9/100 – Thing 44 – have a Girls’ Day with Z and Charlotte, 1/30/17
Yes, I did this in January but it didn’t make it into my update post. And yes, Mark came with us, but that’s okay. I decided it still counts because it’s my list and I make the rules. Z has family tickets to the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT. We saw seals, and jellyfish, and frogs, and sharks, and lots fish and other sea creatures. We had a lot of fun. We had lunch there and went to the shop where I got Charlotte a shirt that says “I’m really a mermaid” and me a shirt that says “Mermaid at” and then a seashell in the shape of a heart. Charlotte got a seal and I got a sea otter — we saw sea otters! So cute! It was such a great day, and we all had lots of fun.

10/100 – Thing 6 – watch “Richard St. John – Success is a continuous journey”, 1/31/17
To be honest I know I watched this in January but I didn’t write down when it was, so I am just putting it here. I found this interesting and accurate. People work really hard, but if they stop working when they achieve success, they will stop being so successful. So it’s critical that to remain successful, you have to keep doing all the things you did to get there. Which makes sense, but also makes sense that people tend to forget that.

11/100 – Thing 90 – wish on a star, 2/1/17
I’m not sure when this was either, but I was holding Charlotte and walking to the apartment from the car, and we saw a bright star. I told her that we can make wishes on stars, and hope that our wishes come true. I said, “like if you want a cookie when you get inside, you can say, ‘I wish I had a cookie.’ And then maybe your wish will come true.” She was smiling and saying yes she wanted a cookie, but didn’t want to actually say the wish. But when we got inside, I gave her one anyway. And I did make my own wish, but I am not sharing my wish either.

12/100 – Thing 37 – take a solo train ride that is NOT for my work commute, 2/4/17
I am considering this done. I took my usual train home from work on Saturday February 4, but then continued past my stop to go to my parents’ house. Technically it was still my work commute, but I decided it counts since I went to a further stop and was on the train much longer. I read a lot of the 2017 Newbery winner (see below).

13/100 – Thing 17 – read the 2017 Newbery award winner, 2/6/17
I started this book in January after the awards were announced and finished on February 6. I am so happy the Newbery committee chose to honor _The_Girl_Who_Drank_The_Moon_ by Kelly Barnhill. I can hardly contain my love for it. Here’s the review I posted on Amazon and Goodreads:
Unforgettable. Magical. Several different perspectives in the story that cleverly dovetail into perfection by the end of the book. I was utterly entranced and could not put this book down. This book won the very well-deserved Newbery Award this year, and I am glad it did because it put the book on my radar. I would love to see this as a movie, and I’m not surprised that movie rights have been optioned already.

14/100 – Thing 19 – do a jigsaw puzzle, 2/12/17
Charlotte and I did a few different easy jigsaw puzzles together. I still want to do some bigger ones this year that she is too little to help with, but I can still check this one off the list.

15/100 – Thing 86 – bake cookies, 2/12/17
For some reason they didn’t turn out right, exactly, so I call them “cakies” when they taste more like cake. Too much flour? Not the right amount of salt or baking powder? But whatever, Charlotte helped and we made the Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. I will definitely make more cookies this year.

16/100 – Thing 41 – go on a date with Mark for Valentine’s Day; hire a baby-sitter, 2/17/17
We didn’t “hire” a baby-sitter, but we did have Mark’s mom baby-sit so we could go out to dinner at a nice restaurant. We haven’t been able to go out much, and in September we decided to aim for one child-less date every month, and that lasted… two months. Haha. So we need to keep trying, and by making a reservation a couple weeks before, we had this to look forward to. Then we got sick, so we had to postpone it a few days but still went in the same week as Valentine’s Day so it counts. ❤

17/100 – Thing 46 – go on the swings with Charlotte, 2/25/17
It was actually pretty nice weather, and we did go on the swings. She only stayed about two minutes before she wanted to get out, but that’s okay. There will be other swings this year.

18/100 – Thing 92 – toss a coin into a fountain and make a wish, 2/27/17
Mark and I took Charlotte to a mall and there was a fountain. We didn’t have coins, but Mark saw two quarters on the floor not far away so he picked them up so Charlotte and I could make wishes. She didn’t want to tell me her wish, lol.

Other Things I’ve started: Writing a blog post every month (Thing 97) – if I can keep up with this monthly round-up of my progress toward achieving everything on my list, that will accomplish this by the end of the year. I did finish this post in March and backdate it to February, but most was written in February. Read the Lauren Oliver Delirium trilogy (Thing 79) – I started Delirium in January and finished reading in February, and then read Pandemonium and started Requiem. Since there are three books for this Thing, I wanted to get it done early in the year. After I finish this trilogy I will read the Eve Marie Mont Unbound trilogy (Thing 78), and then the rest of the books on my list are all stand-alone books. And I guess you could say I’ve started “end year with no credit card debt” (Thing 11) because I’m reading Get Rich, Lucky Bitch and I’m working on getting on top of my finances.

Things Done Each Month:
January – 8
February – 10