SMWGla and another bucket list item ticked off (sort of)

SMWGla

I gave a talk today. At a Social Media Week Glasgow event called Blog Off, hosted by Ryan from Social Chemistry. 

She asked me to talk about why I blog and what’s so blogging good about it. My mouth found itself saying yes, before my brain had a chance to say: “Hold up, I don’t do this speaking in public stuff.”

So this morning among I joined Ryan, Saskia the Style Fairy (I love her blog) and lots of other in a hotel in Glasgow. I told my blogging story, everyone listened nicely and they clapped afterwards. That’s pretty much a good result. Someone later tweeted that I was “inspirational” but she didn’t say what she was inspired to do!


Bucket list


So what indeed. Well in December, I posted a bucket list of things to do and this seems like as good a time as any for a review. 

See the aurora borealis. A long-held ambition that even defied a trip to Iceland.

Fly a seaplane to some fabulous Scottish West Coast island hideaway.

Become comfortable with public speaking, maybe even enjoy it.

Climb Kilimanjaro.

Visit the Australian rellies, in Australia.

See my sons all settled in homes, jobs and lives that make them happy.

Learn to salsa dance.

Get a novel published.

Go on a yoga retreat.

Fit back into all those clothes.

Work less.

Ski more.

Get a non-fiction book published.

Conquer the clutter (or at least make peace with it).

Have a lovely garden.

Learn to take good pictures with my lovely new camera.

To be the kind of confident freelancer who can pick and choose.

Visit Russia.

Visit India.

Stay in an ice hotel.

Visit New Orleans.

Learn to say no without feeling bad.

Go fire walking.

Travel on the Orient Express.

Spend a night in New York.

Learn to paint, and I don’t mean emulsion.

Continue to share daily conversations with my lovely husband.

Continue to spend memorable times with my fabulous family.

Finish the Times crossword.

See the RSC at Stratford. Thanks mum.

Climb more mountains.

Go back to live in Cumbria.

Cook more food for more people more often.

Don’t leave a day unseized.

And?

Well that’s it really. I’ve crossed off three things, I’m quite pleased with that. I also realise that I care less about having a crappy garden and a house full of clutter than I obviously did that day. I’m clearly going to have to do some buckety revision. This time I’ll include ‘learn to say no, when I’m already busy’ and ‘practice what you preach’.

In a forthcoming post – if I remember – will be the useful things I learned from Blog Off.