London baby!

7. Have a weekend city break somewhere in Europe

 

AKA, a good excuse to spend time with some of my oldest and best friends from school.  We had originally planned to go to Paris, but it was proving too expensive and difficult to organise, so London was the next best option.

 

 

Highlights included getting the ticket man on the train to open our bottle of fizz on the way down, self timer shots of us all with face masks on, being tourists and doing a bus and boat tour, trying to climb the lions in Trafalgar Square, going to see the show 'Wicked', the amazing food market at Greenwich, wandering around the shops in Covent Garden, multiple selfies, sitting in the sunshine in a park...  It was good to get away, and to have a change of scenery.  I find London a bit big and overwhelming - I could never live there - but it's fun for a visit.  And so good to hang out with my friends.  Life feels that bit brighter when I'm with them.

 

 

Up, Up and Away

10. Go on a hot air balloon ride

 

I bought the voucher to do this last year, and had 6 attempts at it which were always cancelled due to the weather.  Frustrating but understandable - it is Scotland after all!  So I couldn't quite believe when I phoned up the number on Tuesday evening to check if the flight was going ahead and they said it was!  It was a pretty early start to get to Perth for 6.30am, but worth it to be floating off watching the sunrise over the hills.

 

It was pretty exciting to see the balloon being inflated - I hadn't expected it to be so big, if that's not a stupid thing to say.  First of all they fill it with cold air to inflate it, then hot air to make it float.  There were about 13 of us in the basket, with 2 pilots.  It's a weird feeling taking off, just drifting away from the ground and up into the air.  The whole thing was pretty smooth, but you can see why they don't fly if there is any chance of strong winds or rain.  The balloon can be rotated by the pilots, but they totally rely on the wind to steer it.

 

 

 

The views were amazing, and given although there was a bit of morning mist, you could see for miles around.  Buildings and cars on the ground looked like tiny lego pieces.  I could still make out people, and also saw deer as we flew over some farmland.

 

I think we were in the air for about 45 - 60 minutes, but the whole things was over far too quickly.  Landing was a little bumpy, but not too bad at all (nothing compared to the face-plant I did when landing after my skydive in 2003).  We all helped pack the balloon away then had a celebratory glass of orange juice/ champagne and got certificates before being bussed back to the start.  A great experience and worth the wait.

Happy Birthday to me!

30. Do something fun to celebrate my 30th

 

Well it seems that there is life on the other side of 30.  Admittedly the first few days of this new decade have been pretty tough, but the actual day of my birthday was better than I expected.

 

But let me take a step back.  Celebrations started a week early with lunch out in Stirling with my second mum, Elaine.  Then this week I've eaten cake 6 days in a row (thanks to Amy at Bible study, Gill at work and my mum for their contributions).  On the day itself, I went for a healthy swim first thing (to try and work off some of that cake) then had a back, neck and shoulder massage.  It was a slightly comical massage as the head rest kept clicking down so I was trying to hold my neck up, then had to pinch myself to stop laughing when the girl started karate chopping my back.  I also had to work hard not to squeal as she was working on all the knots in my neck and shoulders.  In the afternoon I took a walk up to Byres Road and sat in the sun (yes, sun!) in the Botanics and had a hot chocolate in my favourite coffee shop (Tinderbox).  My parents came through in the afternoon and we went out for dinner to The Bothy - a great restaurant in Glasgow with excellent food.  The company wasn't too bad either. 

 

 

One of the best things that was said to me on the day was 'you are only a day older than yesterday and a day younger than tomorrow'.  I think this is a good way to look at it.  I've been so focussed about being in a new decade and have made a huge deal of it.  It's just another day really.  And rather than be overwhelmed by looking at 10 years as a whole block, I just need to take break it down into more manageable pieces.  I'm at a point in my life where I'm very much taking things one day at a time, so it seems quite appropriate to think small instead of big.

 

More good things are to follow in the next week or so with a few day away with my school friends, and an afternoon tea with my uni friends.  And hopefully crossing off the remaining 3 things on my 30:30 list!



Final Countdown

20. Upcycle 2 things from a charity shop (non-textiles)

 

I bought this set of tables last September, and have finally got round to finishing them off.  At last!  As with many of the items on my 30:30 list, this was a good project to have to work on.  Although it took me a while to get going with it, I enjoyed spending the time sanding the tables down and painting them up.  Yes, it was frustrating when the basecoat went all drippy.  Or when the second top coat of the blue paint ripped up the first coat.  But it's good for me to learn to accept that these things happen, and that I can't be a perfectionist all the time.

 

The tables cost me a fiver, and although the paint cost three times as much altogether, I'm pleased with the finished result.

 

You can see the necklace that I upcycled here.

 

 

The final result!

 

And so, this makes 26 out of 30 completed before my birthday, which is tomorrow.  The remaining 4 items should be happening over the next few weeks (celebrating my birthday, a weekend city break, hot air balloon ride and a helicopter ride).  It feels like an achievement to have made it this far.  As I've said recently, it's been so good for me to have these mini projects to work on over the past 12 months.  I'm not sure what I would have done without this list.

 

I can't say I feel any better about turning 30 tomorrow.  I'm sure a lot of people think I'm over-reacting about it, but it's a big deal for me.  How did I mange to get to this point in my life and still feel so lost and messed up?  Shouldn't I be a bit more on top of things by now?  I don't want to keep making the same mistakes in another decade but I don't know how to change.  I'm stuck in the mud, yet free-falling at the same time.