Blog 32 - Getting My Groove On!

Challenge 7 was to learn a 40 move dance routine. 

As I work in a theatrical environment and love going to see a variety of dance productions and am a super fan of Ashley Banjo’s Secret Dance Crew, I quite fancied finally being able to learn a routine that I could pull out on the dance floor! Like everyone I love a good boogie and after a few drinks I of course think I am Beyonce! The cold clear sober reality is that I am not and apart from a basic sense of rhythm I don’t really have a clue what I’m doing!

When starting to think of how to attempt this challenge, I realised I was going to need professional help! So I sought out the help from one of the dance teachers at work and roped in two lovely work colleagues to 'volunteer' to join my crew! 

Sally, Me, Emma and Jo

As with all the other challenges I had no idea how hard this would be and thought we would only need one session to learn and perfect a routine! Funnily enough it took a bit longer than one session, it actually took us three sessions to get the dance choreographed by the very talented Emma! Poor Emma had to adapt her choreographing skills to take in all the ailments and inabilities of three middle aged women but came up with a fab and fun routine that we loved learning. 

It was great in the lessons following Emma's instructions, but as soon as I got home and went to practice on my own, my mind went completely blank and I had forgotten everything. We recorded the practice of the routine and I resorted to typing up the routine move by move to try and get it to stick in my head! 

Although once you see the video you might be surprised to know that over the last couple of weeks I have practiced like mad, going over and over the routine, much to my neighbours dismay and the amusement of many dog walkers in the park behind the house as I did most of my practising in the garden. My 6 year old daughter pretty much knows the routine off by heart and quite frankly looks ten times better than me dancing it but has been my best supporter!

I have to say we all would have liked longer to actually rehearse it more and even maybe be able to give it a bit more attitude. As time was short and the 40th birthday was looming, we had to film at the end of the 3rd session! We have actually decided that the three of us are going to continue with a lunchtime dance class each week and perfect this routine but also learn more routines, which shows how much we enjoyed the challenge and it will hopefully become a new hobby!

Sadly Sally was unable to make all of the sessions due to illness so Emma had to step in as the third member for the video. This made Jo and I extra nervous as dancing next to a professional dancer was bound to make us look even worse, but also meant if Emma wasn't dancing in front of us, how on earth would we copy her??

God love Emma, we made her make noises and shout instructions at certain points to try and keep us on time and remembering the right moves! Have to say as much as I hate seeing myself in the mirrors, it was harder having to complete this challenge in the basement and not the dance studio as it is easier to copy Emma with the mirrors! Apart from a few comedy slip ups and mis-timings, quite frankly I'm pretty proud of Jo and I!

Once again I left my dignity at the door and filmed the challenge attempt to prove that I did it, feel free to watch from behind your hands (as I do cringing) and prepare yourself for a dance routine of sorts by two very amateur dancers and one professional...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T5F1I72It8&feature=youtu.be

Massive Thanks to Emma for giving up her time and energy to make us look half decent and using every skill she has! And to my other 'Single Ladies' as ever I am indebted to you and couldn't have done it without you and I look forward to loads more dancing sessions with you! Next staff party we will be pulling that routine out of the bag and showing all the young uns how its done! You Knows it!

Blog 31 - Wanna be a Record Breaker!

Challenge 34 was to attempt to break a World Record. I spent most of the year looking out for opportunities and ideas, but nothing really came up. I ended up looking at the Guinness World Records website http://challengers.guinnessworldrecords.com/challenges to get ideas. 

My children and I decided to entertain ourselves in the summer holidays by having a day of attempting records. After looking at this website we decided on four records to attempt:

• Put the most socks on one foot in a minute
• The longest time to keep 5 balloons in the air
• The most cartwheels in a minute
• Most jelly eaten with chopsticks in a minute

The first record we all attempted was the sock challenge! We watched the video on the challengers website to get tips and see what the current record was. The Italian in first place at present managed 45 socks! The rules were as follows;

• Socks used must be standard, commercially-available socks. Non-standard socks such as Christmas stockings etc are not acceptable.
• The challenger must begin the attempt wearing a single sock - however this is not counted towards the final tally.
• The socks must be put on, one at a time, on the same foot, and with no outside assistance.
• Only socks completely on the foot at the end of the one minute period will be counted.
• Various sizes of sock may be used to compensate for the increased size of the foot as more socks are put on.

                                

 

It was much harder than it looked and I only managed 13 socks and Iolo and Menna managed 12 each. You can watch a video of our attempts here; 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbvxq-UCmNw&feature=youtu.be

                       

The second record attempt was to keep 5 balloons up in the air for the longest time there isn’t a current World record for this but a couple of attempts on the website. In order to qualify for the record you have to try and keep all balloons up for a minimum of 135 seconds, but the video attempts on the website were between 4 seconds and 9.4 seconds. The rules for this challenge were;

• Standard, commercially available party balloons should be used for the attempt.
• All balloons must be blown up and have a minimum diameter of 20 cm.
• Balloons must be filled with air only, helium is not permitted.
• This challenge must be attempted indoors, and in an area not affected by strong air currents from e.g. air conditioning.
• Balloons may not be tied, glued, or otherwise attached to one another.
• Participants must start with holding the five balloons in their arms.
• Any body part is allowed to be used to keep the balloons afloat.
• No tools or objects are permitted to be used.
• The time starts as soon as the fifth balloon has been released from the contestants’ arms.
• If the balloon touches any other item/object apart from the contestants body (e.g. the floor, a table, another person) then the attempt is over, at this point the time is stopped.

Again this was much harder than it looked and we were all rubbish! The video of our pathetic attempts can be found here;  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxaPhdzK5vg&feature=youtu.be

The third attempt at a record was doing the most cartwheels in a minute! Unsurprisingly only Menna attempted this one as I couldn’t do more than one and the one was a bit dubious! The World Record is currently set at 63 cartwheels but in first position on the website was an American gymnast who completed 40, and the second position on the website was 34. The rules were as follows;

• Each cartwheel must involve both hands on the floor with legs straight and feet pointed directly upwards once in the air.
• Only complete cartwheels, deemed of the suitable form by our adjudicator, will be counted.

Menna was amazing but had a little fall half way through from dizziness but managed 39! We have uploaded her attempt on the website and are awaiting for it to be verified! You can see her attempt here;  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUeOpKI-kuM&feature=youtu.be

The final attempt was to eat the most jelly with chopsticks in a minute. We all attempted this one as there isn’t a current record set or anybody attempted it on the website! The rules for the record were as follows;

• The jelly used should be a commercially available variety. The flavour is at the challenger’s discretion.
• Only chopsticks may be used to transfer the jelly into the mouth and the challenger’s hands are not to touch the jelly.
• Following the instructions on the packet, the jelly should be left for the maximum time specification it recommends for the jelly to set.
• The jelly should be taken from the fridge immediately prior to the attempt.
• An amount of jelly is to be laid out on a plate in front of the contestant. It is recommended that the jelly is lightly mashed to give it texture.
• Both the jelly and the plate should be weighed prior to the attempt.
• Only one hand is to used at any one time. The alternate hand is to remain behind the challenger’s back and under no circumstances may it touch the plate.
• Once the one minute time limit has elapsed, the plate containing the jelly should be weighed to determine the amount eaten (the weight of the plate should be deducted from this total). All jelly that is dropped on the table/floor or otherwise not consumed is not to be counted and is to be returned to the plate for weighing.

Hilarity ensued as we attempted this record and I’m pretty sure we probably will all be beaten very quickly, Menna managed 14 grams of Jelly, Iolo managed 22 grams and I managed 92 grams!! I have uploaded all three videos and we are awaiting verification.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlzGyrHkql8&feature=youtu.be 

It was such a funny afternoon and a great way to spend time with the family, definitely might attempt more challenges on another rainy day as it was such a laugh!

Blog 30 - Can't Cook, Won't Cook!

Challenge 35 was to cook 12 new recipes. Anyone who knows me, knows how appalling I am at cooking and am a fan of the Popty Ping style of cooking (Popty Ping is Welsh for Microwave!). Not only do I have few culinary skills but I also have the fussiest family in the world to cook for. I am a pescatarian (I don't eat meat but eat fish), my husband eats meat, doesn't particularly like fish and doesn't like fruit or vegetables, my children are equally fussy and do not like like the same things and hate most veg!

Although a poor excuse the difference in our likes and dislikes in food means that I rarely cook just one meal that we all eat and quite often have two or three varieties of a meal to please everyone. There is in fact only one meal that we all sit down and eat and that is a roast dinner (although I don't eat the meat). So the aim of this challenge was to gain a few more skills but also try and get a wider list of family meals that we all liked.

I quickly realised how poor my knowledge is of basic cooking skills but in particular when it comes to meat. To help me out and to avoid me poisoning my family, my husband bought me a fantastic cook book that explained basic meals and had lots of pictures!!

These are the twelve meals that I cooked and prepared from scratch...

Meal 1 - Chilli Con Carne  (meat and veggie versions)
Meal 2 - Fish Pie
Meal 3 - Chicken in Tarragon Sauce
Meal 4 - Cauliflower and Broccoli Cheese Bake
Meal 5 - Chicken Schnitzel and home baked wedges
Meal 6 - Savoury Pancake with goats cheese, sundried tomatoes and spinach.
Meal 7 - Veggie Quorn Cottage Pie
Meal 8 - Veggie Quorn Lasagne
Meal 9 - Garlic and parsley prawns with halloumi and green pepper skewers
Meal 10 - Pasta with hidden vegetable tomato pasta sauce
Meal 11 - Pork chops with home made apple sauce and mashed potatoes
Meal 12 - Home made beef burgers and home made chips.

                                     

     

                                 
I did complete this challenge as in, I made 12 new meals that I had never cooked before, but the challenge didn't have the result I hoped for. I didn't end up with any meals that we all liked and ate as a family. The majority of meals I made ranged from disappointing to average. As I can't taste the meat meals, I have no way of checking what it tastes like and most of the veggie options resulted in tears and tantrums at the table and that was just my husband! The most successful were the basic meat options, pork chops and chicken meals. The fish options were flat refused and to be honest it hasn't really changed our family way of life at mealtimes at all.

I didn't really enjoy the actual cooking, hated touching and preparing raw meat and didn't enjoy the food that much or the reaction by the rest of the family! I think I will unfortunately be forever cooking a couple of different options at meal times and relying on ready prepared options, and carry on looking forward to meals out and the regular Marks & Spencer special Dine in for 2 offer! This isn't just food, this is M&S food!!

Blog 29 - Tweet tweet!

Right only 6 weeks left and 13 challenges left and I am starting to panic slightly! So to get another one crossed off the list I thought I would attempt the twitter challenge.

The twitter challenge made the list as I have a job in marketing and work with social media a lot, so I wanted to experiment to see what would get a tweet retweeted. I toyed with different ideas of what to tweet whether to be obvious or be more obscure. I wrote a number of normal tweets with only a couple of re-tweets here and there. The tweets I write that are connected with work had more success, but the challenge I set was for a personal tweet. So I thought I may as well try the direct approach! After a couple of hours it had only managed 20 retweets so I panicked and sent a joke; Which dog needs to wear glasses? A cock-eyed spaniel! This only had about 15 re-tweets funnily enough!

With a bit more patience and help from friends and colleagues, I finally got the one tweet re-tweeted 42 times, thus completing another challenge.

So I have now completed 28 challenges and the 12 challenges left are as follows;

1) Write 40 Blogs - This is Blog 28

6) 40 sit ups every day - I have kept this up although wasn't able to do them for a couple of days when I had my stomach injury after the Mudrunner!

7) Learn a 40 Move Dance Routine - I have booked a dance teacher for next week to start learning a routine.

10) Take 40 photos - I'm taking photos of each of the challenges!

14) Have 40 Dates with my Husband - We have had 30 dates and are trying to squeeze in 10 more!

15) Learn a top 40 hit on the Ukelele - I am practising like mad and got some tips from ukelele players but at the moment I am still rubbish!

20) Party with 40 Friends - I will be having a party around my birthday.

21) Put £40 on black in a casino - still need to do this.

26) Lose 14 pounds - I am still working on this!!!!

34) Attempt to break a World Record - I am still coming up with a shortlist for this and need to attempt it.

35) Cook 12 new recipes - I have made 8 new recipes and still need to do 4 more.

40) Get 40 people involved in challenges to do with me - I have somehow managed to get 37 mad people to join me so far!

Ok so I'm getting there but still got a long way to go, and my energy is starting to wane but I just need to keep up and just start looking forward to the party and celebration at the end of this!

Blog 28 - Fancy a Tipple?

There were a lot of drinking suggestions for the 40 challenge list, many of which sounded like I might seriously die if I tried to attempt them! I did fancy having an excuse for a little tipple though, so thought rather than trying to down as many drinks as possible or try lots of different types of drinks, which would probably result in my stomach being pumped, I thought it would be safer and more fun to try and visit 40 pubs throughout the year. So, Challenge 17 was to visit 40 Pubs and buy a drink in each pub.

Funnily enough there were lots of raised hands from family, friends and colleagues to join me in this challenge! It was never hard to find a companion. My school friends and I who often meet up for a Wednesday Vino, particularly got into this challenge. Instead of going to the same pub every time we meet up, we varied our choice of pub and ventured into pubs all over Cardiff that we have either never been to or haven’t been to in a while! This sometimes resulted in comedy nights out in slightly awkward or uncomfortable nights in pubs that didn’t really suit us.

One particular night that stands out was a dark and rainy night on the top of Caerphilly mountain in The Black Cock, I was running a little late so met the girls there. As I rushed in I saw the three girls backed up in the corner all looking highly uncomfortable sipping their wine in deadly silence with one other person and the barman in the pub. They honestly looked like they had been taken hostage! It wasn’t our best night out but was funny nethertheless, trying to relax whilst ignoring the stares from the two people who maybe just wanted to close and go home!

There may be some pubs that we probably would not frequent again in a hurry, but there were a number of pubs not normally on our radar that will be visited again!

Here are just some of my drinking partners...

 

On the whole this challenge was easy and enjoyable and was a great reason to go to more pubs and there are still plenty I haven’t been to yet in Cardiff!

This was the list of pubs visited during the year;

1. Pendragon, Cardiff on 16.1.14
2. Corner house, Cardiff on 25.1.14
3. Castle Inn, Usk on 25.8.13
4. Newbridge on the Usk, Usk 26.8.13
5. The Deri Inn, Cardiff on 26.8.13
6. The Fino lounge, Cardiff on 5.9.13
7. Aneurin Bevan Cardiff on 15.9.13
8. The Malsters, Cardiff on 2.10.13
9. The Black Cock, Caerphilly Mountain on  9. 10.13
10. The Plough, Cardiff on 17.10.13
11. The Cottage, Cardiff on  4.11.13
12. The Romilly, Cardiff on 13.12.13
13. The Halfway Inn, Cardiff on 13.12.13
14. Robin Hood, Cardiff on  13.12.13
15. Ye Olde Murenger, Newport on  19.12.13
16. The Butchers Arms, Cardiff on 6.1.14
17. The Prince of Wales, Cardiff on 15.1.14
18. Cayo Arms, Cardiff on  28.1.14
19. The Exhibition, Cardiff on  1.2.14
20. The Birchgrove, Cardiff on 1.2.14
21. The Cricketers, Cardiff on  12.2.14
22. The Three Arches, Cardiff on 1.3.14
23. Fox and Hounds, Cardiff on 19.3.14
24. Maen Llwyd, Rudry on 3.4.14
25. Grape & Olive, Cardiff on 5.4.14
26. Pen and Wig, Newport on 17.4.14
27. The Wharf, Cardiff on 17.4.14
28. The White Swan, Twickenham on 21.4.14
29. The Nags Head, Teddington on 3.5.14
30. The Market Tavern, Mayfair on 4.5.14
31. The Manor House Inn, Croyde on 8.5.14
32. The Rock Inn, Georgeham on 8.5.14
33.The Kings Arms, Georgeham on 10.5.14
34. Garddfon, Felin Heli on 25.5.14
35. The Union, Tremadog on 25.5.14
36. Warehouse 54, Newport on 1.6.14

37. West of England Tavern, Newport on 18.6.14
38. The Longhouse, Freshwater East, Pembroke 21.6.14 (Kaths party)

39. Pantmawr Inn, Cardiff on 2.7.14
40. The Discovery, Cardiff on 9.7.14

Blog 27 - Like a House Without a Roof?

When coming up with a final list, I wanted things that challenged me in lots of different ways and pushed me out of my comfort zone. As I have been working on the Newport Music Academy, which nurtures young talent and encourages young people to use music and performance to gain confidence in themselves, I thought it would be a good idea to push myself to try and experience a little of what they have to go through!

There was one slight difference though, in that most of the young people who go through the Music Academy are really talented and can sing or rap incredibly well! I however am not a singer, have terrible timing, can never remember lyrics and generally struggle to carry a tune. In the car or shower however, I’m convinced I sound like Mariah Carey obviously! Sadly in real life and in a real recording studio I do not sound like Mariah Carey and not even a half decent singer!

I struggled for months to come up with a song to attempt that I wouldn’t completely murder, but in the end realised there were none I could actually sing well! So, I decided on a song that has pretty much been an anthem of this 39^th year and featured in most of the 40^th birthday celebrations and played to death everywhere and also meant that I could star in my own music video!

It was incredibly nerve racking standing in the recording studio with my headphones on, silently dying inside of embarrassment! However, I have a great friend in Jamie Winchester who is a music producer, who was very supportive and tried to give me confidence to sing, which basically meant he sat there in his booth trying not to grimace or laugh and shouted out positive things like ‘try to get the words on time’ ‘ooh not sure what that was, lets go again!’ and ‘go on one last time and really try your best this time!’. Luckily he is very talented though and knows how to make anyone sound half decent and used the auto tune a lot!!

This if you can bear it is the final edit…

Or try this link...

When filming the Happy Newport video for the Big Splash, I also had to embaress myself further by joining my colleagues and also take part in the filming. This small section is our unedited attempt at looking Happy! Safe to say Tahnee and Jamie carry it off quite well and manage to look sane and at times quite cool! Paul however is still drunk from the night before and looks like he would rather be anywhere else than singing and dancing along to Happy because his boss told him too! I however look like I have taken an overdose in Happy pills and look like I should be banned from any sugar! (for more than one reason!). I also like the moment that I poke Jamie in the eye!

Coming from a person who hates photos of herself, this is a challenge in itself actually showing moving footage of myself but seeing as this has been a year of making a tit out of myself and basically having no dignity left, here you go...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GrD_OFPd5w

Also just in case you are interested this is the final Happy Newport video with a 5 second snippet of my dance skills on show...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXqXPO9noFg