2013

My excuse for not posting in a while is just that I have been so gosh-darned busy.  Or at least it was going to be my excuse, until over the holidays my family pointed out that actually my entire year has been fairly eventful.

365 days ago I was in Florida, with my boyfriend.  We had 11 days crammed full of all the touristy stuff - Disney, SeaWorld and Universal (yep, including Harry Potter World).  It was sunny and warm, and we ate more food than most people probably do in a month.  Definitely a nice way to see in the New Year.

Okay, so this is 367 days ago if we're being precise.

Fast-forward a few weeks and I was sitting (and failing) my driving test, before re-taking it a couple of weeks later, and passing.  For a bit more pressure, shortly after this were my final exams for my degree.  These were a total breeze, and rather than aggressively cramming everything I'd ever learned into my brain, I definitely just sat back, painted my nails and meditated.  "Zen" is what my exam-period was.

Yeah, right.

Average revision session, courtesy of my instagram.

At least the exams paid off.  Come July, I was graduating with a 2:1.  The weather was gorgeous (although hideously sweaty for those of us in gowns), and I couldn't have been prouder of my friends graduating around me, with the grades we had worked our little socks off to achieve.

The least sweaty photo I could find

Before the terror of being an alumnus could set in, I ran away for a month in Thailand.  I won't go into detail (there's always the recap I wrote here if you haven't seen it already), but it was the most amazing month of lying around on stunning beaches, getting delightfully tipsy on Chang and sweating around stalls of street food and neon vests.  It's amazing how short a month can feel.

A day of particularly bad weather.

We landed back home with a bump - straight into job-hunting and the endless rounds of applications and unsuccessful interviews.  It seemed for a while that everyone around me was landing cushy roles in fancy companies, and I was stuck on Jobseekers Allowance, being sent home early from assessment centres for reasons employers didn't even care to divulge, and being offered positions that weren't in the industries, pay range or locations I was hoping for.

Somewhere in this terrifying rut, I turned 22.

*not actual birthday cake

And then at the beginning of November I got an interview for a company I thought were rather nice and, as luck would have it, they thought I was rather nice too.  Based about 30 miles from where I was living, I suddenly needed a car, or even better, a flat and a car.  Five days after getting the call, Bingo the Citroen C3 was mine, and three days after that, I was moving my vast collection of stuff into a cosy little two bed, only 10 minutes away from my new job, which started the following Monday.  Where I had previously felt like I was on the world's slowest bus into adult life, I seemed to be stepping off of a bullet train into the world of 9-5.

Housewarming gift - I ate the rest before the shutter closed.

Out of sheer stubbornness I decorated my little home for Christmas, even though it feels a bit sad, rather than festive if you're by yourself.  I can't really say what it felt like to spend the season alone, as most of the time I was actually with the fella, family friends.  I did try my hand at being a domestic goddess by cooking a roast - somewhat compromised by the fact that I don't actually have a dining table, and that I left the potatoes until LAST to prepare (d'oh) - but it was a start.  Give me a couple of years and I'll be mashing swede and stuffing a turkey (or not) like a pro.

My handiwork

Not my handiwork.  Sneeze; you bake a LOT.

And now we're here; January 2014.  Of course, just like everyone else I have personal goals and aspirations for the year, but given that "the only things I didn't get round to were getting married and having a baby" (thanks, Grandma), I think my main aim is to give myself some time to get bored.  I'm going to schedule in some "me" time to procrastinate and relax without the guilt of doing the same thing at uni - I'm not going to pretend I didn't chill out, even in 3rd year, but it was coupled with the knowledge that I SHOULD have been revising/working/reading (or, more accurately, the guilt of knowing that I should be feeling guilty, but wasn't). Of course I'll be using a good percentage of my weekends to visit London, and I expect now I'm back in the South I'll be around for my friends (and their new additions) a lot more than I've been able to be previously. On top of that, I plan to play my piano again, get back into running when the weather warms up, take a few weekend breaks in Europe, and finally, FINALLY play Lego Lord of the Rings to at least 99% completion.  Baby steps though, right?

It's a big goal, but hopefully by the time I reach 23 I'll be hitting my stride at this whole "life" thing.  I might not quite feel like a fully-fledged adult (at least I hope I won't), but watch this space.