Mrs. B Challenge 40 - 1 - Take a life drawing lesson

Challenge number 13.

1 - Take a life drawing class

Aaaand another one ticked off!  I’ve been looking for a class for a while, and stumbled across lessons at the 

Ashcroft Art Centre In Fareham. They are stand alone sessions and only £16, which was a lot better than I’d imagined.  So I rounded up my partners in crime, who readily agreed to come along for the creativity and away we went.

The art tutor was lovely and so so welcoming. She gave us tools we may need, including paper and away we went! 

We completed a few warm up exercises, before the big draw at the end.  Our model was a lovely chap called Bryn and not all of it was naked!

The first exercise was to draw bold lines with a permanent marker.

To draw the model without looking at the paper.

To draw the model without taking your charcoal off the paper at all.

And then the final piece was to draw creatively, however you wanted!

These are all my pictures, and I’ve learnt I need more practise! Especially with proportions, the poor model hasn’t got these distorted or short shaped arms and legs and he definitely doesn’t look like Beavis and Butthead!  

All round it was a great evening, it is such fun completing these adventures/challenges, doing something different and my friend Kate said, I feel alive and like I’m truly living my best life. And I truly am.

I’m thankful to my partners in crime, who are with me every step of the way!!

Love you so much, girls! 

On to the next one, I’ll keep you posted.

TTFN, Sammy xx

  

Mrs. B Challenge 40 - 26 - Climb the 02

Challenge number 12.

26. Climb the 02.

So this came about by me and my two best friends getting drunk last year! We were out for Kate’s birthday, a luscious bottomless brunch and we got to talking about our lists.  Yes they both have lists too now!  This was mentioned as a challenge, a few bottles of Prosecco down and we were signed up, booked and paid for…. Gulp…

I hate heights, I absolutely struggle with them the most, so the closer this loomed, the more on edge I got. I was also super worried the harness wouldn’t fit me! Having lost nearly 4 stone I was easily under the weight limit, but what if the harness wouldn’t go round me. I had nightmares for weeks!

Our 4th climber couldn’t make it, so Mr. B stepped into the space and brought up the rear!  We were so so lucky with the weather, but having parked and approaching the 02, it suddenly looked a lot steeper and a lot harder than I’d thought!

The walkway is suspended above the dome itself, so it felt even higher! Anyway off to get the harnesses on and sign our lives away 😅

It fitted, yay! Although that now meant no getting out of it now!

Professional pictures done, and time to climb! 

Now the steepness wasn’t too bad, but the walkway is like a rubber bouncy castle and wow it was hard. The people ahead of us made it wobble and the bounciness made it super scary! The walk way is made up of 3 parts, super steep to start with, moderately steep the second part and a gentle hill on the last part. Once getting past the first part, it did become easier, but it was the unnatural position it put your feet in! The climb itself only took around 30 minutes and we reached the top.

The view from the top was fabulous and to be up there in this perfect weather was a total privilege. I’m so grateful I managed the challenge, with my husband, my best friends and I’m so so proud of myself.

Now of course, what goes up - must come down! I had already seen that the gradient was steeper on the way down and we were warned we might feel like we want to ‘bounce’ and to try not to. Again the walkway was in three parts, with the last of course being the steepest. We were given the option of going down backwards or forwards, but not sideways! And well, we kicked arse of course!

We made it to the bottom and our adventure was over! Almost…. We stopped off for a coffee and a sandwich in costa and went back to the car for champagne! Classy women drinking in a car park, but we blumming deserved it!

Now on to the next one…. I’ll keep you posted.

TTFN, Sammy x

Mrs. B Challenge 40 - 19 - Complete a paint by numbers

Challenge number 11.

19 - Complete a paint by numbers.

So this hit the list as I’m always looking for something to do to quiet my mind, and be creative!  My Mum has done some of the most brilliant paint by numbers and I love them and she loves doing them - so she inspired me in this. 

I got my lovely picture for Christmas, I think it was from Hobbycraft but I can’t remember!

I waited for a few weeks after Christmas and the opportunity arose for some absolute free time over a weekend. So I got started, and I…… absolutely hated it!! 

I didn’t realise I would need to mix my own colours, my paintbrush was rubbish (I know!) I couldn’t stay in the lines, and quite frankly after my first attempt - I wanted to Chuck it!

But I ploughed on through! It did become ‘that bloody paint by numbers’ for a while, but I’m proud to have finished it!

So in conclusion…. Paint by numbers is not for me! I’ll stick to colouring!!!

Onto the next challenge, I’ll keep you posted!

TTFN, Sammy x

Mrs. B Challenge 40 - 37 - Watch a horror film at the cinema

Challenge number 10.

37. Watch a horror film at the cinema.

Now this doesn’t sound like much of a challenge, but I hate scary films, so this is a challenge for me!  When the new Scream film was released I knew this would be the one.  I remember watching the original in the 90’s with my school friends, so what better way to complete this challenge than with those very same friends!

These are the friends seeing me through this list, encouraging me, spurring me on and who are with me for life - I’m so grateful for them. In actual fact we all have lists, so hopefully I’m helping them tick some things off theirs too! 

So tonight, we laughed, jumped, hid our eyes and thoroughly enjoyed our night out together on a school night.

No spoilers on the film here though!

More to come…. I’ll keep you posted!

TTFN, Sammy xx

Mrs. B Challenge 40 - 27 Complete a Penny challenge

Challenge number 9!

27. Complete a Penny challenge 

There are loads of these around this January and I say go for it!  This is mine from last year and ‘I completed it mate!’

I did it slightly differently than intended, I didn’t stick to the running order. If I had more money, I ticked off the bigger amount for that day, so my ticks through the year weren’t uniform but sporadic! But that’s ok! 

Here’s some more info on this particular Penny challenge - 

from Money Supermarket

Happy New Year to you all and hopefully this year I’ll keep ticking the challenges off 😊

TTFN, I’ll keep you posted!

Sammy xx

Mrs. Bs Challenge 40 - 30 - Go for a spa day

Challenge number 8 completed!

30. Go for a spa day

This was back in November and my best friend and I booked as a surprise for her mums 60th birthday. We booked Old Thorns for a weekend, it was a great dinner, bed and breakfast deal / perfect for what we were looking for! Covid made things a little old, we had to book swim and spa slots, but it didn’t take away from the magic of the weekend.

We also managed to upgrade to an apartment last minute, and it was the best thing ever. It meant after our evening meal, we were able to go back to our apartment, sit in our pjs and drink bubbles!

A brilliant weekend all round ❤️

Onto the next one!

I’ll keep you posted, TTFN.

Sammy xx 

Mrs. Bs Challenge 40 - 29 - Learn a new skill

Challenge number 7!

29. Learn a new skill

So in September, after meeting the wonderful Dawn in August when I birthed my drum, I went ahead and booked in to complete Reiki 1. I have always wanted to explore healing, I’ve been told many times I have the gift/skill/calling, but haven’t done a great deal with it, except ignore it! After meeting Dawn, and hearing all about her healing journey, her teaching, her life - I knew this was the time. I was so drawn to Dawn and knew I wanted her to teach me. 

I’ve had an odd relationship with reiki, I tried it a few times and just didn’t like it, it hurt me and the person doing it didn’t even lay his hands on me.  In the last year I’ve had distance healing which has been wonderful and also hands on reiki healing with my friend Hannah. These two experiences had restored my faith in healing! 

It was the most wonderful weekend, full of self care and self love. I absolutely loved every moment. I even got to practise on a real life body and the feedback was amazing! 

My plan is to go on and complete reiki 2 next year, so watch this space! 

I’ll keep you posted!

TTFN, Sammy x