Eruantale

Those of you who know me well know that I love to make lists. That’s why my new husband laughed when I told him about the Day Zero Project. “You just want an excuse to make a list!” he said to me. Well, yes. I always want to make lists. My brain operates on lists. But I also really enjoy focusing on goals. I have a huge Someday/Maybe list ala Getting Things Done in my planner, but I doubt I’d ever tackle all or any of those things without some structure. Enter the Day Zero Project.

Here’s how it works: You pick a start date, write down 101 defined and measurable goals, and complete them all in 1001 days—about 2.75 years. That’s all, really. It’s that simple (and difficult).

Shawna’s 101 Things:

Items in bold are in progress or planned. Crossed out items have been completed.

Adventures

1.    Take a weekend trip
2.    Go on a dinner cruise
3.    Go camping
4.    Go for a drive with no destination in mind
5.    Go to Greek Festival
6.    Go to Garlic Festival
7.    Ride on a train
8.    See the sun rise and set on the west coast
9.    See the sun rise and set on the east coast
10.    Get a passport
11.    Visit another country
12.    See the Aurora Borealis
13.    Move to Seattle

Food

14.    Host 10 dinner parties (0/10)
15.    Host Christmas
16.    Make Sushi
17.    Make Filet Mignon
18.    Make Baked Alaska
19.    Make Ratatouille
20.    Make ice cream from scratch
21.    Make a custom recipe book
22.    Take a cake decorating class
23.    Bake something cute and fabulous from Bakerella 5 times (1/5)

Fun

24.    See 5 plays (0/5)
25.    Have a bonfire for no reason
26.    Play Mafia
27.    Send a secret to PostSecret
28.    Take a picture of something every day for 365 consecutive days (56/365)
29.    Make a snowman
30.    Go hot tubbing 5 times (0/5)
31.    Watch the extended editions of all three Lord of the Rings movies in one day
32.    Make a new list

Health

33.    Get to goal weight (5/100%)
34.    Run a 5k
35.    Go on 15 hikes (0/15)
36.    Weigh in on the Wii Fit for 30 consecutive days (0/30)
37.    Track food eaten for 30 consecutive days (0/30)
38.    Pack lunch every day for 30 consecutive days (0/30)
39.    Avoid soda for 30 consecutive days (0/30)
40.    Floss every day for 30 consecutive days (0/30)
41.    Get Health Insurance
42.    Wear a bikini proudly

Holidays

43.    Have a New Year’s Party
44.    Deliver homemade brownies to people on Valentine’s Day
45.    Do our own fireworks at the beach for the 4th of July
46.    Write a Christmas letter
47.    Leave a $50 tip at Christmas
48.    Go caroling

Matthew

49.    Surprise Matthew 5 times (5/5)
50.    Have 100 date nights with Matthew (10/100)
51.    Write love letters and box them up with some wine to be aged and opened on our 20th
52.    Read Love and Respect with Matthew
53.    See Blue Man Group, Cirque du Soliel, or Medieval Times together

Mind Stretching

54.    Take a first aid course
55.    Take a piano or violin class
56.    Learn ASL
57.    Take an art class
58.    Read 100 books (15/100)

Money

59.    Cut up credit cards
60.    Save $5000
61.    Pay for something for someone anonymously 5 times (0/5)
62.    Buy a camera
63.    Buy a car
64.    Buy a terabyte backup drive
65.    Buy a safe
66.    Complete Wedding Registry

Personal

67.    Get Driver’s License
68.    Chop off hair
69.    Buy a fabulous jacket
70.   Get a pedicure
71.    Get a facial
72.    Learn to dance
73.    Sing in a choir again
74.    Start using reusable grocery bags
75.    Get wedding photos developed
76.    Write wedding thank you cards
77.   Declutter the bedroom
78.    Finish Family website
79.    Learn how to shoot a gun
80.    Get stationary and custom address labels

School

81.    Pass remaining 3 math classes (2/3)
82.    Bring GPA up to 3.5
83.    Join Honor Society
84.    Win a scholarship
85.    Earn my Associate’s Degree
86.    Get accepted to Seattle Pacific University

Spiritual & Giving

87.    Read every book of the Bible (0/66)
88.    Participate in National Day of Prayer
89.    Pray in the shower for thirty consecutive days (0/30)
90.    Start tithing
91.    Sponsor a child
92.    Participate in Operation Christmas Child
93.    Volunteer
94.    Babysit for free 5 times (0/5)
95.    Send a care package to a soldier

Writing

96.    Win NaNoWriMo 3 times (1/3)
97.    Write 30 poems (4/30)
98.    Write 10 short stories (0/10)
99.    Write 5 children’s books (0/5)
100.    Write 50 blog posts (33/50)
101.    Submit a piece of writing for publication

For every item I finish, I will save $1 to spend on something frivolous and $1 to donate to charity. Anything I don’t accomplish will automatically be placed on the next list!

Start Date: June 30th, 2009
End Date: March 27, 2012
Completed so far: 19/101

My fiance and I are getting married in just fourteen days, but our honeymoon isn’t until September. We had originally planned to go in December for all of the holiday magic—and in order to avoid the heat—but our college’s finals schedule ruined those plans for us. Because of the dates on which we would have to travel, visiting Disney World in December would cost us a grand total of $1,200 more! So, even though last time I was there I promised myself I would never go back to Disney World in September (because of the oppressive heat, humidity, and thunderstorms), yesterday we booked our trip for September 15th-23rd.

#1: Free Dining

If you stay at a Disney resort during September, you can get the Disney Dining Plan for free. The dining plan is a way to prepay for meals. It usually costs around $40 per person per day, and it gives you one counter service meal, one sit down meal, and one snack per day. We were planning to use the Dining Plan anyway during our stay, so this has saved us over $600, and we don’t even have to worry about factoring food into our budget.

#2: Low Crowds

Most families choose to vacation during Christmas, Spring, or Summer break. Since school often starts in late August or early September, fewer big families with children travel during this month. There are certain days in September where the parks can get crowded, but in general, the crowds are much lower than in the summer months.

#3: Value Season

I never thought we could afford to stay at a Disney hotel. I always thought they were all ridiculously expensive. But, as it turns out, there are hotels in all price ranges and traveling during the value season makes things even more affordable. Hotel rates fluctuate throughout the year, and the value season offers some of the cheapest hotel rates available at Disney. You can stay at a value resort during value season for less than $100 a night, and all of September is considered value season.

#4: Lower Travel Costs

Summer travel drives up the cost of both gas and airfare. People often panic when they see the price of gas start crawling back upwards at the beginning of summer, but it almost always falls back down by September. Likewise, airlines raise their prices during peak travel seasons. Flying during September—especially if you can fly on a Tuesday or Wednesday, or take a red eye flight—will save you money.

#5: Weather

This can deter you or encourage you to travel during this time. Despite the fact that the intense September heat in Florida can be unpleasant, sometimes the heat can be very appealing! It just depends on what type of person you are. If you live in an area where the fall weather is terrible, you may just want to escape to somewhere warm and sunny even if it is a bit wet. Or a lot wet. The rains that usually hit Disney World can sometimes clear the parks. As long as you come prepared with a good poncho and shoes that will dry quickly, it won’t ruin your vacation. And should a hurricane hit—September is hurricane season, after all—Disney is extremely well equipped to handle storms.

#6: Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

This is a special event (for which you need a separate ticket) that takes place several times a week during September and October. You can stay late in the Magic Kingdom for a special Halloween parade and fireworks show, as well as trick or treating and dance parties. Select rides remain open, and rare characters, including most Disney villains, come out to join the party. You can even come in costume. I’m really looking forward to experiencing this for the first time on our trip!

#7: Night of Joy

Disney’s Hollywood Studios park is home to a contemporary Christian music festival on September 11th and 12th. This is also a special event with separate tickets. You can get into the park after hours for concerts by top artists such as Newsboys, P.O.D., Mandisa, Chris Tomlin, Leeland, and too many more to list. They also open select attractions for Night of Joy guests. I’m disappointed that we have to miss this, but taking our trip this early in September wasn’t an option for us.

#8: Food and Wine Festival

This is another special event that starts at Epcot on September 25th and goes all the way through October. During the Food and Wine Festival, you can sample foods from all over the world, participate in cooking seminars and wine tastings, and enjoy special concerts every night.

#9: Athletes for a Cure Triathlon

I don’t think there is a better place in the world to participate in a marathon or triathlon than Disney World, and there is no better reason than for charity. Part of the registration fee from each participant goes to fund research for a cure for prostate cancer.

#10: It’s Disney!

The best reason to go to Disney World in September is simply that taking a trip to Disney World is incredibly fun. It’s the perfect vacation destination for almost anyone, including families, singles, and, of course, honeymooners! With four main parks, two water parks, a whole host of resorts, a sports complex, a shopping center, and much more, there is never a dull moment, and there is something for everyone to enjoy. That is why we chose to go to Disney in September this year, despite my intense dislike of heat and humidity. I’m buying some shorts and a mister fan and sucking it up, because it is Disney World, after all, and we will still have a great time, even if we’re sweaty and sunburned.

When I got engaged in February, I immediately went online and started researching wedding planning. The average wedding planning guide is based around nine months of planning. We would definitely have to make some adjustments. You see, I was getting married in June.

At first, I thought that we would plan everything the traditional, “acceptable” way, despite the necessary changes in the time frame. Surely we would need to hire a ton of people—a wedding planner, a caterer, a florist, a stationer, a photographer, musicians—and probably go into debt. The average wedding budget in the United States is $20,000, and we were two college students who had not planned on this!

I was absolutely overwhelmed by the thought of paying for this affair until a simple phrase changed everything: “Hey, what if we made our own invitations?” After that, I was hit with Do-It-Yourself fever, and my perspective was flipped upside down.

Who cares if we don’t hire a caterer? Will our wedding guests be upset if they don’t get to eat a three course dinner? If they are, should we even care about their opinion anyway? (more…)