Goals # 23, 24 and 25 – See a play at the Globe Theatre, do a night-time sponsored walk for charity, and have a moonlit picnic

So, I am just over two weeks away from my 30th birthday (eek – bit scared about this!) and it’s safe to say my list has pretty much taken over my life in my desperate attempt to tick off the final things! This is mainly because I left reading Clarissa quite late and it’s unexpectedly thick and quite hard going! I also got way behind on my daily page count for reading the bible so have a fair bit left to go!

However, last weekend I managed to tick off my goal to see a play at the Globe Theatre! I saw King Lear, which was really good. I thought there was maybe a little too much singing and dancing for a tragedy, but on the whole I really enjoyed it.

Then yesterday I took part in a 10k evening walk for charity. Here’s a pic of me ready to go!

Ready for my 10k

It was a great atmosphere and I really enjoyed the event, and afterwards I got to tick off my goal to have a moonlit picnic.

Originally, when I came up with the list, my idea was to have a romantic picnic, as I was optimistic (kind of) about the idea I might find someone to do this with in the course of a year, however this turned out to be not the case. But in the spirit of being an independent woman I figured I could do this without a man 🙂 And the sponsored walk provided the perfect opportunity for a group picnic in lovely surroundings with live music, surrounded by lots of people celebrating the completion of the 10k walk and funds raised for a good cause. Here is a pic:

Moonlit picnic

It turned out to be a lovely night – and now I only have 5 more goals to tick off my list! 🙂

Goals # 19, 20, 21 and 22 – Raise £130 for charity, plan some amazing 30th birthday celebrations, go to an ice bar, and go paragliding

So, I have just over one month left to complete my list (eek – one month till I turn 30!) and am not doing so badly. As of this week I have just 8 things left on my list!

This week I received a few more donations for my forthcoming sponsored walk, taking my combined fundraising efforts from that and my 5k up to £145. Yey – mission accomplished, and £145 raised for some good causes (both events raise money for cancer charities).

I also finished planning some things for my 30th birthday. Originally, I had thought about having a party, but I decided it was too much stress worrying whether people were going to turn up. So instead I booked a holiday abroad for over my birthday (I plan to have a spa day there on the actual day) and have booked a log cabin for me and some friends on the following weekend. I decided I wanted to celebrate becoming a proper grown up and hitting my 30s with one of my favourite things from my childhood – a sleepover! So we are going to head to the log cabin and celebrate with a proper 90s style sleepover, complete with girly DVDs, board games, face masks and a few cocktails!

Also this week I visited an ice bar, made entirely from ice, and drank a cocktail from an ice glass. Here’s a pic:

Ice bar

Finally, this week I also went paragliding! I did a tandem paraglide off a huge hill. It was hard work (climbing the hill for an hour) and I got a bit of motion sickness unfortunately while up there, but it was a good experience and I got to go up twice for 20 minutes each time (it would have been longer if I hadn’t felt so sick). Here’s a picture of me as a tiny speck in the sky :):

Paragliding

It’s certainly been a fun and busy week! 🙂

Goal # 13 – Go to an opera

I haven’t written for a while due to the simple reason that I’ve ground to a (hopefully temporary) halt in ticking things off my list! This is due to the fact that I can’t afford to do some of the things on it right now, some of the others are more ongoing projects, and I’m waiting for the summer to do others …

Unfortunately, now that I have got something to write about I’m having a bit of difficulty with the actual writing, due to having broken a finger on my right hand! So,  I’ll keep this short and sweet!

Going to an opera is something I’ve always sort of wanted to do (just so I can tell people that I’ve been to an opera) but I was never sure that I’d enjoy it. However, last week I finally got the opportunity to see one and headed off to see Nabucco with my mum. The music was really good, and thanks to subtitles I could actually follow what was going on – bonus! Plus, I got to eat ice cream, which makes any night more enjoyable! 🙂

While I still prefer a good old cheesy musical, a good night was had by all (well, me and my mum. I can’t really speak for the others) and I would definitely consider going again. Plus there is something about seeing an  opera that makes you feel instantly more cultured and grown up! 🙂

Must go for now and rest my hand, but hopefully back soon with another thing ticked off my list!

Goals # 9, 10 and 11 – Take part in National Novel Writing Month, win a competition, and read War and Peace

Ever since I was four years old it has been my lifetime ambition to write a novel. However, unfortunately I have continually fallen into the pattern many writers fall into of starting a novel then losing interest, coming up with a better idea, or getting too busy halfway through, and leaving the novel unfinished.

Initially, one of my goals for this list was simply to write a novel. However, as I had many ongoing goals already for the list (such as watching the top 50 films and reading several books) I quickly realised that I would probably fall into the same trap of never finishing my novel if I spread it out over the year. So, to give me a bit more motivation to write, I decided to enter the National Novel Writing Month competition (nanowrimo) that takes place every November – something I have thought about doing for a while.

So, this November, at midnight on 31st October/1st November, I set off on my writing adventure! After much deliberation, I decided to write a young adult novel, although I had absolutely no idea what it would be about even as I started writing. I put together a very vague idea about 5 minutes before I started (and when I say very vague, I mean very) and hoped the rest would come along as I wrote. Which it sort of did (although I had to go back once I had reached the end of the novel and fill in some gaps to improve the novel and add to the word count).

Then, on 24th November, I reached the 50,000 word word count and became a nanowrimo winner and the author of my very first complete novel!! 🙂

Not only that, but I decided my completion of this goal meant that I could tick off another goal on my list. After reading about National Novel Writing Month, I noticed that it was often referred to as a competition. Also, those who complete the month with a 50,000 word novel are referred to on the site as ‘winners’. Therefore, I concluded I could quite legitimately count this as me winning a competition (after all, it required a lot more time, effort and hard work than the lucky draws I had so far been trying and failing to win!). Here is a screenshot of my National Novel Writing Month page, declaring me a winner 🙂

Wonderfully, on the same day I completed my novel, I also managed to finally finish War and Peace, three months after I began! While some parts of the novel were a difficult read and there were times I longed for it to end, all in all I would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to give it a go. I thought the characters were complex and interesting and I enjoyed the plot. And I also enjoyed being able to casually read War and Peace in public, as though I read those sort of novels all the time … 🙂

Now on to the rest of the books I’m reading for my list, starting with Tristram Shandy!

Here is an update of the goals I have completed so far:

1. Start a blog

2. Learn how to play chess

3. Have a bath with candles and champagne

4. Have a 12 hour DVD-athon

5. See the sunrise 

6. Create my own ice cream flavour

7. Run a 5K in less than 30 minutes

8. Knit something

9. Take part in National Novel Writing Month

10. Win a competition

11. Read War and Peace

12. Cook a Christmas dinner

13. Go to an ice bar

14. Learn how to make candles

15. Reach my target weight

16. See the Northern Lights

17. Go to the Opera

18. See a Shakespeare play at the Globe Theatre

19. Do a night-time sponsored walk for charity

20. Read the top 10 of the Guardian’s 100 greatest novels of all time

21. Raise £130 for charity

22. Go on a long bike ride

23. Create my own perfume

24. Visit another city by myself

25. Have a moonlit picnic

26. Do a parachute jump

27. Sponsor a child in a developing country

28. Watch 50 of the top films of all time

29. Read the Bible all the way through

30. Plan some extremely amazing 30th birthday celebrations

 

 

 

 

 

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!