34 before 34 – an update

We’re more than halfway through the year now and I’ve actually only just remembered that I set myself a 34 before 34 challenge (what a fail!) so I thought I’d have a quick catch up on how I’ve been doing.

• Move house – Yes! First thing on the list and we’ve managed to tick it off. We moved into our new house in Walthamstow in February and although it’s nowhere near where I’d like it to be decoration wise, we are slowly, slowly getting there.
• Get a new job – I did start working for myself dabbling my toe in the freelance pool this year and it’s something that I definitely want to work on but I also went and got myself another full-time job.
• Be the host – We invited people around for Cece’s birthday and I was the host. Well, kind of, Tom did most of the work while the guests were there but I did the prep. I never even wanted to do that before so I’m seeing this as a win.
• Complete a monthly Instagram challenge – Just once I completed the photo an hour challenge, something I actually want to do again because I thought it was quite fun. I’m still trying to do one of those one photo everyday type challenges too to get me thinking out of my Insta box a little bit.
• Go away overnight – The first time I left Cece overnight I thought I’d be a mess. I wasn’t at all, she stayed at home with my mum and dad and Tom and I had a lovely time at The Crazy Bear in Beaconsfield. It’s an absolutely insane place and I wish I could have written a post about it for you but there’s a strict no photos rule and what’s a travel post without photos?!
• Go back to Hogwarts – On Cece’s first birthday Tom and I met his family at WB Tour and went back to Hogwarts. A lot has changed since the last time we went and more stuff has been added so it was even more exciting. As it was Cece’s birthday she was called up to the front to open the doors to The Great Hall. I’m not sure she really understood the gravity of the situation but one day she will.
• Take Cecilia to see Father Christmas – We took her to see him at Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park and it was lovely. I thought she might be a little bit scared of him but she wasn’t at all and we got some lovely photos. I haven’t been to Winter Wonderland in a couple of years and we went on a Sunday afternoon to see Santa, it was a perfect time. It wasn’t too busy, we could easily manoeuvre the pram around the site and the queue wasn’t too long at all.

• Go blonde again – I am a blondie again currently and have been for a little while now. The only problem is – I’m starting to get bored of it again. What should I do next?!
• Get a new laptop – As I mentioned earlier in this list, I have been doing some work from home and it was getting difficult with my old laptop. Everything was taking forever and it was starting to freeze and crash. My mum took pity on me and gave me some pennies to get myself a new one and I am so so grateful as I can actually get some work done now and get the pennies in from it!
• Go on holiday abroad – We’ve not long returned from our little family holiday in the sun. Well, I say not long returned but it feels like forever ago now. It was lovely though and Cece was a star on the journey both ways.

• Cook something from scratch – Since starting Slimming World I’ve been doing a lot more cooking and I’ve been creating things from scratch. My go to meal is Cherry Coke Chicken (I’m going to give it a go with ginger Pepsi Max next week too) and I know it’s simple but it’s a start, right?

Ten out of 34 in seven months isn’t that great really, is it? Oops. I’m really going to have to get my finger out.

I mean it’s not all doom and gloom there are a few that I’ve started cracking on with but haven’t quite completed yet.

• Pass my roller derby minimums – Now I could call this complete because I didn’t actually specify WFTDA minimum skills and I have now completed my assessment for LRR minimums meaning that I’m ready to start Wreck League. I’m still working towards my WFTDA minimum skills and I’m going to be for some time yet. Especially that dreaded 27 in 5!
• Lose two stone – As of writing this I’ve lost 15.5lbs so I still have five months and 12.5lb to go. I’ve had a couple of setbacks along the way but I’ve dropped a dress size so far and I’m still keen to keep fighting for that two stone award.
• Read 12 books – I’ve actually managed to finish a few books this year but I’m not entirely sure how many. It’s definitely not twelve though. So I need to get them counted up and work out how many more I need to dedicate some time to. I also have a couple on the go at the minute too so I need to get them dusted off too. If I can get them finished I think I might be about half way through this one, which isn’t too bad I suppose.
• Take more photos – I keep going through phases with this one and I am getting better but I’m not where I wanted to be with it. When I wrote it I was aiming to be carrying my camera with me just because and taking lots of snaps but I’ve only been taking it when I have a specific event at the minute and even when I do, I’m rubbish at reviewing the photos on it. So this one definitely needs a bit more work before I can say it’s complete.
• Up my social media game – This is something that I’ve been working on, on and off and it’s definitely making gains. I haven’t yet hit those magic numbers but they don’t seem quite as far-fetched as they did when I first wrote the goal.
• Eat at ten new to me places – This is another one that I need to have a think about. I could mark it done if I counted the restaurants we ate at on holiday but I think that’s cheating. I’ve definitely done two off the top of my head but if I wrack my brains a little more I might be able to up that. I definitely need to get out more though.
• Stop bedsharing – This is pretty much nailed, pretty much. She now falls asleep on our bed usually because she doesn’t like to be on her own but she doesn’t have to be cuddled to sleep anymore and of a morning Tom will bring her into our bed for some milk and she usually dozes off for another hour or so. The past few nights though she’s been making an appearance at 3amish and that definitely needs to stop. I need my sleep!

Adding that extra seven to my original ten makes me feel a bit better about my progress. That’s halfway through the list so maybe I’m not doing that bad after all!