The List

Another classic!!!! Yes :)

PS: Sorry about the totally cack picture quality, like my 1990s inspired creations, my mobile leaves a lot to be desired.

So I decided to go one better than iTunes and finally update my Spotify account to premium. Given the fact that my ipod is on its last legs and I have just bought a new phone  for my music instead, this seems like a much better option. TICK!

Now I have quite the gym, finished Spanish and am unable to run I have some extra time. So I am going back to the tap dance classes....YAY!!!!!

Woohoo....passed the B2 Spanish exam. This is one of the things on the the list that made me suffer, I am not meant for languages. But I did it, with a fair amount of studying and a very good teacher (and some nice class mates too!). I said that once I got this certificate I wouldn't aim to do another at a higher level...but never say never. For the time being, no way. I just need to find some nice chatty Spaniards who are happy to correct my many mistakes and don't mind having to explain things a few times, then I'll practice practice, practice. You would think that this is easy living in Spain and all that, but its not, not at all. Another big TICK. Hoorah!

WOW.

By far one of the best things to come out of the list....baking. So today I tried carrot and banana cakes with walnuts and raisins, and I even whipped up a coconut cream topping for them. AMAZING! The best bit is they are quick and 100% natural. No nasty preservatives or added sugar. Probably should resist eating the entire batch in one go though, even if they are "healthy" treats.

Have no idea how this has happened. Have been avoiding the scales all week in fact...but here we have it. Just 1.5lbs away from 8.4 and I don't look or feel any different which is quite annoying. I suspect that its more to with muscle loss than anything else. Well either way... maybe by the end of next week I'll do!

As I come close to the end of my list and realise that I have a long way to go, I stumble upon this. I don't have kids, but it's not really the point. This really sums up how I am feeling at the moment and "The List" (even for all the cool stuff it has got me to do so far) has made me realise that it's the every day things on there that I really enjoy the most. Being out in the fresh air, starting to bake and just generally spending a lot more time in the kitchen and experimenting with healthy recipes and sitting down to do every day things like paint or watch a film that have made me the most happy. So its very unlikely/impossible that I am going to finish it but I don't feel stressed (as I usually do when I have a list to complete), I just kind of feel glad that I am doing more things that I love....(cheese.....happy cheese!!!)

Forgot to mention I got through my vegan week without even a whiff of anything with a face in my mouth, and it wasn't even that bad!The hardest bit was soy milk in coffee, so I just skipped it! I missed eggs the first few days, but that was more in my head than in reality as it's been 4 days since the week finsihed and I still haven't had any! Anyway, it was good, got me thinking outside the box, made me hunt out some news places to eat and drink in Alicante which proved to be brilliant and it's now quite clear that I feel better with out (too many) animal products. OK, so I am not going to take soy or nut milk in coffee, they are strictly the domain of smoothies. I am not going to give up salmon and eggs totally, because I love it. But I will do my best to buy the best quality eggs, from the best cared for chickens (and eat less of them!). Basically Im just going to cut back, be more responsible and experiment more with vegan recipes because they are really flippin' yummy. Overall I am very happy I tried it, learned a lot and feel better for it. HAPPY LIST TICKER.

Circus skills, this happened over a month ago but I am still catching up! Trapeze, I juggled 3 (YES THREE!!!!) balls and also jazzed up my hulahoop skills. Other evidence to follow as and when I can be bothered to dig through the 10 million pictures my mates took. Trapeze was so much fun, bricked it the first time and my take off was less than elegant, but I managed to have another cheeky go and it was amazing. Wish I was living back in Cardiff so I could be going there for all the different courses they run. Really fun day and the staff were lovely (although I know they must have thought we were a right bunch of numpties by the time we left!). I feel like I missed my vocation in life....

Especially not to your mum. This is at the top of my "life (not) to do" list, when I make it. Today is Mothers Day. No matter what your relationship is like with yours, this woman probably knows you better than you know yourself; whether you like it or not. Be grateful for this and never underestimate her 6th or 7th sense. If for nothing else, never EVER tell her a lie. Not even a little white lie. Not even if you say it because you think it's the best thing for her. SHE WILL KNOW!!!! And she will worry, even if that was the last thing you wanted that little white lie to do. That's all really, i just wanted some non "I am the best child/ sibling/I have the best mother" updates for today. If you are such a great child, and if you are sooooo close to your mother, you will not need to broadcast it via social media. Quite rich coming from a blog, I know....but I just thought I would put it out there, you know, like you do.

I had a rather crappy day yesterday and the whole vegan thing on top of it was about to send me over the edge. Shattered, aching, stressed and not a piece of cake, nor a cafe con leche in sight! But then when my sugar cravings could not have got worse I remembered the new sweet shop in town. Hello, vegan natural fruit jelly sweets! As if that wasn’t good enough, I then .managed to find the only vegan tapas bar in the city and stuff .myself silly. Ugly as hell but the food, wine and staff were beyond lush. I wasn’t feeling quite guilty enough about all the eating yesterday so I hunted out a vegan bakery today (again, the only one) and treated self to a croissant! There is a God and he is vegan. I. Am. Certain. Best try burn some of this off and get studying now. T-1 week until the Spanish exam! Eeeeekk…..couple more things soon to be ticketed off!

Now don’t get carried away, it’s just for lent, and it is really killing me this week with this vegan business on top of it. But there will be some benefit at the end of it. Not only will my body be better off at the end of it (if I don't consume the entire reserve of Spanish Almonds before Easter), but all the money I would have spent will go to charity too. No, it’s not volunteering and the amount wont change the world but it is something, you have to be creative in the face of problems! I couldn’t find anywhere that wanted a spare pair of hands in a soup kitchen, hostel, or charity  etc, so I thought that I would have to try and find other charitable ways to behave. I have recently given another couple of bags of clothes to the Red Cross and I have also persuaded my team (20+ people) to contribute to my no chocolate challenge too. Some of them will give up something, one poor colleague has ditched the diet Coke (another claims to have done so, but we have our doubts) and others have pledged to donate at the end of it. So the lack of snow based fun is a bummer (‘scuse the pun) but it’s not all bad in the end.  Tick, tick, tick!!!