January Roundup & 365

Into the Fog (23/365)

Since I plan to take a vast number of photos this year as part of my 365 Project (goal #65), I decided to post monthly round-ups to look back at what I've done over the past month, and share the photos I've taken in places other than Instagram and 365 Project.

Rings (12/365)

Ideally, I'd post the roundups at the start of each month, but this one is a few days late as I've been ridiculously tired lately. The weather certainly hasn't helped--cold, dreary wet, and occasionally fairly windy!

My roundups might not always take the format of this first one; I'll play around with that over the months and tailor each one according to the photos and what I've got done.

So here's how my January has been...

Walking in the Countryside

Somewhat unwittingly, I started on another goal from The List:

028. Walk at least 3 times a week for 3 months 

Good, right?

You'd think it would be easy enough to simply get up and go for a walk three times each week, but honestly, it wasn't until I had that proverbial carrot dangled under my nose that I started actually doing it.
Said carrot is in the form of Bounts, an app that rewards you with points for selected tracked exercises, reaching 7,000 steps per day, and checking in at a gym. You can trade these points in for Items of Monetary Value, such as shopping vouchers. I like shopping...

In case you're wondering, this is not a sponsored post. I'm just telling you how I got moving!

I'm actually already halfway through completing this goal, because I started at the beginning of April. Thursday 7th, to be exact--but I'm considering the start of each 'week' as a Tuesday.
Mainly because my walks so far fit a Tues-Mon week better than the standard Mon-Sun. I briefly contemplated whether this is cheating, but decided that provided I do at least three walks within each set of seven days, it doesn't matter what day my walking weeks start on.
Besides, my music challenge weeks start on a Friday, so why wouldn't I go against convention?

When I started on this goal, I went out in long sleeves and a coat, and for the most part kept to walking along residential streets and paved footpaths. Which was kind of boring, but I managed to stick at it!

Of course, once we'd had a long enough dry spell, I could get onto the more picturesque, interesting footpaths, and I frequently end up roasting in jeans and a T-shirt!

Honestly, walking at this time of year has helped me to really appreciate the area I live in. I'm really fortunate to have so much countryside more or less on my doorstep. Tree-lined avenues, bluebell-filled woods, fluffy lambs, butterflies, grazing cows, bubbling streams and of course vast blue skies are among the delights I've been able to enjoy so far.

As this goal progresses, I might go further afield and try to walk in more new places. I've already explored some footpaths that I'd not walked before, and there are still many more to go!

Swimming with the Dolphin

On Wednesday, I was able to strike off another goal from The List!

13. Go swimming

My friend Sara had suggested it ages ago, but we kept putting it off--until now!

So I grabbed my old tankini (glad that it still fits) and a towel, and we headed off to this place...

Thursday 3rd April

As I mentioned yesterday, today involved a trip to the osteopath. My neck and shoulder are still painful but hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow feeling better!

Due to feeling rather sore, I didn't stay out for long today, but I did make some more postcards.