Thanksgiving went well – it was nice to visit with my family, even if it was only for the one day.  And when I came back, sweet little Miles was looking so much better!  He got a cold about a month ago, and due to all the irritation in his eye (cats don’t get runny noses, they get runny eyes) he developed an ulcer that would not go away.  However, I was thankful to see some improvement!

Now – on to cleaning my house a bit so that I can pull out the Christmas tree!!!

• 12/1/2007 -- My Christmas Present from Mama and Daddy!
• 12/1/2007 -- Storage Solutions
• 9/15/2008 -- 101 in 1001 #2 – 35.64% Complete

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (i.e. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e. represent some amount of work on my part).

This project was taken from Triplux.

I completed my first 101 in 1001 on September 15, 2008!

The things that I say I want to MAINTAIN will be counted as completed if they are maintained for at least two months. I figure that if I maintain something for at least that long, then it’ll be habit.

Tasks I have completed will be struck through and a completion date will be listed that is linked to a post about the completion of that task. Tasks that I have begun will be italicized and a beginning date will be listed.

Started: September 15, 2008
Due Date: June 13, 2011
Tasks Completed: 36
Tasks in Progress: 9
Tasks Remaining:65

1. Make this list of 101 things to do in 1001 days. If anything was left incomplete from my previous 101 in 1001, then figure out why I didn’t do it, and see if I can rework the goal. If so, it has to be on this list (these items have a ** in front of them). Completed 9/15/08

Religious
2. Join a small group/women’s Bible study.
3. Start writing again at Reading Red Letters and MAINTAIN it. Completed 12/26/09
4. Find a church home wherever I move to after school. Completed 12/26/09
5. Read at least 10 books by C. S. Lewis.
6. MAINTAIN regular daily prayer time. Begun 12/15/09
7. **Plan a religious fast and complete said fast (probably 3 days, but that’s flexible).
8. **Read the Bible from beginning to end.

Family/Friends

9. Send Christmas cards in a timely fashion in 2008. Completed 12/30/08
10. Send Christmas cards in a timely fashion in 2009. Completed 12/26/09
11. Send Christmas cards in a timely fashion in 2010.
12. **Go to a concert with Daddy. Completed 8/15/09

Health
13. Get serious about meal planning and menus
14. Start and MAINTAIN drinking 8 glasses of water a day.
15. Get professionally fitted for a bra at a store that sells bras in my size. Completed 8/28/09
16. Learn to eat at least 3 new fruits and vegetables (doing this one again).
17. **Start and MAINTAIN regular exercise.
18. **Reach my weightloss goal and MAINTAIN it.
19. **Start and MAINTAIN regular flossing. Completed 10/28/09
20. **Get my stomach into fit enough condition so that a pierced bellybutton won’t look ridiculous (and if I keep my courage, actually pierce the bellybutton – but even if I don’t go through with it, the option is nice to have).
21. **MAINTAIN taking vitamins regularly.
22. **MAINTAIN monthly breast self exams.

School
23. Find an internship. Completed 3/23/09
24. Complete my graduate thesis. Completed 5/5/10
25. Graduate from UNCSA. Completed 5/29/10

Career

26. Find a job upon graduating.
27. File paperwork for LLC for virtual assistant business and become OFFICIAL. Completed 8/28/09
28. Have at least 6 clients for Tizzy Consulting.
29. Find a new format for my resume and rework it. Completed 11/8/08

Financial

30. Become financially independent from my parents.
31. Save $5 a day and deposit into my savings account (doing this one again).
32. Contribute every month to saving for a house down payment.
33. Fully fund Roth IRA in 2008. Completed 12/31/08
34. Fully fund Roth IRA in 2009.
35. Fully fund Roth IRA in 2010.
36. MAINTAIN using coupons as I grocery shop when able (many organic products do not get coupons).

Travel

37. Get a new car – and I’m the one paying for it. Completed 4/11/09
38. Visit Alaska.
39. Take another cruise.
40. See New York City when it’s decorated for Christmas. Completed 12/8/08
41. Travel to a different country.
42. Go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter once it opens.
43. **Take a vacation to Atlanta with Mama – go shopping and see an exhibit at the High Museum. Completed 1/26/09
44. **Travel to Washington, D.C. At least see major monuments, the White House, and the Smithsonian.
45. **Mount all my hat pins somehow (this replaces the previous “buy nice map and put a push-pin in every place I’ve been”)

Personal Betterment
46. Perform 10 random acts of kindness to complete strangers (0/10).
47. Have more involved communication with my sponsored children.
48. Get up the minute that the alarm goes off every day for a month.
49. Give blood if eligible (attempting to do this one again). Completed 9/10/09
50. Write a personal mission statement.
51. Wear makeup every day for a month. Completed 5/1/09
52. Write “to be read” letters to selected people (letters to be read upon my death by the people who mean the most to me).
53. Pay for the person behind me at a fast food drive thru (doing this one again).
54. Write a book.
55. **Stop biting fingernails.
56. **Update my journal and MAINTAIN it.

Organize/Purge

57. Organize, file, and store all my notes/keepsakes from my graduate classes.
58. Move a large portion of my items stored at my parents’ house to my place. Completed 8/15/09
59. Sell, donate, give, or throw away 101 items (doing this one again). Completed 3/27/09
60. Create a filing system for all paperwork and MAINTAIN it. Begun 3/22/09
61. Sort through all clothing three times (2/3).
62. Sort through all of my books and BookCross or give away a LARGE amount (at least 50). Completed 3/27/09
63. Rearrange books so that they truly are according to the Library of Congress system. Completed 6/30/09
64. **Finish entering all my books into a database. Completed 5/25/09
65. FLY. Begun 3/22/09

Technology
66. Write 500 blog posts (more attainable than 1001). (159/500) Begun 9/15/08
67. Participate in Blogathon 2009 Completed 7/26/09
68. Participate in Blogathon 2010
69. Participate in Blog Action Day 2008 Completed 10/15/08
70. Participate in Blog Action Day 2009 Completed 10/15/09
71. Participate in Blog Action Day 2010
72. Participate in NaNoWriMo
73. Build up a decent audio/visual system. Completed 6/17/10
74. Start a system for regularly backing up my computer(s) and MAINTAIN it. Completed 5/1/10
75. Complete an email purge of all unnecessary old emails. Completed 5/12/10

Entertainment

76. Read through my A-Z Challenge.
77. Join local library. Completed 8/28/09
78. Decrease my LibraryThing TBR tags by at least 71 books (to less than 262 books, which was 50% of my books when I moved to Atlanta).
79. Re-read all the Harry Potter books.
80. Re-read all the Star Wars books.
81. Read at least 150 books (31/150).
82. Reach a Gamerscore of at least 3,000 on XBox360 (currently at 2,160).
83. Go see a famous jazz musician/group in concert.
84. See a Cirque du Soleil show I haven’t seen (doing this one again).
85. Go see a movie at the movie theater alone. Completed 8/30/09
86. See an opera. Completed 4/16/10
87. **Complete The Sims 2 Legacy Challenge. Completed 9/15/09
88. **Finish clearing my previous Netflix queue. (298/494) Begun 12/19/05
89. **Read 75% of the list of books that my friends have sent me. (24/85) Begun 12/19/05
90. **Watch 90% of the Greatest Films in 101 Things to Do Before You Die. (99/119) Begun 12/19/05
91. **See 100% of AFI top 100 movies. (81/100) Begun 12/19/05
92. **See 75% of Entertainment Weekly’s top 100 movies. (57/75) Begun 12/19/05

In the Kitchen
93. Rework my chocolate chip cookies recipe so that it is healthier.
94. **Learn to use cast iron skillets without messing up the seasoning.
95. **Find and make a good cheese fondue recipe (may require several tries).

Just for Fun
96. Find some attractive skirts that I can wear daily (not just on special occasions) and wear them! Completed 10/28/09
97. Complete a New York Times crossword (any day of the week)
98. Be super silly – take Oprah’s product recommendation. Completed 5/2/09
99. **Learn to drive a stick shift.
100. **Win something (anything) from a lottery ticket.

101. On June 13, 2011, publish a new 101 in 1001.

• 12/18/2005 -- 101 in 1001 – 67.33% Complete
• 7/19/2006 -- About
• 7/27/2008 -- Longest Meme Ever (Day of Blogs ’08 #32)

Straight from their website, here is how CLI’s Professional Development Program works:

• Developing Engaging Read Alouds Because being read to adds directly to children’s knowledge and vocabulary, experts stress the importance of reading aloud to students.

At the writing center, a first-grader has word books, a dry-erase board and pen to work with. Activities can include writing a letter or writing about a book. We instruct teachers to promote children’s interest in books by reading aloud expressively, and to use books to build comprehension and vocabulary by asking open-ended questions. • Encouraging Writing Skills It is important to develop writing skills in young children, as language and literacy work together. Starting from infancy, almost everything that children learn about listening and talking contributes to their ability to read and write. CLI trains teachers to incorporate writing in every classroom center, and to provide ample writing opportunities for their students.

• Creating a Literacy-Rich Environment in the Classroom Displays of children’s writing, labeling, signs, and books in all areas of the classroom help immerse students in print conventions (such as punctuation and the way words are read) while providing them with a context for new vocabulary and letters. A literacy-rich environment includes interactive instructional materials created by the teachers and a collection of quality books on display with their covers facing outwards.

• Designing a Center-Based Classroom Work centers are physical areas of the classroom designated for learning and practice with specific instructional goals. Early childhood centers include such areas as a Library Center, Writing Center, Science and Discovery Center, and a Math Center. Classroom centers should be challenging and purposeful and the objective of each center activity should be targeted towards reaching classroom literacy goals.

At the science center, reading and writing are tools for learning. A book on frogs, alphabet tiles to spell with, tadpoles in a water tank, and paper and pens provide a purposeful learning opportunity. The results of a kindergartner’s tadpole study are displayed on the classroom wall.

CLI professional developers not only visit classrooms to help teachers rearrange and refine their classrooms, they also provide useful literacy instructional materials and activities that are theme- or content-related. Teachers learn classroom management skills in order to provide effective individual and small-group reading instruction and to promote independent learning.

I had centers in kindergarten – they were a lot of fun, and in hindsight focused our learning so clearly.  I just can’t say enough good things about CLI – won’t you consider sponsoring me?

This post is for the Day of Blogs 2008! I am blogging for Children’s Literacy Initiative. For more information about what I am doing, please click here, or you can sponsor me!

• 7/22/2008 -- Are you ready to stay awake?
• 7/27/2008 -- Longest Meme Ever (Day of Blogs ’08 #32)
• 7/27/2008 -- Illuminated Manuscripts (Day of Blogs ’08 #39)

*bold those you’ve read
*italicise started-but-never-finished
*add three of your own
*post to your blog

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. 1984, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Susskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 1/2, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George’s Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O’Brian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophie’s World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr. Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery (in French)
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis loved!
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Gross-mith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews
201. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
202. The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
203. The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan
204. The Dragon Reborn, Robert Jordan
205. Fires of Heaven, Robert Jordan
206. Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan
207. Winter’s Heart, Robert Jordan
208. A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan
209. Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan
210. A Path of Daggers, Robert Jordan
211. As Nature Made Him, John Colapinto
212. Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
213. The Married Man, Edmund White
214. Winter’s Tale, Mark Helprin
215. The History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault
216. Cry to Heaven, Anne Rice
217. Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, John Boswell
218. Equus, Peter Shaffer
219. The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten
220. Letters To A Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
221. Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
222. The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice
223. Anthem, Ayn Rand
224. The Bridge To Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
225. Tartuffe, Moliere
226. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
227. The Crucible, Arthur Miller
228. The Trial, Franz Kafka
229. Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
230. Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles
231. Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther
232. A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen
233. Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen
234. Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
235. A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
236. ALIVE!, Piers Paul Read
237. Grapefruit, Yoko Ono
238. Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde
240. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
241. Chronicles of Thomas Convenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
242. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
242. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
243. Summerland, Michael Chabon
244. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
245. Candide, Voltaire
246. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Roald Dahl
247. Ringworld, Larry Niven
248. The King Must Die, Mary Renault
249. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
250. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L’Engle
251. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
252. The House Of The Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne
253. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
254. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
255. The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson
256. Chocolate Fever, Robert Kimmel Smith
257. Xanth: The Quest for Magic, Piers Anthony
258. The Lost Princess of Oz, L. Frank Baum
259. Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon
260. Lost In A Good Book, Jasper Fforde
261. Well Of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
261. Life Of Pi, Yann Martel
263. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
264. A Yellow Rraft In Blue Water, Michael Dorris
265. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
267. Where The Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
268. Griffin & Sabine, Nick Bantock
269. Witch of Blackbird Pond, Joyce Friedland
270. Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH, Robert C. O’Brien
271. Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
272. The Cay, Theodore Taylor
273. From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg
274. The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
275. The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
276. The Kitchen God’s Wife, Amy Tan
277. The Bone Setter’s Daughter, Amy Tan
278. Relic, Duglas Preston & Lincolon Child
279. Wicked, Gregory Maguire
280. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
281. Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry
282. The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum
283. Haunted, Judith St. George
284. Singularity, William Sleator
285. A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
286. Different Seasons, Stephen King
287. Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
288. About a Boy, Nick Hornby
289. The Bookman’s Wake, John Dunning
290. The Church of Dead Girls, Stephen Dobyns
291. Illusions, Richard Bach
292. Magic’s Pawn, Mercedes Lackey
293. Magic’s Promise, Mercedes Lackey
294. Magic’s Price, Mercedes Lackey
295. The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav
296. Spirits of Flux and Anchor, Jack L. Chalker
297. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
298. The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices, Brenda Love
299. Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace.
300. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison.
301. The Cider House Rules, John Irving.
302. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
303. Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland
304. The Lion’s Game, Nelson Demille
305. The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, Stephen Brust
306. Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
307. Foucault’s Pendulum, Umberto Eco
308. Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
309. Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk
310. Camber of Culdi, Kathryn Kurtz
311. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
312. War and Rememberance, Herman Wouk
313. The Art of War, Sun Tzu
314. The Giver, Lois Lowry
315. The Telling, Ursula Le Guin
316. Xenogenesis (or Lilith’s Brood), Octavia Butler
317. A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold
318. The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
319. The Aeneid, Publius Vergilius Maro (Vergil)
320. Hanta Yo, Ruth Beebe Hill
321. The Princess Bride, S. Morganstern (or William Goldman)
322. Beowulf, Anonymous
323. The Sparrow, Maria Doria Russell
324. Deerskin, Robin McKinley
325. Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey
326. Passage, Connie Willis
327. Otherland, Tad Williams
328. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
329. Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
330. Beloved, Toni Morrison
331. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore
332. The mysterious disappearance of Leon, I mean Noel, Ellen Raskin
333. Summer Sisters, Judy Blume
334. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo
335. The Island on Bird Street, Uri Orlev
336. Midnight in the Dollhouse, Marjorie Filley Stover
337. The Miracle Worker, William Gibson
338. The Genesis Code, John Case
339. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevensen
340. Paradise Lost, John Milton
341. Phantom, Susan Kay
342. The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Anne Rice
343. Anno Dracula, Kim Newman
344: The Dresden Files: Grave Peril, Jim Butcher
345: Tokyo Suckerpunch, Issac Adamson
346: The Winter of Magic’s Return, Pamela Service
347: The Oddkins, Dean R. Koontz
348. My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
349. The Last Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
350. At Swim, Two Boys, Jaime O’Neill
351. Othello, by William Shakespeare
352. The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas
353. The Collected Poems of William Butler Yeats
354. Sati, Christopher Pike
355. The Inferno, Dante
356. The Apology, Plato
357. The Small Rain, Madeline L’Engle
358. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Richard E Cytowick
359. 5 Novels, Daniel Pinkwater
360. The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Juliet Marillier
361. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
362. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
363. Our Town, Thorton Wilder
364. Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King
335. The Interpreter, Suzanne Glass
336. The Moor’s Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie
337. The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
338. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster loved
339. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
340. The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux
341. Pages for You, Sylvia Brownrigg
342. The Changeover, Margaret Mahy
343. Howl’s Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
344. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
345. Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo
346. Shosha, Isaac Bashevis Singer
347. Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck
348. The Diving-bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
349. The Lunatic at Large by J. Storer Clouston
350. Time for Bed by David Baddiel
351. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
352. Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre
353. The Bloody Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley
354. Sewer, Gas, and Eletric by Matt Ruff
355. Jhereg by Steven Brust
356. So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane
357. Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
358. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte
359. Road-side Dog, Czeslaw Milosz
360. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
361. Neuromancer, William Gibson
362. The Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
363. A Canticle for Liebowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr
364. The Mask of Apollo, Mary Renault
365. The Gunslinger, Stephen King
366. Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
367. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
368. A Season of Mists, Neil Gaiman
369. Ivanhoe, Walter Scott
370. The God Boy, Ian Cross
371. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, Laurie R. King
372. Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson
373. Misery, Stephen King
374. Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters
375. Hood, Emma Donoghue
376. The Land of Spices, Kate O’Brien
377. The Diary of Anne Frank
378. Regeneration, Pat Barker
379. Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
380. Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia
381. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
382. The View from Saturday, E.L. Konigsburg
383. Dealing with Dragons, Patricia Wrede
384. Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss
385. A Severed Wasp – Madeleine L’Engle
386. Here Be Dragons – Sharon Kay Penman
387. The Mabinogion (Ancient Welsh Tales) – translated by Lady Charlotte E. Guest
388. The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey
389. Girl Meets God, Lauren Winner
390. Traveling Light, Max Lucado
391. The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
392. The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, A. J. Jacobs
393. The Pillowman, Martin McDonagh

This post is for the Day of Blogs 2008! I am blogging for Children’s Literacy Initiative. For more information about what I am doing, please click here, or you can sponsor me!

• 7/26/2008 -- Top of Amazon in 2007 (Day of Blogs ’08 #20)
• 9/15/2008 -- 101 in 1001 #2 – 35.64% Complete
• 7/22/2008 -- Are you ready to stay awake?

It’s such a sweet memory, but I didn’t really realize its significance until the other day when I was talking with my mom.  I always just thought that I wanted to read a book, so I picked it up and there we went.  My mom tells it a bit differently.  The other day, she said,

“Well, when you were little, you equated reading with giving love.  You thought that if you loved someone then that meant you read to them.  You loved to be read to, so you thought that your Daddy and I read to you because we loved you.  You loved your baby brother, so you thought that to show him that you should read to him.”

Wow.  When you think about it like that, there’s a pretty powerful message there.  Yet again, I’m hit over the head with how important it is to read to children.

Please consider supporting Children’s Literacy Initiative!

This post is for the Day of Blogs 2008! I am blogging for Children’s Literacy Initiative. For more information about what I am doing, please click here, or you can sponsor me!

• 7/26/2008 -- TasteBook (Day of Blogs ’08 #8)
• 7/27/2008 -- Children’s Literacy Initiative (Day of Blogs ’08 #42)
• 7/27/2008 -- Longest Meme Ever (Day of Blogs ’08 #32)

One of the things I enjoy the most is trying new recipes, especially when I find older family recipes. I have a tea cake recipe that my grandmother used to make when I was a little girl, and I was so delighted to finally give it a try and have them come out just the way I remembered them!

Most of the recipes I try aren’t in cookbooks, so I have a binder that is overflowing with recipes I’ve either tried or are waiting to be tried. I’ve been looking for a while to find a way to keep them better organized, and of course the internet provided just that.

This neat website called TasteBook lets you create your own cookbooks! You can put in your own recipes, find great pictures, and then actually get it bound! For about $20 you can have a professionally printed cookbook for your own personal use!

This post is for the Day of Blogs 2008! I am blogging for Children’s Literacy Initiative. For more information about what I am doing, please click here, or you can sponsor me!

• 7/26/2008 -- Recycled Reading Meme (Day of Blogs ’08 #17)
• 7/22/2008 -- Are you ready to stay awake?
• 7/27/2008 -- Longest Meme Ever (Day of Blogs ’08 #32)

So, this year I will be participating the Day of Blogs 2008!  The crowd’s a bit smaller, but it’s still for a great purpose, so I’m in!  This Saturday, July 26 (at 9AM EST) I will begin blogging every half hour for 24 hours.  Bring on the caffeine!

This year, the charity that I have chosen is Children’s Literacy Initiative.  Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE reading (I mean, I double majored in English and theatre – that’s a lot of reading, LOL).  I have hundreds of books at home, and I’m always reading something.  I attribute my passion for reading to my early childhood experiences with books, mostly from my parents and my teachers.  I’ll share more of my personal experiences during Day of Blogs, but know that reading is something I am quite dedicated to, and believe every child should have significant exposure to.  Children’s Literacy Initiative doesn’t just support childhood literacy – it trains the teachers of pre-K through 3rd grade students who will work with these children on ways to effectively reach them and grant them a fulfilling education.

Children’s Literacy Initiative Mission Statement

Children’s Literacy Initiative works with teachers of our youngest children to transform instruction so that all children become powerful readers, writers, and thinkers.

From their profile on Charity Navigator:

Children’s Literacy Initiative (CLI) was founded in 1988 to enhance the opportunity for children from low-income families to enter school ready to learn and, once in school, to be successful in learning to read. CLI works to increase children’s literacy skills and to foster a love of reading by providing professional development for teachers of pre-kindergarten through third grade students. Our programs are designed to provide training in the most effective literacy practices and include quality books and materials for creating a literacy-rich classroom environment. CLI is involved in large projects in the public school systems of Philadelphia, Newark (NJ), Camden, Baltimore, and Boston, as well as training in several school districts in Pennsylvania.

Please consider sponsoring me for Day of Blogs. Donations can be received through Network for Good via the link at the end of each post during Day of Blogs (or by clicking HERE) or you may click through the widget on my sidebar.

There are all sorts of answers that you can find on the Day of Blogs website, but as always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

This post is for the Day of Blogs 2008! I am blogging for Children’s Literacy Initiative. For more information about what I am doing, please click here, or you can sponsor me!

• 7/26/2008 -- Recycled Reading Meme (Day of Blogs ’08 #17)
• 7/27/2008 -- Children’s Literacy Initiative (Day of Blogs ’08 #42)
• 7/27/2008 -- Longest Meme Ever (Day of Blogs ’08 #32)

First, AJ, Bo, and I met up in San Francisco.  It was a little weird that Bo and I were on vacation together without my parents.  I guess we’re really grown up now, huh?  LOL!

The first full day was our big sightseeing day.  We took a sightseeing tour bus that drove us all around town and showed us everything.  It took us to the top of a hill where we could see the whole city – it’s so big and hilly!

And then the bus took us to Golden Gate Bridge:

Then we traveled to Muir Woods, which was a beautiful state park.  The redwoods were so gorgeous!  So, of course, AJ had to act goofy in the middle of them

Then, that night, we went to see Al Capone’s old haunt – Alcatraz:

The next few days we spent exploring the city, including visiting the original Ghirardelli store.

We also spent an afternoon at Haight Ashbury, which is a place I’ve been wanting to visit for YEARS!  We also smoked a little hookah in a hookah bar at Haight Ashbury, which just seemed too appropriate.  This is a horrible angle for me, but look, I was there!

Then we met up with my parents and we all headed to Napa Valley!  We had the best time.  We probably went to 15-20 wineries.

AJ and I slowly collected a case’s worth of wine to bring home with us . . . until we went to the last winery.  We had tours at several of the wineries, and tastings at almost everyone, but the last winery we went to was a little different.  At Del Dotto, we did a barrel tasting – we tasted the wine straight from the barrels that were in the caves!  It was so cool!

This was some of the best wine that we have ever tasted, and since the vineyard is a smaller vineyard that only sells wine from the winery (not in stores or resteraunts), we bought another half case of wine there, LOL!  We’re going to let the wine age, so AJ and I used a Christmas gift certificate I had saved to by this AWESOME wine fridge.

So, I guess can check off #37 on my 101 in 1001 – I’ve been to California!  For all the pictures, see my Flickr.

Then, Mama, Daddy, and Bo all went home and AJ and I went to New York for a couple of days.  We saw August: Osage County (which was soooooo amazing) and American Ballet Theatre‘s production of Sleeping Beauty (which meant a lot to me – Disney’s movie has been my favorite movie since I was 2, and I’ve always wanted to see the ballet).  We also got to spend some time with my best friend Stephanie.  She lives in NYC now, and she’s never had a chance to meet AJ.

So, we’re back now, and completely exhausted, but we had a truly great vacation!  I think I’ve decided to give wine tasting/journaling another shot now that I’ve been to Napa and have a bit more knowledge about the whole thing.

Oh, and while I’m posting, we can also scratch #69 off of my 101 in 1001 list – over the past year I’ve really switched a lot of my grocery purchasing to organic food, and I try to consciously pick the organic options, even if they do cost a little more!

• 9/15/2008 -- 101 in 1001 #2 – 35.64% Complete
• 6/29/2006 -- Thursday Thirteen #47
• 7/19/2006 -- About

Well, for starters, I will be working most of the break. The few days I won’t be working are Thursday-Sunday, and that’s because the boy and I are going to Florida to visit my parents. I’m excited about that because I get to see my parents and I will get to be at MY church for Easter (I miss my church). However, it won’t be much of a break because I have THREE doctors appointments while I’m there.

When we get back, I still have a few days off from school left, but I’ll still have work, and I think that my rotation supervisor is going to make me come in to school even though we’re on break. Sigh.

So, I’m not really going to get a whole lot of breakin’ in. Just a pause in school. I can’t wait to be done with this. I’m not even sure if I’m going to get to do any spring cleaning or get my hair cut (like I DESPERATELY need).

Anyone got spring plans or projects?

• 12/18/2005 -- 101 in 1001 – 67.33% Complete
• 9/15/2008 -- 101 in 1001 #2 – 35.64% Complete
• 12/1/2007 -- Storage Solutions

Yes, I have been a very sucky blogger the past few months. Grad school + job = NO FREE TIME. Pity me, please?

OK, so last I spoke was when Nana passed away. I was in Georgia for about a week helping with funeral arrangements and the like, then I came back to North Carolina.

My kittens did great while I was gone (AJ watched them for me), and they also gained names! I named the one with more white on his face Oscar (for Oscar Peterson) and the other one is Miles (for Miles Davis). There will be more pictures to come, though they haven’t grown AT ALL since I got them (which, I shouldn’t say that too loud – they are precious and adorable, I like their size now, LOL). They love to cuddle with me and they are SO GOOD together – I can’t imagine ever seperating them. I feel bad because I am gone so much of the day, so I don’t get to spend nearly as much time with them as I want to, but since they have each other, I know that they’re doing just fine. They just really like to cuddle when I come home!

The next week was utter chaos because it was holiday at Starbucks, so crazy busy, and I also had one week to get ready for Christmas. AJ and I had a lovely Christmas on the 21st, and on the 22nd I had Christmas with his family. On the 23rd I drove to GA, had Christmas with MY family, and then drove back on the 26th.

On the . . . 29th? . . . I woke up at about 3:30AM with really intense pain in my lower right abdomen. I could barely stand up, and it made me throw up it hurt so bad. I was able to get to the computer, saw that the right side is the appendix side, and decided I didn’t want to risk it. I called AJ and woke him up and he got me to the ER. It turns out that I had a ruptured ovarian cyst, so the next week I was off my feet a bit and then taking it pretty easy. I feel much better now, but man that hurt!!!

Classes started back on January 4th, and it has been NONSTOP since then. At the moment my rotation is in the development office, and it’s very time intensive. My schedule most days is something like this:

Rotation: 8AM-9:30AM
Class: 10AM-2PM
Rotation: 2PM-4:30PM
Work: 5:45PM-11:45PM

Note that I get about 8 hours off . . . and those are the sleeping hours . . . try fitting homework and sanity time in there. I’m exhausted. Luckily, there are only about 4 more weeks of this rotation and then I switch to something a little more laid back, so if I can just hang in there.

I’m getting really tired of school. As I go through all my classes, I realize that I’m not really learning a ton. I don’t say this to be cocky, I just got a really great undergrad education, and my instincts are usually pretty good. If it weren’t for the darned three letters that I need to get a job (MFA), I probably would be just fine to have skipped all this. I just have to keep reminding myself that I’ve only got about a year and a half before my internship, and while that’s technically still school, it’s really a job too, and it will be in an office somewhere (or something . . .)

I have missed being able to be online. I feel like I’m losing a little bit of myself because of all the craziness. Summer will be a welcome time. How is everyone else doing (is anyone even reading my blog anymore)?

• 7/19/2006 -- About
• 7/22/2008 -- Are you ready to stay awake?
• 9/15/2008 -- 101 in 1001 #2 – 35.64% Complete