Blog 3 - challenges update!

My first week of the 40 challenges has been quite productive...

• CHALLENGE 6 - I've managed 40 sit ups every day
• CHALLENGE 11 - I have read 2 books
• CHALLENGE 36 - I have listened to 6 CDs (very random taste the worst ones are going to the chairty shop!)
• CHALLENGE 14 - I had 1 date with the husband
• CHALLENGE 17 - I visited 6 pubs
• Completed CHALLENGE 22 - I have adopted Jubilee a baby Asian Elephant who has lost its mum through the Born Free Foundation.
• CHALLENGE 30 - Partly completed as I have applied for two game shows; Deal or No Deal and The Chase! Very long winded application forms and not sure how long it takes before I hear back. I was secretly hoping that I would be able to apply for 'Total Wipeout' but applications had closed so the other two were the only options! I think I might have to look again in a couple of months to see what others I can apply for but for now I will wait to hear!
• CHALLENGE 12 - I have applied for a new volunteer position for the NSPCC and to my surprise the next day they rang me to arrange an interview in a couple of weeks so I will see where that one leads!

In general, I have spent some time recruiting people to join in some of the madcap challenges with me, I have managed to rope in my mates Lara and Ian for the Big Zipper challenge which we decided we would try and do next summer. My mate Paul, Gunhild and my running pals Sue and Nia, I am hoping will do the running challenge with me (possibly even more friends?). My favourite and best dancer I know Tracey is going to help me with the dance challenge and I have decided on walking across the top of the Newport Transporter Bridge which is bloody terrifying so should fit the bill perfectly!

So now this weekend will be the first test of my will power and endurance, I am going to attempt CHALLENGE 9 the 40 hour fast!! My lovely friend Karen is going to attempt this with me and we are going to give each other regular updates and pep talks as she lives in Biggleswade! For the sticklers out there who question the rules of the fast I have decided that the fast will consist of me not eating any food for 40 hours, but I will be allowed to drink as much water, flavoured water and hot water with sliced lemon (not eating the lemon) as I want. My husband requested that I do the 40 hour silence at the same time so he wouldn't have to listen to me bitch and moan! Cheeky! It will be an endurance challenge for him too as I have what is known in my family as the 'Perez Grouch' as I get very grumpy when hungry and normally have to eat every couple of hours! So not sure how its going to go and not sure how I am going to avoid getting grumpy and not die (which is what my mum is worried about! mums eh?!) So from 9pm tomorrow night I will be starting my 40 hour fast and will hopefully finish at 10pm tomorrow - only joking! I should finish at 1pm on Monday afternoon! Ill let you all know how I get on - anybody with any tips, let me know!

Eek the 40 challenges are set! - BLOG 2

Okay so I am now 39 years old and I have completed and set my 40 challenges, here is the final list...

1. Write 40 blogs
2. Get 40 people to pledge £10 to charity
3. Run 40k over 4 days
4. Swim 40 lengths of pool 
5. Ride 40 miles on bike
6. Do 40 sit ups every day
7. Learn a 40 move dance routine 
8. Score 40 on a dart board with one dart
9. Fast for 40 hours 
10. Take 40 photos with a 40 theme 
11. Read 40 books
12. Volunteer for 40 hours 
13. Give up chocolate for 40 days 
14. 40 dates with my husband
15. Learn a top 40 hit on the ukulele
16. 40 hour sponsored silence
17. Visit 40 pubs
18. Turn my phone and computer off and have no Facebook or Twitter contact for 40 hours 
19. Put £1 in charity tin for all swear words I use in 40 hours 
20. Party with 40 friends
21. Put £40 on black in a casino
22. Adopt an wild animal
23. See a play on the West End 
24. Have Afternoon Tea at the Ritz
25. Give blood
26. Lose 14 pounds
27. Complete a Chocolate challenges competition with at least 2 people
28. Commit a random act of kindness to 12 strangers.
29. Walk across a high bridge 
30. Apply for a game show
31. Complete the Big Zipper in North Wales
32. Enter a Mudrunner event 
33. Try drinking vodka
34. Attempt to break a World record
35. Cook a new recipe each month
36. Listen to all the CDs I own from beginning to end
37. Get 40 retweets from one personal tweet I do
38. Hula hoop for 40 revolutions
39. Record my own music single
40. Get 40 people involved in challenges to do with me!

It was difficult to come up with the final list and I had lots of ideas from friends and family that were very entertaining and some downright stupid!. The final list is a mixture of simple things, things that will take time, some that will scare the life out of me and some will test my endurance but hopefully all achieveable.

Some of the other suggestions that didn't make the final list were; GET AUTOGRAPHS OF 40 PLAYERS,(which was just an excuse to chat up lots of rugby players) DRINK 40 SHOTS OF TEQUILA!! (which might have hospitalised me!), TRY 40 FOODS (Im way too fussy!) Learning to clap on the one (which I do already know Thank you Winchy!) and a NIGHT OUT IN A BLONDE WIG (Kath we can do that anytime!. So on with the first challenges...

No.1 - I have set up this blog and will update on progress of challenges as I attempt them.

No.2 - I have also set up a Just Giving page for my second challenge. I have chosen the RSPCA Cardiff branch as I think the small amount of money I hopefully will raise will have a big impact there rather than a large charity and I have seen first hand all the good work that they do as I currently volunteer for them. So if you would like to donate then here is the address; http://www.justgiving.com/Michelle-Reed-perez1 If you would rather donate some money to your own chosen chairty then please let me know and I can add you to the list of 40 people!

So now onto the next challenges and look out friends, colleagues and family I need (willing?!) volunteers to do some of these challenges with me!

My first BLOG!

Hello, here is my very first ever Blog! In two days I am going to turn 39 and I have decided that I would like to try and make the last year in my thirties a special one and try to achieve 40 challenges by my fortieth birthday! A mid life crisis maybe? As I am the youngest of all of my closest friends they will all be turning forty throughout the following year so they might be up for enjoying some of these challenges with me. I am still trying to compile the finished list as I have realised it is not as easy as it sounds, I want the list to be a mixture of fun, interesting, achieveable and a few big challenges. I have started to realise that I need to do a bit of research and a lot of planning in order to get through the year and the challenges and not get stressed out by them but enjoy them! So for now I will sign off and blog again the completed list!