Now's not the time Munro

#54 Write a book for my niece
Apparently she had made her decision before clicking on the link.

#13 Cycle 'around' New Zealand
Added another 20km on the windtrainer. It's amazing how much better it goes when the tyres are pumped up correctly... Thinking about doing Round Taupo later in the year which will add on a few k's and also prepare me for #96 Do the Round Taranaki cycle early next year. I didn't have that great a time last time I did Taupo though so still thinking.

Hard day's night

#54 Write a book for my niece
Next installment is up. There was a bit of confusion - I thought the comment would come through on the TFAW_you _choose blog but they've come through on the other one. Plus I had done something weird with the comments so TFAW had to use another aunties sign up and then get her own. Oh well. She may as well become computer literate now right? I'm not that crash hot as an author - I've just noticed two continuity errors in two posts. Dearie me. I've made it trickier by setting a limit of 300 words for each story post. 300 words exactly as Word counts it. It's harder than it sounds. I've just spent an hour trying to delete 9 words while stuffing in the whole end arc!

Here's the first installment of #54 Write a book for my niece. The link on the end will take you to another blog listing the consequences of the decision.

Incident of blackbirds

I made progress on the following things without even trying today...

#7 Visit all Auckland Regional parks
Boyfriend and I went out for a picnic lunch today. We drove out to a lookout then decided we'd pop over to Muriwai since the view from the lookout wasn't that spectacular. Turns out that Muriwai beach is an ARC park. We drove up and around for a bit before coming back down to the Takapu reserve. The weather wasn't that great though so we didn't do a lot of walking and had our picnic in the van.

#35 Cook through the Edmonds cookbook
Muffins for the picnic (which we ate at home before we left); afghan biscuits with chocolate icing; chocolate nut bar with melted chocolate icing (which I'm a bit worried about, I don't think it's going to set) ; roast chicken with mixed herb stuffing and gravy. Feels like heaps...would have baked more but have run out of butter!
While I love baking, I do think I need to start concentrating on the savoury dishes a bit more. Trouble is, I can't very well take a roast lamb into work for everyone now can I?

#95 Buy some bonus bonds
I hope to get this one marked off within the next couple months. My sister and I have agreed to suspend payments into our joint account. I'll use the money that I'd usually pay to buy some bonus bonds. (Originally I thought I'd use it to pay for shoes but that's not really appropriate is it?)

#43 See a performance that doesn't include anyone I know
Tickets are booked to King Lear on Wednesday 22 August 2007 at 7pm. Circle T30-32. Perhaps I should have read this review first? Probably would have gone anyway. Although I've heard of the lead I don't know him personally so it counts towards this. Now it's just a waiting game.

#54 Write a book for my niece
Have discovered I suck at this. I can't even get past 150 words! Boyfriend is all "haha you're terrible Muriel" because he is up to something like 30,000 words. It does not bode well for #6 Write a novel .

This is your last spoiler warning

Ive made things on the list that are still to be done bold, things in progress italic'ed and complete ones normal font. I think this will help me choose which ones to do next.

I'm going into work late tomorrow so I might have time to do this one #88 Watch the sunrise from the beach (bugger, actually it's more difficult to track down a particular task with the bolding.) I love starting early. I might start in the dark but at least there's an hour or two in the afternoon when it's light. That could of course be because the weather has been dry and not very windy for the last few months. I can't believe it's only about a fortnight until the shortest day of the year.

Walked home from work so there's another 5km off #97 'Run' from home to my home town. I know it's not technically totally running but I need new shoes before that happens. AND to remember to take my inhaler.

Been doing some research into #36 Spend a night on Tiritiri Matangi Island...have I blogged this before? It feels like it...

#54 Write a book for my niece
Here are the details
What are the names of the characters? Alane; Kery; Mia; Sera Princess; Puse (not entirely sure how this last one is supposed to be prounounced...)
Where are they going? Mall; Beach; Home
What are they doing? Playing; Sleeping; Shopping (at the mall?); Swimming; Relaxing; Reading; Looking; Eating
What animals do they encounter? Cat; Dog; Rabbit

#43 See a performance that doesn't include anyone I know
This is going to be King Lear at the ASB theatre with LoM and G. Should be fun.

I've offered to meet LoM for brekky (which is one of her 101/1001). Maybe she will join me on #51 Visit North Shore literary locations on the day. Not all of them of course but it MUST include Mr Sargeson's house. I'm not sure if it's open after the road works yet. It should be possible to get in a Devonport walk before hiving off to some of the North Shore ARC parks.

bip bip bip

#73 Have a regular nap on the weekend
Had a nap on sunday but really only because I had too much to drink on Saturday night (sunday morning!) and not enough food. I'm sure I'm too old for that kind of carry on.

#54 Write a book for my niece
I've decided that this will be a pick a path style book so that she gets to have some control over it. She has already chosen some names, activities, places and modes of transportation which I will use. In order to prove that I'm not cheating ("It doesn't matter which decision she makes, the story will go the same way") I'm going to create another blog where the installments will be listed along with the consequences of the decisions. She did this when she was over for dinner unexpectedly last week. Then we saw them again on Saturday thus putting me ahead in the #40 share a meal with friends or family every two months stakes. (Well, not really because it doesn't count if I stuff them all into a month!)