Goals # 14 – 16 – Make my own perfume, learn how to make candles, and go for a bike ride

Due to starting a new job, I haven’t had much time to blog, but I have managed to tick a few more things off my list!

Making my own perfume is something I have wanted to do for a while, mostly because I am obsessed with vanilla scented things and have struggled to find a good vanilla perfume. I also try to use natural products where possible, so wanted to try making my own natural perfume. I have also been keen to try making my own candles (vanilla scented, obviously) as I love candles and thought it would be a nice skill to learn.

So, a few weeks ago I had a lovely crafty afternoon making some homemade candles and perfume. For the candles, I bought some oils off the internet (vanilla, neroli and jasmine), some pipettes and roller ball bottles and found a good recipe for making a perfume oil – then I set to work mixing oils. After the perfume was made it needed to be left to settle or brew or something for a month, before being ready to use, and last week it was finally ready! Unfortunately, while it smells quite nice, it doesn’t smell very vanilla-y. This is mostly because I struggled to find an undiluted vanilla oil so it wasn’t quite as strong as the others. It also worked out quite expensive for a small bottle of oil! However, I did have fun making it and would probably try again at some point.

For the candles, I bought a kit off the internet, which had everything I needed and good detailed instructions. It didn’t take long to make them and they were fun and easy to make! The only problem was  they did need to cool for quite a while and I only got two moulds so it would have took days to make all 10, but I ended up only making four candles and set the rest of the wax in cake trays to make wax melts. Here’s a pic of the finished candles!

Last weekend I also ticked off another goal to go for a bike ride. While it wasn’t the world’s longest bike ride, it was pretty long for me and I was out for about 3 hours in total. It was actually one of the most fun goals to tick off so far and was nice to spend a day riding around in the sun, and has actually inspired me to get out and about on my bike more often. 🙂

 

 

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 🙂

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!).