Elizabeth is an Australian blogger and photographer, living in Melbourne after a lifetime in Queensland. She is undertaking a challenge to complete 101 Things in 1001 Days, and documents her progress here.
Scarlet Words is also home to stories about life in her newly adopted city, and news about all the cool stuff she discovers on the web.
She is owned by a small dog named Harry, and has an embarrassing habit of introducing herself in the third person. If you like, you can read even more about her here.
Every day in 2011 Madeline shot some video of her life in LA. At the end of the year she compiled it into one 7.5 minute video, with each day represented by about a second of footage. The end result is so much fun and the ending is perfect. It looks like a happy year!
My birthday is in March, and this looks like a really fun way to document my year of being 32.
I have six weeks to decide whether I’m this disciplined…
Are you interested in making your own list of 101 Things in 1001 Days? I often receive comments and emails about my 101 project, and it’s always exciting to hear of people starting up lists of their own. I also know how daunting it can be to come up with such a big list of tasks that you’re still going to care about two years from now!
I thought I’d share some tips for writing a bulletproof list – little tips and tricks that I wish I’d known when I started my first 101 project.
Ready? Here we go!
01. Pick a start date for your project I’ve always chosen 1 January because I love clean slates. You may prefer to finish at the end of a calendar year, or you might like to start or finish on your birthday. Whatever works for you.
Something to consider: what else will be going on in your life during that final month of your project? Don’t schedule your finish date during your exams or during a busy month of family birthdays. That last month is a race against the clock!
02. Start writing your list early Nobody ever tells you how much work goes into creating a list of 101 things that represent your goals. I’m sure that all of us can think of a handful of tasks off the tops of our heads, but what then?
I recommend keeping a small notebook nearby to jot down ideas as you think of them. Try to come up 150 things if you can, that way you will have plenty of choice when it comes time to curate your best 101 goals!
It took more than a month for me to come up with a really solid list. Towards the end of this post you’ll find plenty of inspiration to use if you find that you’re getting stuck.
03. Brainstorm and categorize As I jotted down my ideas I noticed that they formed some themes. I had written about places I wanted to visit, how I wanted to improve my health and skills I wanted to practise. There were tasks related to personal growth, and lots of experiences that I wanted to enjoy. It helped me a lot to recognise these themes and use them to create a list of big-picture categories.
From there, other goals became more obvious to me. For example, I had already listed Complete another round of Couch to 5K as a goal, and this reminded me that I’ve always wanted to sign up for a 5km fun run. Lots of things fell into place for me this way.
I know that categories don’t work for everybody. In fact, if you look around the web at other 101/1001 lists you’ll notice that most of them are just randomised, unconnected tasks. I can see how this would be an excellent approach for people who don’t have their hearts set on long-term goals.
04. Be S.M.A.R.T. Take a look at your list. Can you define exactly when you can cross off each task?
Specific (what is it, and by when?) Measurable (how much? how many?) Attainable (can it be done with available time & money?) Relevant (does it matter? will it matter later?) Timely (how long? by when?)
Nothing kills a list of goals like ambiguity. Instead of get fit, how about these: run for 20 minutes without stopping or fit back into my wedding dress?
If you have a really big goal it can be a good idea to break it down into smaller goals that you can cross off at various milestones.
05. Review your list 1001 days is enough time to train for a marathon. It’s also plenty of time to visit every continent, start a family, write a novel or learn to dance en pointe.
However, most of us can’t do all of those things together – especially if we want to keep our jobs and partners and sanity!
It’s easy to get carried away. 1001 days seems like such a long period of time, but believe me – it can fly! Check that your list is achievable as a whole so that it doesn’t wind up ruling (or ruining) your life.
Rather than scrapping items altogether, consider setting yourself smaller versions of your goals. Don’t write a list that is destined to fail.
06. Put your list away for a week or two. Don’t skip this step!
In my experience, most people who quit their 101 projects halfway through do so because they don’t have time, or they stop caring about the goals they picked out at the start. Both reasons boil down to the same issue: the list just wasn’t right in the first place.
When you bring your list back out of hiding ask yourself these questions.
- Is my list realistic? Can all of this be achieved in 1001 days, without sacrificing my job or relationships? - Am I really going to care about each of those things a couple of years from now?
- Can I still finish my list if I change jobs, start a family, or move to another country?
If your answer to that last question is no, read on!
07. Set some rules
Life has an uncanny ability to get in the way of the things we set out to do. 1001 days from now you might have more children, or a high-flying job that demands more of your energy. Maybe you’ll win Idol and your manager controls your schedule now. Or – this happened to me – maybe you were relying on an online resource to complete a task, and it disappeared!
It’s good to have an idea from the outset of what you’ll do if life throws you curveballs – do you scrap your list and start again?
You haven’t signed any contracts here, and what you do next is a personal decision. If I discover that a task is unachievable or irrelevant a year from now I’ll be substituting it with something else.
OK. You’ve started to jot down some ideas, and you’re struggling to get past #32. Here are some ideas for building a great list that will stretch and inspire you.
Perhaps you’ve always wanted to travel, but other commitments have gotten in the way. Maybe you have been secretly hoping that somebody will take you skydiving for your birthday but nobody has picked up the hint! At least a couple of the tasks on your 101 list should be Big Things that put you in the driver’s seat, and they need to be achievable in the next 1001 days.
Big Things don’t have to be expensive; that’s really not the point. For example, some of us might be able to easily afford a trip to Paris in the next 1001 days but would struggle to go because of career or family commitments. What’s the biggest thing that’s stopping you from realising your big dream – work, family, money or procrastination? Is there anything you can do to break your goal down into smaller chunks that will get you closer?
Big Things are the luxuries that we would happily give to or do for a loved one on a round-number birthday to show them how much we care. Big Things are large-scale challenges that we set for ourselves. Big Things are what we dream about at 3pm on a boring workday.
Examples: visit an overseas country / go skydiving / buy a house / run a marathon / set foot in every state or continent / start a business / go back to university / move to a new town / take the kids to Disneyworld / sing in front of a crowd / start a family / get a tattoo / write a novel / make a short film / have a solo art exhibition / learn a language / pay off your credit card / raise funds for an important cause / hike the Kokoda trail / climb a mountain / quit smoking / conquer a fear
One of the best ways to write a 101 List is to think about the sorts of things you always wanted to do when you were a kid. Make sure that your list has at least a few ridiculous, frivolous tasks – and go out and do them! Most people I speak to carry some sort of regret about the things they stopped doing when they “grew up”. I think we’re always happiest when we take the time to nurture our inner child.
One of my happiest memories from my last list was building a snowman. It mightn’t seem like much, but I grew up on the beach – not the snow!
Examples: go on every ride at a theme park / wear mismatched socks for a day / lead a restaurant in singing happy birthday to your friend (especially if it’s not their birthday!) / go grocery shopping in your pajamas / dye your hair a bright colour / see 3 movies in one day / have a food fight / go skinny dipping / build a sandcastle / find a pen-pal / read a book in a day / write a letter to future-you / try a new craft / wear false lashes for a day / open a recipe book to a random page and cook / make somebody a mix tape / dress up for Halloween / write a song
One key tip for surviving the next 1001 days: ensure that your list has plenty of little tasks that can be easily crossed off! It can be very overwhelming to have a number of big challenges on the go at one time, and sometimes it helps to cross off something quick so that you can see some progress.
This might be the most important tip of all!
Examples: grow a plant from seed / rearrange your bedroom / do something nice for a stranger / try a new cake recipe / re-read a favourite book / try that food you hated as a kid / buy a set of luxurious bath towels / start a collection / fill somebody’s parking meter / kiss in the rain / no fast food for one month / alphabetise your bookshelf by author’s surname / don’t complain for one week / take a cooking class / make a playlist of your 101 favourite songs / learn to use your camera’s manual settings
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you’ll know all about the 101 Things in 1001 Days challenge that I tackled from 2008-2010. It was an incredibly inspiring and motivating project and I have so many achievements and happy memories under my belt as a result of seeing it through.
Part of me wanted to begin another 101 list immediately after finishing the last one, but instead I decided to enjoy the lack of deadlines and think carefully about what I wanted to achieve with my next list. This little break gave me the headspace I needed to think about what sort of things I really wanted to achieve, and a year later I was ready to write it all down. The tasks I chose are the usual mix of self-improvement, travel/experiences and creative challenges, but this list feels a lot more focused than my last. I’m excited and ready to go!
Now that the last-minute tinkering is done I can share with you my latest 101 Things in 1001 Days project. Enjoy!
Are you interested in beginning a list of 101 Things in 1001 Days too? I’ll be sharing some tips for writing a bulletproof list in my next post.
If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram (@scarletwords) you’ll already know about the tiny celebrity that we’ve been hosting for the past week. We’ve been looking forward to meeting this young man for months but like many we were nervous about his reputation for unpredictable outbursts.
During his stay we hoped to interview the 5 month old known as Archie, and ask him how he felt about his notoriety. Was there any connection between his nicknames (Fuzz Nut, Bubba Chubs, Drools Flannigan) and that stint in juvenile detention? Who is that mystery brunette he’s often photographed with? Any regrets about that Wiggles tattoo on his backside?
We were disappointed to discover that he was completely silent on these issues, and after our months of preparation his refusal to answer even one of our questions was a crushing blow.
So I suppose it was to be expected that when it came to the photo shoot Archie was just like any other celebrity on set. He showed up late and brought a sullen looking entourage. He also insisted on wearing his own absorbant underwear for the shoot (we couldn’t help but notice his compromised motor control on the day) and half way through the shoot he simply removed them entirely.
The crew decided to press on with the shoot despite Archie’s vulgar behaviour. These exclusive photos are a revealing account of one young man’s spiral of disgrace and disrepute.
After the shoot there were tantrums when he discovered that his sippy cup had not been filled with dew collected from the morning’s roses, as had been specified in his backstage rider. I guess somebody also forgot to remove the brown M&Ms from the bowl in his dressing room.
Disaster.
Thank God his manager was able to calm him down before he called in the lawyers.
Archie is my cousin’s latest masterpiece, and is actually a lovely little bundle of smiles and toes and wobbles. Auntie Liz misses that face very much, and hopes that he and his entourage come back very soon x
After organizing our bookshelf almost a year ago (http://youtu.be/zhRT-PM7vpA), my wife and I (Sean Ohlenkamp) decided to take it to the next level. We spent many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at Type bookstore in Toronto (883 Queen Street West, (416) 366-8973).
Everything you see here can be purchased at Type Books.
As far as I’m concerned, the stand-out single of 2011 was Gotye’sSomebody That I Used to Know, featuring Kimbra. The video is equally as captivating as the song, so if you’re the last person on Earth to know about this incredible track you really need to watch the video above. It’s magic, and so is the rest of Gotye’s latest album.
It came as a complete surprise to me that this song could handle a reinvention, but Walk Off the Earth and Sarah Blackwood recently got together and recorded this astounding cover. Once again, the video is every bit as thrilling as the song and I had goosebumps!
Such a perfect tribute to the original. I think I’d better go and find out what else this band can do…
One of my favourite parts of New Years Eve is filling out this meme. It’s such a great way to reflect on the past year – good and bad – and make plans to make the next year even better. I’d love to read your answers too so please leave yours in the comments if you’d like to play along!
1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? Threw myself into art in a big, big way! I’ve always been interested, but I’ve never been very good at drawing and painting. My classes at Melbourne Studio of Art have been really exciting.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don’t think I had any new years resolutions for this year. Tomorrow I will begin a brand new 101 Things in 1001 Days list, so I think that takes care of resolutions for the next few years!
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? We welcomed two tiny babies into the family this year – Archie and Harrison. My cousins are very good at growing cute babies!
5. What countries did you visit? I didn’t travel at all this year, unless quick trips to Brisbane count. We’re planning to visit the US next September and spend some time with Tim’s family. Can’t wait!
6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? Fitness. This will be a major theme of my 2012.
7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? The birth dates of my cousins’ two new bubbies. Their arrivals came at a time when our family needed a great big smile!
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? 2011 was a year for supporting other people. Big things were happening to the people around me this year, and it was my job to help them through it as much as I could. I’m proud of myself for taking a back seat, and not letting it all get me down.
9. What was your biggest failure? I was much fitter at the beginning of the year than I am right now!
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I have an ankle injury which thwarted my latest attempt at Couch to 5K. I should probably see somebody about that, since it’s been bugging me for about 10 weeks now.
11. What was the best thing you bought? My MacBook Air is basically the greatest thing I own.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration? When I am Prime Minister there will be a national day of celebration dedicated to Tim. He was dealt a really crappy hand at the beginning of this year when he lost his job, and finding a new one wasn’t easy. I’m extremely proud of him for persevering and not taking the first crappy job that he was offered. He ended up being hired by an excellent company who seem to value him, and he works with a great group of people. Blessing in disguise!
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? There have been some terrible things said and done by conservative Republicans in the USA this year. It’s like a terrible movie that you can’t turn off.
14. Where did most of your money go? Rent, bills, food. And art supplies – my new addiction for which I hope there is no cure.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Painting! Before I started art classes I thought I wanted to learn how to draw, and I’m getting there. But drawing with paint is my new favourite thing.
16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
This incredible songwriter, this incredible voice. 17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer? a) Despite the upheavals, happier.
b) I think we covered this already!
c) Richer, in every sense.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? I wish I’d spent more time on creative endeavours. 2011 was a very creative year for me, but I’m not very disciplined at practising in my own time.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? I wish I’d had fewer late nights, and fewer braindead days at work.
20. How did you spend Christmas? Christmas Day was spent with my Mum & Dad, who are staying with us for a couple of weeks. I shared some photos of our little Christmas a couple of days ago.
21. Did you fall in love in 2011? Yeah. He’s tall and funny looking and he has the biggest brown eyes <3
22. What was your favourite TV program? We discovered (and obsessed over) a few great shows this year. Community and Breaking Bad were my favourites.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I don’t think I hate anybody.
24. What was the best book you read? Most of the books I read this year were related to the study I’m doing. And I don’t recommend them, they’re pretty dry!
25. What was your greatest musical discovery? The Civil Wars, First Aid Kit, Emma Louise, The Tallest Man on Earth, Husky
26. What did you want and get? A laptop. New couches! I am using both of them right now.
(… no, I’m not using both couches. You know what I mean!)
27. What did you want and not get? Time travel? I don’t know, I’m pretty lucky to have what I’ve got.
28. What was your favourite film of this year? I loved The King’s Speech and Thor.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I had a strange birthday this year. I turned 31, and Tim was on the other side of the world. My friends and family spoiled me to make up for his absence and Tim had a beautiful bunch of roses delivered to me at work. It was good to see him again the following week!
Also, because my birthday falls on St Patrick’s Day there was green beer. Obviously.
30. What one thing made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Tim and Harry, my partners in crime. I love coming home to our house and my boys.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? I suppose I was a little more interested in colour this year, but I still wore the black Melbourne uniform most of the time! I nurtured my girly side a little more and took more interest in makeup and nailpolish.
32. What kept you sane? My nearest and dearest. They know who they are, and I’d have been lost without them this year!
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Nobody famous rocked my world this year. Gillard dropped a few rungs on the ladder, but Abbott fell off the ladder completely. I’d appreciate it if Tony Abbott would give up ladders entirely, figuratively speaking.
34. What political issue stirred you the most? Australia’s appalling policies and track record with regard to asylum seekers. Equally, the actions of human traffickers and bogan Australians who think that refugees who arrive by boat are terrorists and/or queue-jumpers. If you believe this rhetoric, you’re wrong.
Australia signed an agreement to grant asylum to refugees and we are not meeting our obligations. Our government should be developing policies which will save the lives of desperate people, not pander to the racist and ignorant opinions of voters.
I’ll stop now.
35. Who did you miss? I’ve been missing Gran & Grandpa. And wishing I’d asked them more questions while they were still here.
36. Who was the best new person you met? I made a couple of new friends at work this year, and they’ve become really good mates. My friend Kentucky (who has a real name that I never use) is pretty rad too!
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
2011 was a really difficult year in many ways. Gran passed away, my Mum’s health deteriorated suddenly and Tim lost his job when they decided to cut his whole department. It should have been a terrible year, but I’m proud of the way that we were able to turn it around. Mum is on the mend, Tim found a new (better!) job before we ran out of cash, and I think our whole family is closer as a result of the upheavals we’ve had.
I suppose the lesson I take away from this is that which does not kill us makes us stronger.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
You can keep me grounded Keep me on my toes I’ll always be chasing you Wherever you may go And if you slip ahead And break away from us Don’t run out of sight I just might not catch up
But I won’t let that happen Not while we’re having fun You can be the runner I can be the gun
Our little Christmas was perfect, but just a few days later it’s hard to believe that it’s all over! This month has been full of preparations – not only for Christmas Day itself, but for the enormous party that we threw for our extended Melbourne family on December 23. Plans for our outdoor candlelit dinner party were thrown into disarray at the last minute when the forecast mentioned thunderstorms and a heatwave, so we quickly sourced some trestle tables and turned our living room into a Christmas wonderland instead.
But, in true Melbourne style the forecast wasn’t correct. There were no thunderstorms that night, although they would have been very welcome to break the sticky humidity! It didn’t really matter though, we still had a lovely meal in front of the airconditioner and it was a really happy night. My cousin broke some exciting news too, so there was an extra reason to celebrate (although she had to toast with a glass of water!)
Once the happy chaos of the big family dinner was behind us things were a lot more relaxed. We celebrated Christmas Day with my parents, who are staying with us for 2 weeks, and it was such a perfect day. We all had a great sleep-in, I made breakfast, and while we opened our presents we had phone calls from my brother in London, my grandmother in Brisbane, and Tim’s family in the States. The presents were thoughtful and it was great to have our little group together.
I had hoped to be writing here more while my parents are in town, but I’m finding that I’m enjoying having them around too much to spend time on my computer! We’ve been doing lots of shopping, day tripping, eating and catching up on each others’ lives. Dad has been doing odd jobs around the house that we have ignored (hooray!) and the furmonster has been desperately trying to track the movements of the extra two members of the household.
It’s all very exhausting, but it’s lovely.
Aside from all of the festivities I’ve also been thinking a lot about next year, and making some plans. One of my big projects will be another round of 101 Things in 1001 Days and I am working very hard to complete my list before January 1! I’m going to have a section of my site devoted to my new list, but it might be a few weeks before I will find time to build it. My 1001 Days begins next week though, eek!
Anyway, it feels good to have checked in here and to share some news. My parents are here for another 8 days, and then my little cousin arrives with her tiny baby for a week-long visit! So excited about meeting baby Archie and kissing those chubby cheeks of his. Also? Look out Chapel St, my cousin is on a mission and that girl intends to SHOP.
I hope your Christmas has been as wonderful as ours!
I didn’t actually mean to drop off the radar. It’s been really strange to have a few days away from the blog, since I’ve been posting almost daily for a couple of months now. Strange, but (dare I say it?) good to take a little breather.
It all began on Tuesday, which was a really frantic day at work. My little car drove me home (it always seems to know the way!) and after saying hello to the dog I basically faceplanted the bed and fell asleep. In my work clothes.
I stayed that way until my alarm went off, twelve hours later.
So I’m trying to be a little bit kinder to myself this week. I’m giving myself some space to enjoy wrapping the Christmas presents and figuring out the menu for the massive Christmas feast we’re hosting for our extended family. I’m getting the house ready for 3 weeks of guests, so that I don’t end up leaving everything until the last minute. I’m making donation piles of “stuff” that we don’t need (where does it all come from?) and trying to simplify.
I’m making lists, and I’m even crossing stuff off them!
The final week of photos for the 30 Day Photo Challenge would have been little more than throwaway snapshots if I had kept going this week, and I’m enjoying the challenge too much to waste it on uninspired shots. So I’ll be returning to it as soon as I have some of the things on my to-do list under control, when I am able to give it my full attention again.
How are you coping with the Christmas/end-of-year madness?
The theme of Day 23 in the 30 Day Photo Challenge is creativity and until a few minutes ago there was a great big post that accompanied my photo. Creativity is a subject that is very close to my heart, and something that I’m trying to find my way back to after a creative slump that lasted a few years.
The post I deleted talked a lot about what happens to a musician when she moves cities and leaves her network (and piano) behind. It was a little bit mopey. You’ll have to believe me, because it’s gone now.
I think it’s healthier to focus on the ways that my creativity is being nurtured. My drawing & painting classes at the Melbourne Studio of Art have obviously inspired me greatly this year, and also equipped me with some of the skills that I’ve needed in order to get my ideas onto a page. After 15 weeks of classes I’m drawing things that I thought beyond my reach, and when I’m not drawing with a pencil I often find myself drawing with my eyes. These classes have really taught me to see everyday things differently and even my dreams have become more vivid and colourful.
My classes have also taught me that I might have found a way to redirect the frustration that I feel with being away from music, and turn it into something good. When I came home from work today I grabbed a book that I’ve been altering and sketching in, and I threw a bunch of art supplies at the pages until I came up with something pretty from my imagination. It felt good to do something fun and messy, and not worry too much about the rules.
I guess that’s why I was a jazz musician.
The A4 pages above were made from gesso, striped paper bags, acrylic paint, aquamarkers, sumi-e ink (and then more gesso!). As you can see from the photo below a lot of those supplies ended up on me instead of in the book.
I recently met somebody who is a Monday Person. Every Monday she wakes up with the assumption and expectation that it’s going to be a good day, and then she makes it happen. With a smile!
This person talks with exclamation points about her love for Mondays. Can you imagine what her colleagues must go through when they are at their most vulnerable?
I’m sorry. It’s just that it’s Sunday night and I’m dreading the sound of that alarm clock at 5.30am tomorrow. Let’s hope that I don’t run into any Monday People until I’ve finished my second coffee.
When we lived in Hawthorn we had lots and lots of possums in our street. We used to watch them walking along the power lines as soon as the sun went down, and we often heard them running over our roof or along the fences. A particularly amorous pair lived in the beautiful tree in our backyard and they, er, regularly expressed their feelings for the benefit of the entire neighbourhood.
That’s love, right there.
I’ve missed our little possums since moving here two years ago, although there’s been plenty of evidence that they are around somewhere. Sometimes I’ll hear rustling in the trees late at night, or the dog will follow a scent trail that comes to a dead end at the foot of a tree. Despite all of the signs I can only remember seeing two since moving into this house.
I guess that’s why it was so exciting to spot this tiny little ringtail possum through a gap in our broken fence. He was a perfect little model, and although I couldn’t coax him out of his thorny hidey hole I was happy to have a little bit of camera time with him from a safe distance.
I know that not everybody likes possums, but I think their little pink noses are the best. My favourite photo from this set is below.
Day 21 of the 30 Day Photo Challenge is gratitude. There are so many things I could have written about and photographed on this subject – people I’m thankful for, Christmas coming up, etc – but it felt a little bit forced to write about these things because of a daily prompt.
Instead, I thought I’d share something that I was truly grateful for today – the trust and bravery of a tiny little marsupial who allowed me to sit nearby for a little while. It’s nice to think that he’s just outside my window somewhere.
Day 20 of the 30 Day Photo Challenge is landscape. The photo above is clearly not a landscape – it’s a photo of my homemade Christmas crackers which have been filled with cute things for Christmas Day. I totally recommend doing this by the way – just steal some cracker snaps from the cheap store-bought versions and fill some tubes with stuff that people actually want!
So anyway, no. It’s not a landscape. But, it is an example of landscape orientation!
