The Five Hour Two Hour Project

When reviewing my incomplete goals just before the new year, I found I'd been overlooking one that was perfectly seasonal to be getting on with:

052. Crochet a hat

Seriously, what better time to start than the middle of winter, when it is cold and damp and frankly, the exact sort of weather for piling on the layers?

Since I didn't have any yarn, or any clue how to start, I ended up going onto Amazon and searching 'crochet hat kit'.
Which led to my finding this:

Me Gusta Las Iguanas...

...in this instance, I'm not talking about the reptile, but the restaurant chain.
Las Iguanas specialises in Latin food, and has a nice-sized restaurant on Jubilee Street in Brighton.

I went there last week with a friend, after we'd been trudging around on a gruelling Christmas shopping trip. After being shown to a table, I sank down into my seat very gratefully, ready to stuff myself silly!

Las Iguanas has a special offer before 7pm, where diners can order three or five dishes from a list to share for a set price, which is what we opted for (more food? Why not!) They also have a 'happy hour' offer on some drinks, which meant we both got two for the price of one!

We ate nachos with extra chilli con carne, spicy chicken quesadillas, dadinhos (fried cubes of cheese--much nicer than it sounds!) and sweet potato fries. Virtually every dish came with salsa; the nachos also coming with sour cream ad guacamole, and the fries being served with aioli. Drinks-wise, I went for the 'tropical cooler' (mango, pineapple and lime juice with lemonade), whilst my friend had the 'citrus cooler' (a slightly more self-explanatory lemon and lime with lemonade).

The bill worked out at just under £28, which sounds like a lot but £14 a head is probably about average for similar restaurants in the area.
Rather than somewhere to drop into for a casual lunch or dinner, Las Iguanas is the kind of place I'd go to on a special occasion, such as a birthday or a rare night out (as it happens there were two birthday meals taking place when we were there!) It's casual and comfortable, and the food is really good. Now, hand me those dadinhos...

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!

Baltica: Polish Pottery and Hot Chocolate!

Last Sunday, I went to Lewes and met up with a friend. On her recommendation, we went to Baltica, a cafe-come-pottery shop.

Baltica sells a large selection of handmade, hand decorated Polish pottery: plates, bowls, jugs, mugs and more, all hand-decorated with gorgeous patterns.

Bagelman, Brighton

After going ice skating the other day, my sisters and I returned home via Bagelman's Brighton Station branch.

I'd never been to Bagelman before and boy have I been missing out!

On sister #1's advice I went for vegetarian sausage, hash brown and mozzarella with tomato sauce, which I had in an onion bagel. It sounds (and probably is) carb-o-rific but the tastiness was well worth it.

Since I'd not eaten there before, this can count towards another of my goals, hurrah!

036. Eat/drink in 30 new places (cafes, restaurants, food stands...)

It's been ages since I ate from anywhere new, and I'll definitely be going back to Bagelman for more of their amazing bagels!

Smash!

Remember that, as part of The List, I spent a month entering competitions/prize draws?

Well, so far I haven't heard that I've won some fantastic prize.

One of the competitions I entered was for Smashbox cosmetics. I don't remember the details now, and I didn't win, but I did receive this primer sample in the post today. Thank you very much, Smashbox!

So the hours I spent hunting for and entering these things did pay off. Kind of. And now I have a new primer to try. Yay!

Cookies, Fruit & Marmalade

Although it's rather terrible of me to make a third chocolate-related post in a row, I'm going to anyway!

Once again I've been eating chocolate (do I ever stop?) and have three more bars to write about. This time includes chocolate from Lithuania!

Rich, Smooth and Intense

Alas I am not talking about a man, but chocolate!
Following on from my previous post about trying 50 new types of chocolate, I began to try out what the world (okay, Waitrose) has to offer!

Originally I was going to update with every 5 chocolate bars eaten, but so far I've only eaten three, from well-known brands: Thornton's, Green & Black's, and Lindt.

I'm writing about these in the order I ate them*

The Church of 1,000 Bathroom Scales

Jacob Dahlgren, Heaven is a Place on Earth

This Tuesday, I travelled into Brighton with a neighbour to see more of the art exhibitions happening as part of Brighton Festival & Fringe.

Finding some of the exhibitions proved to be an adventure in itself! During the festival, a lot of exhibitions 'pop up' in various places.

Travel Like It's 1883: Volks Electric Railway

Established in 1883, Volks Electric Railway is the oldest operating electric railway in the world. As I mentioned briefly in my previous post, Dad and I took a trip on it on Saturday.

Brighton Festival & Fringe

Brighton Festival and Brighton Fringe began yesterday, and despite it being a Saturday (meaning the city would be packed) I travelled there to check out some of what the events have to offer! I also made some progress on The List, hurrah!

Read on to hear about the events, art, music and comedy I saw yesterday!

The Pleasure of Parklife (and Cake!)

As part of my birthday trip to Worthing on Tuesday, we went for lunch at Parklife in Bath Place. 

The large sign and bright pink shop front make this café impossible to miss. Once inside, the vast array of tempting cakes will have your stomach rumbling!

Vintage Clothing Kilo Sale

Yesterday, I went to a kilo sale at the Worthing warehouse of vintage clothing retailer To Be Worn Again. With clothes being priced at £15 a kilo, it wasn't something I was going to miss out on! Also as yesterday was my birthday, I was able to go armed with lots of birthday money to spend. Hurrah!
I went there with Dad, who has a liking for their selection of shirts.

Keep reading for more about the kilo sale, what I bought, and my tips on how to shop at one of these events.

Bunty's Tea Room, Lincoln

 
As I mentioned in my previous post, yesterday my friend Sara and I enjoyed lunch at Bunty's, a tea room on Lincoln's Steep Hill.

I wanted to make a separate post about Bunty's Tea Room (because it's fab) so here it is!

4th-8th April: Scunthorpe, S-Con and Lincoln

Okay, the next couple of posts will be catchups on my Month of Doing. I went on a trip 5th-8th, so most of this post will be about that! I was also able to work towards several things on The List, including 36. Eat/drink in 30 new places, 39. Explore 30 towns/cities/villages and 48. Visit 5 different counties.

Friday 4th
I did some volunteering. We put out all the Easter stock...this was mostly a lifetime's supply of egg cups!

Saturday 5th
This was the first day of my trip to Scunthorpe! My friend Sara lives there and invited me to visit :)

Random snap taken from the coach, with Steel works in the background

A Month of Doing!

Since April is my birth month, I thought it would be fun to try and Do Something every single day of the month!

Some of these things will be part of my usual routine (like volunteering), or necessary (travel and appointments).
Some will be little things (taking a walk, painting) whilst some will be bigger things (a day out, etc).

I'd love to go out every single day and do something interesting, but I would be utterly exhausted! I need quiet days in order to recover!

Anyway, for 1st April I went shopping with my Mum...

The Ideal Home Show

As I noted on The List, there was a goal I'd already achieved:

037. Go to an event that isn’t an anime convention

 The event I attended was The Ideal Home Show at Earls Court, London.

The venue was dressed up to the occasion! 

I was lucky to snag a pair of free tickets through Money Saving Expert. My dad has always been interested in home improvement and has a few renovations under his belt, so we headed up to the show last Monday. Most of the people in the above picture had the same destination (and most of them had the same free tickets!)