Goal # 8 – Knit something

I love to learn new skills and have been trying to teach myself to knit for a while, using a book I bought online and some advice from my mum. However, I always seem to find other things to do when I sit down to knit so had not really managed to master even the basic skills yet or knit anything beyond a gauge swatch.

To motivate me to get on with it, I decided to add a goal to this list to knit something – anything really, just so long as it was identifiable and served some sort of purpose (even if that was just decorative). Initially, I had a different project in mind for this, however I soon realised my skills weren’t quite up to what I had been planning just yet, so I decided to start with a basic scarf for this goal.

So last week, I learned how to cast on and some other basic skills and got to it. A few hours later I had knitted myself a scarf! Not only was I full of pride to find that I had actually created something I could use, but I enjoyed saying casually to people, “Oh yes, I knitted this the other night while I was watching a film”, which made me feel super productive!

Here’s a photo of me wearing my first ever knitted creation, which will hopefully be the first of many:

Me and my scarf 🙂

Goal # 7 – Run a 5k in under 30 minutes

After running a 5k two years ago in 38 minutes (I’m quite a slow runner, but also I was running with a friend and we took it kind of easy), I was determined to run another one in under 30 minutes. So, for the last five months, I have been running about 3 to 4 times a week to help me achieve this goal.

As I hadn’t run for ages I started off running for just 10 minutes then built up to 30 minutes in 1 minute increments over several weeks. After I had made it to 30 minutes, I then tried to increase my speed (red-faced and panting most of the time as serious runners overtook me with ease!). Although I achieved a 5k distance in under 30 minutes a few times, I still had to do it in an official 5k race… which I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do!

However, last Friday night, I headed out to take part in a 5k along with approximately 599 others – and I completed the race in 28 minutes, much to my amazement! Not only had I never ran the distance in this time before (it was always over 29 minutes) but I had absolutely no idea how far I’d run for most of the race as my running app (which measures time and distance) went crazy and told me after 6 minutes that I had already run 2 miles and was running three-minute miles … if only! 🙂

So to my shock and delight I ran through the finish line after just 28 minutes, enabling me to tick another goal off my list! Here’s a picture of a wet and windswept me happily showing off my finisher’s medal:

Goal # 5 – See the sunrise, and Goal # 6 – Create my own ice cream flavour

After three failed attempts at seeing the sunrise, where I had waited right through from dark to daylight at ridiculous o’ clock with no glimpse of the sun, I was beginning to come to the conclusion that my part of the world must actually be operated by a dimmer switch! I was definitely beginning to believe that this one was not going to be easily ticked off the list.

However, despite my sceptisism, I was determined to tick this off, so I kept an eye out for a cloudless morning and, last Sunday, I ventured out once more for attempt number four of my sunrise mission. And I saw it!

Yep, at roughly twenty past 7, I finally got my glimpse of the sunrise. Here’s the best photo I could get, although it looked a little better in real life:

I also ticked off another item from my list yesterday, and that was creating my own ice cream flavour. The flavour I came up with was white chocolate ice cream with strawberry sauce and chunks of shortbread and white chocolate. And it was really nice, if I do say so myself!

While it took quite a while to make, what with making the ice cream itself, the shortbread and the strawberry sauce, it was definitely worth the effort.

I’m not a food photographer (as you can see) and do not own an ice cream scoop, so while it doesn’t look quite as appetising as it tasted, here’s a photograph to document my first ice cream invention:

Goal # 4 – Have a 12 hour DVD-athon

While this might seem like a super easy goal (I’m starting out with the easiest goals first!) this one was actually more difficult for me than you’d think! Due to my love of a list and my need to be organised and productive, I not only like to write up a to-do list for each day, I also tend to allocate activities to each hour of the day … Yes, I’m a little bit OCD! Consequently, I kind of thought it might be good for me to have a day where I put the list to one side and just spent one day doing absolutely nothing productive at all! I also had some half-watched One Tree Hill DVDs that had been sat waiting to be watched for three years so I thought it was time to make some headway with these …

For the first few hours of my lazy DVD-in-my-pyjamas day I found it predictably difficult to just sit and watch DVDs and ended up replying to emails, looking for jobs and entering competitions (for another goal on my list) while watching. Eventually I wound down to just doing some knitting then, about six hours in, I finally was able to just give in to the unproductivity!

While I’m not sure I’ll be doing a full 12 hours of TV watching again (at least for a while), it was a fun day and it was nice to have a list-free day for a change!

As well as enjoying a bit of One Tree Hill, I’ve also watched a couple more films on my ’50 greatest films’ list – Lawrence of Arabia and Gone with the Wind. Lawrence of Arabia was not my sort of film at all; I found it quite difficult to follow and didn’t really enjoy any of it, which wasn’t ideal given the length of the film (3 hours and 40 minutes). I did enjoy Gone with the Wind though; my favourite film on the list so far.

I have also been training for my 5k (mostly in the rain!) and ran 5km in 29 minutes and 25 seconds the other day, which was the first time I’ve reached my target time of under 30 minutes! Yey! 🙂 I just signed up to run a 5k next month so keeping my fingers crossed I can do it again!

Goal #3 – Have a bath with candles and champagne

Having a bath with candles and champagne is probably the simplest and most easily achievable goal on my list, however it is something I always read about and think “aah that would be lovely” but then never make time for.

I also think, for many of us, our days often pass by as a routine-filled blur, simply filling up time between the next big event, such as a birthday, holiday or Christmas. However, I think it’s good to break out of the routine once in a while and add some fun to your life by making a standard day special and making the usual unusual, so I liked the idea of having something on my list which involved treating myself or having a bit of luxury for no reason at all! And this one seemed to fit the bill.

Yesterday I ticked the third thing off my list (three things in less than two weeks yey!) by treating myself to a relaxing bath. I had actually prepared for this one over a week in advance when, as part of a birthday shopping spree, I bought myself a lovely Lush bubble bar (Rose Jam – which smells amazing) and a Marilyn hair mask. I also spent about 20 minutes in the supermarket deliberating which champagne to buy before purchasing a little bottle. And all the preparation paid off as I relaxed in my bath complete with face mask, hair mask, bubbles, candles (Yankee candles’ Vanilla Cupcake – the best smell in the world!) and a glass of champagne. Lovely!

Here’s an update on the list so far:

1. Start a blog

2. Learn how to play chess

3. Have a bath with candles and champagne

4. Watch the sunrise – I’m still trying my hardest (three attempts so far) as yet with no success!

5. Read War and Peace – 143 pages read, about 800 more to go …

6. Raise £130 for charity 

7. See a Shakespeare play at the Globe Theatre

8. Visit another city by myself 

9. Run a 5K in less than 30 minutes

10. See the Northern Lights

11. Knit something

12. Create my own ice cream flavour 

13. Create my own perfume 

14. Do a night-time sponsored walk for charity

15. Have a moonlit picnic

16. Take part in National Novel Writing Month

17. Do a parachute jump

18. Win a competition

19. Have a 12 hour DVD-athon

20. Read the Bible all the way through – 52 pages in!

21. Sponsor a child in a developing country

22. Watch 50 of the top films of all time 

23. Read the top 10 of the Guardian‘s 100 greatest novels of all time – One watched so far (Bambi)

24. Reach my target weight

25. Plan some extremely amazing 30th birthday celebrations

26. Go to the Opera

27. Go on a long bike ride

28. Cook a Christmas dinner

29. Learn how to make candles 

30. Go to an ice bar

Checkmate! Goal #2 – Learn how to play chess

When I was a kid I joined just about every club or group I could in school. Netball, rounders, drama, dance, French, sewing … you name it, I was there! However, there was one club I failed to ever attend, and that was chess.

I think one reason for this was that the chess group seemed to be exclusively boys’ territory (I’m not sure what it is about moving little wooden pieces around a board that makes it such a testosterone-fuelled activity, but there you have it!) but also I always perceived chess to be quite an intimidating activity. Unlike your average anyone-can-have-a-go, just-for-a-bit-of-fun board game, like Monopoly or Pictionary, I imagined chess as more of a serious activity, picturing my 10 year old classmates suddenly morphing into master tacticians as they entered the chess room, eyeballing each other over a wooden board as they stroked their chins and contemplated their next strategic move.

However, despite being intimidated by the game, my failure to infiltrate this group of people who knew the correct name for the ‘horse’ piece, could move around a chequerboard with ease and never referred to playing pieces as ‘prawns’ must have stuck with me for life, as when I was contemplating the activities to add to my list which I felt would make me a more well-rounded, interesting and accomplished human being, something came to mind – I should learn how to play chess!

So last night I sat down to embark on my mission to learn how to play the game, accompanied by my lovely mum who had volunteered to try and impart her chess-playing skills. We ran through the rules, set up our pieces, and, with a huge stroke of beginner’s luck, an hour or so later I was declaring checkmate! Yes, somehow I managed to win my first game! OK, my mum may have been taking it easy on me but I’m still going to be ticking this one off as my second accomplished goal on my list!

My search for a sunrise

It may be early days for my 30 list, but I’ve been pretty eager to tick things off and it’s been a fun week so far trying to get underway with some of my goals!

Firstly, I’ve been tackling War and Peace in the least off-putting way possible, reading 11 pages a day of this HUGE work of literature! Having done a page count, I decided if I could manage just 11 pages a day (unless it gets particularly gripping) I would be finished in 3 months. So far, so good … kind of. I’m on page 44 and already fairly lost with the huge amount of characters featuring in the novel. It’s not quite as difficult to read as I had been expecting, however, so I’m interested to see how it goes.

Alongside plodding through War and Peace, I have also been working on my goal of reading the bible all the way through by reading 4 pages each day. I have also just finishing watching the first of my 50 greatest films; the first being … Bambi! Not a film I was expecting to see on the top films of all time list, but a good’un all the same.

For anyone interested, here is my list of 50 films to watch, not in any particular order:

1. Bambi
2. Lawrence of Arabia
3. Casablanca
4. The Godfather
5. Gone With the Wind
6. Apocalypse Now
7. Roman Holiday
8. Bonnie and Clyde
9. Some Like It Hot
10. Blade Runner
11. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
12. Raiders of the Lost Ark
13. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
14. Chinatown
15. It’s a Wonderful Life
16. My Darling Clementine
17. All About Eve
18. Dr Strangelove
19. Annie Hall
20. 2001: A Space Odyssey
21. The Lady Eve
22. Star Wars
23. Letter from an Unknown Woman
24. Schindler’s List
25. It Happened One Night
26. The Third Man
27. The Philadelphia Story
28. North By Northwest
29. Amadeus
30. Rear Window
31. Rebecca
32. Singin’ In The Rain
33. E.T.
34. West Side Story
35. American Graffiti
36. Vertigo
37. Nashville
38. Shawshank Redemption
39. His Girl Friday
40. Sunset Boulevard
41. Tokyo Story
42. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
43. Back to the Future
44. Kind Hearts and Coronets
45. Network
46. The Bicycle Thieves
47. The Quiet Man
48. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
49. Lord of the Rings
50. Citizen Kane

A bit of a mixed bag … some I’m really excited to see, some not so much!

My biggest challenge so far, however, is with a goal I thought would be one of the easiest to achieve – watching the sunrise. The day after my birthday I got up bright and early (5am), ventured to a beach half an hour away and waited. And waited. And daylight came, it hit 6.30am and still there was no sun. Freezing cold and exhausted I went back home and decided to try again, today, only leaving earlier this time and choosing a different spot on the waterfront. The same thing happened.

I don’t understand how it is possible for it to be out from dark to daylight, to stand in a spot with a good view, and not to see the sun rise at all! If anyone has any hints or ideas they would be very welcome!

I have decided to try again in a few weeks’ time but I feel a bit apprehensive now about my ability to tick this off the list … However, I refuse to be beaten! 🙂

30 things to do before I turn 30… My list. Plus, goal #1 – Start a blog

There’s nothing I enjoy more than a list. OK, that might be a slight exaggeration, but it’s fair to say I am a little bit addicted to writing (and ticking things off) lists. In fact, I recently bought a beautiful new notebook which I decided would be kept solely for the purpose of writing lists, naturally beginning the first page with a list of lists I needed to write …

Ahem, OK, I realise I have used the word ‘list’ far too much already and I am only four sentences in, so let’s move on …

So, yesterday I turned 29 and I decided I would commemorate this special occasion by embarking on a pre-turning-30 year-long project of accomplishing 30 things I have always wanted to do (and some I have only just thought of). Not only did I think this would turn the prospect of turning 30 into something far more exciting, but having recently been made redundant (boo) and being currently single, I decided I was in need of something to keep me busy, and I do love a fun project!

I have been working on my list of things I want to achieve before my 30th birthday milestone for a few weeks and am now proud to reveal the finished product (drum roll please) …

Here’s my list of 30 things to do before I turn 30:

1. Watch the sunrise – A bit cliched but this is talked about so much it felt like something I really should do at some point in my life!

2. Read War and Peace

3. Raise £130 for charity – I wanted this to tie in with the 30 theme, but £30 felt a bit of a poor attempt …

4. See a Shakespeare play at the Globe Theatre

5. Visit another city by myself – I hate venturing anywhere by myself so thought I’d throw myself in the deep end with this one. Deep breathe … I can do this!

6. Run a 5K in less than 30 minutes – Might sound easy, but I’m quite the slow runner!

7. See the Northern Lights

8. Knit something – Yes, it’s a hobby loved by elderly ladies everywhere, but I have just jumped on the knitting bandwagon and taught myself how to knit. Unfortunately, most of my projects so far consist simply of a few lines of knitting (still on the needles) in various colours. I decided to get a bit more ambitious with my knitting and actually create something with a purpose (or at least a definite shape) of some kind, and I have actually just received an ace knitting project for my birthday which I will write about very shortly.

9. Create my own ice cream flavour – As much as I love lists, one thing I love perhaps even more is ice cream, so this is a project very close to my heart!

10. Create my own perfume – Might be fun? Might (most likely) never wear it.

11. Start a blog – Almost there!

12. Do a night-time sponsored walk for charity

13. Have a moonlit picnic – Sounds a bit lame, but I’ve always wanted to do this. Just need to find me a picnic-ing partner!

14. Take part in National Novel Writing Month – A novel in a month? No sweat! Who needs sleep anyway?

15. Have a bath with candles and champagne – I always hear of people doing this (mainly in chick lit books) and thought it sounded extravagant yet simple enough for a spot on the list. Mid-week champagne for no reason at all? Oh, go on then!

16. Do a parachute jump

17. Win a competition

18. Have a 12 hour DVD-athon – A full day of solid DVD watching in my pyjamas and nothing to feel guilty about… after all, it’s all for the good of the list!

19. Learn how to play chess

20. Read the Bible all the way through

21. Sponsor a child in a developing country

22. Watch 50 of the top films of all time – Compiled from lists of the top 100 movies by rottentomatoes.com and filmsite.org

23. Read the top 10 of the Guardian‘s 100 greatest novels of all time

24. Reach my target weight- I just want to lose a few pounds, but this sounds more dramatic.

25. Plan some extremely amazing 30th birthday celebrations (or something fun to mark the date at any rate!).

26. Go to the Opera

27. Go on a long bike ride – No specifics, but I’ve not ridden a bike in about 15 years, so it may be a challenge!

28. Cook a Christmas dinner

29. Learn how to make candles – I love candles and thought this would be a nice skill to have.

30. Go to an ice bar

So there it is, my list of 30 things to do before I’m 30, and once I click on ‘Publish’ my very first goal (well 11th on the list) will be complete!

Thanks for reading and it would be great to hear what other people would or have put on their list! 🙂

Now, I’m off to get started on some other goals… War and Peace won’t read itself (if only!).