Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999...or something. Farewell 2012.

It's completely crazy that today is the last day of 2012.

In some ways, it feels like forever since last New Year's Eve, but then on the other hand the year has flown by.

Looking back, I can barely believe where I am today compared to this time last year, and for the first time in a few years I am going to celebrate the end of a hugely successful and wonderful year instead of commiserating and just being thankful that the bloody year has finally ended!

So 2012 really was my year. I didn't win the lottery (yet...see resolutions for 2013 haha) but after a few hellish years it is so wonderful to say that this year provided so many more ups than it did downs.

I guess a huge one is my move to Toowoomba. Who would have ever thunk it that this here precious urban princess would have found her home in small town Toowoomba and settled in like I'd lived here forever? Not a backward glance. Not a single one.

And of course a huge part of that is the fantastic job I scored that I think I was born to do. I've just completely fallen on my feet and I thank god for the day I sat on the bus thinking, 'this is no way to live' and opened my laptop to fall upon the job ad. It's kismet.

Yesterday I also achieved a major milestone - I got to see my sister and her lovely family for the first time in too many years. Sharing a wonderful few hours together and seeing my niece grow from a baby to a gorgeous little girl just made my heart sing. I don't think you've been able to wipe the smile of E's and my face since. I'm looking forward to many more times together in 2013.

E and I, Christmas Day 2012

Christmas was also just wonderful. Santa crept into the living room and left E a sack as big as himself chock full of all sorts of things. And he got the 'book safe' (ie. the safe that looks like a book) that he wanted, which has now become the receptacle for all his 'treasures' (eg. Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and Jelly Bellies).

My Christmas Present from E.
He gets his taste from his mum.

We then set off for an uneventful drive to Tenterfield, to unwrap yet more presents with dad and my stepmother. Not to mention 'taste testing' the Moet (for quality control purposes of course. It took me quite a number of glasses to determine it warranted my seal of approval).

Seeing E's face light up was priceless, particularly when the piece de resistance - a laptop computer, was unwrapped from his amazing grandparents. His old computer barely even goes anymore and with him entering high school, an updated version was getting to the necessary stage. He has barely been off it since!

I also really, really wish I'd taken a picture of our Christmas dessert. My stepmother is coeliac and also has to follow a strict FODMAP diet, which can be seriously challenging.  However, her gluten free chocolate cake with berries and lactose free icecream was divine. Sadly, I was too keen to dig in to capture it for posterity.

And of course, almost most importantly, in 2012 I started this blog!!!

It's so wonderful to have this online journal, so to speak, that I can look back on and read over my entries. It almost seems like a different person wrote all the beginning ones where it's clear I was itching for a change. I love the fact that this blog is like a time capsule in that way. Very cool.

All in all, I have so many blessings to count from 2012, and feel like I'm a very lucky girl! Seriously, if you'd seen me this time last year, I deliberately stayed home and went to bed early just because I wanted to wake up and have the year that was be gone.

Taking my job as champagne
Quality Controller seriously

So this is awesome.

So I'm not much of a resolutions type of girl but it seems pretty obligatory to at least have a few so here goes:

• To have my father not say 'you're not that great a housekeeper'. Scratch that, never gonna happen. Sorry dad.
• To start writing my blog a lot more regularly again. I think at one stage I became too consumed with my blog that it was invading every waking moment and ruining 'real life'. Like, I'd be out and about and seriously just be seeing the world through 'blog glasses'. Not cool. So I got blog lethargy there for awhile but I resolve to make a comeback in 2013...god help you all.
• To spend more time with my friends. I've become a bit withdrawn this past year just due to the fact that I had a few periods of sickness (damn you Toowoomba flu) and with the new job and house and everything, it was all just a bit much at times. I draw inwards when I get a bit overwhelmed so now's time to open back up and invite people in! Certainly being on holidays helps although I barely feel like I've sat down and yet I'm halfway through...eep!
• To stop being a bitch about the Cliffos and VPL. Yeah scratch that one too.
• Apparently my stepmother said that 2013 has to be the year I find myself a man. Oh. Dear. God. I'll keep you posted.
• To stop embarrassing my son in public. Yeah. Right.
• To win millions and buy a day spa where my stepmother and I will be employed as 'Quality Control Consultants'. It's an important job.
• To not drink my body weight in fine champagne at every given opportunity. Well, what else it is there for?
• To have an even more fabulous year than 2012 was!!!

So there you are. I resolve to be happy and healthy and wealthy...hahaha!

What are your resolutions? Did 2012 treat you well or will you be partying like it's 1999 tonight (sorry, bad Prince reference there) just became the damn year is finally coming to a close?

I'm happy to say that I'll be celebrating the former!

See you in 2013 y'all!

xx

Why I'm happy to have an arrogant child.

Maybe it's a side effect of being sick but I have been really contemplative lately. Perhaps it's the blog, perhaps it's the big changes I've made in my life lately or maybe I've just had too much time on my hands but I've been doing a lot of thinking about many random things, both important and unimportant.

A few weeks back I visited Brisbane for the first time to see my friends (who, without meaning to sound too wanky, filled my soul) and whilst I loved every single minute of catching up with my nearest and dearest, I really couldn't wait to get 'home'.

It's been such a short time in the scheme of things, just a few months, but Toowoomba really IS home now and I couldn't be happier. My health has been shot to shit, my house a comedy of errors and work has been insane but ultimately I have built a really happy and fulfilling life here. 

It all came full circle this weekend when I enjoyed a visit from my dad and my stepmother as well as my stepsister and her gorgeous kids. They were here to celebrate my stepmother's best friend's son's birthday (whew, did you follow that mouthful?) who also lives in Toowoomba (yes the one they've been trying to get me to meet).

It was really exciting to show them through my cute little cottage for the first time and to see the kids playing happily in the backyard. My stepsister has gone through a bit of a tree-change herself, moving recently from the Sunshine Coast to join my dad and her mum in Tenterfield. She's loving the simpler life and quite honestly, so am I.

So last night we went to the BBQ to celebrate Dan's birthday and I was caught up in conversation with a few people about how I was finding life in Toowoomba. I really wish I'd been in great health as there was a lot of drinking and laughter and all-around good times to be had, however unfortunately I flagged and bailed pretty early in the piece due to after-effects of sickness/medication.

While I was there though, it was so nice to talk to others who'd made the 'change' to Toowoomba and haven't looked back. 

Is it rare to feel so at home so quickly in a new town? I don't know what it is but we really just hit the ground running.

People often comment that I must be enjoying discovering new places up here and I promised myself I would do that...however since we got here we've pretty much established a really 'normal' life...you know, work, pottering around the house, becoming a 'regular' at the local coffee shop, enjoying the sunshine...blah blah. Clearly not the most exciting lifestyle you could imagine, but it is absolutely perfect for us.

I realised how perfect when my father and stepmother commented on a few things E had said to them in the car on the way to lunch yesterday. Basically the little brat spent the ride there bragging his ass off about his athletic prowess, his academic excellence and basically how fabulous and unparalleled he is at, well, everything.

Now to put this in context, E's first few years at school were pretty troubled. He was picked on, was considered anti-social and weird and had lots of social issues. I have worked pretty hard with him over the years to try to build his self-esteem and knew we'd made enormous headway. But it wasn't until dad told me the only ego issues he had these days were...well...a degree of ARROGANCE that I realised how far we'd come!

And it is so true. It has happened so gradually that I didn't really see it coming but standing before me now is a self-confident, assured young man who can laugh at himself, isn't mean or a bully and still dances to the beat of his own drum and doesn't give a rats what anyone says about it. What a win. My awesome little weirdo.

It makes my heart proud. Just effing fabulous. And what a contrast to the withdrawn, sad little man he was just a few years ago.

I always think that building self-esteem is the most important gift you can give your child. I had none as a kid and never want fear and uncertainty to hold E back the way it held me back. If a kid is strong and confident, then hopefully it will give him the backbone to hold his head high and make the right choices as a teenager.

Here's hoping...

xx

Being Debbie Downer. And counting my blessings.

I realise I've been doing more than my fair share of whinging lately, heavy on the negativity. You don't realise how introverted and completely selfish you become when sick. For a few days there my whole world was just me, me, me and what impact it would have on, ME.

Debbie Downer much?

For example, on Saturday I drove my pretty damned perfect son down to Warwick to do a halfway handover with my dad, so that he can spend a week of his school holidays in Tenterfield with his grandparents and a bunch of his cousins.

Did I mention this oh just slightly important fact on my blog? Uh....

I woke up this morning not feeling like death warmed up (mind you, it was 1 degree so it wouldn't have been warmed up, just death. But I didn't feel it). Not saying I jumped out of bed and started singing and dancing to rival some lame-ass old school musical but I woke up. After sleeping for a solid 8 hours. Without waking up. Wow.

And I realised that perhaps, just perhaps, the world didn't revolve around me. Maybe.

(this has not yet been confirmed, of course).

Groundbreaking stuff.

Now that the cold and flu tablets seem to be embedded into my very fibres and I'm finally starting to feel on the upward rise of this dreaded lurgie, it's time to clear the cobwebs and count my blessings again. Yes you may breathe a sigh of relief now that I can finally breathe at all. So here we go:

• It might be freezing, but it's the most beautiful perfect day outside. Blue skies, gentle wind and nary a cloud in the sky. Gorgeous.
• I haven't had to rush my son to hospital two nights in a row thinking he's stopped breathing, like a friend of mine. Couldn't imagine anything more frightening and I thank the universe for the prognosis being OK. Thinking of you xx
• Whilst I miss E like a missing limb, to hear him excitedly tell me about his day every night on the phone makes me smile and warms my heart. Some of my favourite memories are of school holidays with my grandparents and terrorising the neighbourhood with my cousins. For E to have the opportunity to spend a week with four of his cousins are lifetime memories in the making. Doesn't hurt that he's the oldest and like the Pied Piper, with all the littler ones following him around like Justin Bieber! He's also loving the novelty of staying by himself in one of the motel rooms at dad's motel like an adult. So cute.
• If I haven't mentioned it before, I really, REALLY love our new house! Yes it's cold and yes the toilet is an ice-skating rink expanse of tiled floors away at night and yes we've experienced water, electrical and god knows what else issues in the short time we've been here but none of that matters. I LOVE it.
• E's birthday is coming up in a few weeks and for a while now he's been asking for a bigger bed as due to his growing-like-a-weed habit that he just WON'T quit, and the funny way he sleeps with his arms thrown over his head, his feet are already hanging off the bottom of the bed. It's times like these where parents with a motel come in very handy. Dad's ordered a commercial quality queen size bed for about half the price of the dodgiest one at the shops. So I'm waiting for a phone call any day to organise delivery. I really hope it gets here while E is still at Tenterfield as I'd love to have it set up and made and everything, just to see his face when he comes home. Very lucky that his room is way big enough to accommodate the bed too!
• Speaking of E's birthday, we've told him because the bed is so expensive (and grandparents/myself are going halves) that he won't be getting anything else. Because he's such a darling, he's completely cool with that. Of course I wouldn't let him NOT have something to open on the morning of his birthday so I'm on the hunt for the perfect thing. I've found this utterly awesome Lego Kombi that I absolutely think must be on the list. Can't decide if it's more for me or E though!
• Looking forward to having an indoor campout (which sounds way cooler than 'sleepover', yeah?) for E's birthday. We're having fun trawling through Pinterest looking for cool party ideas and have come up with a few things that will look awesome. Can't wait.

So there you are, Negative Nelly is gone. At least for today!

xx