The final 15 things to do before I turn 40

With my 35th birthday (and thus the end of my 35 before 35 challenge) exactly one month away, I thought it was time I posted the third and final part of my 40 before 40 list. Part one is here, with the first 15 items, and part two is here with 10 more. That leaves 15 for me to reveal today.

1. Get a dog
2. See the Northern Lights (rolled over from the last list)
3. See a play on the Seebühne (floating stage) at the Bregenzer Festspiele.
4. Make chicken Kiev – you can’t get them here and surely it can’t be that hard?
5. Get the tattoo I’ve been planning for a while – first I have to find a decent tattooist and someone who can draw it for me!
6. Bake and decorate a cake
7. Read The Canterbury Tales – my grandma bought this for Jan a few years ago and neither of us has even looked at it yet!
8. Get a new dining table – we currently have 2 IKEA cheapy ones, which are fine (except that one has been on the balcony and is looking rather weathered!) but by the time I’m 40 I want to own a half-decent table!
9. Remove all my books from my dad’s house, either by having my dad take them to charity shops or bringing them to Switzerland. I usually bring a few over every time I visit. By the time I reach 40 I hope to have completed the process!
10. Bring my doll’s house over from England. I haven’t figured out how I’m going to do this but it’s mine and I want it!
11. Go whale watching – this was on my last list and I still want to do it!
12. Take a trip to the Farne Isalands. I haven’t been since I was a kid and I’ve been meaning to take Jan for years.
13. Get to my goal weight… but I’m not telling you what that is 😉 I will say that I am 7 kg above it right now.
14. Take an in-person course or join a group – it doesn’t matter what as long as it’s something that makes me get out there and interact with actual people. (Scary!)
15. … I am leaving the final one open for now. If anyone has any suggestions please tell me in the comments (not bungee jumping). Otherwise I will definitely think of something to put here at some point.

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10 more things to do before I turn 40

I recently posted the first part of a list of 40 things to do before I turn 40. Today, I want to show you the next ten items, appropriately 4 months to the day before the end of my 35 before 35 challenge.

1. Try 10 foods or dishes that I haven’t had before
2. Take the funicular up to Rochers-de-Naye (thought to have been the inspiration for Rochers Neiges in Agatha Christie’s “The Labours of Hercules”) – thanks to Chomeuse for this one!
3. Cook 10 recipes from cookbooks I own – I have loads that I rarely even glance at, so it’s time I made some use of them!
4. Try an Escape Room
5. Eat 5 or more portions of different fruits/vegetables every single day for a week (Monday-Sunday)
6. Take the Glacier Express
7. Visit a new place in Switzerland for each letter of my first name – thanks to Kezzie for this fabulous suggestion!
8. Visit Pompei – I have wanted to do this ever since we learned about the volcanic eruption on primary school!
9. Eat pizza in Naples (this one and the previous one can be combined in the same trip)
10. See the Rocky Horror Show in the year of its 50th anniversary – I saw the 30th anniversary show when it came to Sunderland, then I went to see the show in German in what I only later realised was its 40th anniversary year. So it only makes sense to see it again in 2023 (since that will be the year I turn 40, if the actual show turns out to be after my birthday I will count this item as completed if I at least have the tickets!)

That’s 25 so far… I will post the remaining 15 within the next few months. Please feel free to give me suggestions in the comments.

Thinking of 40 things to do before I turn 40

My birthday is creeping ever closer, and even though I’m definitely not going to complete all the items on my 35 before 35 list, I’ve enjoyed it so much that I decided to make a new list, of things to do before I turn 40 – even though the idea that my next milestone is forty makes me feel slightly sick. HOW CAN THAT BE? I am still very far from having 40 things on my list – it took me long enough to think of 35 last time never mind an extra 5! But I thought I would share with you what I have so far.

Cake just seemed like an appropriate photo…

1. Go to the festival of lights in Lyon
2. Beat Jan at mini golf – he always wins, but just once I would like to beat him
3. Make flour soup (a staple of Basel Fasnacht)
4. Watch 10 films in German – I hate watching dubbed English films, so this will probably also mean finding 10 German films!
5. Read the rest of the books from the BBC Big Read Top 200 – I’m not going to finish this by August, but I do want to read them all so I’m rolling it over to my 40 before 40.
6. Learn basic Ukrainian – get to at least level 3 on Duolingo
7. Visit Ukraine – this was on my original list, but I changed it due to safety concerns. I’m hoping in the next 5 years things will calm down a bit…
8. Go out for afternoon tea
9. Build a snowman – surely at some point in the next 5 years there will be enough snow for me to do this?
10. Visit Auschwitz
11. Look for dwarfs in Wroclaw
12. See the leaning tower of Pisa – it’s probably not even that impressive, but I just want to see it
13. Read 25 non-fiction books – apparently 50 was too ambitious last time, but 25 should be doable, right?
14. Read a book published in each year of my life, so one book each from the years 1983 until 2023 (I don’t have to read them in order!)
15. Give at least 100 pounds or euros to three separate charities

I do have a couple more, but I think 15 is enough for one post. I don’t havy anywhere near 40 though, so please let me know in the comments if you have any other ideas for things I could do. I will at least consider anything that isn’t bungee jumping!