101 Things in 1001 Days Progress: Jan 2014

Once again I'm over a week late in posting January's progress on my 101 Things in 1001 Days list, but better late than never, right?

In January, I was able to cross a couple of goals of this list, and made good progress with several others. I think I advanced particularly well on my reading goals, as I've really been enjoying curling up with my Kindle lately.

Here's what I achieved during the first thirty-one days of 2014...

Goals in Progress

Read 50 New Books (11 / 50)

I've set myself the challenge of reading fifty books by the time the 1001 days are up, and last month I devoured another four novels; bringing the total read so far up to eleven. I also vowed to read more in 2014, and considering I read just thirteen books last year, I think I'm off to a pretty good start! 

On January's reading list was Allegiant by Veronica Roth; the last book in the Divergent saga. I enjoyed the series so much, I was so sad to finish it, and it even made me cry. I've never sobbed actual tears over a book before, but wow, Allegiant was an emotional ride!

I also started working my way through the Darkness books by Leonard D. Hilley. I discovered the first book, Predators of Darkness for free on Kind of Book, and I'm so glad I downloaded it as I've thoroughly enjoyed reading them. I flew through Predators of Darkness, Aftermath of Darkness, and Game of Pawns, and now I'm reading the fourth book, Death Valley. I won't talk about them just yet, as I'm planning to review both series really soon, but I'd recommend both series if you love dystopian style novels like I do.

Discover 50 Great New Songs (3 / 50)

Well, these songs aren't exactly new, but I downloaded Pink's Raise Your Glass and The Goo Goo Dolls' Better Days, which are on the soundtrack to the film New Year's Eve, a film I've been enjoying lately. Uplifting songs are a  great way to treat the January blues, and these two worked for me.

Discover 30 Great New Albums (4 / 30)

Last week, I downloaded the new album from You Me At Six, and I'm really enjoying it so far! I've never really listened to You Me At Six before, and I'm not sure why because I love this style of music, and my younger sister used to play them a lot (during her mid noughties emo phase). I'm going to have to check out some of their older stuff now, too.

Watch 50 New Films (2 / 50)

I finally got around to watching Never Let Me Go, which my little sister lent me about six months ago! It's about a world where humans are cloned and raised solely to become organ donors for non-cloned humans. Once these people become adults, they're forced to start donating their organs one by one until they no longer have enough left to live themselves. The main characters (Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield) are locked in a love triangle, and desperately cling to the rumour that if they're in love, they'll be granted a few extra years to live before they begin sealing their fate. The film is really heart-breaking, and it left me questioning the moral and ethical sides to cloning / raising humans to save the life of another. I now know I'd be one hundred percent against it. The idea disturbs me.

Watch Every DVD I Own (53 / ?)

January was the month for chick flicks and disaster movies. I watched The Sound of Music, Valentine's Day, Knowing, The Happening, The Village, The Day After Tomorrow, Dante's Peak, Corrina Corrina, Sex and the City, Pretty Woman, and Julie and Julia. Which means I crossed another eleven DVDs off the list!

Complete the 5000 Question Survey (175 / 5000)

I answered questions 151-175 a couple of weeks ago, which you can catch up on via the link. I'm currently working on the next 25 questions which I hope to post really soon. It's much harder to answer than it would seem!

Complete the book 642 Things To Write About

642 Things To Write About is a great book filled with creative writing prompts, and I returned to it several times during January. I think I completed at least another six or seven tasks last month. The one above was a short list of some of the things I hope to do before I die. I may be shy, but I'm also a thrill seeker!

Complete the Listography Books (0 / 5)

I have five different books from the Listography series, and recently I've got in to the habit of filling in a page or two before bed. I really enjoy stepping back and thinking about my answers to the prompts; trying to personally define subjects I may have given little thought to in the past.

One of the last lists I filled in was 'my personal fashion trends over the years', part of which you can see above. I began the list thinking I didn't really have personal fashion trends before I hit my twenties, but as I began brain storming, I proved myself wrong. The memorable 'trends' of my past spilled on to the page, and overflowed in to the margins. Most of what you can see above was worn in the nineties, a decade when I was such a tomboy and had little interest in fashion. Scrunchies! Cycling shorts! Inflatable bags! What a time to be alive. What was I thinking?

Clean up and Back Up My Music, Photos and Files

This is a boring one, but something I really need to do so I can get my laptop fixed or replaced; the cooling system has been buggered for so long, I fear it'll explode if I ignore it much longer! I finally organised and backed up all my Music and other Itunes files in January, but with 70gb of files, it took me the best part of a week! Thank God that's over! Just the rest to do now... *sigh*

Listen to Every Song in My Itunes Library

I listened to quite a lot of tunes... but I deleted my iTunes library and started from scratch, so I've erased all my play counts... I couldn't keep track of this one if I tried. Hmm.

Goals Completed

Create a Cross Stitch Project

January was the month that I finally completed my Christmas cross stitch, which I'd been working on since September. I'm extremely pleased with the outcome, and now I just need to get it framed in time for Christmas! You can read more about this little project here.

After a few weeks of pondering, I eventually decided to buy a new kit to challenge myself with, and I went with this one. It's a little larger than I realised, but what's life without a little challenge now and then?

Buy New Bedding

[Source]

I've been meaning to buy some new bedding for so long, as I've been making do with a single duvet on a double bed. My Mum treated me to a lovely new duvet, so I sourced a new duvet set. I even managed to find one similar to the Next set which matches my curtains, so I don't even have to worry about buying new curtains to match!

Goals Completed in January: 2

Goals in Progress in January: 10

Goals Completed Overall: 12

Goals in Progress Overall: 11

11% Complete! 

Days Left: 846

I'm really pleased with my progress so far, but I hope I can do even better in February!

You can find my full 101 Things in 1001 Days list here. Feel free to use any of my goals for your own 101 Things in 1001 Days lists!  

I'd love to see your lists, so please leave me your links in the comment box!