I'm a bit late in posting this, but I managed to spend a morning speaking French last weekend (just 5 days after my birthday, but as I booked it in before I turned 30 I think it still counts).

Helping a stranger isn't easy.

Over the last 75 days I've thought of a few things or tried to do some acts which I felt were me. I gave directions, let the tall guy next to me on my flight to the Hawkes Bay have the aisle, but all of them felt minor or little. I tried to help the guy in front of me who couldn't pay for the train because someone jammed the coin slot on the ticket machine, but he wouldn't take my $5 note to pay.

Much information, guidance and inspiration for all actions and items on on my 30 Before 30 list has come from the internet. When I saw an article about a random act of kindness by giving flowers I knew it was me.

I love flowers. And particularly getting them. Looking at them brightens my day and makes my soul smile. I feel special and loved and I realized to be able to give that feeling would be great.

I knew that my item for helping a stranger had to be to buy them flowers. I know it's not financial help and certainly won't change their lives, but making someone feel good helps them. It's the little things I think.

So, I spent my lunch hour on my birthday traveling to Auckland hospital. Armed with some bright pink gerbera daisies and the help of a volunteer I had the flowers go to someone who needed some brightness. The weather in Auckland this week has been cold, grey and rainy so I'm hoping these flowers brought a smile and some cheer to someone who needed it.

For those in the US, I also found this charity, Random Acts of Flowers (http://www.randomactsofflowers.org) who does this on a regular basis if you want to support this idea.

One of the items on the list which sparked curiosity in some of my readers was in finding a mentor.

I've had a look at a lot of definitions of a mentor and what they should be or have. Some of the items/descriptions i like are:

-A mentor is someone who inspires you

-A mentor should have experience in the field or specialty in which you work, or aspire to work.
-Choose a mentor who is local or nearby, if possible, and ideally someone in your organization.
-Find a mentor who has a good balance of similarities and differences compared to your strengths and weaknesses.
-Having a mentor doesn’t have to be a formal arrangement.

In my research for this some people told me about their mentors. I realised that this search for me was perhaps more for a professional mentor, rather than someone to guide and advise in my personal and spiritual life.

I've thought a lot about this and realized that with the above criteria, I already have someone who acts as my mentor. There is someone I used to work with this person and we meet regularly for coffee to discuss what's going on (we're still in the same industry), challenges I face both in my career and in how I feel about my job. As it says above, it's not a formal arrangement and it's only upon reflection that I realised this person is my mentor. What they've achieved is great - I really find them to be an inspiration. They have thus far provided me with good advice and asked the right questions when I've talked about my thoughts. It's beneficial to know that they've come from where I have (we started in similar places although years apart) and to know some doubts/thoughts, etc. are normal.

It's funny how you don't quite realize how some people fit into your life and the role they actually play. I feel quite blessed to have and know certain people. If there's any reflection I have had upon turning 30 it's how lucky I am.

Since it's been asked for - my 20 pushups.

As an aside, I actually managed to do another 10 pushups just afterwards. :-)

So one of the earliest ideas of items to put on here was inspired by a gift my Mom gave everyone in the family for Christmas.

She made these books covering her family history and then a separate one for my brother and I also covering our Dad's family history.

Geneology has always kinda interested me. So I thought i'd try to take it a step further. Her books only went back to my great (or in some cases) great great grandparents. I want more in my history, so armed with her Ancestry.com membership and my internet stealth skills I started this project and am pleased to say I managed to get every line back at least 1 generation (and sometimes more) than she did.

Things I've learned while doing this project.

1. I'm related to people from England, Scotland, Ireland (never knew this one!), Canada (never knew this one!), Poland and the Czech Republic (I have a totally new scope for considering myself "a bohemian"!).

2. I got in touch with my Dad's cousin who I have not seen in probably 28 years through randomly finding her also doing geneology research online.

3. I may not actually be related to James Monroe. While growing up one of our fun family facts has always been that we are related to James Monroe the 5th president of the US. While I can make the connections back to the Monroes : George Monroe (my great, great, great grandfather who fought in the Civil War and was in-prisoned several times) and to Corporal Joe Monroe who fought in the American Revolutionary war in in the 1770's his 80's(!) and even all the way back to the first Monroe in the US in my family (William Monroe, who was deported to the US in 1652 for punishment for fighting for the king of England against the Scottish), yet I still can't find the connection to James Monroe. Most of my Monroe family comes from Massachusetts and New Hampshire At least not a direct connection.

And so here is my family tree

On the list was an item to book for high tea. Well I didn't just book before my birthday, I went. As this took part of my weekend I couldn't fit in the morning speaking a foreign language. So that's booked for next weekend. Given I did the high tea I think this is a fair swap.

Anyways the high tea was lovely. Six girls went with me to the Cornwall Park restaurant. We picked a tea from a selection of about dozen. They had a great variety of savories, scones (with cream and jam) and lovely little pastries. It was great.

Check out our reverse bungy video

5Gs and hurtled 55m in the air. Yep, that's the reverse bungy. Tick.

So my good friend Tracy moved up north last year to what some might call a lifestyle block. On it she has chickens and also sheep. When I heard about the sheep a crazy thought entered my mind - wouldn't it be cool to be able to spin wool from her sheep.

And thus the idea of making my own ball of yarn was made. Little did I know she would follow through and one day her husband Aaron shows up with a garbage bag of wool straight from the sheep.

Going from wool to yarn isn't an easy process. Here's what I had to do:

1. sort the wool, removing any that was unusable.
2. Wash the wool, 3 times to remove any dirt and "organic" matter as they call it.
3. Card the wool. Rather than spending money on expensive carders I bought 2 dog brushes and used them to brush the wool out. I used twizers to pull out grass and anything remaining.
4. Spin the wool. I spent ages looking at spinning wheels on trade me. I initially didn't want to get one that was too expensive given this is a new hobby. I bought one finally for $40 NZD. Which wasn't great. Thankfully my father in law Peter saw me struggling and upgraded me to a used Ashford which is one of the best brands. It's a double treadle which has made spinning quite easy.
5. Ply the wool. After spinning 2 bobbins of skinny single ply thread I plyed them together.
6. Make a skein. I then had to get the yarn
From my bobbin into a group. Matt helped make me a niddy noddy to do this
7. And finally I had to set the twist in the yarn by steaming the wool

It's a cool new hobby and I look forward to all the cool new projects I can make with my new yarn.

We went scuba diving in NZ this past weekend. Really there is only one place to go - The poor knights. Jacques Cousteau rated this area in the top 10 diving spots in the world and its not hard to see why. There is a mix of sub tropical marine life mixed in with colder climates.

We did two dives. The first was at Brady's corner (16m) and the second was at Middle Arch (19m). We saw amazing sea life including eels, rays, scorpion fish, nudibranches, banded coral fish, snapper, kingfish and more. We even also went up into a cave with an air pocket 10m below the surface.

Definitely a great experience.

Done. It's hard to write a letter to your future self. Who knows where I will be. Hopefully I am happy and enjoy reading this. It might become a new birthday decade tradition.

The most amazing item on this list is now done.

3 days and 32km later we have completed the Routeburn track, one of New Zealand's 9 great walks.

We had amazing weather and no words can truly due the scenery or trip justice so here's a pic collage. More photos and video to follow.

Ride in a helicopter. Tick.

What better place to do it than in Queenstown and on a beautiful day. Added benefit was going to the top of the Remarkables (6,000ft) And getting out. Spectacular.

A big thank you to Kyle for making this one happen.

Re-read 3 books from high school. Done!

I enjoy reading but can recall the days of high school where I had to read books I would not have otherwise selected.

When it came to this challenge a lot of books came to mind, but I wanted to get a bit of diversity in there so I choose:

Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

They could not have been more different and with no necessity to read them, they were not without challenges. Anna Karenina was LONG (the ebook version I was reading was over 1500 pages!). Their Eyes Were Watching God is written in a dialect, so I often found myself almost reading aloud in order to get into the swing of reading the book.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the books. Each had qualities I loved. I'm trying to find some old essays I would have wrote on these books in school as I would love to see how 10+ years has changed my perspective on them.

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite quotes...

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” - To Kill A Mockingbird

“Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” - To Kill A Mockingbird

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” - Their Eyes Were Watching God

“Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the same horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time" - Their Eyes Were Watching God

“Pheoby, yuh got tuh go there tuh know there. Yo' papa and yo' mama and nobody else can't tell yuh and show yuh. Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God and they got tuh find out about livin fuh theyselves.” - Their Eyes Were Watching God

Volunteer : Tick.

I opted to do a beach clean up as my act of volunteering. As I live on an island (albeit a rather large island), I think it's important to protect our coastlines. I love going to the beach and the last thing you want to see when you're playing in the sand is a bunch of trash.

So yesterday I joined a clean up effort which focused on Takapuna Beach on Auckland's North Shore. The clean up was organised/hosted by Sustainable Coastlines which is a charity focusing on NZ beaches and foreshores. Admittedly at a first glance anyone would think the beach was clean. I certainly did. But it's surprising what you can find when you take a deeper look. I found lots of bottle caps and cigarette butts. But I also found empty beer/wine bottles, 2 used and broken flipflops (or jandals as we call them in New Zealand), a condom (gross!), a lighter and several kids toys. It definitely has me thinking about when I bring drinks to the beach in future to ensure that my bottle caps or tops are properly collected rather than just winding up rubbish on the beach.

At the end I probably had roughly 1.5-2kg (3-4.5 lbs) worth of stuff in my bag and I was one of about 20 people cleaning up the beach.

Watch a sunrise from One Tree Hill. Tick.

Ok, technically we weren't up on the hill (we drove into the park and it was still early enough that the barrier to the summit was still up so you couldn't drive up). As it was also a workday morning we were worried we might run out of time if we tried to walk up as the true sunrise wasn't until about 7:25.

This provided us (Matt) also with a chance to play with the GoPro in anticipation of our big hike next week. He even put together a little timelapse video of us watching the sunrise. As you can see, having the camera mounted to a moving object (aka his head) wasn't perfect, but I like the video nonetheless.

So it's from Cornwall Park (aka, the bottom of One Tree Hill). Again more photos in manual mode. I'm working on it....

So the latest accomplishment on the 30 before 30: Go to a movie by myself

This is another one which I have had interesting feedback about. For many people, going to a movie by yourself is no big deal.

However, I think this scene from an episode of Sex and the City sums up my feelings

Charlotte: What did you do last night?
Carrie: Went to a movie
Charlotte: With who?
Carrie: Myself.
Charlotte: On date night?!? I would just think that all the people would be looking at me thinking “That poor pathetic girl…”

To me someone at the movies alone stands out. Even though you have so little interaction with the people around you, going to the movies is still something that is incredibly social in my eyes. Sharing popcorn, grabbing the person next to you in a scary scene, etc…

I’ve realised as I’m getting older that I need to be comfortable with who I am. Me and only me. Not being influenced on how people around me see me. I think this is a challenge for a lot of people though and part of this list is all about challenging myself. This item fits the bill.

So, cue going to the movies by myself.

I took the recent opportunity of being a nigel-no mates to go to the movies on my own while out of town on a business trip. Truth be told, I wasn’t dying to see any of the movies showing, but thought I needed to seize the opportunity. I decided to see a kiwi (made in NZ) film called Mt. Zion. The film surrounds the hunt for finding the band to open for Bob Marley during his 1979 Auckland concert and one kids dream of doing it. Of course no dream would be complete with out opposition (his parents) or challenges (being a poor Maori potato farmer in South Auckland). Overall, I really actually enjoyed the film. The young kid was played by Stan Walker who won Australian Idol. No doubt the kid can sing and I found myself rocking out to the music of the film. Temuera Morrison, better known for his roles as Jake the Muss (Once Were Warriors) and of course Boba Fett in Star Wars, was fantastic in his fatherly role.

So tick, movie on it’s own completed and a new movie recommendation out there for those looking for something entertaining to watch.

So today was Round the Bays and one of the most satisfying things (so far) I've crossed off my list.

As you know, I've been sick this week. Well, truth be told, I'm still not feeling hot and I've been quite concerned what state I would be in for this race.

Well, this list is about commitment and so to that end, we left Penny's birthday party early last night to ensure a good nights rest and I awoke to a glorious day. Beautiful sunshine and hardly a cloud in the sky. Breakfast was 2 pieces of toast with peanut butter, a banana and some canteloupe (and a small cup of coffee). Peter kindly drove me down to the train and I should have realized with the number of people on the train and already waiting at Ellerslie station what I was in for. I started to head for the starting line about 10 minutes before it started.

WOW! Talk about a lot of people. I mean a lot. Even with weaving in and out and around I couldn't seem to get closer to the start line as fast as the clock was ticking down. I finally decided to just go with it and wait for it to start and my first group help me push me forward.

The road was split into walkers and runners. Except there were LOADs of people walking and even pushing strollers in the runners side. By the time I cross the start line it had already been 10 minutes since the race started!

9:38, almost 10 minutes after the race starts, and I'm still not at the starting line. At least I can now see it.

The race started off with me feeling like I was in a game of frogger. Continuously dodging walkers or slow runners (or trees in an attempt to run around the walkers). It wasn't until almost Okahu Bay before things begin to open up and the road was a little less crowded.

I gave myself about 4 1 minute or so walk breaks, but otherwise managed to run most of it. And I feel great for it. By the time I saw the finish I was pumping, but also conscious my feet were beginning to really hurt. But it didn't matter. When I crossed the finish line and saw 10:35 I immediately knew I had hit my goal of doing it in under an hour. What a great feeling it was.

The other side of the finish line

Out the other side And unfortunately I was right. While I was running I did get blisters....

But somehow the pain is all worth it.....

So Round the Bays is up this weekend.....only problem is I'm sick!

When arriving home from Australia, I was great by a lovely, but not feeling well husband.

As you should share all things in a marriage, he so kindly shared his illness with me and BAM! it's a doosy. I suppose i should have known this given that he never get's sick. I mean never. In the 8 or so years we have been together he's been sick maybe once? Not even like a stay in bed sick - more like an "I've got the sniffles" sick.

In any event what this means is that I'm quite concerned for my race. It's only 8.5km but I struggled just walking from the train station to work yesterday!

Hopefully rest and recoup will do me some good. My goal is to do it in under an hour. I am hoping that is achievable, but really doing any racer as a non-runner is an achievement I think.

To give you an indication of what I'm in for....little old me amongst 40,000 runners and 70,000 participants!

And the route can be found here: http://www.roundthebays.co.nz/assets/pdf/rtb_map_route.pdf

One question I'm frequently getting (with much understanding) is "how many things have you done on your list?"

This is kind of a bit tricky, because some of them are in train already. It's not a finite thing.

Some of these include:

-Learn to use my camera fully on manual mode

-Learn to use photoshop

Both of these I have been putting to good use. I've been taking photos while out and about and everything has been in manual mode and edited in photoshop. I wouldn't say that I've mastered it, but I'm certainly learning and will feel comfortable by the end of this project that I've come a long way.

There are other ones which are also underway including re-reading 3 books from high school. I just finished Anna Karenina, which at 1500+ pages (even at a reasonable sized font) is still a big read.

I won't lie and say I'm not nervous about some of them. It's certainly a a challenging list and some items (like cater a party for 30) I haven't even begun to think about.

Attend a gay pride parade : tick

I was suprised to hear someone ask whether this was on my list because I'm homophobic.

NO WAY!

This is on my list because I really admire people who can stand up and say, this is who I am. Whether that's gay, straight, white, black or whatever, I have real respect for people who don't shy aware from who they are.

I used to have a lot of gay friends in college. I don't really in NZ. I have a few, but not many and for awhile I thought perhaps it was the culture. NZ often feels like a throw back several years and it had crossed my mind maybe people weren't as open about it here. Certainly the only lesbian I know was out to friends, but did not publicise her orientation at work.

In any event, the thought that there wasn't a huge gay community was shattered here. The parade was packed! Tons of people.

My friend Megan went with me - she has been great about supporting me with this quest (so many people have).

We had a blast. The parade lasted for about 35-40 minutes and while there weren't a huge amount of floats, there were loads of people. Politicians marching, drag queens, teens in support, people in body paint and roller derby girls. The one that was the most inspiring was the soldiers who were marching for the first time this year in their uniforms.

Part of it was really awe inspiring. I mean here were people of all types, of all body shapes (and many of them on display) saying "here I am".

Here's some pictures from the event. And yes, they were all taken in manual mode on my camera and edited with photoshop.

And see more pics at http://plus.google.com/photos/104090773504255815550/albums/5848933534082961249 - click this link to see the photos"

Take me out to the ball game...

So last weekend I was able to across another item off my list - understand the in's and out's of cricket and go to a cricket game.

Some people have asked me why this is on my list, but I think this question from my friend Chris sums it all up - "Do you understand the rules now? I seem to remember trying to explain them to you and you not getting it at all".

I've now been living outside the US for 8 years now (give or take). This time has been spent in England, Ireland and New Zealand. I'm married to an Australian. These are all cricket playing and loving nations. In my 8 years abroad I've tried to understand it. Or watch it.

The first time I made any effort was in a pub with Matt in Perth back in 2006. We sat there and watched what I think might have been the Ashes for several hours. *yawn*. Didn't get it.

I've had several other friends try and teach me over the years. When I went to a 20/20 game with Matt and Victoria back in 2009 I think I spent most of my time watching the food and beer than I did the cricket.

To give this some context, this is like an American not knowing baseball. A national past time.

So, fast forward to 2013 and it's time to learn.

Matt, Kyle and some of their friends from frisbee all came along to the game with me. The game we went to was New Zealand's Blackcaps (the national team) vs England at Eden Park which is one of NZ's biggest stadiums. Surprisingly, there was a pretty decent sized crowd considering that Eden Park holds 60,000 (there were ~20,000 people there for this game).

Cricket can be played over several days, but we went to a short game, called a 20/20. What this means is that each team has 20 overs (180 pitches of the cricket ball) to get the highest score before either a) their 20 overs are up, b) their team mates are all out or c) they beat the 1st teams score.

Seems simple enough, right?

Actually, it is. Well at least it seems it is.

In an effort to support our new homeland, Kyle and I supported NZ.

There were actually a fair amount of English supporters there too. We were a little late arriving, but England was setting a pretty good pace. At the end of their 20 overs they had 215 runs and 7 outs.
We were hopefully that NZ could match it. What would be better than seeing the underdog (NZ) win with a big NZ crowd around.

Sadly, it was not meant to be.

With cricket, you bat until you're out. When a batsman is up, the highest they can hit on each swing is a 6. Even with cheering and signs, NZ just didn't seem to have it in them and from what I understand the 215 benchmark set by England was pretty high. There were some 6's when they came to bat, and with each 6 they had flames ignited in the stadium (these were the same flames that just earlier had been going off signaling an out for an English player).

Cheering for a 6!

We had a great time, even with NZ losing, and I now feel confident that I can watch cricket and have a solid understanding of what's happening.

And with that, I'm out.

Update #1

Right, so I can tick one off my list!

It took a few hours, but I cleaned out my closet on Saturday.

It's funny how you have sentimental attachment to clothes. You might not even wear them any more, but it's still there.

I managed to clear 3 bags worth for Goodwill (or the NZ equivalent) of normal clothes and t-shirts and 2 bags of work clothes which I plan to donate to Dress For Success. Plus another 2 bags of old underwear and socks that I just threw out.


What I cleared from my closet For the rubbish I have t-shirts from most of the bar/restaurant jobs I've had over the year - The Rat and Parrot pub I worked in London, Bru Bar in Ireland and even from Falcone's Pizzeria where I worked in high school. But these are my past. They were great times and I don't need a fading t-shirt to remind me of that. I've also started reading Anna Karenina. It's a bit daunting reading e-books because suddenly you look down and you're only on page 45 of 2950! But it's big text. That's what I keep reminding myself. Well, back to the books.

The start of 30 before 30

Several months ago while at a friends 49th birthday the suggestion of him doing a 50 before 50 list was made. While I think many people have already heard of a 30 before 30, 40 before 40, or 50 before 50, this concept was a totally new idea to me. While we spent the dinner working on his list, in the back of my mind I couldn’t help but think I wanted to do this! 2013 is a big birthday for me too as this year I turn 30. This idea has sat in the back of my mind for the last few months but never gained any traction. Until this week. I finally decided I want to do this. I am going to do 30 before 30. The slight catch with this is that I turn 30 in a mere 75 days! This doesn’t leave me with much time to do this goal, let alone come up with the ideas.
But I did come up with the things to do. I’ve spent awhile surfing the net looking at other lists while building my own and while doing so, 2 things struck me.

1. There are some pretty cool things I could do
2. I’ve already done a lot of stuff on other peoples lists

So my 30 before 30 list was born. But at the same time so is the things I’ve already done and am thankful for list. I think they go hand in hand and so without further ado here are the lists.

Lindsay’s 30 Before 30

1. Reread 3 books from high school

I’m a voracious reader so this shouldn’t be too big of a challenge, although it does put a dent in my Jack Reacher book marathon. In thinking back through the books over my high school period, 3 stood out.

To Kill a Mocking bird by Harper Lee
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

I think it will be a good mix and I’m hoping I may even have an old essay on these stored some where on the old hard drives I have from high school here to see what I thought of the books back in high school.

2. Give blood

This may not sound like a big deal, but the thing is - I’m afraid of needles. Seriously afraid of needles. I usually freak out in a panic and start hyper ventilating. But I found out a few years ago that I’m AB+ which is a rare blood type. Roughly only 2-3% of the population in Western countries is AB+. So I should give, and try not to lose it in the process.

I have to be honest though, this one scares the crap out of me.

3. Reverse bungy

In addition to needles, I’m also afraid of heights.
I don’t think I could handle sky diving or proper bungy diving, but in down town Auckland they have this reverse bungy. Basically they put you in a ball attached to the ground and then tighten the strings upward - and then whoosh they let go. This seems like a happy medium of enough heights but should also be fun.

4. A great walk in NZ - the Routeburn Trek

New Zealand has 9 great walks. They are meant to be some of the best in the world. I’m going to do the Routeburn Trek which is 32km long which we will split into 3 days of hiking and staying at huts along the way. I’ve never camped where everything I’ve needed has to fit in a backpack I can carry (and carry for several days). I’m super excited about this trip.

5. Write myself a letter for when I’m 40

I got this one off another list. I think it’s a great idea. I can only imagine what crazy ideas 20 year old me had and i think writing a letter than i will be able to read to put things in perspective in 10 years time (before kids) will be really interesting.

6. Book in for the best high tea in town

Surprisingly for a person who loves tea and English culture as much as I do, I’ve never been to a proper high tea. Hopefully, I can find somewhere here that lives up to the expectation.

7. Find a mentor

This one is pretty self explanatory.

8. Spend a whole morning speaking a foreign language

Once upon a time, I had a goal of speaking 3 languages fluently before I was 30. Oh how times change! Despite several years of French in University I don’t think I could order a croissant (ok, well I can “Je prend un croissant s’vous plait”), but my skills in French are lacking. My Spanish, while a little rusty, is still very good, so my goal will be to to this one in French.

9. Scuba dive in NZ

I got certified in Scuba in 2006 by my Uncle John. Since then I have done a grand total of 2 dives, despite living only 2.5 hours away from what Jacques Cousteau called “One of the top 10 spots in the world”

10. Run round the bays

Round the Bays is a run/race in Auckland along the waterfront. It’s 8.4km long. While I’ve done a half marathon before, I haven’t been running in awhile.

11. Throw a party & cater for 30 people

This is ambitious. I’ve had people over for dinner, but never this number and never doing all the cooking. I’m inspired by a dinner party my Mom is having for a lot of her friends where she is cooking for everyone. I don’t know where to do this - Matt doesn’t like the idea of it at our house. I'm not completely crazy - just planning on lots of tapas rather than a sit down meal. The other issue is do I actually have 30 friends who will come here?!!

12. Go to a gay pride parade

I’ve never done this and there’s one coming up next month in Ponsonby.

13. Volunteer (1 session is ok)

When I worked at JBWere, I used to get a day a year off from work to volunteer (and still got paid). This will be different and in my own time. Given I have lots on, I don’t think I can commit to a regular volunteer gig like at the SPCA, but there are others I’m looking at which still will be good including beach clean-up days and conservation work.

14. Go to a cricket match / understand the ins and outs of Cricket

Last time I went to a cricket game, I spent most of the time drinking. Hopefully, I can do better this time - there are a few 20/20 games coming up so this might be a perfect chance.

15. Make my own ball of yarn

A lot of the lists I looked at had something creative (learn to sew, draw, paint, etc..). I wanted something different. Earlier this year, my friend said one of his bucket list items is to shear a sheep. Well so happens my friends HAVE sheep. While Kyle hasn’t shorn their sheep yet, the last time they were done, they kept the wool and gave it to me. I literally have a bag of wool (yes sir, yes sir). I need to 1) Sort it - there’s probably stuff in there I’m not going to want 2) wash it - the danger here is trying to not wind up with felt by agitating it too much 3) card it and 4) spin it.

16. Watch a movie in a cinema on my own

One of the lists I saw said they wanted to spend time alone. I’m a social person and don’t tend to do much alone. I often feel like i need backup. This will is my chance to try being alone.

17. Learn to meditate (properly!)

I’ve tried to meditate before. I just can’t seem to try and get my mind to quiet down. So I’m going to try again and perhaps even check out what classes are available in town.

18. Ride in a helicopter

I’ve never been in a helicopter. Nuff said.

19. Donate to a charity

Usually when I’ve donated to charity its for a specific reason - supporting a friend during Movember, because it’s the charity my work was sponsoring etc… I want to find a charity *I* want to sponsor and then give to them.

20. Reconnect with an old friend

Over the years a lot of people have crossed my path. To be truthfully, even with Facebook I can’t say I’ve kept in touch with many. I don’t want to be altruistic and say I’m going to rekindle all my friendships and we’ll be best buds going forward, but I am going to work one.

21. Learn to properly use my camera on manual

I have a DSLR but will admit I often fall prey to using a fully automatic mode. Occasionally I’ll use a manual one, but I don’t know the full science behind it.

22. Watch a sunrise from One Tree Hill

I’m not a morning person, but I think this will be beautifl.

23. Learn 1 new word a day and use it in a sentence

With 75 days to go, this is 75 words to learn. Today’s word is “Armseye noun: An opening in a garment for attaching a sleeve; an armhole.”

24. Learn to use photoshop

Matt gives me a lot of crap because when push comes to shove I’m often trying to resize or edit pictures at work with Microsoft Paint. I’m not looking to become a guru, but perhaps have enough skills to do the things I would normally do with other software (resizing, cloning, changing to black and white, etc..)

25. Clean out my closet of old clothes I no longer wear

I have a lot of clothes that I just don’t wear. Some of them I’ve held on to for sentimental reasons, like the top I wore in the pub I worked at in London, The Rat and Parrot.

26. Drive a manual car to the shops

Yes, I don’t drive manual. In the 13 years I have been driving, 2 people have tried to teach me - my uncle Larry and my father in law Peter. I get the basics, I just need to practice it. I’m not looking to do Nascar, just feel comfortable with getting around town.

27. Do 20 real pushups

Matt also gives me crap for not doing “real” pushups, but “girl style” ones which are on my knees.

28. Finish my family trees

For Christmas my Mom gave us a book of family history. It sparked and interest and I’m keen to make a proper family tree (for both sides).

29. Sort my on-line passwords and get a password safe in place

This is actually one of my New Years resolutions. I see no reason why I can’t double up.

30. Help a stranger

I have no idea what form this will be, but hopefully it sparks its own pay-it-forward.


And finally, these are the 30 things I have done that I’m already proud of…
1. visit 30+ countries (on 6 continents)
2. live in a foreign country
3. go to a music festival
4. Go to a club in Ibiza
5. Go to Peru / Inca Trail
6. run a half marathon
7. dye your hair
8. take a photography class
9. grown something
10. play poker for money
11. sew something
12. perform in a play
13. take a road trip
14. make my own pasta
15. make my own jam
16. cook a thanksgiving meal
17. made cheese
18. stayed at a hostel
19. taken a ballet class as an adult
20. sing karoke
21. shoot a shotgun
22. go to Vegas
23. bake a wedding cake
24. play on a soccer team
25. get SCUBA certified
26. changed jobs
27. be a certified Irish whiskey taster at the Jameson factory
28. Learn to ski
29. buy a house
30. get married

For those curious about #1 the countries are: US, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, The Bahamas, Guadeloupe, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Bermuda, The UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Morocco, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji

I will be blogging my way through my 30 before 30 tasks sharing them with you all - some of you may need to help with a few!

Here’s to getting started!