Wow… so that was 2016… probably one of the craziest years of my life.  I don’t think any other years of my life have had quite as many extreme highs and lows, and the list has once again been there through it all.  I am really glad that this year I chose to include some of my more deliberate holiday adventures.  I like that it has given me a reason to document them properly and that now I have them sitting right here to look back on whenever I want as many of them have a blog post just for them.

What about the rest… well that’s here too.  Some have links, and some I will tell you about right here, including the ones that didn’t… but they are all there ready and waiting for you to read all about…

1. Start 2016 somewhere outside of Australia – completed: 01/01/2016
2. Make a summer fruit platter in a watermelon – completed: 19/02/2016
   
3. Send 12 hand written cards/letters – completed: 23/04/2016
   
4. Make a lolly cake – completed: 31/11/2016
5. Rearrange a space – completed: 17/02/2016
6. Play my flute – completed: 29/12/2016
   This year was the first year in a long time that I have missed Christmas caroling, I didn’t miss it enough to get my flute out during caroling season, but I did get it out this week and play some carols.  It was really nice to play again and to know that I haven’t lost it.
7. Go to Disneyland – completed: 24/01/2016
8. Find out is our house has a legit hidden fireplace
   I am pretty sure that we do… but I have no proof and while my intention was to just kick a hole in the wall and find out what was there, some other things came up and I will have to wait a little longer to find out for sure. 
9. Visit something older than colonised Australia – completed: 14/01/2016
10. Have tea in London… Queen optional – completed: 19/01/2016
11. Do a ridiculously cheesy tourist photo with a famous tourist attraction – completed: 22/01/2016
12. Go to a country I have never been to before – completed: 02/01/2016
13. Find a geocache – completed: 06/04/2016
14. Hide a geocache – completed: 06/04/2016
15. Watch the Prince of Egypt – completed: 18/03/2016
16. Go in the 2016 Melbourne Marathon festival somehow… 5, 10, half or full
    When the 2016 Melbourne Marathon was on I was 23 weeks pregnant and running was even less of a strong suit than it was earlier in the year.  Maybe next year.
17. Be a Victorian tourist and go somewhere all the tourists go – completed: 09/07/2016  
18. See my bestie face to face – completed: 18/01/2016
19. Get back in the pool and swim at least 5 times
    I am not really sure why I didn’t swim this year… I really enjoy it, I think that maybe it’s the thought of the effort of bathers, towels, public showers and goggles… sometimes it all just seems too hard.
20. Go to the Zoo – completed: 03/02/2016
21. Make some kind of festive seasonal dish – completed: 02/12/2016
22. Use the fire pit – completed: 19/02/2016
    Not only did we use it, but there a perfect circle of dead grass where it was.
23. Go skiing or snowboarding or tobogganing – completed: 03/01/2016
24. Do you want to build a snowman? I do – completed: 04/01/2016
25. Go Camping – completed: 04/04/2016
26. See some Northern Hemisphere stars – completed: 06/01/2016
27. Run with at least 3 different people – completed: 27/02/2016 
28. Make a photo book or our Europe Adventures – completed: 29/12/2016
    Just sitting there waiting for the Christmas budget to cool it’s jets before we print it.
29. Save money each pocket money
    It was not a good year for our fiances… well Dave’s pocket money card might be ok… but mine not so much.
30. Go on a bush walk – completed: 05/04/2016
31. Go to a farmers market – completed: 27/03/2016  
32. Make some meringues – completed: 03/10/2016
    
33. Learn how to spell meringues without having to check it every time – completed: 03/10/2016
34. Keep my emails under control – no extreme amounts of notifications on my phone – completed: 31/12/2016
    Not at all times, but for most of the year I made a special effort to keep the notifications under control.
35. Get and keep my photo storage under control – completed: 29/12/2016
    This is one I am really proud of, I love our photos and I am a little paranoid about losing them, but now I have them all backed up and safely stored, I just have to keep these backups up to date. 
36. Sew something – completed: 30/12/2016
    Let’s not get too excited I repaired a jumper of Dave’s and pair of my pants, but I had to get the sewing machine out and use it to do so… that counts as sewing.
37. Do some trivia – completed: 05/06/2016
38. Bake some snacks – completed: 02/10/2016
39. See a musical – completed: 13/05/2016   
40. Read 16 books – completed: 20/11/2016
41. Do a water aerobics class
    I am putting this in the same category as swimming, the whole idea was just too much for me this year.
42. Do a spin class
    So I don’t really have an excuse, I left it too late and then when I could do a class again, I just didn’t want to.  Bikes and me… maybe we will never be.
43. Have a BBQ Wednesday
    I wish we had, I really do, but we didn’t.  BBQ Wednesday’s seem a lot harder to organise and make happen than they ever did before.
44. Go to a state of Australia that I haven’t been to before – completed: 03/04/2016
45. Touch my feet to some red dirt – completed: 06/04/2016
46. Clean up my iTunes playlists – completed: 29/12/2016
    Yep all clean, lots deleted and hopefully just the good ones left… I’ll just have to work my way through them again and check.
47. Visit another international thermal pool – completed: 07/01/2016
48. Clean my car more regularly
    Nup… it is really dirty and will be until next year… I really need to clean it more often. 
49. Sort out my 2014 and 2015 scrap books – completed: 12/12/2016
    Turns out there were a few more years that I hadn’t done, but they are done now too… Now I just have to do 2016.
50. Try at least 2 new park runs – completed: 12/03/2016
    
51. Keep my apple things updated properly – completed: 31/12/2016
    This actually took a lot more work than this little list item implies, but it is done.  Laptop, iPad and iPhone.
52. Go to Inverloch at least 5 times – completed: 15/12/2016
    I am not really sure what to say about this, I went down there 5 times… and really I should do it a lot more often.
53. Swim in the Ocean
    I really wish I had done this too… but it just didn’t happen, when we were at the beach it was too cold, but when it was hot, we were no where near the beach. 
54. Have high tea – completed: 09/07/2016 
55. Walk to the end of a pier – completed: 30/10/2016
    
56. Get some Fro-yo – completed: 11/02/2016
57. Go roller skating
    Also a no for 2016… even though we live right near a skating rink… turns out I am just not that passionate about skating.
58. Ride a bike – completed: 17/01/2016
59. Have some pasta/ pizza/gelato in Italy – completed: 01/01/2016
60. Have some processed meat in Germany – completed: 05/01/2016
61. See the Myer windows – completed: 21/12/2016
    Dave and I spent a night strolling around the city checking out all the Melbourne Christmas fun… and that includes the Myer windows… but because it was a beautiful night and we went at peak time… I just looked through the very long line and Dave read the book to me.
62. Go to a place I can’t pronounce – completed: 06/01/2016
63. Do some more work as a teacher – completed: 29/02/2016
64. Take a photo with an English Guard – completed: 20/01/2016
65. Take the Eurostar – completed: 22/01/2016
66. See an Emu – completed: 05/04/2016
67. Experience the outback – completed: 04/04/2016
68. Follow through on the date box again – completed: 27/12/2016
    Each year these seem to get harder to fit in, but always more important than they were the year before.
69. Go to Sherbrook forest – completed: 09/04/2016
70. Be on time… it’s time
    I don’t think I could honestly cross this off, but I am getting better and I am definitely making more of an effort to be on time.
71. Have another Star Trek Movie Marathon – completed: 29/12/2016
    We had planned on doing this a little earlier in the year, but it didn’t quite happen, so this week I sat down and watched the two first movies back to back… which counts as a marathon.
72. Make my own dumplings – completed: 28/11/2016
    With a trusty Donna Hay recipe which is always delicious.
73. Be confronted by WWII – completed: 11/01/2016
74. Go on a Gondola ride – completed: 01/01/2016
75. Visit a real life old time castle…. like one that would inspire Disney – completed: 08/01/2016
76. Visit at least 4 museums –  completed: 12/01/2016
77. See the Berlin Wall – completed: 14/01/2016
78. Taste some dutch cheese – completed: 16/01/2016
79. Have a Shakespeare moment – completed: 02/01/2016
80. Do a 3D jigsaw – completed: 21/09/2016
81. Ride a Camel… or at least see one in Uluru – completed: 05/04/2016
82. Have one of those epic milkshakes – completed: 09/04/2016
    
83. Have a Random Acts of Kindness week
    This should have happened, and I even started a couple of times, but either forgot about it or started missing days.  Either way it didn’t happen.
84. Go on  a Road Trip – completed: 06/05/2016
85. Have a wardrobe purge – completed: 29/01/2016
86. Do another Pinterest project – completed: 19/12/2016
    This year I made some DIY Pinterest Christmas gifts, including some sprinkle candles and something special for my friend Pheebs.  I like Pinterest!
    
87. Help change something at home – completed: 20/11/2016
88. See some carols by candle light – completed: 11/12/2016
    Thanks city of Monash, they were fun and I learnt that ‘Boomeranging’ fireworks is the best.
89. Get a massage – completed: 23/11/2016
90. Keep getting closer again
    I did for most of the year, but the back half of the year has not been great for my weight goals… but I have had some other things on my mind and I can try again next year.
91. Make the most of my gym membership
    I don’t think I could honestly cross this off either… I have used the gym, but not as much as I could have or should have… I am going to put this with no. 90 and say I will try again next year.
92. Get my menu planning and home cooking game on – completed: 31/12/2016
    I may have taken me all year… and I may not have written anything down, but at least I now think about what we could cook and plan ahead if I need to go to the shops… which is such an improvement from where I was that this is getting crossed off.
93. Spend some time in the Old testament (Study at least 2 OT books) – completed: 29/12/2016
    This has been really good for me to do, I think I often forget about how much God has packed into the old testament because I spend so long focusing on the new one… but this year I have studied the book of Daniel and Judges and it has been really interesting.  I have learnt a lot more than I thought I would and I am hoping this is just the beginning.
94. Eat something from out veggie garden – completed: 22/02/2016
95. Play some badminton – completed: 28/12/2016
    So despite the very hot weather this week Dave and I went to the oval across the road and played some badminton, just for a few minutes because as well as the heat the wind had a mind of it’s own which doesn’t work well with a shuttlecock.
96. Make sure I remember my secret list – completed: 29/12/2016
    I don’t think I could honestly say I have achieved my secret list, but I definitely thought about it, especially as the year has been coming to an end which is all this list asked me to do.  The secret list was just one to remind of the perhaps more important things that don’t often make it on to the regular list as they are hard to quantify, but that doesn’t make them less significant.  It included a reminder to slow down, work on my communication and to make time for God, Dave and myself in my sometimes way to busy life.  I have really liked having these little side goals to help me focus on the bigger picture.  We only get a short time on earth and I want to make sure I am making the time I have better and not worse for myself and those around me.
97. Run 5km without walking
    Another thing I wish I could have crossed of the list but just like number 16 my motivations changed and it just didn’t happen.  It is still something that I want to do, but I think it is going to take a little longer than I had hoped.
98. Have the parentals over for dinner… all of them… separately
    Well we did have them all over at different times but not for meals.  Well, sometimes we had a mid-meal…. like afternoon tea or morning tea and sometimes even lunch, but not a deliberate dinner.  I have certainly seen them all more this year than last year, and after this year will continue to see them more.  Their strength and support has been invaluable and I am truly blessed to have all 7 of them in my life. 
99. Be more domestic – completed: 29/12/2016
    So given that Dave is the more domestic one in our household, he was the judge of this one and he says, and I quote “this was your best year so far”… a pretty overwhelming ‘more’
100. Take Dex on a Doggy Adventure – completed: 07/10/16
     So the photo isn’t great but we took Dex to visit his friend Abe when we went to visit our friends Dust and Jess… he had a great time.  

So there you go… another year of listing done… and I think I have done pretty good… well actually I think this is my best attempt yet with 84 things crossed off.

Here’s to 2017… may it’s list offerings bring even more joy than 2016’s.