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I haven’t been blogging for a whole year yet, but I do want to try to record all that I did this year. This will be a was work in progress, and was I’ll probably set up it to be posted at midnight on the 31st/1st…jsut because I can! It’s long, you’ve been warned!

January

After a great New Year’s spent at Kasouga with J and some friends, slept about 20mins all night, we crashed back to reality in 2009. Took a mini-break from that reality by going away for a weekend to Hogsback. Did a LOT of walking up and down mountains, looking at waterfalls, birding, eating, sleeping. We’re still getting used to living out at Aloe cottage on the farm. Moved in in Sept 2008. Still working at ****. Things getting back to normal at work after a nightmare move with about 6 weeks notice. No shelves for all our books. Chaos! Decided to get another kitten. Tried to adopt from the SPCA, but both kittens we had died within 2 weeks (still no idea why-best guess was they ate a poisonous moth and they weren’t very healthy to begin with). I had all but given up.

February

Heard that the farm store across the road had kittens; ‘Free to a good home’. Met and fell in love with a half wild ball of fluff and muscle who growled at us every time we came near her. Subsequently she became known as Fluffy and has a HUGE personality. J completely besotted. J’s sister came out from Amsterdam to get married to her ‘real’ Dutchman. Partied with J’s family at the wedding until 3am, then helped the dj pack up, after clearing all remaining wine bottles off the tables.

March

J celebrated his 26th birthday, promised to buy him a drill (which I finally bought in September!). I missed his actual birthday because I was away at a conference with The Boss in Gauteng at the Maropeng conference centre. Cock up with the courier service meant we had NO materials so muggins here sat looking like an idiot behind an empty table. It was interesting, though after 3 solid days with the Boss and I was ready to put down Jack Daniels as a legitimate business expense!

April

Attended Ben & Kate’s wedding. FINALLY graduated with my MSc, despite having finished my thesis and handed in in Feb 2008. Reviewers took their time getting the damn thing back to be so I missed Grad last year. Went away to Cape Town with J and my parents. Did a lot of wine tasting, shopping, visiting. Voted in my very first election ever.

May

J went off on his first field trip for almost 3 weeks. I survived at home all by myself. We also went to visit Val & Paul on their farm. Got a bit silly, drank some excellent wine, stopped on the side of the road on the way home to dig up some nerines.

June

Celebrated by 26th birthday. Went to Sodwana bay to go Scuba diving with Andy and Kim. Packed her little 4×4 to the roof, round the seats and even the glove compartment!  J and I squeezed into whatever gap was left. We had a glorious time, winter in Natal is definately better than winter in the E.Cape (except for Kokstad where it was -3C at 0900! Outstanding memories would be whole wheat rusks, drifting along at our 5m safety stop above the reef and the massive turtle until we got down to only 10bar of air! BIG no-no if you’re a diver! But it was our last dive and we were only at 5m. We had a lovely weekend with good friends.

July

I started this blog. My very first effort was a LiveJournal, but their set up was so difficult to use. (Don’t bother looking for it, I used an entirely different name.). After several months, I tried again on Blogger. I was determined to post every week day (no internet at home). Then I got tired of all the issues on Blogger so I moved across to WordPress. J’s cricket club had their AGM and argued about random stuff. We had miserable weather, with a few flakes of real snow falling in town (allegedly!). My sister sent me some delicious Body Shop goodies for my birthday (which was last month). Jax and I had our now annual dress-up combined birthday party which was fun. We did ABBA this year. A good friend of mine Jayne, got engaged and we were all SO thrilled!

August

I ordered myself a Kenwood mixer-it was very exciting! We went to Rietfontien with Techie and his vegetarian girlfriend. J shot a lovely kudu (cation, this post has hunting and carcass photos – not for the squeamish). Part of our share got turned into biltong, the other part into borewors. Which we are still eating (in December!).

September

I donated blood then shot off to PE for a random conference on museums. Ate delicious sushi all by myself. Bought J his drill (at last!). It was also J’s first cricket match for the season.  We had our National Braai Day. Checkers put Christmas decorations up. I was in shock. My parents gave me 1 week’s notice that they were coming down for their anniversary. Did a lot of gardening, bought a lot of seeds; heirlooms and otherwise.

October

After about a week’s notice, I flew up to Durban to join my parents and sister in the Natal Midlands in celebrating my parent’s 30th wedding anniversary, (notes start here). I caught my first trout on fly, ever. Bought a hammock chair, wine, and beer from Nottingham Road brewery. Spent some fun time with family. We also had over 100mm of rain this month which was great! I moved from Blogger to WordPress. I thought my Boss was going to drive me crazy with her popping in for a chat on average once ever 35mins in a 9 hour work day (you do the maths), and staying for up to 15mins at a time. Oh, and a snake slithered under my chair while I was sitting in it! I also decided to apply for an MBA and the company agreed that it was a good idea. I replaced the windscreen in my car and was very impressed with the service from GlasFit in Port Alfred.

November

J and I finally got to play with sparklers I bought for Halloween. I went to the dentist for a filling, (and eventually a root canal) and I started having a ‘Red Wine Friday‘ (which has been MOST enjoyable!) J went away for another field trip, only 2 weeks this time. I didn’t like the wind. I chilled with some friends in Kleinemond. We went to our friends, Tubby & Stacey’s wedding and then to the SA vs. England one-day cricket match in PE. The wedding was fantastic fun, the cricket, not so much. Parents booked flights home.

December

I finally filed my tax return and go a refund in about 4 days! Amazement and shock etc. Back to the dentist for a root canal after a weekend of agony! Dinner at Table Two with good friends. Stood up by other friends for a visit to their farm. Went shopping in PE, ate good sushi and flew home on Dec 20th. Christmas with the family, back to SA on the 26th, away on the 27th for a break with J’s family in Lady Grey.

And right now, no idea where I am (as this is written LONG in advance) but I am wondering what 2010 will bring. Other than soccer hooligans. Lots of work, lots of stress, some good times too, oppourtunities, gym, good food, new friends, new house! Here’s hoping that you can look back on your year with happiness, and look forward to the new year with anticipation! Happy New Year!