A novel in a month, and other works-in-progress

I'm working on a few different items at the moment, which should hopefully lead to a few more being ticked off by the end of the year. I'm taking part in a challenge that was given to all the young Buddhists in the Triratna Buddhist Community to raise £100 per centre for the Abhayaratna trust. I'm making my own Buddhist-themed cards and selling them at our group, which will ultimately lead to me crossing off two items - complete two charity challenges, and sell something I have created.

I'm a few books into the Discworld series and really enjoying them no matter how many times I've read them before! That item shouldn't take me long to complete - there are lots of books but I tend to race through them! I've also just started on the marathon that is watching all my CSI DVDs again! I've decided to start with CSI:NY, which isn't truthfully going from the start of the whole CSI franchise as it was the third one to be created, but I'm going from the start of those series!

And last but by no means least I'm taking part in NaNoWriMo! Check out my profile and novel synopsis here: www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/671053
This crazy project will hopefully lead me to cross off 'write a novel', and will definitely get the creative juices flowing!

#70: Meet a famous person I admire - Achieved!

Yesterday we went to the Good Food Show Scotland, and I got a couple of recipe books signed by Gregg Wallace and John Torode! I really should have asked them if they could get the BBC to do a vegetarian Masterchef!

More new meals

This month I made shakshuka, a North African dish with peppers, spices and eggs. It looked interesting, but I've got to say neither of us were particularly blown away by it. Never mind, onwards to find more exciting vegetarian dishes!

#27 and #77 - Achieved!

The other week I *finally* received my Girl guiding leadership certificate, so that clears #77 out of the way, and I'm crossing off #27 as well. I've completed all of the work and assessments to get the catering qualification, and of course this is the time that they decide to change the system and get rid of the qualification, replacing it with a resource pack! So I have it in effect.

I used to really enjoy being a Brownie leader. I'm not with a pack at the moment because of time constraints, but I'm definitely considering going back to it!

Food, glorious food!

Meals made in the last few months:

There's a strange thing called pasta pie at the top - ok, but a little dry. The bottom one is courgette frittata, which was much nicer, but a lot of hassle grating the courgettes! That's caught me up for meals in July and August, I need September and October to do in order to keep up with my average of one a month! I've just made soup, but no photos, so I'll take some for my next batch!

October? How did that happen?

Yes 2010 is flying by! It doesn't seem over 9 months since I sat down and wrote this list, half in jest, half in a desire to give myself a new project. I've done fairly well so far, although a lot of the ones I've achieved do seem to be the easiest ones! Still, 27 done so I'm on track to complete 30 by the end of the year as I'd hoped.

Updated recently are.......
#30: Have a house party - I think the gathering I had on my birthday counts, over 15 guests so it definitely constitutes a party.
#82: Become vegetarian - I've been veggie for a few months now and I'm at a stage where I feel comfortable enough to say that's been achieved. And no, I don't miss bacon.
#92: Use my Gourmet Society card 5 times - finally managed to get my money's worth out of this one! It's been good and has helped me find a few nice places to eat in Edinburgh, but I don't think I'll be getting another when this runs out.
#101: Create a blog about my 101 list - Having had this blog for 9 months now I think I can safely tick this one off!

On hold for now......
#16: Get a tattoo - I've just become a platelet donor, and getting a tattoo would stop me donating for a whole year. Get a tattoo, or potentially help to save the lives of 12 cancer patients or over 100 premature babies in a year? Tough choice. So, I'll only do this item if I have to stop donating for another reason.