Day 1001

Today's the day! It is 1001 days since I started my 101 in 1001 project. What a ride it has been!

In June 2008, I came across the Day Zero website and browsed a few blogs that people had linked to. "What an ambitious project!" I thought, never seriously considering taking part myself. I was interested to see that people had set themselves big goals and small ones, one-off and ongoing. I began toying with the idea of starting the project myself but quickly discounted it. I didn't think I could come up with 101 activities for a list like this. Jeepers, how short sighted was I?

I sat down and started brainstorming. About 60 activity ideas 'fell' out of my head within the first half hour. The list kept forming but I thought I'd make it a private project. Why? Probably fear of failure - it's hard to admit things might not have gone right when you're a perfectionist. I quickly abandoned that idea, started rearranging my blog to incorporate the project and went public. Best decision I made!

My 'official' tally shows 80 activities completed. According to #100, that leaves me with $800 saved to spend how I please. I toyed with the idea of using this money to buy the art prints on my list (#24 - a Michael McCormack painting/print of Island Bay, #98 - Vettriano’s The Singing Butler and #99 - Van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night) but thought it sounded a bit like cheating. I've been eyeing up some more kitchen goodies, namely a breadmaker, a food processor and a good set of knives. It might be a while before I actually get around to buying them but they're on my wishlist.

Would I do it again? Absolutely - just not for a while. There is still some unfinished business from this list that I want to attend to first, some of which I already have definite plans for and others which I'll make happen in time. I'm not going to lament over the activities I didn't complete during this time. Instead, I want to celebrate all the things I did achieve and manage to do for myself. I'll keep rolling over the remaining activities and continue to blog about them as I tick another off my list.

For everyone who has come along for the journey, or even worked on their own list, thank you for your support, comments, encouragement and questions. Being part of an online project like this has been an amazing way to get to know bloggers from around the globe and the Twitterverse. Woo hoo - it's time to celebrate!