50. Alum Bay and the Glass Vase

Well, I spent my 51st birthday on the Isle of  Wight and finished off my 50/50  experiences with a a trip to Alum  Bay and a ride on the rickety old chairlift down to the beach.

Steven then treated me to this beautiful iridescent vase from the glass studios there. It is a tall blue glass vase with green/yellow/purple overlay and looks stunning in the light.

I have really enjoyed the last year and ended up doing some fun things - highlights include not 1, but 2 trips to New York, eating at the restaurant at the top of the BT Tower and amazing  WW1 battlefield tour of Flanders.

I was treated to some great experiences by others such as the Harry Potter Studio tour from Jared, the ride round Central Park in a horse drawn buggy by Mum and an Aqua Massage from Angie!

I also enjoyed learning to crochet from Laura, making my own Christmas wreath, having my DNA tested and even cooking my first home made curry!

I tried to do some good along the way and raised £100 for the Blue Cross, bought a Poppy from the Tower of London and Crowdfunded a charity and a book launch

Although the year is over now, I hope to carry on saying YES to things I might not have done - and have started by being involved in a publicity photo shoot for St Elizabeth Hospice and impulse buying a new car! There is still a long list of ideas that I never got round to doing which I will keep and hopefully cross off  as time goes on.

Thanks to everyone involved along the way and my advice to you all is Give It A Go and Have Some Fun!

34. Shaun the Sheep

Whilst in London I wanted to find some of the Shaun in the City Sheep models as they are only around until the end of May. I didn't have time to visit the trail around St Pauls, but did stumble across  3 around  the Carnaby Street area. 

I've only got photos of 2 of them, as the one inside Hamleys came out too fuzzy!

32. Weird & Wonderful Wood

This event is held every year nearby at Haughley Park in Suffolk and I had never been before - so I thought I would give it a go! It is a festival of everything wood related with loads of stalls, workshops and entertainment.

It has a lovely relaxed atmosphere and we really enjoyed looking at the amazing wood carvings, listening to the bands and eating yummy ice cream from Alder Tree - my favourite was the Gooseberry and Limoncello.

Libby made a puppet and you could also have a go at making paper, whittling a spoon, pine cone animals and willow weaving - all for free! Definitely going to go back next year.

9. Visit Camden Market

Jared had told me all about Camden Market - so it was the place to go on our day trip to London. Well, for those who have never been before, it is full of little stalls selling t-shirts, pictures, jewellery, weird clothes and wacky stuff!

 Plus there are loads of different food stalls to cater for every taste! As it was a Saturday, it was absolutely packed out with people but with a great vibe.

 Jared bought me a proper old fashioned clockwork Pocket Watch and I got a Dr Who T Shirt -  we bought Lydia and Libby some T shirts too and tucked into some Chinese food.

We also found the new Amy Winehouse statue that had only been unveiled last Sunday - behind her was a guy playing live music on a bit of a wobbly wooden stage.

1. Visiting the Island of Crete, Greece

To kick-start my list is the beautiful island of Crete. We stayed in Rethymnon which has a lovely shallow sandy beach, quaint old town, lots of shops, bars and restaurants! 

I had a great time and spent my actual birthday sightseeing in the town of Chania, shopping and drinking champagne cocktails.

I've been to several parts of Greece before but never Crete, but as usual, the Greeks were very friendly and there were also lots of cats around for Libby to fuss over.

It all starts in August 2014

My 50th birthday will be spent on holiday in Crete, so that has to be No1 on the list as I have never been there before. Hopefully I will have some new experiences whilst I am out there to start off the list - I certainly would like to try out a few new cocktails!