It’s been a long year and I’ve just finished my challenge of doing something new every day. There’s been some good, some bad, and some I never want to do again (here’s looking at you, Rubik’s cube) but I’ve had fun exploring new areas and discovering interesting things. I wanted to look back and sum up a go through some of my favourite things of the year, and who knows, it might inspire someone else out there to have a go too!
Let’s start with some of the easiest ones: they’re quick, they’re cheap and they’re a lot of fun
Quick and Easy
- Hug a tree
- Put your trousers on without using your hands – one of the very early ones but still a firm favourite. Great for any age to try, tears of laughter absolutely guaranteed!
- Break a world record – all that’s needed is a little bit of research and a stopwatch – my attempts at unravelling a roll of toilet paper could be a good way to work through some of that stock-piled stash from the Spring!
- Chubby bunny – a good way to use up excess marshmallows.
- Fold a t-shirt in 2 seconds – fold your washing in no time
- Geoguesser – a good time killer, guess different locations from Street Maps around the world
- Freerice – a trivia game that helps combat world hunger – what’s not to like?
- A.I. Oil Painting – see how an A. I. would draw you in a different period. Mine is unintentionally hilarious!
- Google Quick, Draw – kill some time playing Pictionary against a computer.
- Make your own Wordsearch
- Stickman Adventures – a really enjoyable game where you draw the tools the stickman hero needs.
- Cleverbot – have a conversation with some A. I. that might have passed the Turing Test.
- Radio Garden – transport yourself to the beaches of Brazil, or the supermarkets in Sri Lanka by listening to local radio stations from around the world
- Earth from Space – viewing a live feed of Earth from the I.S.S. was very calming and reassuring.
Surprise Hits – these are ones that I had no idea I’d love going into them
- Voguing dance class – I loved this, I think because it was a dance that was achievable for me!
- British Sign Language – Really fascinating and surprisingly easy to pick up the basics.
- Tai Chi – If the classes would have continued I would have gone to tai chi every week as I found the practice very mindful and soothing.
- Ice hockey – from way back when we could see live sport! A lively and exciting experience.
- Learned to juggle – something that has kept my hands busy throughout the year.
- Lip balm and lotion bars – who knew how easy it would be to make these?
- Online choir – A lovely community of people coming to sing together online. I loved seeing everyone’s faces at a time when my world was limited.
- Hip Hop dance class – Mike Peele and his Hip Hop Fit workouts are ridiculously fun and one of the new things I’ve done over and over again.
- Chess – I wasn’t great but it was enthralling!
- Bob Ross Tutorial – Instant calm, I was surprised by how good my pictures looked.
- Calligraphy – I’ve played around with this a few times after doing it as a new thing, it was especially good on my Christmas cards.
- Beatbox – so much fun.
- Spaghetti Bridge – who knew spaghetti could hold so much?
- At-Home Yoga Retreat – I enjoyed this so much I want to do it again in the New Year.
- Endangered Languages – very interesting to learn how many languages are in danger and what’s being done to save them.
- Randonautica – I was sceptical about the weird internet phenomenon until I tried it…
- Climbed a tree – I felt like a child climbing my first tree.
- Okonomiyaki – one of the few times I ate out this year was trying this delicious Japanese noodle omelette.
- Sound bath – surprisingly relaxing.
- Bollywood film – I had so much fun with this! I’ve not seen anymore as yet but they’re on my list.
- Comping – this was very addictive. I never won anything but I wouldn’t rule out dabbling in this again.
- Plate spinning – I loved this SO much and keep returning to it for fun. A party trick I’m very proud of.
- Silent Disco – So much fun! I lost all my inhibitions and just danced and danced and danced – I highly recommend!
- Made my own butter – I had no idea I could do this until about five minutes before I did it! Cream will never go to waste again in this house.
- Homemade chocolates – These were so simple and inspired me to think of the many possible fillings I could use. Something I’m excited to play within 2021.
Keepers – these are the new things that I’ve continued with throughout the year
- Silent Disco
- Capsule wardrobe – reducing my wardrobe to 33 items for 3 months at a time has ensured I’ve only bought 2 new items of clothes this year and helped to massively reduce my fast fashion footprint. I’ve not looked back.
- Hip Hop dance class
- compliment a stranger
- Bob Ross painting tutorial
- Bread without a recipe – I’ve played with bread so much this year and really developed a passion for learning how it works.
- Juggling
- Pitta bread
- Sourdough – it took me a long time to crack this but finally, after literally months of trying, I’m able to consistently make a good loaf.
- Rhubarb and ginger cookies
- Masala chai
- Food photography – I learned some skills during this that have really come in useful as I continued to make more bakes.
- Film Club – one of my favourites from the year. I love discovering the new films on the program and revisiting some old favourites, and enjoy chatting in the group with some fellow film fans.
- Pad Thai
- Family tree
- Among Us
- Babka and Challah
Favourites
These are my stand-out favourites, the ones I’m happiest to have done and the ones that I’m most proud of.
- Afternoon Tea at-home – I’m seeing a recurring theme with all of my ‘at-home’ events. I was really proud of making every element in the afternoon tea, it felt really nice to do something I would normally do in the UK at home here in Germany. A memory I will definitely look back on fondly.
- Overnight train with a stranger – I thought I’d be having more adventures of this kind this year. The fact that I didn’t makes this one even more special. Travelling on my own on the sleeper train from Berlin to Budapest was exciting, but sharing a cabin with a stranger and staying up chatting was thrilling.
- Learned to Juggle – This has already made an appearance on some lists, I know, but it really encouraged me to try some other circus skills such as the balloon shaping and plate spinning which I absolutely love. In another world, I could see myself going to clown school, or becoming a children’s entertainer. Juggling let me lean into my silly side and explore it a more, something which I’m really grateful for.
- At-home Film Festival – Sharing my love of some classic films with my husband was really special for me. I loved doing the research for each one and giving him a short presentation. This was a really enjoyable, at-home experience.
- Camping at home – Making a make-shift fort in my living room to camp under was great fun, and I actually felt like I slept better that night than many nights since. A special experience that made it feel like we were on holiday when we weren’t.
- At-home Yoga and Meditation Retreat – I put a lot of effort into planning this for myself and thoroughly enjoyed it, it felt very special.
- Chocolate Entremet and Opera Cake – Never in a million years did I think I would be able to make anything as beautiful and complex as these cakes – check out my post from January about a birthday cake, I thought that was a big achievement! The puff course and all the bakes I’ve done this year have given me so much confidence in the kitchen and really kindled my passion for baking, something I can’t wait to go into more thoroughly next year.
- Wrote a Book – This is the thing I’m most proud of doing this year. Technically, I didn’t do it in a day, but I did do it in 30 days and that is certainly no walk in the park. It feels so good to know that I’ve created a whole story from scratch, fully from what’s inside my head, without having done it ever before. I’m definitely considering it a first draft and I’m looking forward to revisiting it in 2021 to try and polish it up some more. One of my biggest achievements, ever.
This is a very short selection of all of my highlights from this year – I could have made the post ten times longer than I did! Thank you for visiting and following my journey this year, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading or even found some inspiration for new things you can try. Stick around though, as my new thing adventures will continue in 2021!
New Day, New Thing 