Goodbye 2019!

As I look back over 2019, I have to say it’s been a pretty great year. Sure, I’ve had some hard times and challenges to overcome, but with the help of my loved ones I’ve beaten them all. My year has been pretty full, and I’ve got lots of fond memories to look back on…

Mike and I brought our first house together and moved in late December 2018. This meant that the start of 2019 was spent decorating, buying furniture and turning our new house into a home. Having sold Mike’s flat which was getting too small for us, and mine which was bigger but in a terrible area it’s been lovely to just enjoy being at home in our own space. We have plenty of room, and the area is nice and quiet.

February marked Mike’s birthday, in which we threw a surprise get together for him, which he loved – even if he is a massive pain to plan a surprise for! My friend Katie was a great help with decorating our garage (which we’ve converted into a bar) even if she did get accidently locked in and have to hide in the dark for 45 minutes by herself..

It was lovely to see his surprise at the amount of his friends I managed to sneak into the garage without him noticing, and we all had a great night out together.

March was pretty exciting as it’s the month we started to plan our wedding or 2020. We managed to find a venue we love and get it secured for June. As we are getting married in America this meant our friends and family have had plenty of time to save pennies for our big trip together. Although I still need to get my wedding dress.... eek!

In April I took my friend Katie to the Norwich Vegan and Yoga festival as a present for her birthday. We’d been getting into Yoga together, and being Vegan she has the constant struggle of label checking when it comes to food. We had a great day out, managed to get spaces on a couple of yoga classes and ate tonnes of food. I got to try vegan burgers, hot dogs, curries, hot drinks and lots of cake – all of which were great! More importantly it was lovely to spend some quality time together.

Now that we only lived up the road from each other, and right next to a woodland at that, Katie and I also started going on little walks together in late April / early May. We’ve managed to keep it up to a semi-regular thing, and I’ve really enjoyed getting out for fresh air. We’ve discovered a lot of things by accident on our walks, such as a little pond, horses, and we even stumbled across Urban Jungle on our travels.  

My birthday was in July, and Mike and my friends planned a surprise trip away to Lincoln. It was a great weekend away, and we all had a great time in Bierkella. Even if my friend Josh did screw me over by telling the band it was my birthday, which resulted in me being dragged up in front of everyone in the bar, and made to down my drink – which was a full pint of horrible cocktail! At least I managed to finish it and didn't embarrass myself too much..

As a present for my birthday my friends all clubbed together to pay for me to take my CBT. It was the height of the warm weather, so not ideal to be wearing a helmet all day. Even so, I passed, and my younger brother has even given me his old 125cc Honda to use until I take my full test and can get my own. I’ll admit, going out solo on a motorbike for the first time ever was kind of scary, but I’m really looking forward to the summer when I can get back on it again. Although the poor thing does still need a fair bit doing to it I did at least manage to get it mechanically sound before tucking it away for the winter.

We had great weather through the summer, and Mike and I had a very well timed week off together to spend enjoying the sunshine. Many BBQs were had and the paddling pool my friend and I got on a whim went down a treat and was probably the best purchase I made all summer!   

During the summer Mike and I travelled to Redding to become god parents to the beautiful Kara. It felt kind of scary to be honest, even at 28 I still don’t really feel like a proper ‘grown up’ so it felt a little weird to be doing something that felt so adult.

At the very end of summer we decided to soak up the last of the good weather by going on a camping trip together. We didn’t want a campsite with the regular amenities so we managed to get permission to stay in a woodland owned by our friends boss. We built a fire which we used to cook our food and keep us warm through the evening while we chatted away.

Mike’s nephew turned 18 this year so he came to stay with us for a weekend so we could take him out and about in Norwich. He lives in a fairly small town in Essex, so he was thrilled to see what the City of Norwich had to offer. A lot of the bars and clubs in our city are situated in more or less the same place so it made it really easy to move from one place to the other in a bit of a pub crawl. He had a great time, even if he did feel a little delicate the next day. At least he has the young person trait of hangovers only lasting a few hours… I wish I could say the same for myself!

I had a pretty busy October and got to do many things I’ve wanted to for a while but not got to. Me and the girls went to a pumpkin patch to pick out our perfect pumpkins (which took a lot longer than we thought it would) and we also all went to PrimeEvil together. I’ve been wanting to go for years but for one reason or another just haven’t managed it. It was wonderful to be able to go this year, even if most of us don’t scare very easily, which makes us not all that fun to chase. Other than Fran who was scared of everything, I even had to hold her hand through one of the attractions.  

Going to a pumpkin patch meant I had far more choice on the pumpkin front, so I got to be a little creative and make a floral arrangement to decorate my living room, and even managed to save the innards for pumpkin soup, which I’m excited to make again next year.

Toward the end of October I started my new job, which so far I’m loving. It’s similar to my old role, although I’m being given far more freedom and being allowed to run most of my client account. It’s been nice to get everything in order, and have total control of my work flow. It’s going well and after some hard graft I’ve now got myself almost a month ahead of where I need to be. This is probably one of the best things I’ve done all year, and it’s been wonderful to have a fresh start in a lovely company with a really people focused approach.   

In November Mike had a load of school friends come visit us. He hasn’t seen most of them in about 15 years, so it was great to meet people from his childhood. One of them is even a minor celebratory now, Ben, who holds the title for Wales strongest man. Being me, naturally I challenged him to an arm wrestle. Although it should come as no surprise that I didn’t when, even when I used two hands.

Lastly is December which was a pretty relaxed month. I was determined not to let Christmas be in any way stressful. We had a fair few Christmas parties, but our main focus was to recharge after a long and tiring year. Christmas day was perfect.

I spent the day in my new dressing gown, which was one of my wonderful Christmas gifts, Mike and I played games together and eventually cooked a Christmas dinner together.

It’s been a pretty packed year, but I can’t wait for 2020. It’s the year Mike and I finally get married, and I’m sure there are many more exciting things in store for us. I’ve ended this year feeling positive and I want to carry those feel-good vibes with me into 2020 and beyond.