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The Earth has orbited the sun 40 times since I joined the celestial party.
Around this time last year, I set myself a challenge - a mini 'bucket list' of sorts. I listed 40 things to do before I was 40. I wrote about it HERE: 40 Things to Do Before I Reach 40 I had to think of things that were realistic and achievable without breaking the bank. Here's how I did:
As you can see, I only managed 11 of them. However... There were a few that I crossed off in the year for various reasons:
Skiing and White Water Rafting - we had 2 holidays in the year and neither gave us the opportunity to ski or go rafting.
Tie a message to a balloon and let it go, also, let go of a floating lantern - I didn't want to create unnecessary litter.
Wear coloured contact lenses for the day - several people told me horror stories about people who had caused permanent eye damage from using these.
In the summer, it became apparent that I wasn't going to complete the 40 challenges, so instead, I started recording the awesome things I did:
my #BuckListWin's!
Travelled First Class. Okay, so it was only from Bristol to Taunton by train, but I've never done it before! Swimming in the Black Sea. A holiday to Bulgaria, the weather was scorching and we spent the weekend at Golden Sands. The Blue Lagoon, Iceland. This one had been on my bucket list for a long time.
Rowing the Kennet and Avon Canal. A gorgeous sunny afternoon, midweek, we both took the day off work and went rowing.
See The Northern Lights. Also on our holiday to Iceland, this was a fantastic experience, again, it's been on my bucket list for ages!
A screen free day. Our few days in Bulgaria - no phone, no TV, no internet, no computer. Bliss.
Speed boat along the Thames. A family day trip in the summer. Jeep Safari in Iceland. A day of exploring the tundra, seeing geysers, waterfalls, and glaciers.
A pro- photoshoot. I now have a collection of great business images, thanks to the expertise of Lidia at Visuable, that I use for all my marketing.
A styling session. I may not have lost the weight, but thanks to a styling session with Gosia Scarrott of GS Styling, I can now dress for my shape. At least I look like I've lost weight! I'm still self-employed. I may not have met my income goals with the business, but I have managed to be in profit from day one and haven't had to concede defeat and divide my time by working for someone else. Completed a Speaking Circuit. I took my 'Storytelling for business' talk to Women Mean Business networking groups across the South West and made the decision to join the formal networking club in 2017 Finished the Sheridan and Blake Series. A trilogy that turned into a quadrilogy, finishing my first series of books is a significant milestone in my career as a writer and means I can now move on to other writing projects with pride. I compiled all four into a bumper 4 in 1 eBook Boxset
Published a 'Blogging for Business' book, which is proving to be a great 'gateway product' and 'premium business card' into further consultancy work.
Watched NYE fireworks from the rooftop of an eight-storey building. Made lots of new friends and found my tribe. I realised this when the people who came to my Gabriel's Game book launch party and to my New Years' Eve 40th Birthday party were a completely different bunch of people to a year ago. So, all in all, it may not have been 40 things, but 2016 wasn't all bad... What did you achieve in 2016? Join the party and sign up to my newsletter for exclusive deals, treats, inspiration and general loveliness:
I should have achieved a third of these by now... I've not quite reached that milestone I'm getting there slowly - here's what I've done so far: 16. Try a new vegetable and cook with it I tried celeriac. I took to Pinterest and found some recipes. Roasted in oil with other root veg with a roast dinner was the best!
17. Try a new fruit and cook with it I tried lychee. Technically I didn't cook with it, I added it to smoothies. The thing that freaked me out about fresh lychee's was how much they look and feel like eyeballs. They'd make a great Halloween treat! 21. See the northern lights This was an amazing experience. We saw them during a long weekend to Iceland. We went out on a boat into the harbour at 11pm. At first there were just few greenish wisps of clouds, then mother nature gave us a spectacular show!
22. Go vegetarian for a week This was a tough one, as it's not so much that I have to have meat, but that I cook for myself and my husband and he likes to eat meat every day. He was forced to be veggie for the week too (there was no way I was going to watch him eat meat without me!) In the end, this was not as challenging as I imagined it would be. It forced me to think more carefully about what I was eating. I was almost vegan, in fact, except that I like a squirt of honey and splash of milk in my tea and I eat eggs a couple of days a week for breakfast. If I substituted my tea for black coffee and herbal tea and didn't eat eggs, I could try being vegan for a spell. This would certainly help with no. 2: 'Get back to a size 14'! 28. Go on a spontaneous adventure This was a tame one, but we still enjoyed our day. The adventure involved going to Temple Meads Train Station and getting on a train. We didn't have a particular destination in mind, but it needed to be relatively close by and not too pricey.
We ended up spending a day being tourists in Gloucester.
29. Go to a city I've never been to before ... I could count Gloucester as this one.
Despite only being down the road in Bristol, we've never been there. However, I'm going to choose Reykjavik (bit more exotic and interesting than Gloucester!)
39. Leave inspiring notes for people to find I made up a selection of little notes with inspiring quotes on and for a couple of weeks, carried them around in my pocket and left them in cafe's, bars, restaurants etc. around Bristol.
I'm changing my list a little.
There were some things on the original list that, on further reflection, I don't want to do. For example: leaving a message in a bottle - there's enough litter in the ocean without me adding to it!
So here's my updated 40 / 40 list - there are a couple of gaps now, I plan to fill these as the year progresses as I'm sure some opportunities that are not apparent to me now will present themselves later in 2016:
Since making the changes. I've achieved another one: 26. Travel First Class We took a train to Taunton and first class tickets were less than standard.
Big comfortable seats, lots of leg room and free tea and biscuits - lovely!
Have you got any suggestions for things I could fill the gaps with?
