My year in review

Its that time of year to clear down the side bar and do a little self indulgent post to mark some of the things that I've done in the last year.  

Honestly looking back I can't quite believe how lucky 2013 has been for me.  I bought my own home, had some wonderful trips, managed to survive another year in the day job and got to indulge in all of my favourite pastimes.  

I'm truly excited to see where 2014 will take me.  If I could be selfish and have all the things I want it would be more time with family, more time for crafting, to bring back walking as a regular thing in my life (sadly that fell by the wayside a bit in 2013), and to be able to visit more new places.

It will be fun finding out which of these wishes I can make come true this year.   But we have other plans bubbling away in the background which if they come to fruition could suck up a fair amount of time and take me away from the things on my list, but if we can pull them off I won't mind a jot ......time will tell.

Do you have any exciting plans for 2014?  I'd love to hear all about them.

Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy 2014

Projects I completed in 2013

Crochet Moogle

Summer Mist throw

Ellie's Owls

Amy's owl mobile

Wildflower cross stitch

Crochet Beret

Kiss Me Cross Stitch

Three knitted Chicks

Take Time Cross Stitch

Snuggly Squares Crochet Blanket

Starburst Crochet Blanket

Wensleydale Lace Scarf

Knitted moustache

Movies I went to watch in 2013 

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug
Gravity

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2

How I Live Now

About Time

Riddick

The Mortal Instruments

Elysium

Kick Ass 2

Lone Ranger

The Conjuring

The Wolverine

World War Z

Man of Steel

After Earth

Star Trek Into Darkness

Iron Man 3

Oblivion

Dark Skies

Mama

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

This is 40

A Good Day to Die Hard

Prisoners

Thor: The Dark World

Captain Phillips

Books I read in 2013

The ocean at the end of the lane by Neil Gaiman

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Night of the living Trekkies by Kevin Anderson and Sam Stall

Armageddon the Musical by Robert Rankin

Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell

World War Z by Max Brooks

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

By Light Alone by Adam Roberts

Laura's Handmade Life by Amanda Addison

The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter

Places I visited in 2013

Avebury, Wiltshire

Aysgarth, Yorkshire

Bainbridge, Yorkshire

Bourton on the Water

Cardiff, Wales

Clapham, Yorkshire

Grassington, Yorkshire

Hawes, Yorkshire

Hudderfield, Yorkshire

Kettlewell, Yorkshire

Leeds Yorkshire

Leyburn, Yorkshire

Linton, Yorkshire

London

Malham, Yorkshire

Moreton in Marsh

Northampton

Oxford

Reeth, Yorkshire

Stockholm, Sweden

Wells, Somerset

Snapshot of the week

Christmas is full of mixed emotions for me.  The joy of celebrating with family and friends is always tinged with some sadness as looming in the background the dawning of 27th December marks another year of being without Mum.

I survived the day in disbelief wondering could it really be 8 years since she passed.   I muddled through the day, no doubt I was poor company and I had to escape to solitude and shed a tear or two when the weight of sadness built up and became overwhelming.  But the day came and went just as days always do.

For some reason I found the anniversary especially hard this year. Have been trying to figure out why and now there have been a couple of days space between then and now I think it may be this.  Apart from a couple of minor blips this year has been the happiest year for me since she left and I wish she was still around to share it with me.

If you pop by regularly (and hearty thanks to you if you do) you'll know that Sunday has become my day to post a weekly round up in pictures.  But this week I'm going to share just one snap from my week, taken during a christmas eve walk in the woods in beautiful Yorkshire with my love. 

We're being a bit goofy, but we're happy, wrapped up warm and blessed with beautiful sunshine, love and lots of laughter.  A perfect microcosm of 2013, here's hoping we can carry this all the way through 2014 too.

Hope your holiday season has been full of love and light and laughter xx

Seasons Greetings

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and fun filled 2014

Thanks to each and every one of you for continuing to visit my little corner of blogland to read my ramblings.  I appreciate every single visit xx

 

My week in snapshots

Wow only a couple of days until Christmas.  So far I just haven't been feeling very festive, lots going on at the moment which have been putting a bit of a dampener on the end of what has been an otherwise fabulous year.  But last day at work tomorrow and then we're up to Yorkshire to celebrate the season with James' parents.  And with almost 2 weeks off work to look forward to I'm sure the mood will lighten and a nice, quiet and relaxing time will be had can't wait.

Haven't really be in the mood to take too many pictures this week but when I went to download them I was surprised to find I'd taken more than I thought.  So here is my week in snapshots.

Taking comfort in some home cooked hearty food

 Is this what the apocalypse would feel like?  The moment I realised that I was the only one sat in an otherwise deserted office.

 Hooking up a last minute gift

Morning mist over the beautiful Wiltshire countryside

Counting down the days

Whatever you'e been up to I hope the world has been treating you well this week xx

Snapshots

Blogging is a bit sporadic around here at the moment. It's just crazy at this time of year, I'm sure you can all relate. Holiday preparations, catching up with family and friends whilst still working the day job and trying to keep all of the household chores up together equals very little spare time.

After a crazy couple of weeks we'll be off up to Yorkshire to spend the Christmas period. After that I'm hoping that things will calm down a bit and we can settle in to the rhythms of a new year and for me I'm hoping that will mean getting back to some more regular blogging and also being able to keep up with all my favourite blogs again.

For now here are a few snapshots from the last couple of weeks.

My fruit bowl overfloweth.  Have been feeling a bit under the weather so have been trying to eat plenty of fruit and veg to keep the energy levels up.

Loving the fact that at this time of year you don't have to be up too early to witness spectacular sunrises

Sewing in the ends, trying to get the Christmas gift makes finished

Some festive shopping at the Christmas Market in Bath

Out for dinner with my lovely man, my wonderful brother and his gorgeous fiancee ..... buy one get one free cocktails led to a very merry evening

Sunday heaven .... James' homemade bread accompanied by some gorgeous jams purchased at the market in Bath (We also bought some delicious chocolate wine but that will be saved for Christmas)

What ever you have been up to I hope life is treating you well.  Thanks for visiting my little corner of blogland, I really do appreciate you sticking with me :)

Snapshots

It's been a strange few weeks plenty of highs and lows, a lovely trip away, celebrating with family and friends, long hours at work and some tough family stuff to deal with. I'm not going to dwell on that too much, it's just nice to have a bit of blogging time again. 

It's been a few weeks since I've done a snapshot post it's been hard to try and limit myself to only a few pictures with all that's been happening.  But I managed it in the end.  So here is a little window in to my November world ...... cannot wait to see what December has in store.

Amazing Autumn walks

 Starting to feel festive with Christmas lights being switched on everywhere

 Watching fabulous sunsets out in the beautiful English countryside

 Scrummy dining with amazing family

 Exploring new cities

 Atmospheric moonlit walking in the middle of nowhere at 2am.  Chilly .....but so worth it to experience the unique peace and beauty of the countryside at night

 Feeling grateful to be surrounded by love