Above the Shoulders - 101 in 1001

I hope I have your attention.
I haven't done a 101 in 1001 update since October/November so I figure it's about time. I don't do updates very often because I don't want to update you, faithful readers, unless I have actually completed some worthwhile goals. So here they are:

First up, goals in progress:
Run/workout 3x a week for 2 months
Celebrate one of life's little achievements once/month for 12 months (1/12)
Celebrate our 1 and 2 year wedding anniversaries in a unique way
 -- Successfully did the 1st year anniversary uniquely - Ninja took me to the Cottage House Bed & Breakfast in Council Grove and to dinner at the Trail House Museum. Council Grove was a point on the Sante Fe Trail (I think) so the dinner the restaurant was set in the 19th century and had a bunch of cool historical things and facts from that era. We're history nerds and we love it.  For gifts, (first year is paper) he got me Eli Young Band tickets - my favorite! I bought him a bunch of books and a big vintage world map for us to keep track of our world travels and also to pin spots we'd like to visit in the future. He did a great job of spoiling me and it was a lot of fun!

the Ninja and his map

I was pretty excited about those Eli Young Band tickets (they were awesome in concert - you should go sometime).

Watch 5 movies that the Ninja loves that don't interest me (Apocalypse Now, Papillon, X-Men,)
Call /visit my grandparents once/month for 12 months (6/12)
Attend 6 of Kristy’s sporting events/school events/4-H stuff - (Bourbon Co. hog show, Bourbon
     Co. beef show)
Defend my thesis by May 2012 - My defense date is set for April 20!
Promote agriculture at community meeting or conference - 3x (2/3)-- This one I am pretty excited about. My first experience was with the Australiasian Pig Science Association Conference in November in Adelaide, SA, Australia. I was invited to speak about agvocacy in agriculture, specifically in the swine industry. It was only to about 75 people but it was very well received.
-- The second time was just last Thursday at the Berryton, KS Kiwanis Club meeting. I am a speaker for Operation Main Street (I did my training with the Food For Thought in Jan 2011). I haven't heard much feedback from the NPB yet, but I had a blast!

Speaking to the Berryton Kiwanis Club about modern pork production. They were a great audience and I had a blast!

Pay off my small credit cards - Maurices, Victoria's Secret
Purge and donate old clothes from closets at least three times (1- 7/2011, 2 - 1/2012)
Learn how to make Grandma’s fried chicken, chicken n’ noodles and divinity candy
Volunteer once/month at a breadbasket, food pantry or other comm. service 6 times (5/2011 -
        Red Shield Appeal;)
Donate 25,000 grains of free rice through Freerice.com (5110)
Say 'I love you' EVERY day for entirety of 1001 days
Attend church once/month for 12 months (6/12)Read the books from this list
Play golf 3x in the 1001 days (2/3)
 -- This one was a lot of fun too, both times I played while in Australia. Our friend Doug Albright came and visited so during some downtime during an afternoon in Alice Springs we checked out the links. I also played once in Melbourne on a rainy day.

Dougie Phresh and I

Alice Springs' golf course wins award for best scenery - middle of the Australian outback

Now for the fun stuff... goals I've completed since the last update:
Run/workout 3x a week for 1 month -- some of my closest friends can't believe this. Even hubsy and his best friend had an over/under bet on how many times I would work out (hubsy took the over for 5, lucky him)
Have a date night with the Ninja each week for two months
Watch Food Inc. -- this was difficult to do but I felt I must. If I ever find the notes I took, I'll write a summary/opinion post
Fly first class (even if it's only from KC to Dallas) -- this was not on purpose but on a recent flight to D.C. for a job interview (the company paid for the seats) I found myself with uber leg room and at the front of the plane. Success!!

Design and print our Christmas cards for 2011 - this was hard because we had so many great pictures from Australia that I wanted to include but here was the final product.

Clockwise from top left: A day out at Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary in Healesville, VIC, AUS; infront of Uluru/Ayers Rock in the Northern Territory, AUS; goofing around on the Great Barrier Reef before snorkeling; one of our great wedding pictures from Grant Watkins Photography; a romantic/posey moment in front of the Sydney Opera House, Sydney, AUS; scuba diving off the cost of Matamanoa Island, Fiji, during our honeymoon!

Earn someone's respect -- this has been made extremely clear to me over the past few months so thank you to everyone for the kind words.

Drastically change my hair -- if you hadn't picked up on it in the picture from the pork presentation, I cut 6 inches off my hair. It is currently ABOVE MY SHOULDERS. My hair hasn't been this short since I was 13 and growing out the bowl cut I sported from age 9-13 (true story). Here's a better picture for ya. It looks a lot longer here because I'm kind of leaning forward but it's way short. Also, I had no less than 10 people tell me that my Fake Patty's Day shirt (pinch me and I'll punch you) was very fitting to my personality. Go figure.

Goals completed to date: 23 (in less than a year - go me)!
Goals left to complete: 101 minus 23 (I suck at math).
Days left to end of challenge: 663 (I used this website to figure that)

Well, that's all for this update. There will probably be another in June. Or not.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~