Saturday, January 01, 2011

Reflections and resolutions

Happy New Year to all my lovely blog readers (assuming I have any lol!)

This post is a little late, which I blame on the fact we have been away for three days over new year and I couldn't write the post I wanted to on my iPhone, not without losing my sanity anyway. So here it is, better late than never - a reflection on 2010 and a few hopes and dreams for 2011 (warning, this post is long and photo-heavy!)

So last year wasn't particularly great for me. It wasn't horrid, or even bad, it was just, well, boring. Nothing particularly great happened. We helped other people celebrate some wonderful events, mainly weddings, and births too, and enjoyed ourselves in the process, but nothing so happy or wonderful that's worthy of a mention happened for us - maybe it's just because we have passed the whole engaged, married, babies thing, and before our time, which means we're witness to all our lovely friends doing those things now. But we were very lucky to have no major bad times either, other than a change of career that didn't go so to plan and a few weeks of being out of work at the end of the year (and that's probably what has clouded my judgement of the whole year to be honest, being at home bored and stony broke in the run up to Christmas, it does kinda put a dampener on things!), but nothing devastating happened, and for that I'm thankful.

Anyway. I am hopeful that 2011 has to be a better year for us (it's probably 50/50 but you have to be optimistic, right?). In a fortnight I'll be starting a new job, which I'm hopeful will enable me to embark on and actually progress along a career path of some sort one day. And just being back in work and back into our usual routine, meeting new people and having adult conversation, and hopefully having a little spare cash again, will be just lovely. Harry is due to have his grommets fitted next week, which I think will make a huge difference to his life, and all our lives, as the poor boy is actually "quite deaf" in the words of one specialist. So for just those two reasons hopefully 2011 is due to get off to a good start.

So, looking back, here are some of my highlights from 2010 - crafty and otherwise:


February - We had a wonderful family holiday in Florida. It was cold, and short-lived, but we loved every single minute of it (which is a good job as it will be a long time before we can afford to go back). And Harry turned five just after we got back, no longer a baby, or even a little one, but a fully-fledged, school-going boy!


March - A fun day out to the Thackray Medical Museum - actually, maybe fun isn't the right word considering one member of my family is squeamish, one very scared by absolutely everything, and the other very young lol!


April - I made these, which I love and hang on our upstairs landing. They were so quick, easy and inexpensive - I really must do more things like this.


May - Oh dear. I started re-decorating our bedroom, changing everything from the carpet, furniture, decor, accessories, everything. And it's still not quite there. Better add that to my growing 2011 to-do list.


June - A gorgeous hot day out at Kirkstall Abbey, picnicing, sun bathing, playing football and just generally larking about!




June - Wedding number one, a cousin of hubby's and a lovely weekend away.


July - Woolfest! What an eye-opener that was! Loved it and the nice day trip out with friends.


I don't look my best, but this photo from July is one of my favourites from 2010 - actually, I was really lucky to get some lovely photos last year (that sounds so strange saying 'last year'!)




August - wedding two, brother-in-law's, and a hell of  a lot of bunting sewing in the weeks and days beforehand! Followed by a lovely weekend trip to Bath.


My first knitted top. Ok, it's dinky-sized, but I still did it and I'm still proud. This just got gifted too and went down very well I'm so pleased to report.


August - THE mother of all hen days, my best friend's in London, organised by yours truly - knowing nothing about the capital and living a good 200 miles away! But it totally rocked!


Still August - My 28th birthday. Not much to say about that, was very boring really.


Yep, STILL August! August was a good month, and was topped off with our 6th wedding anniversary.


September, hmmm, nothing much happened, but October was another good month, with us staying in this pretty windmill for my best friend's wedding. And I got to be matron of (dis)honour, lol! Loved that weekend away.





October again, weekend away with the girls, scrapbooking inside a cute little cabin in the woods at Halloween. I had such a fabulous time and got 11 layouts done - probably more than I had all year up to that poing (shameful!).


November - Alex's 2nd birthday. My how the time has flown, it seems like two minutes since we took this picture just a couple of hours after his speedy arrival.




December - I loved decorating the house for Christmas, and we enjoyed some really nice relaxing family snow days in (and out!) plus some good family time over the festive period.


Hmmmm, not such a bad year when I look back on the highlights really. Which brings me to my hopes, or resolutions if you like, for 2011:

1) To make more time for fun. To instigate fun events and activities with the boys and with friends, and to record them through photography and scrapbooking more. I don't think you can ever have too much fun, right? I also really need to get back to producing more layouts and using some of my stash.

2) To complete more larger, more tricky or more time consuming knitted projects, even if this means knitting fewer finished objects. There's only so many hats a girl needs and I would love to be able to wear a cardigan or wrap or other pretty item of clothing that I've made myself. I also really want to learn fair isle properly, complete a jumper and cardigan I've had on my Ravelry queue for ages, along with lots of others, and also take on my first project using 4-ply or thinner, gulp! And use up (or re-home) some of my yarn stash before buying more! 

3) To get more active, and healthier, and lose just a little weight. It's starting to creep on, about a stone at the moment I reckon, not enough to take me up a dress size, almost but not quite, but I don't like it. And so if that means dieting and exercising for the first time in my life, then so be it. I want to nip this in the bud now and it will be good for me. I'm hoping that just being back in work and back in the city centre, where I have a lunch hour free of little people will help me no end, I can eat a decent healthy lunch and have a  good walk, or maybe even visit a gym before, during or after work. I might even dust off the Wii Fit we bought and never used. I'm hopeful anyway.

4) To stop biting my nails. This is actually a bit of a cheat as I stopped back in October when I had fakies on for being matron of honour at my best friend's wedding, but I have very almost fallen off the wagon a few times and the cold winter air is making them so weak and brittle that it's so hard not to nibble the splits right back down again. I want to spend more time looking after them, growing them and manicuring them to make them look nice, like they did when I got married.

5) To sort this tip of a house out. Well, it's not a tip, just really cluttered, and while the two little whirlwinds I call my sons are partly to blame there has to be something I can do about it. So that means more time tidying, putting away, being stricter with the things we keep/hoard and have to find storage for, and carrying out all those little odd jobs that keep piling up. Including finishing our bedroom, which we started seven months ago and haven't put the finishing touches to. Like making the blinds and finding and hanging curtains that match. That is my first job. Plus a massive clean out of all the clutter and tat from everywhere (skip hire anyone?!) And getting the boys to take responsibility for the state that is their bedrooms and the mess they make as soon as we've finished tidying. Sigh. If only. And once the house is looking better and I'm earning properly again I want to treat myself to a few pretty things to make it look nice, make a few more pretty things to adorn the walls, and make the rooms downstairs my own, rather than ones we just moved into and bunged a couple of random old things in/on the walls.

So those are my five for now. Not too ambitious I hope, and fingers crossed I might stick to at least one of them! 

So here's to 2011, may it be happy and healthy and full of good things. :)

xXx



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