When we were married 7 years ago, we decided to be intentional about having fun together! One way that we did this was to brainstorm a 101 in 1001 days. The first one was up in early 2016 and we spent the rest of that year trying to chase up a few extras. We ended up completing 77.2% of version 1.0 of 101 in 1001 days.
Update: The second one had a deadline of 29 September 2019. We cut version 2.0 short after receiving orders to move to Germany: Hallo Deutschland! We completed 41.6% of Version 2.0.
The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days. 1001 days is 2.75 years beginning 29 June 2019. This means our deadline is 29 January 2022
The Criteria: Tasks must be specific with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretch us. Basically, they need coordination or new skills to be accomplished. All tasks are designed to be done together.
We brainstormed this list over the course of a few days and came up with a list that were both excited about.
The List
- Visit ** in Manchester
- Go to classical music performance (Santa Fe chamber music festival 7/27) ✅
- Complete a “no tv” week
- New Family Photos ✅
- Purchase a new DSLR Camera. ✅
- Go truffle hunting
- Visit Normandy
- Eat seafood overlooking the Mediterranean
- Build a snowman ⛄️ ✅
- Watch all the marvel avengers movies ✅ (all the ones currently released)
- Take a dance lesson together
- Go for a bike ride together ✅
- Run/crew a sky race
- Climb to the top of the monastery in Ulm
- Ride Vespas 🛵
- Go to a contemporary music concert
- Go sailing together
- Camp overnight in 3 new places (lake bled; ) ♒️
- Go to a conference together.
- Take the FSOT ✅
- Cook our way through a cookbook ♒️
- Visit Gallipoli (turkey)
- Buy an original piece of art in Europe ✅
- Ride bikes in Copenhagen
- *******************************************
- Capture the northern lights
- Ski trip where Anna does lessons for 3 consecutive days
- Make palak paneer or any Pakistani dish ✅
- Make papaya salad or pad Thai ✅
- Enjoy a European food festival
- Tour a cheese Ageing room
- Go to an Air force ball together
- Learn some new constellations (maybe an astronomy tour or something like that)
- Have a Taco Tuesday in Germany with homemade tortillas
- Go to a German wine festival ✅
- PCS away from New Mexico ✅
- An overnight hike to a hut
- Host a wine tasting ✅
- Shooting/archery lesson
- Visit 12 European countries together (Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Luxembourg) (9/12) ♒️
- Visit Hay on Wye (Wales)
- Drink espresso in a cafe in Rome
- Kiss on the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower
- Pray together in the Sagrada Familia
- Hike part of the el Camino (pilgrimage trail in Spain)
- Live in a third country together ✅
- Take a German lesson together
- Visit Luxembourg ✅
- Visit Sacre Coeur together
- See the Karlsruhe opera perform
- Visit Florence
- Visit Tuscany
- Camp by a Lake in Switzerland
- Kiss in four countries in one 24 hour period (close, 3)
- 🍾 tasting in Champagne, France 🇫🇷. ✅
- Host Thanksgiving dinner ✅
- European Christmas Markets ✅
- Go to a farmers market
- Drink Tea in Morocco 🇲🇦
- Israel 🇮🇱
- Take a photo on the bridge by Westminster and take a photo with Big Ben in the background
- Go to a sporting event in Europe
- Collect ** bottles of wine ✅
- Hike in the Black Forest together
- Celebrate Anna’s **th with an adventure ✅
- Sail near santorini or Mykonos 🇬🇷
- Post every day for 1 month on NAPL
- Complete a dry month ✅
- Complete a no spend month ✅
- Make footed macarons
- Buy a 10-12 person dining room table ✅
- Update emergency preparedness plan ✅
- Become debt free ✅
- Fully fund our 6 month emergency fund ✅
- Host a dinner party with invitations
- Take a cooking class in Europe
- Watch a live comedy show ✅
- Go ice skating
- Spend a weekend totally unplugged
- Go skiing in Europe
- Buy someone “just because” brunch.
- Sit by a fire
- Send 12 random “just because” cards
- Send someone flowers ✅
- Do a headshot photo shoot for NAPL
- Plant a tree. ✅
- Dance to the music of a street busker
- Lie on a pew and look up at the Sistine chapel ceiling
- Watch the sunrise on a beach
- Have weekly date nights every week for a quarter.
- Go on a couples retreat/conference
- Go on at least one couples date a month for a year. (1/12) ♒️
- Visit 3 more Michelin star restaurants ( ✅ ✅ ✅
- Visit museum row in Berlin
- **********
- Visit the island in the middle of lake bled, 🇸🇮 Slovenia. ✅
- Do a polar bear swim
- Publish an ebook for NAPL
- Go to the Opera at La Scala Milan 🇮🇹
- Visit German Spa Baths
- Buy a rug ✅ ✅ ✅
You’ll notice that some of the 101 in 1001 days items are censored above. Some things just aren’t for sharing! We make no apologies for not sharing the entire list. But there’s still plenty there. We hope this serves as motivation and inspiration for you in developing your own 101 in 1001 list!
Anna and Dwight make up Team Rabe.
