Listen to classical music

I was playing a game today that included a lot of classical music, which brought about this prompt! My boyfriend listens to a lot, so he linked me to some!

Listen to classical music
Warning: Some of it is quite long!

Hopefully you can find a song you enjoy and appreciate! There are some great songs!

Try a new visual novel

This one actually did prove to be quite a challenge as things did not want to cooperate with me at all! But we did finally get it settled!

Try a new visual novel
I already had a new visual novel to try but the system I was supposed to try it on was not working! So then I tried a few more and sure enough after hours of waiting, they didn't work either! Eventually things sorted themselves out and I was once again able to use the original one I had planned.

I played a visual novel called Suikogaiden Vol 1, based off of the Suikoden series that I like. I manged to find a copy translated in to English! I didn't play that much of it because I was low on time by the time things got going, but it was pretty fun and I would like to play more!

Go for a long walk in the woods

Well this one wasn't exactly what it was supposed to be, but it accomplished a lot of the same things so I'm going to go with it anyways!

Go for a long walk in the woods
We got a house! The same one in my go to an open house challenge! I love it! So today we went over and took a walk around the neighbourhood to get acquainted with the area before we move. It's in a pretty great location!

We also saw some trees I had never seen before called Palmetto trees! They looked like Palm trees and the bark was a lot like a fuzzy coconut!

Anyways I had a lot of fun, I saw some new trees, I got some exercise, and it was very exciting! Very happy with this!

Play a card game I've never tried

Slightly late on the update, I apologize! I did have some fun with this challenge so I am happy I did it! Played for a few hours.

Play a card game I've never tried
I tried a game called gin rummy for the first time! We played 3 games and I won 2, although my boyfriend got gin his first ever time playing. That was pretty impressive!

The game is basically you have 10 cards and with those 10 cards you try to match stuff. Either you have at least 3 cards in a row of the same suit or at least 3 of the same card (3 5's for example).

After that we played other card games like Go Fish, Crazy 8s, and Egyptian War. It was a lot of fun!

Go bowling

Today we had planned again to go roller skating, but we went at the wrong hours. Instead of coming back later, we decided to go to the bowling alley right next door!

Go bowling
I had a lot of fun! The boyfriend won both games and then we had another silly little game while we waited for our food. But the second round was the best I had ever bowled! I scored a 45 the first round and a 102 the second. I'm not a good bowler at all!

But I had fun and that's what matters!

Try a new kind of pancake

Today we decided to go out and have a breakfast at IHOP. IHOP, being a pancake place, was the perfect place for this challenge.

Try a new kind of pancake
I've tried a good few kinds of pancakes, so I wasn't sure if I would find something I hadn't tried but would also like. Sure enough there were plenty of strawberry pancakes, but seeing as how I don't like strawberry, it wouldn't have been my first choice.

But then I found the Jelly Doughnut pancakes. 4 stacked pancakes with raspberry jam between them.

I didn't need 4 pancakes and I couldn't finish it all, but it was pretty yummy!

Write a letter to myself in 10 years

This is definitely a more personal blog entry, but still an important challenge all the same. It helps to look forward and reflect on the future.

Write a letter to myself in 10 years
The letter I wrote:

Dear 32 year old Ashton,

This is you at 22. How's it going? It's hard to write a letter to the future. I don't know where you'll be or what you'll be doing.

I do hope you've found happiness. I imagine there's hard times ahead. Michael will be 14, a teenager. I wonder what kind of young man he's growing up to be. I wonder where you live, how you've changed. Did you lose the weight you wanted? Did you get a job that made you happy? Are you with the same person?

I guess if I want to achieve those things, it's up to me. The decisions I make will change the answers to those questions and to some degree, who you are.

I look forward to meeting you,
Ashton

Take a nice long relaxing shower

Today was a very rough day, so I was glad to find a nice and easy challenge to do. I didn't have the energy to commit to something more complicated.

Take a nice long relaxing shower
Taking showers has always been a good way to relax when I feel sad or down or sick. So it was the perfect day for this challenge. I took a nice long, relaxing hot shower and then a few hours later, I took another one!

It was a nice way to decompress and I even managed to salvage some of the evening! Could have been worse!

Go on a special date night

We got some good news today about funds and house things and some other stuff, so we decided to go out and have a special dinner to celebrate!

Go on a special date night
Our date night mostly involved a relaxing evening on the couch, but we did also go to Chili's! We got some potato skins for appetizers, which were delicious, and then I ordered a bacon cheeseburger with fries and my boyfriend ordered a trio sampler, which gave him some kind of springrolls, chicken wings, and mini burgers!

Mostly the specialness of the night was from the fact that we got such good news and we shared the night together!

Read a new Terry Pratchett Discworld book

Well I did start reading this book a little while ago, I didn't get very far and I had never read this book before. With upcoming costs, this will help us out a little bit also if I don't have to buy a new book.

Read a new Terry Pratchett Discworld book
The book I picked up is called Mort. I had heard a lot about it but had never read it myself. It's a pretty short book and I'm about 1/3 of the way done it now.

It's about a boy named Mort who becomes death's apprentice. Of course since it is a Discworld book, hilarity ensues with Mort, Death, and Death's horse, Binky.So far it is a very amusing and entertaining read! Would recommend!

Message someone I don't get along with and try to get to know them better

This was one I kind of had lined up since I was planning to be social and message a bunch of people today! Sadly, this was another failure.

Message someone I don't get along with and try to get to know them better
I messaged a lot of people today to be social and see how they were doing and decided to message someone who I've spoken to a bit in the past, but we never really became friends. Sadly, the person never responded. Maybe they were just busy and didn't get a chance. I hope so. But that's all there is to report on today.

Try a new popcorn flavor

Today we were planning to go roller skating but I threw my back out walking of all things. But we had bought this for a challenge for a different day, so I just went ahead with it!

Try a new popcorn flavor
There is a kind of cold boxed popcorn called Crunch N' Munch which as a few different flavours. I had tried the caramel before, but this time I tried the buttery toffee!

It was really yummy! Too yummy, in fact. We went through the whole box today. Oops!

Open my cookbook at a random page, close my eyes and point, and make whatever dish I point at

Since we were doing groceries today, and also making a menu for the week, I decided that today would be a good day for this challenge!

Open my cookbook at a random page, close my eyes and point, and make whatever dish I point at
The dish I pointed at is called Roast Pork Tenderloin. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 medium filets of pork, cut lengthwise
1 clove garlic
6 medium potatoes
1/2 tspn savory
salt and pepper
1 tspn soft butter
1/2 tspn dry mustard
1/4 cup hot water

Cook:
1.Rub the filets with garlic.
2.Cook the potatoes, mash and prepare them (add butter or milk or whatever you do to prepare your mashed potatoes).
3. Add savory and seasonings to potatoes.
4. When cooled, form in to a roll the same length as the filets and place them between the filets.
5. Tie the two ends in the middle without tightening.
6. Brush the top filet with butter and sprinkle with dry mustard. Add salt and pepper.
7. Place rolls in baking dish with 1/4 cup of hot water.
8. Bake 350 degrees F for 1 hour, basting a few times.

It was very yummy and I would definitely eat it again!

Read some Baby Blues comics

The topic of comic strips was brought up today, which led me to looking up some of these which of course led to completing the challenge!

Read some Baby Blues comics
Baby Blues is a comic strip about a growing family and the parents raising their children. It started out as a daughter and they now have three children! You can find the archive here: http://www.babyblues.com/archive/index.php

Here are some that I particularly liked:

I recommend you check them out! There are some really funny ones!

Walk around the park for 2 hours

This challenge was not an accomplishment, but it still feels like one in its own way! I guess that counts for something and I'll look on the positive side of things!

Walk around the park for 2 hours
We actually only made it an hour because it was hot, but we had some good conversation, we had fun, and we got some exercise! That's still an accomplishment in my books! The point was to get some exercise while having fun and we did that!

Find a joke and tell it to people

This was a fun little challenge  that can be used as a conversation starter, which is what I did! It was definitely a lot of fun!

Find a joke and tell it to people
Very simple, silly little joke that's easy to remember. I looked up jokes online but most of them were more for adults than anything. I have no problem with mature jokes, but it wasn't something I was in the mood for today, plus you never know what offends people and this wasn't a challenge to keep a joke to myself! But sure enough I found a really cute one.

Q: What does a nosey pepper do?
A: Gets jalapeno business!

I told some people and it seems to have overall been a success! It made me chuckle anyway!

Learn a card trick

This post is coming in a bit late because I had a hectic night, but right before things got going, I did manage to complete my challenge for today!

Learn a card trick
So my boyfriend taught me a neat card trick. You shuffle the cards and casually look at the card at the bottom of the deck. Then you spread the cards and ask the person to pick one. They then put the card back on top of the deck. You ask them how many times you want them to cut the deck and the first cut, you put the card on the bottom immediately on top of the card they picked. Then you cut the deck.

When looking through the deck to find their card, it will be the one to the right of the card you saw at the bottom! You know this because you put them together earlier!

It was a neat little trick and I had fun learning it!

Play hangman in Spanish

Today I started practicing my Spanish again! I didn't learn anything new, I just did a revision of some of the old lessons as a refresher. But that motivated me to do this challenge!

Play hangman in Spanish
My boyfriend speaks a bit more Spanish than I do, but we're at a pretty good level for each other. He did beat me pretty badly though. Some words/phrases we used:

Yo soy una mujer
Lo siento
Enero
Mucho Gusto
Pesos

There was another but I've already forgotten! Still, we had fun and it was good motivation to get me back in to my Spanish lessons!

Get an ice cream cake

As usual, we needed to head for the grocery store, which led to this fun challenge! Now tomorrow I'm going to try and do a fitness one to make up for it!

Get an ice cream cake
We ended up getting ice cream cupcakes actually. Yellow with some frosting on top. I had one after playing some Mario Tennis on the Wii where I worked up quite a sweat! It was nice to have something cool and refreshing! Very yummy indeed! I don't usually go for ice cream cakes, I'll go for regular cakes or pie so this was a nice change!

Make cracker snacks

This one came last minute when we went grocery shopping and I decided to go for it! We had a late lunch, so this fit well with a small dinner since we weren't very hungry.

Make cracker snacks
Cracker snacks are something I saw on a commercial when I was about 9 years old and I decided to make them. You take a certain type of cracker, bacon, tomato, and cheese, you put it all on the cracker with the cheese on top, and you microwave them for a minute or so. And ta da, cracker snacks!

They're easy to make and very yummy, so if you want some quick and easy snacks or you have guests over, these are really great! Very yummy!

*Note: My sock puppet challenge is now updated with my burger and bunny sock puppets! Enjoy!

Dip my bread in creamy tomato soup

So this challenge came unexpectedly, but I'm glad it did! My boyfriend decided to surprise me with a nice dinner at a restaurant I really like!

Dip my bread in creamy tomato soup
The restaurant we went too serves my favourite creamy tomato soup! It is absolutely delicious and I just can't get enough of it! So I made this challenge with the intent of going there again for the soup and also the yummy bread!

As you can see, this challenge was a delicious success!

Try a new alcoholic beverage

This one didn't go exactly as planned, but it worked out anyway. We had originally intended to go to a car club meeting tonight at a restaurant, but there were some car problems, so we ended up going somewhere else. But the challenge was still a success!

Try a new alcoholic beverage
I really am not a big alcohol drinker, so this challenge was to encourage a more adventurous side. So we tried something called Georgia Peach Tea or something along those lines, which had rum and peach tea and some other stuff. I was interested because it sounds sweet and has some things I like.

It wasn't bad, really. I can't say I really liked it because I don't really like any alcohol, but for what it was it was okay. I had maybe a quarter of a glass. Not something I would be opposed to trying again!

Draw a comic strip

This is something I used to do when I was little. I had a comic strip series called The Misadventures of Melissa and Katriana. There were only about 3 people who I ever showed them to, but I had a good 20 or so of them.

Draw a comic strip
So today I decided to revive the old gals from my childhood comic strip and bring them back for another burst of fun for this challenge!

I made at least one person laugh, so I consider that a success!

Read up on a country I know little to nothing about

I'm glad I thought of this challenge. It's always a positive to expand you knowledge and learn new things and it can be a lot of fun too!

Read up on a country I know little to nothing about
The country I picked for this is Lithuania. Lithuania is a country in Europe, that has a population of approximately 3.5 million.

It is a parliamentary democracy and has a largely Catholic population. It's flag has three wide horizontal stripes, the top stripe is yellow, the middle is green, and the bottom is red. It's currancy is the Litas and its capital is Vilnius.

Here are some resources if you want to study more about its history, culture and politics. I know that isn't everyone's cup of tea and I don't want this to be school, so I'll let you all read what interests you!

http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/member-countries/lithuania//index_en.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuania
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17536867
http://www.infoplease.com/country/lithuania.html

This was a fun country to learn about and I'm glad I did! I got the idea from a kids show I used to watch called the Kids from Room 402, that had a student whose family was from Lithuania! Anyways, now I will leave you with some pictures of the beautiful country, and I encourage you to see if you can learn new things too!

Dance to 6 songs in a row

This wasn't the challenge I was planning on today but it just kind of came to me, so I decided why not! It's a fun little challenge and it fits in with me doing more exercise lately!

Dance to 6 songs in a row
I was listening to the songs I posted under yesterday's challenge and some of them are very danceable! A good number in fact! More than 6! So since I was already dancing, I decided to just go for this one!

Dancing is a lot of good exercise and is one of the more fun ways to get a workout in! I was out of breath by the end, but it still felt good and I'm happy I did it!

Make a top 20 list of my favorite video game songs

This is a challenge I am using to help fight off the urge to make my top games list, because I'm not ready for that one yet! But I had fun with this one, even though it was a bit challenging to think of my top 20!

Make a top 20 list of my favorite video game songs
I won't be posting youtube videos of them all here for space, but I will link them all and I'll also link to a site that has all of the videos!

http://home.eyesonff.com/showthread.php/157964-shion-s-Top-20-Game-Musics
All the videos can be found there, but here is the list with the video links for those who would rather do it this way!

20. Corridors of Time - Chrono Trigger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNzYIEY-CcM

19. Exceeding Love - Suikoden III
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUBZgLbRdL8

18. Lenna's Theme - Final Fantasy V
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WATPOPngiTc

17. Saria's Song/Lost Woods - LoZ: Ocarina of Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmB9LsIozSQ

16. Deku Palace - LoZ: Majora's Mask
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f72iBfWWqlE

15. Blue Fields - Final Fantasy VIII
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np2uGeCMBwM

14. Slew of Love Letters - Final Fantasy IX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIY7TXwOnPs

13. Eternal Wind - Final Fantasy III
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOQ8LRP4DZI

12. Intro Music - Dark Cloud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZKsZm-fbh0

11. Last Battle - Xenosaga Episode I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ6ufAOSUhM

10. Ukulele de Chocobo - Final Fantasy IX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCTd-OnrZCU

9. Suteki Da Ne - Final Fantasy X
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mehqQhSmjUM

8. Cosmo Canyon - Final Fantasy VII
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZBGmN5obkk

7. Reminiscence - Suikoden II
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7CKWhNB4Es

6. Lunatic Wisdom Laboratory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=745hAPheACw

5. Song of Healing - LoZ: Majora's Mask
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDX4ZwUeOok

4. The Queen's Knights - Suikoden V
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP9uEN_v5mg

3. Overture - Final Fantasy VIII

2. Abel's Ark - Xenosaga Episode III

1. Rose of May - Final Fantasy IX

And those are my top 20 favourite video game songs! I hope you enjoyed the music!

Make sock puppets

So this one didn't work out exactly as planned, but it will be something we continue tomorrow and it was still loads of fun today!

Make sock puppets
As some of you may know, I had been looking forward to this challenge for a while! We got all of our supplies, we got all set up and ready to go, and we had some fun! The unfortunate thing is our glue was apparently garbage as it took HOURS for things to dry and it still wasn't completely dry. I think we have another kind of glue now that will hold up better, but we didn't get as many sock puppets done as we had planned, sadly.

*So when I get the other two done that I had planned, a rabbit and a hamburger, I will post them up here, so be sure to check back!

In the meantime, here is a cow I made and a dragon my boyfriend is making. His is still in progress but its off to a good start!

Overall this was a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to making the other two!

Update: Here are my bunny and burger!

Play a board game I've never tried

Okay, I cheated on this one a little bit. I was so excited about getting it yesterday that I tried it out. But we didn't play by the official rules until today and it was tons of fun!

Play a board game I've never tried
This game is I think called Head's Up. It was apparently featured on the Ellen show, which made my boyfriend a bit skeptical about how good it would be, but he also had a ton of fun, so it was a good purchase!

Basically its played like this: You have 4 types of cards. One is about pairs (peanut butter and jam, Batman and Robin, etc), one is celebrities, one is humming songs, and one is charades. You pick cards and put them in your headband (without looking!) and the other person has to give you clues as to what they could be!

It's a fun little game and I really enjoyed it. I was awful at the humming part, but it was good for helping me break out of my shell a little bit and put aside my insecurities and worries about embarrassing myself. So it was nice to just let loose and have fun! I'm definitely planning on playing again!

Eat a nice, rich sundae

So today was a pretty laid back day and my boyfriend had the afternoon off, so we went out on the town for some fun indoor things because it was really hot out. We even got something for tomorrow's challenge! But today's challenge was also a treat!

Eat a nice, rich sundae
Since it was so hot, we went out for some ice cream! I usually get a milkshake or soft serve, but today I went all out and got myself a large sundae!

I got a scoop of chocolate, a scoop of banana, and a scoop of mint flavoured ice creams. It is topped with whipped cream, peanuts, and two delicious cherries! There was also some chocolate syrup! It was very very yummy but I was too full to eat it all!

I enjoyed this nice little treat as I haven't had a sundae in over 2 years!

Find some dresses online and add to a wish list

Today was a more low key day and some people were talking about clothes, so I decided this would be a good day for this challenge!

Find some dresses online and add to a wish list
These are some dresses I like but sadly cannot afford. I might be able to one day though! But I will post pics here along with some links in case anyone sees something they like and can actually afford it!

http://www.lulus.com/products/lulus-exclusive-tier-and-now-black-midi-dress/140698.html

http://www.lulus.com/products/lulus-exclusive-shifting-dears-ivory-long-sleeve-dress/154058.html

http://www.tobi.com/product/55015-tobi-my-lacey-dress?color_id=76135

http://www.tobi.com/product/53709-tobi-lovely-tulip-dress?color_id=73751

http://www.tobi.com/product/56749-tobi-sugar-rush-tube-dress?color_id=79226

http://www.tobi.com/product/52234-tobi-sunny-strappy-back-dress?color_id=72176

http://www.tobi.com/product/50232-tobi-micaela-bodycon-dress?color_id=67256

http://www.nastygal.com/clothes-dresses/rita-dress--black

http://www.nastygal.com/clothes-dresses/nasty-gal-shot-in-the-dark-dress

I could have spent all night finding dresses but I think I found a good selection for the wish list! Those are some pretty dresses and maybe one day I can own one of them!

Complete an art series

Happy Canada Day everyone! A good way to celebrate and to start off the month is with one of my more challenging challenges for this year that I was worried about getting done. But thankfully I kind of stumbled in to it, and I'm very happy I did it!

Complete an art series
An art series as I understand it is a group of stand alone drawings/paintings/what have you that can also work together as a group. Well, last week I decided to draw a race of creatures from a video game called the Viera, who are female humanoid rabbits. It sounds weird, but it was a lot of fun to draw it! After having drawn a few, I realized I could count this as an art series, which I just completed today!

In order of my least favourite to most favourite:

And that's that! Nine different drawings! I might even hang them up!