'100 Things to do in 2014' - An Update

Before Christmas, I wrote this post. A list of 100 things to do in 2014. As we are 6 months in to 2014, I thought it appropriate to revisit this list, see where I am and whether I am half way or no where near to completing it. It is hard to believe that we are half way through 2014 already. Time is flowing by too quickly and I have already started to have thoughts of Christmas. I have mentioned to the boy that we should get organised and book our Christmas flights home in order to save money now and I am already looking at items in Manchester shops and thinking 'so and so would like that for Christmas'. Scary!! (Yes, that does deserve two exclamation marks.)

So, here is my published list and I've crossed out the items completed and made some additional notes next to those that may not happen in 2014.

Education or as I like to call it - Fun stuff I want to learn

1.Take Spanish classes -  I know where these classes are taught. All I need to do it sign up and pay my fee.

2.Take a DSLR photography class

3.Take a craft class at the Ministry of Craft - crochet anyone?

Update: I've been using the excuse 'I can't afford' it in order not do any of the above. I have discovered that it is free to join the library so I'm going to rent out one of those language DVD's. Yay, for free stuff! Oh and maybe I'll throw in a DSLR and crafting book while I'm at it.

Blog / Lucky Rainbow

4.Invest in getting an awesome designer to update my blog design - this is badly needed

5.Get better at blog post scheduling

6.Find some new blogs to follow and get commenting

7.Rename & Re-brand - There's a slight name change on the way

8.Meet more inspiring bloggers

9.Reach out and connect

10.Create some tutorials for the blog

11.Update and continue to improve the Facebook page

Update: It certainly appears I've made more of an effort on this little space of mine. I'm taking the time to write better content and I've had the opportunity to attend some wonderful blogging events in Manchester thus providing me with the chance to meet and connect with other bloggers. I've also changed the name to The Lucky Rainbow and finally updated the design by hiring the services of someone selling their talents on Etsy!

Fitness / Health & Wellbeing

12.Clean eating - begin some research and adopt

13.Try meditation

14.Find a weekly gym class that I'll enjoy

15.Start running again

16.Enter a 5k

17.Get out of my comfort zone and try something I'd never usually try

18.Find a great massage therapist

19.Listen to more music

20.Be more thankful

21.Express gratitude often

22.Make some D.I.Y beauty treatments

23.Try herbal teas

24.Worry less about those fine lines

25.Try a detox

26.Make a green smoothie, you know, of the vegetable kind

Update: I have done all the Clean Eating research a gal can do and bought the books too. In dribs and drabs I have adopted this approach but have fallen off the wagon quite a bit in the first 6 months. Must.try.harder. I am listening to more music, spotify is my new friend. Not only have I entered a 5K, but I also entered and ran a 10K. High 5! Herbal tea, Yes - done that too!

Cookery

27.Cook more healthy meals

28.Learn the art of preparing amazing packed lunches the night before work

29.Get a cute lunch box

30.Make chutney, pasta and bread from scratch

Update: I am cooking more healthy meals but as above, I'm not doing it enough. When I'm organised I am on it. I am 'Miss Healthy Eating'. I do have a cute lunch box of the 'pink with lots of compartments' kind. I just to hone down the organisational gene that hopefully is inside me somewhere!

Creativity

31.Make a more conscious effort to craft

32.Visit galleries in Manchester

33.Watch some arty films

34.Stay up to date with local artists and exhibitions

35.Draw more, even if you think you're bad at it

36.Reopen my Etsy shop

37.Open a Folksy shop

Update: I'm doing pretty crap at this, to my dismay. I have started to make things again but not at a drastic rate. I still have not visited any art galleries in Manchester. I'm starting to wonder what I'm doing in my spare time apart from sleeping and blogging!

Career

38.Send teaching qualifications to relevant UK offices for approval (Been on the long finger for an age)

39.Visit a life coach - figure out what area you really want to work in

40.Get some volunteer work in an area you'd one day like to work in

41.Be somewhere towards sorting it by the end of 2014

Update: I am still undecided about whether I want to be a teacher, basically because I feel I cannot draw anymore and any attempt at a portfolio would be shambolic. Honestly, they are my reasons. I did some volunteering with Student Action in Work, giving food to homeless people in Manchester. It was an eye opener.

For fun-sies

42.Visit a psychic

43.Go to a music festival

44.Write more letters and send more cards

45.Set up an Irish blogger meet up (Claire Ann & Aoife Blake, I'm looking at you!)

46.Volunteer in a charity shop

47.Commit some random acts of kindness

48.Get a pen pal

Update: My random acts of kindness have been to tweet bloggers whose posts I have enjoyed, share their blog with others and provide some sort of praise. Call it blogging karma. I have a charity shop in mind that I'd like to volunteer for. It's open on the weekends so I might just drop them a line. I've yet to meet the lovely Irish bloggers Claire Ann & Aoife Blake and does anyone want to be my penpal?

Travel

49.Visit Scotland

50.Take a holiday with the boy - somewhere hot

51.Take a solo trip

52.Sit down and plan a once in a lifetime trip

53.Have a spa day away

Update: Tick - we went to Edinburgh in Easter and now I want to go back and perhaps live there one day. I really, really loved that place. Mum and I mentioned a spa day away some time soon, maybe when I'm home for a friends wedding in September.

Financial

54.Save money for a video camera so I can vlog (with Claire Ann if you're reading)

55.Maybe a tablet or iPad too?

56.Save, save, save

Update: I was lucky in that I didn't need to save for an iPad as the boy bought me an iPad mini for Christmas and I freaking love it. I do need to save though. I am a financial walking disaster and the boy is a financial walking genius. We had an honest chat about it and he's going to help me budget more.

Personal Development

57.Take UK driving theory test

58.Learn to drive (This has been on countless lists since 2006)

59.Be more organised in as many aspects of my life as possible

60.Read more books

61.Watch less TV

62.Smile

63.Be happy

Update: There is no update, I'm obviously not tackling this aspect in any shape or form!

Other

64.Keep a journal

65.Write a five year plan

66.Wear something you wouldn't normally wear - step outside the comfort zone

67.Try a new hair colour

68.Give up alcohol for a month (not that I drink alot anyways!)

69.Learn some HTML

70.Buy a vintage dress

71.Lists, lists and more lists - keep writing lists

72.Organise all my clothes and stream line back

73.Learn some songs

74.Budget, budget, budget

75.Go to the dentist

76.Do a course that pushes you - not a fun course, but something you can learn lots from

77.Say yes more

78.Learn about another religion

79.Walk, walk, walk

80.Discover new areas of Manchester

81.Climb a mountain

82.Have an internet free weekend

83.More painting of nails and less chipped nails

84.Be less critical

85.Get my ears pierced

86.More meal planning, less takeaways

87.Try red wine

88.Be part of at least one craft fair in 2014

89.Floss

90.Dance

91.Love

92.Write

93.Listen to an audio book

94.Conquer my sewing machine

95.Make gifts for friends

96.Just be

97.More positive thinking and less worrying

98.Trust that it will all work out

99.Take some risks

100.Make more time for all of the above

Update: Yes the wardrobe has been organised but I'd say my fashion sense is non existent. What I really need to do is itemise what I have and see what I need to buy in order to make better use of the clothes I do have. Always discovering more of Manchester and you are more likely to see me without chipped nail polish. Meal / grocery planning is happening but takeaways are too. Naughty, naughty. Red wine, not for me and I've been making handmade cards for friends to give to others. I still worry (alot) and the sewing machine in stored away - a craft class is needed in order to conquer it ASAP!

Out of 100 'things' - I have managed to attack or start 25 of them. Half way through the year but only a quarter through the list. For June, I'm going to focus on the following:

- Opening my Etsy shop again

- Opening a Folksy shop

- Find a weekly gym class that I'll enjoy

- Visit a gallery in Manchester

- Keep a journal

Wish me luck! How are your 2014 goals coming along?

Healthy Eating, Healthy Living, Healthy Mind

image - via Pinterest

Just before Christmas (does anyone else feel like Christmas was a lifetime ago?) I made this ambitious list of 100 Things to do in 2014. It was inspired by a similar list created by Christine from The Fabulous Times and it really spurred me on to take control of all the ga-zillion of things and bits of pieces in my life that I'd like to change for the better. If you remember, I broke all these mini goals down into categories and one of those important categories was health and in particular, wellbeing.

Many of us are often focused on how we look (and not how we feel!), the end result and whether we fit into a teeny tiny pair of skinny jeans. I am guilty of this. I won't lie. I have often (and to a point, still am) used an item of clothing or an occasion, such as a wedding, as a point of focus. A deadline for achieving my weight loss goal. For the first number of weeks I am the female equivalent of Mr Motivator. I radically turn around my eating habits, sign up for all the fitness classes I can find, say no to bread at every opportunity and inform anyone who will listen, that I, ladies and gentlemen, am on a health kick and that come X (insert relevant date here), you won't recognize me, for I will look gorgeous. Just gorgeous. I can see how gorgeous I will look in my head. Women will be jealous and men will fall at my feet. End of.

However, this tried and tested method, as many of you know and understand too well is not sustainable. Your enthusiasm slowly dries up. It often starts with a niggly feeling. The feeling that perhaps you've taken on too much and you think "maybe I'll just go to the gym three times a week and not five".  A few weeks later your gym-going is reduced to one, maybe two sessions a week and your excitement at tackling healthy recipes containing avocados, almond butter and the likes is dwindling. You're dreaming about buttery toast and you can feel yourself reverting to your old ways and eventually, you do. You might have lost some weight, you might have not, however for a short period you feel like a failure. You haven't reached your goal. The jeans don't fit. You buy a new pair, maybe two 'cas you're on a 'cheer yourself  up mission' and be done with it. So they're a size bigger then you hoped. You have new jeans, be happy girl!

All of the above has happened to me and having spoken with friends / family, the same can be said for them too. It's easy to get caught up in the momentum of making New Years resolutions and I'm a sucker for change. I love the fresh start of a new year, reflecting on the past and trying to make amends with everything that didn't go so well the previous year. Except every year, and I mean every year the old chestnut of 'weight loss and fitness' appears. Every single year I berate myself about not reaching weight loss goals and honestly, I've been doing this since I was 18. That's 13 years of self hate and self loathing. That's a long time giving out to yourself and my time can and should be spent better.

I've had a think about all of this weight loss / fitness / wellbeing / looking 'just gorgeous' malarky and really, for me personally, it breaks down to a couple of issues:

Firstly, I have and always have been, an emotional eater and so have lots of members of my family. Bad day at work, lets eat. Celebrating, lets eat. Your boss hates you, lets eat some more and throw some cream on top of that sad emotion people. Lets eat so much that you lose all sense of when you're full and sometimes forget how much you've actually eaten in a day. 

Secondly, I'm lazy. Really, I am. I'm happiest when I'm comfy on the couch with a blanket and a full fridge in close proximity. Working out does not come easy to me. Don't get me wrong, 15 minutes into a gym class, I'm delighted I'm there, feel all sorts of awesome, update my status afterwards on Facebook and always, always get a better nights sleep because of it. But that act of getting your gym gear together and fat butt of the couch and making the trek to the gym, just doesn't rock my fitness boat.

Given the two dilemmas above, how does an emotional lazy eater move forward in a more positive direction? How do I take control of the situation. and get going? Like all good problems, you need to look at it from another angle. Instead of focusing on a goal weight or size, I now chose to focus on how I feel and to be more conscious in the way that I eat. And, of course it goes without saying that I have chosen to cook better, healthier and more colourful food choices. A trip to the gym a few times the week is the added bonus on top of the healthy eating. It's a session chosen to make me feel better, to work off a hard day or the January blues. I chose to attend not because I want to shift some flab, but because I want to feel better physically, emotionally and mentally, and you know what? So far, it's working for me. 

I've enjoyed cooking and researching amazing recipes so much over the last week that I've begun to document those meals and process behind creating them. I've enjoyed eating them and not felt so deprived that I reach for that packet of custard cremes. Over the course of the year, I'm going to start sharing these meals and recipes with you and if you follow me on instagram, you'll have noticed my recent buzz around capturing snippets of my food preparation / eating already. If you're on the long term health kick wagon like myself, do share your thoughts below. I've already found a supportive group of people on Twitter, so feel free to join our random conversations and hopefully, together we'll start and end 2014 on a healthy high!