Reaching my goal weight isn’t usually a problem, but keeping it there is. I am giving myself 1001 days to reach it, and then keep it there for at least 6 months. Yes, I have clear figures in mind, and no I am not sharing them here!

In Progress: Ratatouille, Mushroom Ragoût with Goat Cheese

I am aiming to reduce the amount of meat that I consume, and would like to replace a couple of meat meals each week with vegetarian dishes. Sometimes I end up cooking meat just because I can’t think of anything else interesting to make, so I need to expand my repertoire.

I’ll be honest: I’m a carnivore. I love meat in all its forms and would be a miserable vegetarian. On the other hand, sometimes I just eat meat because it’s habit. I’m challenging myself to a fortnight without it.

Completed: February 2008
If you thought #006 was going to be hard… this one may actually kill me.

I want to include a healthy number of fairly obscure countries too. It’s so easy to find unusual ingredients in Melbourne, so this should be a really inspiring exercise.

Completed: February 2008 (100km/62 miles)

This is about a 2 hour round trip, at an easy pace. I am hoping that this inspires me to walk more regularly.

Harry will think that he has died and gone to doggy heaven.

It’s been forever since my bike has seen the outside of the shed.

Completed: July 2008 - Senior First Aid
I volunteered to be a First Aid Officer at my previous workplace, so they sent me off to do the course.

Completed: September 2008

In Progress: Secretary, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Cloverfield, Batman Begins, The Corpse Bride
Getting pretty tired of hearing "No way! What do you mean you haven’t seen that movie!". I am ignorant and uncultured and Tim is apparently the only person who can rehabilitate me and turn me into a functioning member of society.

This is something that I have already started, but didn’t quite get around to sealing up. I’d like to get a few more letters from people before doing so, and then I’ll lock it away for 10 years. Or 5. I’m not sure yet.

I don’t really hate the fact that I swear, but I do care that I sometimes do it without thinking or without realising. So for two weeks I will keep a swear jar, and donate the money that it collects. Sweet mother of crap that’s gonna be hard.

I used to know these, but I’m really rusty now.

This will be a bigger challenge.

I know absolutely no sign language, and that’s bad. I’ll start by learning the alphabet, and some common words.

Completed: Tim and I have sponsored a 5yo girl from Ecuador, named Domenica.

In Progress: Orion

Because I am completely ignorant.

Tim’s family are all in Connecticut and New York, and we plan to be back there in a couple of years. The plan is to see New England in Spring or Summer, see Boston and NYC and visit his family’s places in Maine and Vermont. I’d really like a day or two in San Francisco on the way home, too.

Completed: 10th February 2008
Any excuse to be a big kid.

Fairy penguins rule.

If you’ve never heard of the Great Ocean Road, you’re missing out. I want to see and photograph the Apostles at different times of day, and maybe stay at a B&B somewhere along the road.

I’ve lived my entire life in a state that never sees snow, and now that I’m in Victoria I want to build a snowman without getting on a plane first! I’d also love to show my dog snow for the first time.

In Progress: QV Markets, Richmond Markets, Camberwell Markets

Melbourne seems to be full of markets for fresh produce and crafts. I can think of a few that are within a few km’s of my house, and I want to find more!

In Progress: Track my progress here.

This is part of an effort to get to know my new city better, and to just explore.

In Progress: The Time We Have Taken - Steven Carroll
I think locally-written fiction is a great way to learn about a new place, so I would like some of these books to also be set in Melbourne.

Complete: June 2008
I barely understand AFL, but I do know they wear those little shorts…

This is a birthday present for Tim that we haven’t done yet. The tram rides around the city for a couple of hours, and has a great menu and full bar. I’m really looking forward to doing this!

Don’t judge me, it’s just something I have to do! I will take my little cousin with me, so that I am not that sad and lonely Neighbours fan on the tour bus. Expect photos.

The expense of doing this is one of the reasons why it’s on my list - otherwise I’d never find the money to do it, and it would end up being put off until I was too old and cranky. I think an hour long flight over the city at dawn is worth a few hundred dollars, so sometime in the next 1001 days I’ll be doing it!

Completed: Feb 6th , 2008
The idea of sharing a cinema with just a handful of people, and watching a great movie from a recliner sounds perfect to me. And if somebody wants to bring me food and wine I will not stand in their way.

Reasons To Not Date Boys #13908: If they don’t break your heart, they’ll break your guitar.

Completed: Jan 12th, 2008

I watched the first episode in late November of 2007. I’ll mark this one complete once I have caught up to the end of Season 3, as Season 4 hasn’t aired yet. Thank God there’s a writer’s strike right now that is preventing them from making any more until I’m done!

I have some ideas in mind for this, but I can’t exactly write them down can I?

I give with one hand, and take with the other…

Completed: July 2008
I tackled this in a fairly large way when I moved to Melbourne, but I still need to set up a new filing system for household-related stuff.

In Progress: We’re buying a Mac!!
A Mac is looking more and more likely, considering the stuff I use my machine for. Getting really sick of buggy operating systems and BSOD. I just want something that works, and a beautiful monitor that I can use for working on my photos.

In Progress: Mostly done, just need to transfer it to my new computer.
I want to have my massive mp3 collection organised completely by album and genre, and I want to delete the huge amount of stuff that I don’t even like anymore. This will be a huge job.

In Progress: Backing them up to an external drive, ready to be transferred to (and organised on) the new computer.
I am incredibly stupid for not having backups of most of my photos. Right now there are just way too many to burn to DVD (as a single Nikon RAW file can be 12-15mb), so I need to start by culling. This will be a really big project that will be done over a long period of time, but it will feel great to have it done.

Completed: March 2008
We’re a bit limited in what we can do, since we’ll have to grow everything in pots, but there’s still plenty of stuff that will grow. In particular I love having fresh herbs on hand when I’m cooking, and food just tastes better when you’ve made it all yourself.

Completed: 20th Jan 2008 - with 6 days to spare!

… hopefully in time for Tim’s first Australia Day.

I have inherited the world’s smallest, cruddiest microwave ever. I plan to upgrade to something with (gasp!) a digital display!

Completed: Jan 25th, 2008 - with the help of my brother.

We are currently operating with a $4.95 IKEA knife block, which holds 4 serrated knives. If we last another month without accidentally amputating a digit it will be a miracle. This one is a priority.

Completed: August 2008
I’ve been living on a budget for so long that I’ve always skimped on my hair. I dye it with something that comes from a packet at the supermarket, and don’t go anywhere too flash for a cut. Just once, I want to spend whatever it takes to have incredible hair.

That site has been ‘under construction’ for so long that it’s not funny - and mostly because I’ve been trying to do something far more complicated than is needed.

My first step is to get my new website built, and then offer some prints for sale. I can also sell some of my work through deviantART and RedBubble, and maybe submit some of my shots to publications and competitions.

In an effort to drag the camera out more regularly. Success is not necessarily completing all 100 themes, however.

Completed: September 2008 - a beautiful 70-300mm VR f/4.5-5.6!

There are plenty of websites popping up that offer the software and services to help you design your own book. I’d like to make a book of my photography with Blurb or Lulu, and give a couple of copies to family. It would be very satisfying to hold a bound book containing my own work.

I really can’t draw. I’ve drawn a few really neat things in the past, but it’s always really really hard work and it doesn’t come naturally to me at all. What I really need to do is draw regularly, instead of trying to tackle one huge project every couple of years.

Because they’re so expressive, but so hard to get right.

Because I find it intimidating, and usually avoid it.

In an effort to curb my perfectionistic tendencies, I am not committing to writing every single day. This is about writing on a regular basis without getting all OCD about it.

My dedication towards learning the guitar has been very haphazard. My goal is to be able to play a song at recording standard, and maybe add vocals and piano.

Last time I did 101 Things in 1001 Days I taught myself to knit a scarf. I’ve now knitted a bunch of scarves, but can’t do anything else! I’d like to try something a little more complicated, and knit a bag. If that’s too hard, I have a book of other projects to choose from.