"Because I can"

BOOM. Done.

Just in case I haven’t explained before, Marcus is my boyfriend of nearly 21 months (which feels like forever but seems like no time at all). I wasn’t expecting to complete this task for another year or so, but it turned out my Mum couldn’t (read: didn’t want to) go to Germany with me to see my favourite band ever play, but Marcus did. So, my mum paid for him to go with me (she really didn’t want to go, clearly!) And so on the 13th of April we headed for Brussels by the Eurostar. On the 14th we went to Düsseldorf for the gig and on the 15th we went to Köln before going home.

Here we are in Cologne, drinking the local beer (Kölsche)

It was a bit hectic and I think next time we’ll go somewhere for a bit longer rather than rushing around with trains. We didn’t really get that much time to appreciate the sites and spent half the holiday traveling. But I enjoyed it, we got to spend some quality time together.

Köln is where my cousin lives too, hence why we dropped in to say hi. She showed us around, took us for cake and coffee (traditional on Sunday afternoons in Germany, apparently). So, that’s two tasks complete in one! Happiness :D

I’m determined to do this. I know diet soda is really bad for me and I need to cut down and this seems like a good time to do it. I really, really want visible abs (task [76]) and I know my constantly binging on pepsi max is not helping me achieve my goal!

So… I’ve gone 4 days already, but I’m going to say it started from yesterday. I will go for all of April without drinking any form of soda, be it diet coke, pepsi, anything. I will drink water and fruit juice, and maybe the occasional hot chocolate. But that is all.

Saturday I took a Kung Fu class :) It was pretty fun, I’ve actually missed doing martial arts (namely Tae Kwon Do) and it was nice to try something a little bit different. I couldn’t understand the instructor half the time (he’s Italian and says “punch” as “poonch”, lol) but it was fun all the same.

So yeah, that’s another task done! Yaaaay! :D

9/24
Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches (recipe)

I made these last night and my god, they were glorious.

I love chocolate. I love cookies. Chocolate chip cookies are one of my favourite things ever. And sandwiching them together with chocolate ganache is a pure genius concept. I actually didn’t have enough ganache and I only used half of the cookie dough recipe, but I made enough to fill an entire large Tupperware and I handed them out today at my pole dancing lesson. People appreciated them a lot! I’ve personally had about 6 of them… ooops. Gonna have to get to the gym tomorrow! :P

I finally finished Shadowmarch 30 days after starting it… really losing my lead on this task now. I think it’s because I usually read on buses and, because my brain’s been so exhausted from the stupid amounts of work these past few weeks, I’ve been using bus journeys to just rest my mind and allow it to wander recently.

Still… the worst of my work is over now, thank God. I have one more week now and all I have to do is a presentation, a 1500 word essay and 2 hours worth of calculations (although I doubt they’ll take me that long). Relatively stress-free week so maybe more reading will get done :)

8/24
Oreo Cupcakes

I love oreos. I hate them, I hate how they just taste like sugar, but oh how I love them! So when I saw this recipe online, I knew I simply hadto make them someday. And on Wednesday I decided to use them to bribe people into voting for me as vice president of the pole dance society.

This is they, all ready to go in the biggest Tupperware I could find…

Honestly? They turned out to not be my thing. They had too much cream icing, and I’m not a fan of cream. Had the cakes been bigger and the icing less mountainous, I would’ve enjoyed them more. No matter, I’ll know for next time. Everyone else seemed to enjoy them anyway (enough to vote me in! :D)

Task [6]
Was: Be a UK size 8
Now: Complete all the video games on myself

I saw someone else doing this one and realised I have a lot of video games I need to actually finish… usually I get very close to the end and then I either get bored or it gets too hard and I just give up. So it’s time to actually finish them. Here’s a list of ‘em:

1. Final Fantasy X (I’m close, but I keep getting lost inside Sin, lol)
2. Final Fantasy VII
3. Final Fantasy XIII (This is what I’m focusing on right now)
4. Final Fantasy XIII-2
5. Rayman Origins
6. Spyro: Enter The Dragonfly
7. Drakan: The Ancient’s Gates

I’ll probably buy more before June 2014

Task [11]
Was: Pass my full motorcycle test
Now: Run a half marathon

Because as much as I love my motorbike, I don’t see myself passing my test before June 2014. I’ll need to renew my CBT in September and I certainly don’t get enough time or sunny weather to go out on it.

I am aiming to get fit but I definitely don’t do enough cardio. The idea of running a half-marathon might give me some incentive to start training a bit more.

9/25
Spicy Chicken Skewers

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo before I absolutely devoured them, but they tasted great! I’m still hungry though :/