It is that time of the year again. It is time to look back and reflect upon the year behind us and take the positive with us to the new year.

I might be a bit late, but don’t worry, I didn’t forget my yearly review post 😀 So while you are resgtign between binging thr latst series and films on Netflix (del Toro’s Pinocchio or The Witcher Blood Origin that dropped right on Christmas)

Let’s start

January

After a smashing Rocky Horror Picture Show themed New Year’s party, the year started well off on one side and stressful on the other. We continued redoing our house – sanding, painting, … Any dirty DIY you can think off.

Half the month through I got a bad case of itchy feet and started planning a big trip for this year, something like Cuba that we took 5 years previous. We wanted to go somewhere Southeast Asia – Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand… Planing was really difficult due to these countries still having covid restrictions. In the end, nothing came out of it. By the time the restrictions were eased, the prices went sky high (of course they did).

Bad part of the month – our house needed a new roof. A roofer was supposed to start in November but kept postponing. January was the month of constant fights with him and stress of not knowing whther or not he’ll do the roof. One thing we did NOT want to do is to spend the winter with the old roof, but this is exactly what was happening.

Oh I got a new hobby! I learned how to crochet!!

February

There was finally decent movement on the roof due to us threatening with legal action. To the cat’s delught, we changed the carpets on the first floor of the house. That was an effort and a half! Next time I’ll just pay someone to do it XD.

A big storm hit England, storm Eunice. It ripped our garden fence down (the wooden side) We were going to fix it anyways, but now it went to the top of our list…

For the first time since I starter my new job at the end of November 2020. I met my Activations colleagues in real life (we work remotely)! We had our first market this year with Taarna’s Knick-Knacks.

March

We discovered a comedy club in our town so we started the month with loads of laughter and continued trying out different pubs and coffee shops around town.

Workwise, I was asked to cover for our team leader who was away on paternity leave. It was time for me to shine and show them what I can do!

Bad news of the month? We said goodbye to our pet snake. The husband just found him dead in his viv. We have no idea what happened.

April

April started with snow! Yep, you read it correctly, SNOW. In Essex. In April. We quickly left it behind and went to spend Easter with my family in Croatia where it was warm and sunny. One of the main reasons we all gathered home for Easter was to say goodbye to our old dog Marx. He was in a really bad shape and we decided to put him down so he wouldn’t suffer too much.

However. the pooch perked up and pulled himself together after seeing all of us! Even his bedsores healed. Do you know how hard it is to heal bedsores?? And here we had a 16.5 year old dog who managed to do it and all thanks to my dad helping keep his wound clean and making him move a bit more.

May

Compared to the other months, May was on fire! I started May really, really ill but was testing negative for Covid. The first 2 Sundays were marked by craft markets, one of wich will become our regular monthly event as it was so good!

We had a company wide gathering in Dublin. I used this opportunity to get some extra days off and finally see the city of James Joyce. I have never been before and I always wanted to go – this was perfect timing. What was not perfect was me (and the majority of the company) catching Covid during the 2 day long offsite. This had me under house arrest for full 10 days before I tested negative again. Luckily, I felt absolutely fine and could get my daily dose of sunshine and air in our garden.

Bad news of the month – one of my dearest friends informed me she was moving back to Croatia. Her “leaving party” was the 2 of us enjoying Frida Kahlo’s immersive exhibition in London. A perfect way to say goodbye to my museum buddy!

Good news – I was officially promoted to a Team Leader!

In other news – we found out we were going to be parents. We decided to take this as a welcoming news. This was the last nail in the coffin for our big trip this year. By October time I wouldn’t be able to fly over 10 hours comfortably.

June

God save the Queen! The first weekend was a long one, full 4 days to chill thanks to the Queen’s jubilee. This months I visited Manchester for the first time! It was another work trip so no time for sightseeing but it is definitely on our radar for a weekend getaway!

We also attended our first gig in what feels like forever – The Dead South were playing in Cambridge and it was an excellent way to break the dry spell.

July

Holiday month! Our first holiday this year (and first one abroad that is not Croatia since Morocco in 2020!) – we really needed a stress free holiday so we booked a package deal to Lanzarote. Our thinking was, if we have everythng sorted now, we can just chill with books by the beach/pool. And that is what happened. But we got bored, even if it was only 3 full days. And we didn’t like the beach much. What can I say, Croatia spoiled us both.

One other thing which will make me always remember this July, we lost our dog Marx. In the end, he passed away in his sleep only a couple of weeks before his 17th birthday 💔

August

My mum’s first ever visit! She came and stayed for about 10 days. We enjoyed the English heatwave – 34 degress in the shade, went sightseeing in London and even caught the Klimt’s immersive exhibition.

The month ended with another little getaway, this one close by. For my birthday and our anniversary combined, we went glamping in the Norfolk country side. It was absolute bliss! We had a small shepherds hut (like the one we had in Dorset the year before) and everything was within 30 minutes on the bike. Reading in the middle of the forest and no city noises anywhere!

The last day of the month, we found out our future little adventurer will be a girl ❤

September

Queen Elizabeth II died. The country was in mourning with people waiting over 24H in queue to see her.

Back home – more projects on the house. The husband and his mate added a wodden decking in front of our back door. We can now sit outside and have coffee even if it’s raining! We started on the smallest room in the house, setting it up for the new arrival. And with the energy prices continally going higher and higher we were looking at all the ways to winterproof the house.

At the end of the month we met up with my cousin who was in UK for a few days. I haven’t seen him since we spent the summer together in Serbia as teenagers!

October

Gotta love Ryanair and cheap flights! We grabbed a bargain and visited Riga for a long weekend. On this trip we realised we much prefer city breaks and trips where we spend the days exploring and walking around than sitting by the pool for days. These three days of walking around Riga were more relaxing and fulfilling than the 3 days in a Spa hotel.

With the weather getting colder, my knitting season began as well. First off, two new hats for the winter coming!

By the end of the month I was getting too big to zip up my bike jacket so we decided it was high time to buy a car. And we did. No more feezing this winter when going somewhere 😀

Oh and my dad came to visit. This time there were no London trips due to strikes, but we went for walks around the town.

November

Another work related Dublin trip for me. This one was so intense I haven’t seen the outside of the hotel conference room in the two days I was there!

A lot of this month was spent in charity shops getting ready for the tiny human .Last weekend of the month marked my last gym class. It became a bit too strenuous for me to continue going. But I got a pilates ball to continue some form of exercise at home.

In other news, my parents got a cat! My dad found an abandoned black kitten on one of his walks and brought it back home with him. She is now terrorizing them and keeping them occupied 😀

December

Last month of the year and it was a hectic one. I had three weeks to wrap up all my work and write handovers, to make sure my team will be looked after while I am away for the next 6+ months. The UK staff had a Christmas party in Manchester. Funny, I have never been to Manchester before, but this year I went three times :D.

It being Chritmas time, we also finally decided to get ourself a proper Chritmas tree. We usually had alternatives like a book tree or decorating my palm tree. To help with the Christmas spirit, we had a full week of subzero temperatures. The temperature didn’t go above 0 at all and the lowest was – 9.

This is pretty unheard of in England and came at the worst possible time – the gas prices are inflated to the max and a lot of people can barely afford to keep themselves warm. Some had their homes warmed up only to 12 degrees as they couldn’t afford anything else. We are very fortunate to have a fireplace in our house and a cheap supply of wood as it helped us get through the week without dpending an absolute fortune.

I am going to skip “What happened in the world” part. There is war in Ukraine, the inflation is steadily rising and energy prices are reaching new hights every six months. The NHS in UK is falling apart and train companies, Royal Mail and nurses are all striking…

In short, the world is going to shit and I do not want to dwell on it here. At least the year ended with the biggest burn in a while #smalldickenergy

How was your 2022? What experiences are you taking with you to 2023?