Day Zero

Back in October of 2011, I started a Day Zero list. I'm not sure why, other than I was probably looking for something to do that night, and that night turned into the next 1001 days. Sometimes, it makes for great material to blog about.

Day Zero has its own dedicated website where you can keep track of your life's to-do's. I like this better than assigning things to a bucket list, which I find morbid with a less definite timeline.

Try it. It's kind of fun, but I warn you, it's difficult to come up with 101 things in one sitting. I'm still trying to fill all the slots.

Here is the first list I completed by the deadline of July 2014.

1. Learn how to play something on the accordion
2. Knit a sweater for myself (that I actually wear) (proof) (more proof)
3. Get a new job (proof)
4. Eat gelato on the Spanish Steps
5. Return to Paris
6. Buy a DSLR camera (proof)
7. Make the perfect crepe (proof)
8. Record myself singing
9. Cut my hair short (proof)
10. Make two new good friends
11. Finish a bottle of mutivitamins (proof)
12. Learn basic HTML
13. Be vegetarian for a week (proof)
14. Go to a zoo (proof)
15. Read 15 books in a year
16. Spend my 30th birthday somewhere warm (proof)
17. Dye my hair brown
18. Stay off Facebook for a week (part 1) (part 2)
19. Create a table cloth guest book (proof)
20. Stop watching TV on weekday mornings
21. Get a nice winter coat (proof)
22. Take Rachel, Rebecca and William on an outing (separately)
23. Make my own liqueur (proof)
24. Host a dinner party for new friends (proof)
25. Make something with Brussels sprouts
26. Close my Wells Fargo account
27. Deep clean my car
28. Make frozen yogurt (proof)
29. Save $100 extra dollars a month
30. Pay off my car ahead of schedule (proof)
31. Soak in some hot springs (proof)
32. Take an acquaintance out to coffee (proof)
33. Go to the opera (proof)
34. Knit a pair of socks (proof)
35. Take a class just for fun (I took French!)
36. Go paddleboarding (proof)

Here are the remaining goals and growing list, post July 2014:

1. Exercise at least 3 days a week (Tues/Thurs/Sat at the Bar Method as of April 2015) (proof)
2. Ride a moped  (a motorcycle counts - July 2015)
3. Fill up my journal (December 2015)
4. Ride a bike in Amsterdam (April 2016)
5. Go to a Mariners game  (September 2014)
6. Read from a genre outside my comfort zone (The Hunger Games, April 2015)
7. Cut my hair even shorter (December 2015)
8. Spend Christmas somewhere tropical (Mexico 2015!)
9. Drive across the US
10. Learn how to write grants
11. Visit Liz in Prague
12. Live somewhere with good public transit
13. Take a sewing class
14. Shop once a week at a farmer's market for 4 weeks
15. Donate blood five times
16. Blog at least once a week
17. Go to New Orleans
18. See Paul Simon in concert (May 2016)
19. Go camping
20. Revisit the Smithsonian Museum
21. Swim a mile
22. Learn the lyrics to Mas Que Nada
23. Watch Lord of the Rings
24. Go snowshoeing in the moonlight
25. Send a care package to someone
26. Can something
27. Go skiing at Schweitzer
28. Call my mom every day for a week
29. Make slippers for my parents and siblings
30. Make crackers
31. Stick to my budget for 2 months in a row
32. Travel domestically on a train
33. Drink at least 24 oz of water every day before leaving work
34. Create a brand for The Sentimental Club
35. Deliver cookies to neighbors
36. Use a lunch hour twice a week for pilates or yoga
37. Get in a sea kayak
38. Play tennis
39. Go to Hawaii
40. Organize an elementary school reunion
41. Buy nothing for a week
42. Crochet something
43. Write 3 thank you notes to people who influenced me
44. Open a cookbook to a random page and make whatever comes up
45. Read 10 classics I should have read but have never got around to
46. Watch a roller derby match