1. HOUSE!
We finally got to move into our house in February, Friday 13th February to be precise. We couldn't have cared less about superstition by that point as we were just desperate to be in! We waited for 5 whole months to get this house, but it was so worth it. I love it and I still smile when I walk in the front door. We have lots of plans and ideas but no real hurry for completing anything. Taking it slowly and enjoying the moment is the motto for this house. It's definitely love...
2. Bob the Dog
After many months of this way and that way, in August we finally made the decision to get a dog. We always knew it would be a golden retriever, a boy, and that he would be called Bob. Once the decision was made it all happened pretty quickly. We went to meet a huge litter of adorable fluffy puppies (how to choose!) and the future Bob made his way over to me and put his paws up on my knees. That was it really. They do say that dogs choose their owners and he chose us it would seem. He is all kinds of barmy but mostly he is absolutely brilliant (don't mention the hole digging) and very loving, and most of all a big old heap of fun.
3. Jury duty
Well it couldn't all be fun and jolly. I came home from holidays (more on that further down) to a summons to be a juror. I was not happy about this at all. It's something I've never wanted to do and I absolutely dreaded it. Mercifully my duty was short but definitely not sweet. Endless hours of waiting around, ridiculous out of date systems with people wearing wigs and gowns and calling each other 'my learn-ed friend' I did get to serve on a jury and I hated every minute of it. I did not enjoy the idea that a man's future rested in my hands and I was beyond relieved after that case ended to be told we were no longer needed. You couldn't get me out of there quick enough. Ugh.
4. Giving up Facebook
Endless scrolling, irritation, and general grumpiness - these were my feelings about Facebook this year. Having had enough of it I decided to just give it up for a month and see how I got on. I deleted it from my phone and went about my merry way. In the end I was off it for about 3 months. It was marvellous! I did miss out on all sorts of things but it meant that people had to tell me the old fashioned way, by calling me or meeting me. It was a bit of a revelation and I stopped being so wrapped up in it all. I'm thinking of doing it again in 2016 as it's so easy to get sucked down the endless scrolling hole. Again with the ugh.
5. ROADTRIP!
For our jolly-bobs this year we did a roadtrip round England! It was all kinds of awesome and we had the BEST week camping at a crazy campsite on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. Glorious blue skies, sunny days, and all kinds of adventures. Please can we go back?
6. Jobs
A real mixed bag of a year. I started off the year in a bad job, spent the middle to end part of the year having a brilliant time working on a project that I love (and hope to continue with, cross everything for funding!) and ended the year going back to the land of libraries!
7. Best book(s)
I can't decide between two so I'm going with both. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey was all kinds of enchanting and I fell hard. So hard that I basically wanted to start it all over again as soon as I was finished. The second was A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. I laughed, I cried, and basically adored this book. I would have happily passed it on to people but Bob decided to eat it so the first 30 pages are mangled and the rest is kind of chewed...
8. Best TV show
I think it has to go to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The original 90s version. I didn't really watch much of the normal teevee this year, I have a bit of a love-hate thing with it anyway, but I LOVED watching Buffy all over again on Netflix. So good!
9. Best film
My cinema attendance this year was shoddy to say the least. Time was rarely free and so I missed out on all the good ones. I did absolutely love Spy with Melissa McCarthy. I laughed until I nearly stopped breathing which qualifies it for a good cinema experience. Note to self: see more films at the cinema in 2016.
10. Best Music
Always so much good music, it's hard to choose. I had all sorts of weird moments and even found myself enjoying some serious pop moments (Swifty anyone?) but I think my rediscovery of The Vaccines would be up there, as would be the discovery of Richard Hawley. His beautiful deep, deep voice and his gorgeous albums were just the right side of melancholy for me. Definitely more music for 2016. Always the music!
11. My new blog
This new blog in fact! After years of writing a shared blog I decided to branch out and start up this one and I am loving it (I hope you are too!). It's nice to be my own voice and I like to be able to talk about all kinds of everything and feel that it just fits me better. More snugly if you will.
12. Working from home
I spent the majority of this year working from home. It was all kinds of weird and wonderful and good and bad. It's great for kettle access and general all round tea drinking, but not so great if you're feeling kind of sad and just want a chat. The best thing about it was that I was home when Bob was teeny tiny and could work on the training. I think it's paid off...kind of...can't get him to stop digging holes...
13. Skint
Truth. Since leaving libraryland phase 1, I have been skint. I'm used to it now. But it's not much fun. What is funny is that when I was in libraryland phase 1 I used to think, I'm going to leave here and earn loads more money...in actual fact I left there, became the skintest I have been in years, and actually dream about earning that much money once again. It will come, I know it will. In the meantime I shall carry on regardless, skintier than skint, but wealthy in so many other ways.
14. Overcoming...
...all kinds of things, but my mortal fear of presentations was the biggie. This was the year I conquered the fear. Don't get me wrong, I'm still nervous, but my legs don't shake anymore and I rarely look at my notes. This is progress, people, of the biggest kind. Let's have a woop!
15. Summing up...
...2015 was all kinds of everything. Highs, lows, births, deaths, the circle of life. I've stopped believing in bigger and better and am happy to just go with being. One day at a time. No doubt 2016 will be much of the muchness, but let's have some fun times along the way. See you there soon...
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