2007: The Year That Was.

I say it every year, but it really does feel like this year flew by. Last year, I wrapped up the year's events in a post, and I can't believe it's already that time again. I can safely say that this time last December, I would never have guessed that in a year's time I would be sitting in a lounge room in London with Jason.

January
I celebrated the New Year quietly at home and enjoyed watching the summer storms. I counted down the days to my New Zealand trip with Jason, where I bungy jumped and canyon-swung on the south island in Queenstown. We went white water rafting and shot-over jet boating and made our way to Wellington on the north island. The fun continued, as we enjoyed a lake cruise in Taupo and the glow worm caves in Waitomo. At the end of our tour, I snorkelled for the first time ever in the Bay of Islands, where I also managed to step on a sea urchin, ouch! I also discovered that Auckland is possibly my least favourity city ever, as we were bored after our first day there. The school term resumed and I began my second year of teaching job-sharing with a fellow teacher.

February
A few days into the month, I was offered to teach my own class of kidlets with high support needs, which was a position I accepted. On the blogging front I updated my 100 things list, which reminds me - I need to update that soon! After a happy year with my previous class, my pet mice were given away to a new home. Februrary 14th had me thinking about the different opinions we all have about Valentines Day, and no, I sadly did not recieve a puppy as a gift. A few friends and I braved the crazies and went to see Evanascence in concert, and a few days later both me and Kirby had contracted the great Goth Bug of 07, my first illness of the year. After a few random looks at my blog stats in the past, the inaugral Sunday Google-age post was created! To wrap up the month, I ended up with yet another cold! Brilliant, eh?

March
I watched alot of Bridezillas this month, which had me thinking about weddings and all that goes along with them. I confessed to being a self-proclaimed dork and shared my dorkiness with the world. It was proud moments all round as I finally paid off my car, within the first year of my buying it. I came down with yet another illness, which was diagnosed as possibly glandular fever. Not long after that, I found out that Jason was going to be leaving me to go to England much earlier than we had planned; needless to say, that was not a happy weekend. A whole stack of memes began floating around the blog world, and I went into over-analyse mode over whether to tag or not to tag. Lastly, I became a teaching mentor for the first time when I was introduced to my student.

April
My blog celebrated it's 2000th comment! My obsession with Threadless tees began, when I recieved my first shipment of witty slogan tees and teased everyone with their humour, though they did cause me to get squished boob syndrome. I made it through the first term of school relatively unscathed. I rescued a gorgeous rabbit (lovingly called New Bun) from the vet but after a few weeks of failed bonding, ended up having to say goodbye and find her a new home. Kirby, Mum and I braved the cold sitting in the backseat of my parent's Mustang convertible on the way home from the awesome John Mayer concert, where there were skanks a-plenty, but no Jessica Simpson in sight. I had my first appointment to find out about having laser eye surgery to correct my shortsightedness, and soon found out that I was a successful candidate for the procedure. My baby brother turned 20, and I took a trip down memory lane. Sadly, my beautiful Bella-rabbit passed away from a jaw infection, leaving me heartbroken.

May
I discovered that I am possibly the world's worst poker player, but that I can play blackjack. I underwent Advanced Surface Laser surgery on my eyes, and lived to tell the tale. My Stalkerific Blogroll went live for the first time, which also needs updating! I did my part being an environmentally friendly water-saver, and poor Rusty the dog suffered in the wake of it. Jason turned 25, and in celebration I brought home another bunny - Ricky bun! I worried over what the rest of the year would bring, and how terrified I was about Jason leaving the country without me. And I got sick. Again.

June
Writing the kidlets half-yearly report cards kept me busy, as did posing for the dreaded school photograph. My blog got reviewed for the first (and only) time which left my confidence fairly shattered, though thankfully your comments helped get me through the paranoia. I became very nervous about the planet after watching An Inconvenient Truth. Despite losing some weight, I whinged about not going down a dress size; something which has still not happened yet! My student teacher finished up in the classroom, and I realised that I had thoroughly enjoyed being a mentor. I reminisced about bungy jumping in New Zealand, and shared my pictures for the first time. I had a bit of a meltdown over being left on my own, and had a nasty experience with a split lip that looked suspiciously like a cold sore. Lucy and Ricky finally started to get along, and I got the photo evidence to prove it. And I took a big step and registered my very own domain!

July
Guess what - I got sick.. again, surprise surprise. I realised I was well and truly over my head after moving my blog, and had to get up to speed fairly quickly. My possessed television began turning itself on at night, leaving me completely and utterly spooked. I started thinking about what American tour I should save up for, and decided on the Grand Southern Contiki tour. After deciding I needed some distractions while Jason was away, 'The List' made it's debut on my blog, thanks to all of your suggestions. While stressing out over the boy's impending departure date, I took a big step of my own and bought my own one way plane ticket to England, leaving on Christmas Day. I celebrated my 23rd birthday, with a low key dinner with my family.

August
I enjoyed my last few days with Jason before he left the country, where I distracted myself by staring at my birthday bling. Kirby and I splurged on a gold class cinema ticket to see Harry Potter 5. After becoming frustrated with my weight loss efforts, I declared August a scale-free month. Mum and I had a strange encounter with some pink mashed potatoes. I braved my fear of the hairdresser to get a new style cut, where I also had my palest of pale eyelashes tinted. I had blogging on the brain, and talked about how seriously I took it. And I mentioned one of the most important things I noticed about Jason when I met him: his sassy shoes.

September
Life without Jason saw me going through the motions, day in and day out. Kirby and I went to see Snow Patrol in concert, where we screamed out Troy! and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Jason started house hunting in England, and I started helping from a million miles away. Lucy-bun got sick, and I began the process of medicating her by mouth, which was not fun. I reminisced about how I met Jason and the butterflies and anticipation that came along with it. We celebrated our fifth year anniversary a million miles apart, and I dedicated a photo montage to him! My face decided to go back to it's teenage years and break out in a spectacular fashion. A few days later, I discovered that the blotches weren't just from a break out, but that I was suffering from the Slap Cheek virus, the umpteenth illness of the year. My UK working Visa arrived, which brought on a minor stress attack, and I booked my USA tour for next August.

October
The holidays didn't start out particularly well, as my beautiful Lucy passed away in my arms this month. I decided to try and get more motivated after my efforts with healthy habits left me feeling down. I participated in the Great Mofo Delurk, where most of us bloggers met some wonderful new faces. I pushed on with my fitness and managed to run my first 5km stretch with no breaks. The random assortment of Aussie bugs appearing due to the weather left me completely freaked out. I began writing the Time Capsule saga, two posts chock full of memories from my primary school and high school years. For Blog Action Day, I talked about the environment from a teacher's perspective. The kidlets and I went into Sydney for our transport excursion, where I got to be a tourist for the day. Three months into our separation, I wrote about how I was coping being on my own, and realised that I was doing a pretty darned good job of it! My tendency to worry about the little things was something on my mind, and I got a little grumpy on Halloween.

November
For the second year in a row, I participated in NaBloPoMo, even though I posted practically every day this year anyway! Kirby and I had a spontaneous weekend o'fun on the Gold Coast, where we braved the theme parks and had a spankin' good time! I finally got around to registering with Bloglines, even though I was probably the last person on the planet to do so. Laughter is always the best medicine, and a Harry Potter based parody really tickled my fancy. I braved a visit to the dreaded dentist (no cavities!) and vowed to floss every day after getting a nifty goodie bag. I uncovered our great family debate: who took the cute picture of Max? Mum later showed off her technological genius by creating a very witty LOLMax. Along with a stack of other fabulous bloggers, I participated in the In The Raw blogshare, where I enjoyed posting anonymously for a day. A bit of drama close to home left me wondering where to draw the line with friendships at work, and the kidlets artistic sketches of me had me in stitches. Realising that I had only a month left on Aussie soil left me shocked, and I remained disheartened over my body image.

December
In amusing fashion, my first blog post in December was a slightly drunken one. I went on a very important mission to uncover my top five celebrity crushes. I purchased my first ever laptop and christened her Dellilah. A farewell barbeque left me feeling very loved, as I saw a stack of friends who I'd not seen in a long time. The two week countdown to Christmas sparked a bit of fear in me, but also left me feeling really excited! My Secret Blogger Santa spoiled me by sending me some fabulous free gifts (thanks Janet!) as well as an Itunes giftcard. Things started looking up on the UK job front, as I had to make some tricky decisions over teaching jobs. I had London on the brain constantly, which was heightened by my internet blowing up at home, argh! At the worst possible time, I caught my final cold for the year just days before my horrible twenty two hour flight. Then it was Christmas, and I said goodbye to my family, my pets, my home, and ended up here in the sunny UK - alive, if a little wheezy. And here I am today: sitting in the living room of our house in London, after being brave and finding myself along the way.

So that's that. It's been a strange year, but I'm happy with where I've ended up. Here's to the next year bringing lots more exciting things!