Christmas came and went and once again we are in the limbo period between two holidays. With another Death to [insert year here] streaming on Netlifx, it’s time to look back on the year behind. Have things changed from 2020? Of course they have! But is it for the better or the worse?

There were some big steps made in our lives. Now, at the end of the year, I can see how the move to the in-laws last year affected us. It almost killed my creativity – I took waaaaay fewer photos than last year, I didn’t feel at all inspired to write and knitting only took hold about two months ago. The husband didn’t have it much better either, he hasn’t touched any of his miniatures in over a year.

When I started this post, I wrote only about events that happened in our life. But then I realised, I gotta mention world events as well; they affect us all, one way or another. So I started adding those too and the post quickly turned into a small novella.

In the end, I decided to cut the world news down to most interesting or most talked-about (you can find a full list here). My bullet point list is at the end of the post.

Let’s get back to the stars of this blog, us 😎

January

We started the year in lockdown. I continued doing yoga every day. I knitted my first pair of mittens and learned how to cable knit. By the end of the month, I started on the Armchair travel series. The end of lockdown was nowhere in sight.

February

IT SNOWED!! This doesn’t happen often this far south in England, but it did this year. It was proper snow as well, everything was white and it stayed for a good week or two! The coaster orders picked up and the husband and I were spending more time in the garage cutting up old tiles and working on his new motorcycle project. With high hopes, we planned a trip to Scotland for Easter. We started looking at houses – it was getting harder and harder to live with the in-laws.

March

Snow and winter turned into beautiful spring weather. My work sent me an extra screen so the spare room was quickly turning into a proper office, even with bags of flour, random discarded furniture pieces, and gallons of coke clogging up any extra space I had to move around. Our Scotland trip fell through as the government extended lockdown. The biggest news? We put an offer on a house and it was accepted!

April

Thanks to support bubbles, the husband’s grandparents joined the family for Easter. The paperwork for the house has begun. Lockdown eased up finally and we moved our Scotland road trip to the beginning of May. I went to the office for the first time since I started my job!

May

What better way to start the month than on the back of a motorbike! We started our Scotland trip on the first day of the month. As soon as we passed Carlisle, you could feel the cold cutting through the riding gear. It even snowed in Cairngorms! England might have relaxed lockdown rules, but Scotland still kept the majority of them, including no alcohol inside the pubs (only on terraces). It was one cold trip XD. We finished the month with another, much shorter trip – going to Gloucester for a housewarming party.

June

June was supposed to be the month of freedom day (end of all lockdown rules) but, as we all expected, it was postponed to July. My team and I still had our first team bonding outing. We went axe throwing. I won 😎. The weather was getting warmer and warmer. We used the bike more and rode around Essex visiting random little places. The end of the month saw us missing our flight for the first time since we started flying about 13 years ago! We still managed to get to Croatia, if a day late.

July

My sister got married!!! What a day that was ❤ We spent 2 weeks on the Croatian coast. The husband had to go back earlier as he had to self isolate for 10 days after coming back (Croatia was still on the amber list). I stayed longer with my family – I work from home and can work from anywhere as long as there’s an internet connection. Two days before my return, Croatia was put on the green list and I could go back without isolating. I also took one of the first low coast flights going from Zagreb; Ryanair opened a direct Zagreb – London line that flies almost daily and throughout the whole year. When I got back, we picked up the keys to our new house <3.

August

We finally moved! We now live in Braintree, a smaller town in Essex, but still on the train line for those days when I want to go to the office or visit my friends in London. There are no words to describe the feeling of elation and freedom of finally having our own place and not having to share it with anyone! Before the month was gone, we have redecorated the kitchen (all DIY) and sorted out the vastly overgrown garden. As August is the month of my birthday and one of the rare bank holidays in England, we took a 4 day trip to Dorset.

September

Works on the house and garden continued. We had our first BBQ party to celebrate my birthday. With the new Zagreb – London line and us having extra rooms, my parents can now finally come and visit. As we bought my dad a ticket, both him and my mum tested positive for Covid 19. My friend and I attended the first big exhibition in ages – Alice in Wonderland.

October

We got a cat!!! A little squint we call Calcifer ❤ Crafting and redecorating will never be the same again. My parents both recuperated from Covid and my dad came to visit mid October, just in time to help with doing up our bedroom 😀 We carved pumpkins in front of the fire (our house has a working fireplace in almost every room) and explored Braintree on the dry days.

November

The works on the house continue. After days and days of struggle with almost a century old wallpaper, our bedroom has been painted and new carpet laid out. The dining room was done too. We took a break until Christmas holidays before we made any more home improvements. Our focus shifted to Christmas markets we attended with Taarna’s Knick-Knacks. Peak time for my company started and work got really stressful. We took my dad to London. You can’t come visit family in England and not go to London!

December

We squeezed 3 more markets before Christmas. Work started dying down mid month, just in time for me to take some well earned time off. However, my Etsy orders picked up! As I was close to a burn out with work and everything happening in the last 6 weeks, we ditched our original plan to go to Croatia for Christmas and had our first Christmas in our very own house. No one came over, it was wonderful ❤ And we painted our hallway.

All in all, 2021 was a pivotal year for both of us. We have our own place, we both have jobs we like and enoy and we get to paint the walls the colour we want!

How about the world? What happened in 2021?

How was your 2021? Did any breakthrough moments happen in your life?