12 Days To Go!

My 1001 days is almost over and although I won't be completing all 101 things on My List, it has still been a very fun experience to record on this blog and I do hope to continue to set myself little goals and looking back at my achievements for the rest of 2013 and throughout 2014 also.

I'm not going to set another 101 in 1001 and might leave this blog live as an archive, but I will most likely continue to record my goings-on on my What Cheryl Did blog - you can follow me there if you'd like to keep up with everything I get up to.

For now I do have 12 days left, so lets see what I can cram into that time!

Movie: Disney's Planes

I can't resist a new Disney film and to have this and Monsters University out within weeks of each other makes me very happy! I got a double dose of Disney at the cinema this summer!

I love Dane Cook and his comedy, so for him to voice the main character and find myself laughing when the kids didn't was actually pretty funny! I would definitely watch this again - it was so fun.

Movies and Books Update

As usual I've been making such great progress on reading and watching movies......

Oops.

I finished a book, a rare thing for me. I loved 'The Maze Runner' eventually and have book number 2 ready to go when I finish 'Pretties'.

Did I not see one single film between March and June? Apparently not! I checked my Instagram and Facebook checkins just to be sure, no movie time. There must be something about summer, I seem to watch the most movies in those months as looking at last year's summer movies list.

Gonna need a miracle to reach my goals in time on these! Wish me luck! ♥

Project 365 2013

I'm still going with my Project 365, and so far haven't missed a single day!

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram to see all my daily pics and more!

Movie: The Vow

Saturday night could be our new movie night, we have so many to watch that we've been recording and saving up. My attention span is no longer existent so I have to either be forced or find myself in the mood for movie. I was in the mood for movie after dinner last night, so we picked something not too heavy and quite predictable with 'The Vow'. I enjoyed it, I like things like this that are based on true events. I did think it ended kind of suddenly because I was sure he memory would come back, but it never did so I was disappointed. I guess if it had been a completely fictional movie and a bit more rom-commy then it might've ended differently. I wouldn't watch it again, but I do love Rachel McAdams movies so any more that she does I will definitely find the mood to watch.

Project 365 2013

At the end of 2012 I thought I couldn't keep going with an Instagram-365, but so far I've managed to keep at it for two more months. With some exciting plans in March, April and May I'm sure to keep Instagramming my way through those months and hopefully I can keep it up daily as well.

Some days it's really difficult, people who follow me must think 'what the hell!' when I Instagram something random on my desk just before bed - it's to get that daily shot in, something, gah, pretty much anything will do at that point. Other days, when we're out and about, or if I've done/bought/finished something amazing at home then it gets a snap - those are the easy days. I have lots of easy days coming up so I just hope they outweigh the difficult ones.

Are you doing Project 365? Is it your first time? Or are you into another year?

Movie: Wreck It Ralph

It's a Disney movie, it's necessary viewing for me - isn't it? And it's about video games - another of my favourite things!

I really enjoyed it, but it was a bit of a shame that the only time convenient for us to watch was the 3D showing because we would normally go for the regular version. I think that 3D glasses over our normal glasses really isn't ideal, but we really had to see this movie before it stopped playing.

The funniest thing about this movie is how I felt afterwards - all those sweets and cakes in the movie really made me hungry!

Movie: Lincoln

As soon as I saw that this movie was coming out I knew I had to see it. I never studied American history in school, it's not something we did pre-GCSE at all, so my knowledge of those times comes from TV documentaries, movies and things I've read. I feel like I need to consume as much as possible about history in any part of the world, I find it fascinating. I do have a deep appreciation from British and European history but there's just something about American history I can't help but be drawn into and I want to learn as much as I can about it. That's why I wanted to see Lincoln, and that's why I'll probably - if given the change - watch that movie again. I thought it was great, so easy to forget it was acting and believe you were really watching history.

Movie: Beautiful Boy

I didn't intend to watch a movie today, it wasn't even 9am when I put this one. James was still in bed and there wasn't anything on TV - I didn't want to watch anything we'd recorded because it was all stuff we watch together so I found myself browsing Sky On Demand for something. I sometimes find it hard to sit and watch a movie as I'm distracted with other things and my attention span isn't great, but sometimes to mood is just there and I was in the mood for a movie. I didn't exactly pick the most lighthearted story for early on a Sunday morning, but it looked quite an interesting story to watch. 'Beautiful Boy' starring Michael Sheen told the story of about a college shooting from the perspective of the shooters parents. It's not a true story but it is something that is easy to relate to true-to-life situations and the difficulties for the shooters family in the aftermath. Because I don't really watch a lot of movies it's kind of hard to know what type of movies I like to watch but I can say that I do actually enjoy a thought-provoking drama as well as Disney fluff!

Framing Instagram Prints

I knew that end of my Project 365 I wanted to do something with the pictures and not just keep them online, I actually wanted to print them out and frame them as a reminder of all the wonderful things we saw and did during 2012.

I chose to print my pictures via Printstagram and highly recommend the service - excellent quality prints, packaged brilliantly and delivered so quickly! They now offer ready framed prints, but I wanted to frame them myself and after finding the perfect size frame at BHS, I was ready to go.

Working out the best way to start was tricky, but how do you tile a kitchen/bathroom floor? You start from the middle and work out, so that's what I did. I ended up with a few wonky bits but once altogether the effect of the mosaic hides those tiny imperfections - plus the imperfections actually make the project truly personal and I love it.

The finished frame is now hung in my office where I can gaze lovingly at it every day, I also have another set of prints and an empty frame to work on this weekend - I had printed a bunch of makeup, nail polish and manicure snaps to make up something for my dressing room. I'll probably capture a bit of a framing tutorial on how I do it and write about that on my other blog, What Cheryl Did.

Movie: Les Miserables

Another visit to London, another movie. We can watch movies in Norwich, it's actually cheaper but doing it in London just makes it more special..... We did intend to see 'Les Mis' in the Leicester Square Odeon, but the movie times didn't figure out too good when it came to getting a train back to Norwich. We ended up watching the movie at the Vue in Westfield Stratford City, the same place we saw 'The Hobbit' in December. James and I had seen the West End show of 'Les Mis' back in July when we were in London for the Olympics, it was a long show and very heavy for an audience who have no idea what the story is! So, watching the story again on the big screen meant we had a bit of an easier time enjoying the songs and really understanding the story. If you don't mind a spoiler, I really think that reading about the story or seeing the movie before the West End show is a good idea, I recommend the show so much but the movie is just as brilliant.

I have been crying to the songs ever since and definitely want to watch this again!

Book: 'Insurgent' by Veronica Roth

I started reading this book in November, probably because I had a couple of London train journies coming up that month and in December as well. I find I read a lot more when travelling, I don't tend to read at home unless I'm completely engrossed in a book - this doesn't happen often. By my standards to finish this book in January is me reading very fast, although I did have some breaks that were weeks long before picking it up again.

All that aside I am so glad I got back into this and read half of the book in less than two weeks because I had to finish it, I had to find out what was going to happen to Tris! I sped through 'Divergent' and probably would've done the same with 'Insurgent' if it weren't for my bad reading habits. Just like 'The Hunger Games' the story is something that could come true in the future of the human race, that just makes it so fascinating! The movie for 'Divergent' is out next year and book three to his trilogy is out in the autumn of 2013 - I can't wait!

New Additions to My 101 List

After my second review of my 101 list I'm now left with a couple of gaps to fill with some new things I want to achieve before September. I want the new additions to replace those that were scrapped, so if I've got a gap in the Travel list then I need to think of a new travel related achievement to put in it's place.

This is what I've come up with as replacements:

Health & Fitness
038. Complete a 30 Miles in 30 Days Challenge

Creative
053. Create a memory jar for 2013
055. Frame my Instagram photos

Travel
069. Spend a day at the beach
074. Visit London Zoo

Fashion & Beauty
080. Operation Empties - blog about each months finished products (0/8)

I had to pick some things that were easily achievable since I've not got that long left to complete my list, I know I'm not going to get the full 101 but I want to get as many complete as I can in the time I have left. A couple are challenging, some will depend on situation and determination - so, let's go!

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Project 365: 2012 Complete!

I made it through 2012! I missed a couple of days, but I kept on going and that's the important thing - this time I didn't give up! I also took part in a couple of the Fat Mum Slim Photo-a-Day challenges that helped get me through on uninspiring days/months.

I could not have made it through without my beloved iPhone and the (sometimes controversial) app, Instagram - all the photos are generated through them both. All the pictures are now in their own Flickr set, all my mosaics have their own set as well.

So now what do I do with the pictures for 2012? They're lovingly saved on my phone, computer and Instagram and Flickr accounts - but what about printing them? I will probably pick a bunch of the best ones to make magnets through Stickygram. I did always plan to make a photobook with my 365 whenever I managed to finish a year, so maybe I can get one through Keepsy? I could even turn them into posters and stickers and even a phone case!

So, can I do it again in 2013? We'll see!

Project 365: December 2012

You can see all my daily pics uploaded onto Flickr. All pictures are taken with my iPhone 4S and shared through Instagram.