101 Things in 1001 Days Progress December 2013

Hey guys,

I've been meaning to blog about my 101 Things in 1001 Days progress for December for over a week now, but the dark winter days have prevented me from documenting each goal with a photo. Winter light and a compact camera just aren't a reliable combination for great photos, so I've been waiting for some half-decent day light so I could take them. I awoke to bright sunshine today, and made a mad dash to photograph everything I owned before the sun went down. Slight exaggeration, but I did take 300 photos! So here I bring you my December 101 in 1001 progress with pictures!

Would you like to see what I've been up to?

Goals in Progress

Watch Every DVD I Own 42/300+

December was a month when I mostly over-dosed on Christmas films; rewatching some I'd watched in November, and working my through others in my festive film collection. I love getting in to the Christmas spirit with festive films, so I own a fair few! (More than shown in the photo above!)

The movies I was able to cross off the list were: The Polar Express; Meet Me in St. Louis; Deck the Halls; The Muppet Christmas Carol; The Snowman; two Christmas themed The Simpsons DVDs; Four Christmases; Letters to Juliet; The Vow; Hairspray (John Travolta version) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1 and 2. 

Watch 50 New Films 1/50

In December, I only managed to watch one new-to-me film, which was Shrek Ever After. What can I say? It was on TV and nothing else was on, so I gave it a shot. It wasn't as good as the first two Shrek films, but I admit I enjoyed it!

Read 50 Books 6/50

With so much to do before Christmas, I only made it through one book in December: Insurgent by Veronica Roth. It's the second book in a dystopian trilogy about a society separated in to five factions ruled by a particular human trait- selflessness, bravery, intelligence, honesty and peace. If you love The Hunger Games, I'm confident you'll enjoy the series, too.  I'm just about to start the third book, Allegiant, and once I'm finished, I'll be sure to write a proper review on the series. The books are well worth a read, and I think everybody should read them!

Create a Cross Stitch Project

My plan to have my Christmas cross stitch finished and framed by Christmas didn't go to plan. I made a small mistake and had to unpick the two turkeys, which left me without enough thread to complete the project. I tried compromising with different colours, but I didn't like the results (the dark lilac above). I finally made it to the sewing shop for new threads this week, so I'll have it rectified and completed in no time. Just in time for... Easter. Hmm.

Listen to Every Song in my Itunes Library

In December, I mostly listened to festive tunes. I have no idea how many songs I listened to, all I know is that I listened my way through well over a hundred of them.

Find the Perfect Red Lipstick

On my quest for the perfect red lipstick, I bought a Bourjois Color Boost lip crayon in Red Island. The colour is the perfect blue-based red and I love the smooth formula, but sadly it left a lot to be desired. It claims to last for ten hours, but I'm lucky if it remains in place for half an hour. Must keep looking.

Clean up and Back Up my Music, Photos and Files.

My main reason for this goal is so that I can back up all my important files and send my laptop off to be repaired or replaced. (The cooling system and battery are buggered, and it's sounded like a washing machine on a spin cycle for over a year). Laptop surgery is drastically needed.

Last week I managed to go through all my music files and organise them properly. It took days of work. I discovered that iTunes had backed up most of my music files two or three times each and I had to delete each one by hand! Nightmare! I freed up over 30gb of space in the process. 

Goals Completed

Make it to a Boyzone concert in Nov / Dec 2013 and Attend at least 3 concerts.

I'm happy to say that I not only made it to one Boyzone concert in December; I made it to two! My best friend and I met up to see them together at Bournemouth at the start of the month. We've been going to see their concerts together for seventeen years now, and I wasn't going to allow my injuries to stop me from carrying on with the tradition. We had a lot of fun getting up to our usual shenanigans, and it was lovely to catch up with her in person.

My older sister then took me to see them in Brighton a couple of weeks later, where we ended up battling 100mph winds as we tried to walk a short distance to the venue along the sea front. It was equal parts hilarious and terrifying! The winds were so strong it felt like being engulfed under water, and was difficult to breathe! Scary times.

Both shows inflicted a lot of pain on me which left me immobile for the rest of December, but they were both so worth the extra pain and difficulties! The concerts were both so much fun, and some of the best I've seen yet, and it was lovely to just do something normal for a change. Something fun, something I enjoyed. It was a big deal for me to overcome the hurdles and mark those little milestones.

Try a New Sweet Recipe

For New Year's, I made a Nutella Cheesecake for the first time using a Nigella Lawson no bake recipe. It was incredibly easy to make, and only took me ten minutes! I added some Ferrero Rochers as an extra touch, but not as many as I planned as my family ate the rest when my back was turned! (Thieving buggers!) The cheesecake was delicious and everybody loved it, so I may have to make it again next Christmas. (I didn't manage to get a photo of the whole cheesecake once it had set, as my family cut in to it without me when I slept past dinner time!)

Buy a New iPod Dock

On Christmas Eve, I popped in to Sainsburys with my sister to pick up a few last minute things, and came home with a new iPod dock. It was on promotion for just £10 down from £30, so I seized the opportunity. It's just a cheap InspiRED dock, but the sound quality is actually quite impressive, and it even charges the iPod, so I'm pleased with my purchase. It's nice to play music on something other than my laptop for a change!

Buy a Curling Wand and Start Curling My Hair

I was given a Remington curling wand for Christmas. Now I just need to work on my technique.

Make Personalised Christmas Crackers.

I made crackers for Christmas using a kit I bought from Hobby Craft, and filled them with Christmas scratch cards, chocolates, and red festive confetti. My family loved them! 

Goals Completed in December: 5

Goals in Progress in December: 8

Goals Completed Overall: 10

Goals in Progress Overall: 17

9% Complete! 

Days Left: 876

So, in December I completed five goals, and made progress on a further seven, which isn't bad at all! Let's hope I do even better in January.