Goodness, come May I am well and truly in my MID THIRTIES.
When the hell did that happen?
In my head, I'm still that 26 year old who left Australia with a backpack strapped on and so much hope and excitement in her heart.
So much has happened in those ten years. So much that I had to write a book about it!
When I first arrived in London, this bustling hive of a city where even going to shops and taking the tube to work was a giddy adventure for a while, I had so much I wanted to do I didn't really know where to start, so I just dove in head first. I loved living like that.
But as the years have passed and my life here has undoubtedly become more domestic and started to grow roots (not that that's a bad thing), it's been very easy for things to pass me by and to put things off until later when I might have more time, money or energy. I feel like a madwoman sometimes, mentally possessed by ideas and projects and things I desperately want to do and get off the ground, and physically surrounded by detritus of my mental chaos, books, letters, receipts, plans, everywhere.
I want to get a handle on things. I want to recapture some of the free-spirited fun of my twenties, but start feeling organised and like I have a plan, as would befit a woman in her mid-thirties. Gulp!
No matter what age I have been, I hasten to add, I have yearned to be organised, socially useful, present and making the most of things. So with that in mind, I've come up with a few (well, 35) things to do in the next five weeks that will contribute greatly to that feeling!
So, here we go.
- Declutter my phone - back up, organise and delete photos; back-up poems written in notes, etc
- Run 10k (either on my own or with my running group)
- Write more letters
- Make a wedding album (finally!)
- Read an Edith Wharton novel (I know, terrible!)
- Plant my cavolo nero, courgette, radish, french beans, kohlrabi and tomato seeds
- Keep blogging
- Keep meditating
- Become a member of Kew Gardens
- Declutter my study and reorganise my bookshelves
- Get another parkrun PB
- Buy some smart and comfortable work shoes that I can wear in spring, summer and autumn (I'm covered with winter shoes!)
- Treat myself to another oracle deck
- Get a haircut/colour
- Pitch that *top secret thing* to *you know who*
- Get my favourite (broken!) statement necklace fixed/restrung
- Get a trolley to keep my makeup in
- Get a pedicure (well overdue!)
- Learn how to make a potato fondant
- Clean out my tea cupboard (and treat myself to some new ones!)
- Subscribe to the London Review of Books
- Organise my vintage photo collection
- Find another yoga class (and start going regularly)
- Book our anniversary holiday
- Call the ATO (boring but necessary)
- Buy a new teapot
- Go out for dumplings
- See a live comedy show
- Redecorate and declutter bedroom
- Go to the National Portrait Gallery
- Go to Maltby Street markets
- Take a hiphop or Beyonce style dance class
- Finish my current journal and start a new one
- Buy a new jacket in a bright colour
- Try a new restaurant
If I manage to do all of them, it's going to be a fun and productive month!