My List for 2011: And how it went…

2011 promised to be a year of exciting events. I made this list at the end of 2010 and worked my way through them as times marched on. I wanted to save the memory so have cut it from my headings and popped it into a post.

New things need to arrive on my blog.

Total achieved for 2011: 14/35 (43%).

1. Propose to my boyfriend. OK, this wasn’t on my blog list before I did it. It was in the list inside my head (but I couldn’t add it here until I’d done it – secrets and all). #1 on best things I have ever done.
2. Visit Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. April ’11 – Fantastic times. Kuala Lumpur was a great city. The Patronas Towers – wow! Singapore is outstanding. I could live there! On top of those two destinations, we also made it to Bali for 5 days. A great holiday. Read my post about Malasia here and my post about Bali here.
3. Travel to at least one European country that I have not been to before. Visited Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic in March. Great city! My first visit to the Česká republika was amazing. You can see what I discovered here.
4. Read all of the Harry Potter books again. 29/8/11: I have read 4/7 books. Loving it. Read about them in My 2011 Books tab.
5. Invent something.
6. Pay off one credit card. Done. Yippeee! July 6th and the deed is done. This feels great!
7. Learn a new skill. I should have said ‘start learning a new skill’. I’m learning how to play tennis and how to serve. I doubt Wimbledon 2012 is on the cards, but I’m surprisingly not as bad as I thought I would be.
8. Visit at least three museums in The Netherlands (I must be more cultured in this country while I live here). Suggested places via WordPress so far have been…. De Pont in Tilburg & Waternoodmuseum in Zeeland. Museum #1 in February ’11: Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) – Went to see the ‘Dutch Masters’ exhibition. ‘Nice’ was the word of the day. I liked the works but I was not blown away. My favourite painting was one of Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands by Andy Warhol.
9. Go to the Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf. It was an amazing experience. A spectacular production in Germany. The atmosphere inside the Arena with 35,000 people watching it LIVE will stay with me. What a party! The best Eurovision Final that I have seen LIVE. Congratulations to the winners, Azerbaijan.
10. Make the most of my blog. I really feel that my blog is established now. I have great WP buddies. I am reaching a worldside audience and now I am understanding what my preffered style of writing is. I do need to make more effect with reading other blogs. There is so much out there to read. Great stuff. My target for hits this year is gonna be double, at least. I’m stunned. So very pleased.
11. See my family in England more.
12. Try harder to speak more Dutch. Working with Dutch children during a two-week summer school. The Dutch is just flowing. I’m certainly more chatty with the Dutch in-laws. 🙂 I can say I’m trying VERY hard now.
13. Go to a least one tennis tournament.
14. Start tennis lessons. I’ve started practising…. Lessons should begin in September (but they didn’t)… oh oh oh.
15. Have a huge house party and invite loads of my brilliant friends (this happened in January 2012) – better late than never.
16. Send a message in a bottle. Hmmm, I emptied a few bottles in 2011 but never managed to stay sober enough to fill one with a letter.
17. Send a message tied to an inflated balloon.
18. Post the replies (if any) on my blog.
19. Make a complete and utter fool of myself. Oh what to choose…? Fool #1 To end my two-week job at the Summer School, I danced and sang in front of a room of non-English speaking parents. The songs – simple. Lots of repetition and lyrics that I won’t repeat. Did I look a fool? Hell, yeah! Fool #2 was on my camping holiday in France. I can’t dive. I tried, but I can’t. Luckily only Bas (my beloved) saw me springing from the pedalo. Thankfully. I dare not upload the photos to Facebook or WordPress. The shame would be too much. Not a classic diver’s pose.
20. Attend a carnival.
21. Kiss the love of my life on the top of a world landmark. Two kisses and two landmarks. Lucky me. 🙂 1st landmark: The Singapore Flyer. 2nd landmark: on the roof bar of Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Yay!!
22. Fart in a crowded place. Done. Silent but satisfying. This is a public blog, so no details necessary… But I hope the crowd at the Take That concert are all recovering well… 😉
23. Research 10 more people to add to my family tree. I am shocked to have achieved this by 11th January 2011. The wonders of searching on Facebook for names and surnames that you know. The links are endless.
24. Get back into my art. Complete a picture that I am proud of.
25. Visit someone that I haven’t seen for over 5 years.
26. Finish redecorating the kitchen. We’ve been in this apartment for 3 years now. It is time to finish those jobs. (This has been started).
27. Dance in the rain. (Thanks to Melanie on WordPress).
28. Read a book that is considered a ‘classic’.
29. Enjoy a weekend away with Bas (and stay somewhere unusual).
30. Write a letter to Santa.
31. Sing karaoke. (Thanks Jim Chaney, I borrowed this one from your list).
32. Reach 10,000 visitors to my blog, One Life – before December 31st 2011. Wow, wow, wow…. I don’t know how it happened but I’ve reached my target. It’s 18th May 2011 and today I passed the 10,000 visitors total. Thank you visitors for stopping by and reading my blog.
33. Write a poem. I wrote some drunken limericks way back in Spring. I must type them and load them onto WP. Coming soon…
34. Start doing some exercise (sit-ups will be a good start). (Thanks to Tilly Bud – for having a similar challenge on her blog). I am trying – I now have the ab machine, but still don’t have that wash-board stomach that I wished for…
35. Try 3 new recipes (I’ll let you know how I get on with them). Receipe #1: Biscuits – I made these with the children I was working with on Summer School (a two week course for children to learn English). I’ll have to blog about it. Watch this space.