101 Things in 1001 Days - One Year On

Hard to believe that it's been a year since I started my latest lot of 101 Things in 1001 Days.  And already the end date seems to be looming even though there's still 600 odd days go.  With that in mind it seemed like a good idea to have a look at how I am doing... or not doing which probably the more realistic outcome especially with my brain.  Still I have completed some challenges which is always a good sign.  Hopefully I'll finish a few more before the year is over.

 

We can but hope... and eat a lot of chocolate.

Completed So Far:

 

1.     Buy 10 items that are second hand.  Amazingly I have done this, what with buying jigsaws, a cardigan, and a few other bits and pieces, all courtesy of our local OP shops.

 

2.     Finish a 1000+ piece jigsaw puzzle.  Done and dusted, even if it did have 1 piece missing in the end.

3.     Give or donate to a charity.  Actually did both - donated to the Red Cross OP Shop and gave some money to the SPCA and Cancer Society

 

4.     Grow a plant from seed.  Lots of plants actually so that was a super big win

 

5.     Knit a cardigan.  I ended up unpicking it but yes I did actually finish this so go me

 

6.     Have fish 'n' chips by the beach. Done a handful of times so far so this was actually a super easy one to do

 

7.     Plant some spring bulbs.  Another easy one.  Even if sadly only a handful came up.  Still a win is a win

 

8.     Win a giveaway/competition.  Finally.  I won something.  A gardening book no less. 

 

9.     See the snow.  Saw it, stood on it and touched it.

10.   Read 1 Agatha Christie novel.  Okay so I cheated a little and listened to the full cast audio of And Then There Were None.  But I'm still counting it.

 

11.   Participate in "A photo an hour" and post on my blog.  Done.  More than once.

 

12.   Visit an island.  Monkey Island.  Which technically is a tidal island and very, very small.  But an island is island no matter what kind.

13.   Visit a sunflower field.  Weston, Otago and it was glorious.

Currently ongoing:

1.     Read 25 graphic novels.  I've read 5 so far.  Only 20 more to go...

2.     Read 5 classic novels.  3 down and just 2 to go

3.     Watch 5 foreign language TV series.  Just 1 so far.

What I'd like to complete and finish this year:

1.     Do facial exercises every day for 1 month

2.     Drink water every day for 1 month

3.     Finish 1 of my ongoing stories

 

4.     Finish a cross stitch project

 

5.     Go 1 month without eating chocolate

 

6.     Go sugar free for 1 week

 

7.     Go on a picnic

 

8.     Grow a sunflower

 

9.     Have breakfast in bed

 

10.   Have a meal by candlelight

11.   Knit a hat

 

12.   Learn how to knit on a knitting loom

 

13.   Plant a herb garden

 

14.   Plant a tree

 

15.   Start an orchard in our garden

 

16.   Take a pilates class

17.   Take a Tai Chii class

 

18.   Walk for 30 minutes every day for 1 month

 

19.   Watch 10 documentaries

20.   Watch 10 movies from 10 countries

 

21.   Watch 10 movies from before the year I was born

Finish date for all 101 tasks :  30 Oct 2023 

The Viewing Files: Rom Com's 1940's Style

Back to the oldies.  Again.

This time round it's rom com's 1940's style and there is seriously a lot to love in this bunch.  Only one was truly terrible, another was so-so and the rest were just what I needed - cuteness and romance and some smiles too.

I'm just gonna wallow.

Ball of Fire

Starring: A tall man and a red head floozy

Original release: 1941

Synopsis: A professor meets a cabaret singer and chaos ensues.

 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs if Snow White was a cabaret singer and the dwarfs professors.

 

Surprisingly it's a lot of fun.

Miss Annie Rooney

Starring: Shirley Temple

Original release: 1942

Synopsis: Seriously cute movie

 

I want to live in a world where teen girls wear twinsets and ribbons in their hair and get given red roses and dance the jitterbug.

 

Shirley Temple as a teen was super cute as is this movie

Janie

Starring: Actors everyone has forgotten... if they even knew them in the 1st place

Original release: 1944

Synopsis: No father likes their daughter's boyfriend

 

Is it sad that I liked this? Probably.

 

But do I really care when it's just so cute and wholesome and set in a world where nothing bad ever happens.

 

Pure escapism 1940s style.

Margie

Starring: More actors no one remembers

Original release: 1946

Synopsis: Mother and daughter bonding

 

I'm definitely into the whole cute and wholesome teen rom coms of the 1940s. It's become my thing and I'm just going to wallow and enjoy ones like this as much as I can.

 

Personally though I found the actor who played the French teacher just a tad creepy and serial killerish. But that's just me.

The Lady Takes a Sailor

Starring: The ex Mrs Reagan

Original release: 1949

Synopsis: There really is a submarine

 

A super condescending man ruins a successful woman by branding her a liar and somehow it's romantic?

 

Maybe in 1949 but now he just comes across as a bully and a jerk. Definitely not the rom com for me.

The Voice of the Turtle

Starring: An ex president who actually was kind of charming way back in the day

Original release: 1947

Synopsis: Romance the way it should be

 

Oh my swoony heart. 

 

A shy awkward OCD woman who has given up on any and all romantic entanglements finds herself slowly falling for the soldier she takes care of during his weekend leave in New York and everything about this is just so cute and lovely and the two leads are just perfect in these roles.

 

Just the movie to make you feel all warm and fuzzy on a cold weekend day.

Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House

Starring: Cary Grant

Original release: 1948

Synopsis: A city couple move to the country

Cary Grant and Myrna Loy were made to play a married couple.

Book Talk: I've Been Reading...

Chick lit, nonfic and audio books for the win are pretty much the theme in this latest post. 

I've been ditching quite a few books from my To Be Read pile which is really helping me to sort what I really want to read as well as making it super easy to find them.  Not having to scroll through a 1000 odd books just to find something that suits whatever my current mood is craving at the time is so refreshing.  Although I may have been just a tad ruthless as my TBR pile is now just down to 50 odd books.  Still it makes a nice change.

As for the reading...

Of course there's going to be chick lit.  And these 3 books were just the thing, especially when one of them features Christmas and a pretty cover.

 

Along with Christmas there were also weddings.  Lots and lots of weddings.

 

The nonfiction on the other hand is very much a mixed bag with a book about understanding your feline friends (I wish), one on the finding joy and happiness in the simplest things such as clean sheets on the bed and finally a totally fascinating book on Vivian Maier, the mystery photographer that no one had ever heard of until after her death and the discovery of over 100,000 photographs that she had taken during her lifetime.

 

Having watched a documentary about her a few years ago I was really keen to read this and I'm so glad that it didn't disappoint.

And of course after all that there's my audio book listening

 

All Doctor Who's and all featuring Paul McGann who is just brilliant as the 8th Doctor.  I'm seriously a big fan and pretty love all of these, though Chimes of Midnight and Embrace the Darkness are probably my 2 favourites out of this collection.  Seriously good if not just a little bit scary.  Which is pretty much what you want from any Doctor Who story.

The Viewing Files: Bourne and Indy Doing It Right

And I'm back to catching up with my Letterboxd movie reviews and hopefully not going nuts in the process.

This time round it's action all the way with Bourne and Indy fighting off the bad guys.  Just the thing you need to unwind when everything around you seems kind of crazy.

The Bourne Identity

Starring: Matt Damon

Original release: 2002

Synopsis: Amnesia sucks.  Especially when there are people trying to kill you.

 

Spies chasing spies and I am so there.  The fight scenes are pretty awesome too. 

The Bourne Supremacy

Starring: Matt Damon

Original release: 2004

Synopsis:  You think they would've have learnt the 1st time round.

 

Any movie that has 2 kiwi's in it as badass assassins spies has got my vote.

The Bourne Ultimatum 

Starring: Matt Damon

Original release: 2007

Synopsis:  Workplace blues really are the worst. 

 

Watching this trilogy makes you realise that working for the CIA is not the career path you ever want to try and that your work colleagues are really not so bad after all.

The Bourne Legacy

Starring: Hawkeye before he was Hawkeye

Original release: 2012

Synopsis:  Same story, new assassin trying to get away from it all.

 

An assassin/spy and his doctor fall in love and run away together and not necessarily in the order.

 

Personally I felt sorry for the wolf.

Jason Bourne

Starring: Matt Damon

Original release: 2016

Synopsis:  And you thought your work place was bad.

 

Those pesky ex-work colleagues just don't know when to leave you alone.  It's even worse when they keep on trying to kill you.  Bourne should seriously know better by now.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Starring: Harrison Ford

Original release: 1981

Synopsis:  Archaelogist 1, Nazi's 0

 

There's snakes and treasure and an adventurous quest and bad boys up to bad things and it's all just a fun homage to those 1930s and 40s film serials.

 

The fact that I'm an archaeology buff also helps.

 

Don't think.  Just enjoy

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Starring: Harry... again

Original release: 1984

Synopsis:  Creepy cults never end well.

 

I'm pretty sure Mr Spielberg went to the studio and said "I wanna do a sequel, only this time I want to throw in a musical number, a human sacrifice cult, elephants, crocodiles..."

 

And he did.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Starring: Harry and Sean

Original release: 1989

Synopsis:  The Holy Grail and no it's not Monty Python

 

Basically father and son bickering throughout the movie and it's as entertaining as hell.  Throw in some archaeology and another adventurous quest and I'm a happy camper.  Harrison Ford and Sean Connery totally own this movie.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Starring: Harry... the senior citizen

Original release: 2008

Synopsis:  No Nazi's but Russian's instead

 

Indy is still Indy and yet somehow this film just didn't work for me on any level.  By the time the reveal near the end happened I just wanted to throw the whole thing away as a bad idea. 

Book Talk: I've Been Reading...

A new year and lots of new (and some old) books to get stuck into.  As always it's my usual mixed lot with thrillers, chick lit, YA and some nonfiction.

Light and fluffy all the way is a perfect start the new year, especially if there's a Christmas read thrown into the mix.  All of these were just nice feel good reads which sometimes is all you need.

 

Of course eventually dark and gritty will edge there way in and what's a girl to do but read them from cover to cover.

 

The Final Girl Support Group was a dark and slightly twisted take on all those slasher movies of the 80s and 90s with the premise of what if all those were real events and how did the survivors cope afterwards.  Gloriously done.

Revenge was the theme with the next handful of thrillers.  Each one different and yet reunited with twists and turns.

After all that revenge it was back to a fluffy chick lit read and some nonfiction.  I'm really wanting to get my nonfiction reading up this year and these 2 reads will hopefully be the first of many.

 

One looked at the the early archaelogists and Egyptologists of the 19th century and the discoveries they made, while the other was all about our 'internal voice'.  Both really fascinating. 

 

All in all a good start to the reading year.

A Day in the Life... A Summer's Day

If it seems like ages since I've done one of these well that's because it is.

Still I'm here now with more slightly wonky photos and a day in the life of me.  This time round it's summer and I'm actually doing something more than gardening, reading and jigsawing.  Shock, horror I know.

8.00am

 

Awake wide and up early for a change and it's gorgeous blue skies outside.  Time to get up and do some early morning gardening before it gets too hot. 

 

A few minutes later...

... a hot cup of blueberry fruity tea to start the day and it's in my pretty new mug that one of my super lovely friends gave to me for Christmas.  Seems appropriate considering all the gardening I've been doing.

9.00am

Lettuces are doing well...

... as are the carrots...

 

Just ignore all the weeds which as always are a constant battle.

10.00am

Harvest of carrots, lettuce, tomatoes and radishes picked and ready for dinner and snacks latter on tonight. 

11.00am

 

Freshly showered and dressed and on the road for a summer's day outing and not another person to be seen for miles.

Mid-day-ish

 

A walk through the fields atop a hill and this is the view you get near Fortrose.  The beach on the other side looks amazing.  Sadly it's impossible to get to.

1.00pm

 

Back on the road again and a quick stop for a photo op of fields of gold.  So pretty.

2.00pm

 

Another photo op and a walk along Colac Bay.

3.00pm

 

Further along the coast at the bottom of the South Island.

4.00pm

 

Monkey Island. Why it's called that I have no idea. Still it's nice to walk out to it before the tide comes in and cuts it (and us) off from the mainland.

6.00pm

Back home and salad for dinner, courtesy of our garden and some free range hens.

7.00pm

A cup of tea and one Coupland Bakery yummy chewy gooey soft chocolate chip cookies to round out the day.  So yum that I just might have another one.

8.00pm

 

Horizontal on the couch and watching season 2 of The Witcher.  Swoony feels and touch of sword fighting.  Perfection.

All The Plans 2022

A new year and plans, as always, are on the go.  Really though I blame my brain and its obsessive need to try and have order when chaos is generally its normal state.  Split personality anyone?

Still I love me a good plan and even better a good list or any list really...

 

Reading

 

Always on the list.  Always reading.  Which should pretty much be my motto.  Or at the very least on a t-shirt.

As for the reading itself it's business as usual with me trying (and so far succeeding)to keep my To Be Read pile under some kind of control.  Beside that I'd like to increase my non-fiction and audio book reads and maybe my graphic novel reading too.

Gardening

 

Lots and lots of plans.  As always.  This year I'm super pleased that I've managed to grow some veggies over the summer and I'd really want to expand on that.  On the list to try growing this year are:

 

• Pumpkins
• Watermelons
• Beans and peas
• Garlic
• Blueberries
• Feijoas
• Apricots  
• Rhubarb
• Sunflowers
  

As well as more tomatoes, strawberries, corn and carrots. 

I'm really keen to try 'lasagna gardening' which is a layering method of cardboard, compost, straw and mulch which makes not so good soil into really good soil.  Perfect for growing lots of fruit and veg. 

Get Fit and Get Healthy

 

Well the gardening will certainly help with this.  Along with getting back into walking and yoga, both of which I've been a bit slack about doing for the past month. 

 

As for the rest well smoothies and a ton of fresh veg really do help.

Crafting

 

With freezing winters where we live this is an easy winter task to do.  More knitting, maybe a big blanket for my bed.  In pink of course.  And I'm keen to try making a pom pom rug and also some loom knitting.  

101 Things in 1001 Days

 

Definitely want to cross a few more things off this list so that's something I'm going to be concentrating on this winter.

Watching

 

Time consuming but easy to do.  Maybe I can knit and watch at the same time and cross 2 things off the plan list?  Sounds like a plan right there.

 

I'd like to do a few more (make that a lot more) Letterboxd reviews and also get back into my Supernatural binge watching. Though it's been so long since I've done any I'm just going to have to start at the beginning again.

Writing

 

Like my reading this is always on the list.  This year the aim is to post 50 blog posts AND do some actual writing.  The kind with words and characters and a story. 

We can but hope.