25 Before 23 - November Update

Another month has come & gone and now it's November, and it's COLD. My enjoyment of the autumnalness of it all has been rather tempered by needing to stay inside and do work, and the fact that if I do leave the house it's by car. I miss being able to take a half hour break from work to wander around leafy Bristol streets with my camera, being able to just put on my coat & shoes and cheer myself up with a walk around the block. Here there is no block - a walk is a serious commitment and the narrow lanes and lack of pavement make being run over a constant hazard. It seems like it should be the other way around, walking should be better in the countryside, but it's the ease of it that's missing.
Anyway, here's my list update.

25 Things

1. Finish my final project - deadline is 03/01/13 but I'll have to finish earlier as getting it printed & bound in late December seems unlikely
2. Get a job
   
3. Move to Bristol - My future flatmate is back in the country & we've got a viewing booked for this weekend
4. Sew a dress - I've started a Simplicity 2451 skirt and completed a Sorbetto top
5. Make 10 of my recipe bookmarks / pins - 8/10 This month I've managed to make 5 things I'd not made before! Vegetarian moussaka, a spiced courgette loaf, pumpkin pie, swiss chard pesto and a courgette & green bean chutney. Everything is a way to use up the plague of excess veg.
6. Send parcels to far-away friends - Need to make a start on the second of two scarves for my twin friends with a December birthday
7. Go to Southwold at least once
8. Get rid of my Flickr backlog - in chronological order. Currently: film - July '11, digital - March '12
9. Get a grip on my finances - I've read my bank statements... Hmm.
10. Sell my eBay pile, swap my swap pile - Put 2 dresses on eBay but they didn't sell, need to try again. Took some my huge pile to a charity shop instead.
11. Mend & alter my mending & altering piles - Probably one for Christmas time once I'm done with project
12. Read a newspaper regularly - Still reading The Week while I'm at home. A week of breakfast reading gets me through the whole thing and Mum's away so I can do the su doku!
13. Weekend away by train
14. Buy good shoes - Argh. Boots are a priority.
15. Crochet 3 items from stashed wool - 0/3 Working on two Christmas items which I bought wool for, oh dear. The scarf for #6 counts though.
16. Get a new phone - I got an HTC One V and it's exactly what I wanted, hurrah!
17. Read 3 good/classic books - Added The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon to my list. It is very long and time and fiction made me a little muddled in places. A lot happens but somehow I don't feel like it's rushed. I enjoyed this and read the last third or so in one epic session that left me semi-dazed, slightly melancholy and pajama-ed at 3.30pm.
18. Print more photos - Need to pick out some to print and keep a folder so I can do it when a good offer comes up online!
19. Watch 3 good/classic films - Already reached my target but watched Skyfall (at The Little in Bath) and You Don't Mess With The Zohan (at home with my sister) this month. Skyfall was excellent & thoroughly entertaining. I enjoyed the old Bond references and didn't immediately react in the same way as some feminists have to the fate of M or Eve, although I can see their point. I enjoyed Ben Whishaw as Q - an attractively geeky role which played off well against Daniel Craig's alpha male, I know which I prefer. Even the computer science wasn't too cringeworthy.
    You Don't Mess With The Zohan was silly and enjoyable, its predictability was forgiveable and the gentle mocking of middle eastern stereotypes just kept coming. Hummus all round.
20. Exercise regularly - Shh.
21. Scrapbook - Still not started but a bit more organised.
22. Have a picnic - Might have to have an indoor picnic
23. Visit a city farm
24. Visit my sister at university - I think I'll be leaving this one 'til after project hand-in
25. Cycle from Bristol to Bath - still need to buy a helmet