The joy of experiencing things for the first time!

This post is just for me, and my memories:) It has no worth at all, for any other readers, no recommendations on what to read, eat, where to visit, or how to spend these glorious summer days. It is just a post that I wanted to write, to remember the fun I’ve been having the last few days, experiencing and doing things for the first time.

Every time I  see my two year old be amazed at something that is now normal for us, I wondered if I will get to experience the same joy myself, at the age of 36. But I realised, there are so many things still out there that I can do to feel that awe and joy or nervousness or excitement of doing things for the first time, that I wasn’t feeling bad for myself anymore.

So, over the last 2-3 weeks, here is the list of firsts I did and enjoyed 🙂

• Visiting Brighton beach and Surrey Hills with the family over one weekend. The weather was amazing both days and we ate ice creams on both days as well. Long drives, short walks, talkative toddler (with a few moments of stubbornness too), beautiful and contrasting views and delicious food, marked the overall experience. Here are some pictures from our trip to both places

• First face to face book club! I found out this book club via the Meet Up group and had promptly signed up for it. I have read a lot of books around book clubs, or watched movies that involve book clubs and always wanted to know how it would feel if I were a part of one. It is strange that I am so passionate about reading, but the closest people to me have very different reading habits and are probably not into the whole idea of book clubs. So we read ‘The Alice Network’ (you can check out my review here) for the book club, and met on a Wednesday evening at The Crown, to discuss the book and make new friends over drinks. I really enjoyed it and it was everything I had imagined it to be like. The only thing I wished were different was that the group be smaller- maybe that will be granted in the next session, who knows! hahah Can’t wait for the next meeting in July, where we’ll be discussing ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’ 🙂

• Running my first 5K park run, woo hoo!! I hadn’t prepped much, but I had set the date and was so proud of myself to actually show up for the event. Sometimes all it takes is the effort to show up. After that everything just falls into place. Of course, my partner helped by staying home to look after the two year old, but I’m glad I made it on time and completed the course alive! My timing wasn’t that great, but I’m hoping to keep up the park runs as and when I’m able to 🙂

• Won the fitbit work week hustle challenge for the first time!! Our group consists of a few very active women and I’m usually sliding into third or fourth place every week. However, last week was a pleasant surprise when all my efforts of making it to workout classes and walking for all my errands paid off and I flew into first place! Pat on the back, Prachi! Lol (everyone needs a little praise now and then, even if it is a little self praise..wink!)

All in all, the last few days have been pretty awesome. I hope to keep the streak of firsts or fun or joy up and alive and kicking for the next few days too, lets see how that goes 🙂 In other stuff, I’ve also been able to keep on top of my reading goals and challenges, catch a few FIFA matches (thank God Germany scored those 2 goals, and have you seen Belgium..interesting!), went to see the global cultural festival at the town centre, emailed my pen pal, did a lot of shopping for my daughter and some for myself, hosted a dinner party (again, team effort with my partner, bless him), etc etc. And nope, I haven’t slacked at work either. But this did mean, that I haven’t been on top of all my journaling and that I wasn’t able to do a few other things that were there on my list. But hey, I’m not complaining! 😀 Here’s to a lot more firsts!!