Dec

5

2009

39 things to do before I’m 40

Hey, by the way, it’s my birthday. Oh, did I mention that already? Well, no point being coy about it. Just one year to go before the big 4 oh (or 30-10 as Julochka would say). A time to take stock, reflect, wonder where the hell time is going and a dawning realisation that ‘this is it, it’s not a rehearsal’ isn’t just an annoying phrase smug gits say.  I’ve got all kinds of things floating around my head in terms of things I’d like to do, achieve, see etc so I thought I’d make a list and blog it. Because once you blog it, it’s The Law isn’t it? Someone else has done this recently and I can’t remember who. I’m so sorry, but thanks for the inspiration.

Here goes, in no particular order and they aren’t earth shattering…just a little list of should-be-achievable-but-it’s-too-easy-to-put-it-off…

  1. Learn how to use a sewing machine
  2. Learn how to crochet (January)
  3. Make a blanket from crochet granny squares – work in progress as of 8.2.10
  4. Go to Sutton Hoo
  5. Go to Cove Hyth
  6. Have a family holiday somewhere hot
  7. Have a night away from the boys with MrSpud
  8. Take the boys to Banham Zoo
  9. Complete all my Christmas shopping by the end of November
  10. Make my boys’ birthday cakes – one completed (7.2.10)
  11. Learn how to use the Lensbaby (6.1.10)
  12. Visit my family Up North
  13. Make a wedding photo album
  14. Join a choir
  15. Replace ancient framed photos in the house with more up to date ones (photos not frames)
  16. Make a photo wall in the kitchen
  17. Decorate office and install Craft Corner
  18. Go to Lavenham
  19. Learn how to use flash
  20. Get 5 mentions for my client in the Financial Times (boring, sorry) – one done
  21. Take the boys on the train for a day trip
  22. Go to the cinema with MrSpud
  23. Give Chez Spud a makeover (cheating, this is work in progress but who knows given previous track record) (19.12.09)
  24. Ride a horse
  25. Sit on a beach and read a book on my own
  26. Ditch o2 for Vodafone
  27. Make biscuits for the first time (yes, really)
  28. Take a ’star trails’ photo
  29. Take a ’smooth’ water photo
  30. Drink a peach bellini (make that 4, in quick succession might as well finish up the bottle right?)
  31. Watch 5 films I haven’t seen before – one done
  32. Do the Secret Blog Project I’ve had in mind for a while
  33. Have a pedicure
  34. Sleep in a tent in a location other than the garden (sigh)
  35. Go to a fireworks display
  36. 50 photos in Explore on Flickr
  37. Make felt figures
  38. Buy a summer dress and wear it
  39. Learn how to use our alarm clock. We’ve had it 2 years. It’s probably time.

Then turn 40 and give up.

Hmm, ponders adding ‘crop hair super short again’ as a bonus no 40? Answers on a postcard please.

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27 Responses to “39 things to do before I’m 40”

  1. That is quite a list! You’ll have to do a blog post each time you check off one of these from the list this year :)

  2. Ooohhh good list and I had no idea you were so OLD!!! LOL just kidding, I’m almost 41!!!!! oh crap did I just admit to that??

  3. What a fabulous idea. I was thinking I should do something similar. I turn 39 in 26 days (yes, you are 26 days older than me and I will never let you forget that!)
    I always thought I’d handle the big 30-10 easily, but now that it’s 391 days away, it seems like a big shadow hanging over me…
    Hope you don’t mind if I copy…

  4. So, I have it all figured out. You and Mr. Spud will bring the boys to stay with me next July (I’m empty nesting you know…) It’s hot in the summer here 100-105, dry heat (semi-desert). While you take the tent up to the mountains, Telluride is near, you can go to the film festival, see 5 films that have never been seen by anyone before and check that one off the list. Telluride has excellent boutiques where you’ll find that perfect flirty summer dress, and get a head start on your Christmas shopping. Then, I’ll meet you in Durango so that you
    can take the boys on the narrow gauge railroad through the mountains to Silverton. They’ll love the cowboy and sheriff shoot out at the lunch stop, You’ll enjoy the beautiful scenery and fresh mountain air, check off the still water and star trails photos later that night. You’ll stay the night in Silverton to watch an amazing firework display on July 4th where the sound of the rockets bounces off of the Mountains. Before you head back over the pond, I’ll teach you how to crochet granny squares (My grandmother taught me) and make felt figures (a Waldorf School staple). So a big portion of that list could be handled in a relatively short period of time. Talk it over with Mr. Spud…see what he thinks! As for the new Secrets Project….I can’t wait to hear about it.

  5. I totally think you should take Deb Daley up on her offer! What an awesome trip….I live here in the States and I’d LOVE that trip…..save your pennies, hop the pond and come see the beauty that is the U.S. wilderness!

    I like your list….it feels good to make those little items off….you know, kind of like a bucket list….my 14 year old niece has a bucket list…one of the items on her list is to touch a Zebra….I’m trying to locate a Zebra right now.

    I hope you had a beautiful birthday,

    S

  6. Happy Birthday! What a cute post!!

  7. happy birthday… what a great time to land on your blog for the first time, eh?

    and being a list girl myself, i totally love this list. some of those (like the photo wall in the kitchen) are on my mental list of things to do too.

  8. Happy birthday! Loving the list idea. X

  9. happy birthday! that’s a great list you have there: totally doable and fun!

    {I found you via kamana. nice to meet you.}

  10. I love the list! But please don’t crop off your gorgeous curly hair :)

  11. This is a very ambitious list! I love how it ranges from going to cinema to crocheting/joining a choir. Good luck with it. Oh, and don’t cut your hair (postcard’s on its way)

  12. it sounds like a good year!
    btw: I somehow read that you were giving mr Spud a makeover. I’m glad that’s not what you wrote!

  13. Have a happy life! I really liked your list. The choir part I did for 7 years and now I think it was enough as a chorist, I am looking for a band to discover me as a rock star now, they are cool people..! As for chrocheting and sewing machine I did my starts last week. I am happy to do that and am 37. But am lacking of my future kids to prepare a birthday cake for. You were luckier my be?

  14. Happy Birthday! You’ve inspired me to make my own list in a couple months for my own 39th. What a great idea. I hope you have a wonderful year!

  15. Well definitely cut the hair, because Lord knows you’re not going to have time to style it ever again if you’re going to achieve all that this year. Phew! I’m in awe of your enthusiasm. x

  16. the original idea of this post came from hula seventy, but it’s everywhere in the blogosphere now. :-) and i love your list, tho’ some of it is a bit easy, isn’t it? that’s ok, whenever i make a list, i put a couple of things on it that i’ve already done, it makes me feel better that way. i kinda disagree about the flash thing, but i also want to make a granny square blanket. shall we make kristina teach us at BC 3.0? she tried at 1.0, but we (me, polly and B) failed and were so dazzled by extra’s crocheting skillz that we didn’t really learn.

  17. oops, hit post before i said “happy birthday!” enjoy that last year before the big four-oh. tho’ it’s not really so bad. forty is the new thirty.

    xox,
    /j

  18. Happy belated birthday! Excellent list. I can recommend a few crochet bits and bobs when you get to that one, just let me know.

  19. Love this lists! You have to post every time you cross something off!

  20. Belated happy birthday! I love this idea and this is a great list. (I’ll be 39 in less than a year as well. Ack!)

  21. Firstly, Happy Belated Birthday!

    You haven’t been to Sutton Hoo yet? Tut tut! Though, to be honest, since the Visitor Centre was built the site has definitely lost something.

    Banham Zoo is awesome (or, at least, I remember it that way). They have sheds of guinea pigs descended from a colony found living wild in Thetford Forest – yes, *really*.

    *sigh* Feeling homesick now. :(

  22. [...] I’m off! I’ve made a start on my 39 things to do before I’m 40 list. This afternoon I lay on my bed and quietly, and badly, learnt how to crochet. It wasn’t [...]

  23. [...] on my mind. The big FOUR-OH is looming this year and I’ve decided to embrace the fecker with my list 39 things to do before I’m 40. The theory is that I will arrive on my FOUR-OH birthday feeling smug and fulfilled rather than old [...]

  24. I’m so sorry that I missed your birthday, lovely Spudders. Shall I send you an easy recipe for biscuits? What kind do you like best?

    I think that the list is such a good idea — it’s always nice to learn new stuff and cultivate skills — but I do like your Nancy Mitfordish shingled hair. So my vote is for keeping the current do.

  25. [...] renewed enthusiasm has led to another on my list of 39 things to do before I’m 40 being crossed off ‘Learn how to use the Lensbaby’. I’m pretty chuffed to be [...]

  26. [...] 3rd birthday…I made a birthday cake, the first one I’ve ever made (and one of my 39 before 40 tasks)…it turned out better than I dared hope and tasted pretty good (faints in [...]

  27. [...] is that, hoorah hoorah, here I present wibbly wobbly not very good evidence of another tick on my 39 before 40 list: ‘learn to use a sewing machine’. I bought one, studied the manual, wound the bobbin up [...]

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