52 in 52 update

Phew. Another month down, another giant step towards the end of the year. Let’s see how that 52 list is going (52 things to do in 52 weeks).

Completed

Use a timer to take stretch breaks at work

I mentioned recently that I did some time tracking for a week to see where my time went. Well, that was the start of getting back into the habit of having stretch breaks for work.

When you work from home, it’s very easy to fall into the bad habit of slouching and working for way too long without a break. Using a timer definitely helps with that, as did my recent upgrade to an electric standing desk. I’m finding that weeks on, I’m still using it very regularly (about 4 times today in fact, for maybe about 30-40 mins each time). I’ve also recently been getting a lot of neck and back pain, which means moving regularly has become even more important.

While I really loved using the Toggl app for tracking (inspired by a post on The Brighton Jotter), when I wanted to just set a timer to remind me when to pause, I found it was a bit of overkill. So I returned back to my ol’ faithful, FocusPomo. Have a focus session, earn a tomato, take a break, rinse and repeat, watch the tomatoes stack. It’s cute, simple, and the free version is more than enough for my needs.

The tomatoes even move around your screen when you tilt the phone. I’m easily amused, can you tell?

Go somewhere green

I have been longing to go to the Noosa National Park for months now. You’d normally associate it with yellow or blue, thanks to the sand and the ocean. But the hike is also full of beautiful hills and greenery from all the trees. So I think it more than meets the criteria for this one.

We drove up one wet, overcast morning. My husband’s theory was that most people would be turned off by the odd rain shower, which meant that we might be able to score a park. And he was right! We got an absolute rockstar park as soon as we drove in. Score!

I wanted to hike up to Hell’s Gates, a cliff face where the waves roll in and smash against the rocks. It means that along the way you visit multiple other key points, all with absolutely breathtaking scenery. Even on a rainy day it’s incredible.

When we got to Hell’s Gates it was incredibly windy, so we snapped a quick family portrait. I thought I got a photo of the cliff, tried to spot some dolphins that a couple pointed out to us, and then we bailed. There was a huge rain cloud that was threatening to come in our direction, and we didn’t want to be caught out.

Spoiler alert, it split right around us so we stayed mostly dry! Even better, we lucked out with some gorgeous sunny moments. You could argue that water looks greenish, so it counts even more towards the green goal?

It was such a great morning. I was super proud of our little dude handling a 5k hike with only a small complaint (some chafing from his shorts), and we rewarded him with a trip to a cafe afterwards for a milkshake. Hugely grateful for my husband putting aside his hatred for carparks and suggesting the trip. It was perfect, and I loved every second.

Yet to begin

With the above ticked off, that brings me to 19 remaining to go for the year. I spoke last month about what was already in progress, so let’s take a look at what’s still not even had a look-in yet.

1. Complete more items in my adventure book. Maybe with the upcoming school holidays I can try to tick off a couple of these with my family?
2. Learn how to use nail tips. I don’t know when to do this one. Once I put them on, my nails will be quite long and not completely functional. Maybe this is one that’s going to be the last to complete, if I do it in the Christmas holidays when I’m not typing so much every day.
3. Design Australian Christmas cards, cut-out style. Nope, haven’t even thought about this. Well, I did now; does that count?
4. Make a shadowbox. Yikes, not this one either. Maybe I could start by just finding a template online?
5. Decorate cookies with royal icing. This is 100% going to require assistance from my husband. He’s the chef and the baker in the family, so this sounds like a fun family activity one day.
6. Compliment a stranger. I feel like I do this naturally but I haven’t made a pointed effort, so I’ll need to put a reminder on my phone and see when I can knock this one off. Small effort that will hopefully have a huge impact.

That’s not too bad! 19 to go, and only 6 of them not started in any way.