the New Year with friends
41. Ride on an elephant
42. Have a sunset picnic on the beach
43. Get a tattoo  10/14/14
44. Go to a Taylor Swift show 8/22/15

Travel

1. Spend a weekend at Idyllwild, CA
2. Take a road trip up the PCH
3. Spend a weekend in San Francisco
4. Take a trip to San Diego for C3 Americas Conference July 2014
5. See Sequoia National Park
6. See the Northern Lights
7. See Niagra Falls
8. Ride in a hot air balloon
9. Take a trip overseas
10. Have a getaway w/ my best friends WanderLust  C3 Everywoman Retreat May 2015

Random

1. Make a budget and STICK TO IT!
2. Set up a savings account w/ a bank that isn't just in MT
3. Save $1,500 dollars in said bank account
4. Put $5 in a mason jar for every item I complete and use the money to fund the next list.
5. Pay off at least half of my school loans
6. Research how to be the executive in charge of acquisitions at a film distribution company
7. Meet Meryl and have her make a video for Sara Reidy
8. Finish a full book of Sudoku puzzles
9. Finish Game of Thrones  caught up through season 4 on 7/20/14
10. Watch all of Gilmore Girls, Friends, and HIMYM
11. Be in Amanda's wedding wedding was 10/18/14
12. Buy the coffee for the person behind me in line.
13. Send flowers to my mom @ work 9/29/14 (for her birthday on 9/28!)
14. Make a journal out of the McGuffey reader that I bought in Tulsa 2/27/15
15. Take 2 different friends out to dinner and pay for their meal
16. Make a NEW 101 things in 1001 days list (include witnessing the solar eclipse on August 21st, 2017)