Venetian Beauty

Well I am over a thousand words into my first novel - a story of my doomed flirtation with Internet dating and a story of what might have been if things had gone differently.  The idea came to me as I drove over to IKEA yesterday and I sat in the restaurant and penned an outline.  If I can do justice to the outline then I will be pleased with the finished result.  The plan is to publish an e-book via amazon and see if it gains me fame and fortune.  I doubt it of course but its a nice dream!

Its "Wicked" in New York

I may not have blogged for nearly two months - but WOW what a couple of months this has been.  I made it to New York and achieved everything I dreamed of - the Empire State Building was just magical but i loved the sights, the sounds and the smells of New York.  The yellow cabs were just CRAZY!!

I achieved my aim of watching a Broadway show - we saw Wicked which was just spectacular!  Then - in a real american diner - I tried a real american burger - complete with fries.  As an american experience I dived straight in - and loved it!  And as for Tiffanys ..................................

Publish and be dammed

I have just read an interesting article on how to publish your own e-book via Amazon.  I am hoping that the ease of this task will be the push I need.  I have always felt that there was a book within me - now I just need to decide on the theme - and then WRITE IT!!

Diet wise, things are going well - three weeks in and I have lost 12.5 pounds.  What is more interesting is that I have been faced with a number of temptations that, previously, would have scuppered me. Now I am passing with flying colours.  An example?  I drove over to Sheffield on Friday - a four hour round trip.  Rightly or wrongly I associate a long car journey with food - chocolate mainly.  So I purposely ignored the call of the shops and drove with just a small box of sugar free mints in the car - feeling very virtuous!

Slacking!

You can tell that I am back at work - I haven't posted for three weeks which is poor!

In terms of my 60 up challenges I have not got far - although I have tried to spend a lot less and have re-joined slimming world.  To achieve my 12 stone challenge will be a stretch - I will have to lose 50% of ,y weight.  However it is something that can be done - providing I keep to the rules of the diet!

I have also made a start on the patchwork quilt - well - one square at any rate.  The brand idea is to do a sampler quilt with a different pattern in each square.

Quilting

Things have been rather busy over the last week or so but I have managed to snatch a few minutes here and there to start on the handmade quilt.  I am going for a samplere technique - 12 inch squares with different patterns on them.  To coordinate the fabric I am aiming to keep the same blue background for each square and keep oddments of each fabric for a stripey border.  Well - thats the theory anyway!

On a different note I am being side tracked by a fabulous website - http://www.swap-bot.com/ .  Its a site where swaps of all sorts of different materials and crafts take place across the world.  I am looking forward to my first two packages from the USA.  It makes a change from the usual bills.

On the finance front I have made an inventory of my store cupboard and freezer with the aim of utilising produce already purcased rather than spending more money.

Wicked!

There are some challenges that take two minutes and others that need to be worked up to.  This week has been spent sorting out our intinary for our visit to New York in October - and our tickets to see Wicked on Broadway - two challenges in one!

This week has also seen some money savings in an attempt to beat the recession - its a long uphill slog!

TV show - waiting for the random draw

One of my challenges was to be in the audience tow atch a tv show recorded - and one of my favourite shows is Strictly Come Dancing.  So, it was a no brainer.  I have applied for a pair of tickets for a range of dates and am keeping my fingers crossed.  They enter all applicants into a draw and allocate on a random basis - here's hoping!

Dancing naked around the garden in the rain - what a way to spend an evening!

Next challenge down - it was gone 11pm and I couldn't sleep due to the rain beating down upon the conservatory roof.  Suddenly I remembered the list of challenges.  Surely no one would see me if I ran around the garden naked - don't worry I am not overlooked.

Leaving my dressing gown by the door, I ran around the garden in the rain and it was strangely liberating.  as I made it back to the door I wanted to tell everyone about how brave I was.  Sadly all I did was to go to bed with a smile!

Fishing around

Well - next challenge met! 

On holiday in Devon and I came across one of those fish pedicure sites - right in the middle of s shopping centre!  Adter some coaxing, I persuaded my mother to give it a try with me.  Te fish tickled and it felt as if there was sherbert popping all around my feet.  Afterwards my skin did feel soft and refreshed - it is certainly something that I would do again.

Week three - Challenge one - completed!

For many a year, as I said last week, I have heard bits of "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck but have never actually read the book.  This last week I sat down and read it.  Whilst its not really to my taste the ending took me by surpruse and left me feeling really sad for humanity.  I won't spoil the ending for anyone who has not read it yet - suffice it to say I am glad that I have read it.

So - now its onto challenge two - learn how to play chess.  I have downloaded the moving patterns of each piece and am practising with an app on my ipad.

Meanwhile I am waiting for the rain to come - today can't decide - and am on a slimming world diet.  The 12 stone challenge is more of a long term aspiration!

week two - waiting for the rain!

Looking at my list of challenges to complete I decided to start on two - reading "Of mice and men" and dancing in the rain - possibly naked if I dare.  The first I have started - its heavy going and I'm not enjoying it so far but its been a book thats surrounded me for much of my working life so I want to know what the fuss is about.

The second is dancing naked in the rain - sure there's been plenty of rain but there just hasn't been the opportunity (or the darkness) to achieve this one.  Never mind - there's still next week!

Week one - and the challenge begins!

Inspired by reading about a librarian who set herself the challenge of achieving 60 challenges before she retired at sixty - I have come up with my own list.  Well, to be honest there are only 51 so far (perhaps that's because its my age) but at least there's room for some inspiration.

Like the librarian many of the challenges are inexpensive - such as re-reading the complete works of Jane Austen - but are life affirming.  Others have been pipe dreams - but writing them down gives them credance somehow.

So - where do I begin?  One of the challenges is to keep a weekly blog for a year so this is a start.  Another is to complete spider solitaire and, trust me, I am practising!

So - week one and we are off and running!