2016 Year In Review

Here's the thing about 2016. It was pretty terrible. Which might sound overdramatic when I also add that nothing truly earth shattering in my life happening. There wasn't one big event when the world collapsed around me but more like 300 moments that strung together to leave me feeling defeated and generally unhappy. And maybe 2017 will be different, but maybe it won't, it could get worse. 

January// I rang in 2016 with J. and had dinner with his family which mainly revolved around his sister sharing her tales of adventure from the night before. Then I headed off to Florida and got to experience Disney World. Turns out I was very wrong in my thought process about not enjoying Disney because I don't like rides. Disney World is a magical place. I turned 26 and didn't do much to celebrate because I was working. January was also the month that I committed to spending a fifth summer working at camp. 

February// I celebrated four years of blogging in this little space. And spent the rest of my time working at the office job and planning for the summer. I had a very low key Valentine's Day celebration and didn't blog all that much. 

March// At this point I was working seven days a week. In addition to working Monday-Friday I was also working overtime on Saturday & Sunday. I forget exactly how many days I worked in a row but I know it was a lot. 

April// My contract for the office job ended towards the end of the month and as soon as it did I hopped on a plane to visit H. in Ontario. We hit up all the major tourist attractions and had the best time catching up. 

May// I transitioned into working at camp full time and right from the beginning it was a bit of a gong show. Blogging moved to the back burner to the back of the fridge and then became that thing you put in the freezer that you keep meaning to defrost. 

June// More camp, no blogging. I ended things with J., which was probably my best decision of 2016. Camp was one tale of adventure after the other. I wish I had blogged more but I did keep a written journal and I documented everything using Project Life so I'm letting myself be okay with not blogging. 

July// R. arrived home and since we were in the middle of an epic staff shortage she came on board and also moved into my room. We made a lot of jokes about being 26 working at camp and having bunk beds. I think we passed the ultimate friendship test sharing a room, working together and still going on weekend adventures. 

August// R. and I went on many weekend adventures and camp continued to teach me a lot of things about human resources. 

September// We ran our first two fall camping events! Which was really exciting and also meant I didn't leave camp until mid-September. I started blogging again and also started seriously pursuing year round camp jobs out of province...none of which worked out. I did start helping out with a new Spark/Brownie group which has been a lot of fun!

October// We had some serious weather over Thanksgiving weekend. I got back into the groove of blogging and participated in the Back to Blogging Challenge hosted by Alyssa Goes Bang which really got me back in the blogging groove. I finished off the month with a weekend trip to visit H. & R. and continued to reach a lot of dead ends on the year round camp job front. 

November// We had our enrolment ceremony at Sparks/Brownies and celebrated my grandparents 50th anniversary. I was feeling really discouraged about the job hunt but tried really hard to embrace the journey.

December// I embraced the mantra always forward for the remainder of the year because the search for full time, year round employment is still coming up short. I continued to apply for positions and try to be in the moment rather than worrying about what happens next.

I have no idea what 2017 will have in store. I hope that it brings an amazing new job, that I get to spend lots of time with H. & R. and I can keep working on becoming less of a worrier and more of a savourer. 

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A New Year's Do Over

I spent January 1st in an excited panic. 

My One Little Word prompts had arrived for the month of January.

My blank Five Year Question Journal was sitting on my bedside table ready to start. 

My Project Life Album was full of empty pocket page protectors. 

My 52 Things in 52 Weeks list waited for the first thing to get crossed off.

The year had hardly started and already I felt slightly overwhelmed by my imaginary to do list. (I say imaginary to do list because I did have a real to do list. It involved packing, arranging, Sparks things, meal planning...you know things that would actually impact my daily life.)

And then I messed up and my one month old phone met with water which was enough for my mind to grind to a halt and recognize that I was rushing myself to do all the fun things and ruining the fun in the process. 

I am not going to disappoint Ali Edwards if I don't finish all of my OLW prompts by January 2nd.

It will take me approximately 5 minutes to respond to the prompt in my Five Year Journal. 

It's called Project Life not Project January 1st.

52 Weeks...not 52 minutes on January 1st. 

It was like the calendar changed to 2016 and I went coocoo bananas and lost all sight of reality and logical thinking. 

I spent January 2nd in my yoga pants and hoodie. I helped mom tear down Christmas and return it all to the attic. I communicated by landline and e-mail while my cellphone hung out in a baggie full of rice. I sharpened a tupperware container full of pencil crayons left over from my elementary school days to use in my new colouring books. I hit the reset button. 

I'm declaring a do over on January 1st. 

Reminding myself that there is no need to rush into things. There is no prize for finishing things first and nobody is going to hand me an award for starting the most projects on January 1st. I've secretly rolled my eyes a little every time I've read about a blogger committing to being more intentional over the last few weeks. Now I'm about to join the ranks. I still have every intention of completing Project Life this year, following along with my One Little Word, crossing off items on my 52 Things List and responding to the journal prompts every day. I also have every intention to do one thing at a time and enjoy the process. 

So tonight I'm going to ring in January 3rd and remind myself that Rome wasn't built in a day and the year doesn't revolve around crossing items off on my to do list. 

2015 Loose Ends

I fully intended on blogging between Christmas and New Years but obviously that didn't work out. Before the clock strikes 12 and everything switches to new years goals and resolutions I did want to post about Christmas and tie up a few loose ends before I jump into 2016.

My Christmas first started when Alex's package showed up! Alex blogs over at Whitehall & Rose and we were paired together for the Blogging Elite's Christmas Cheer Swap. I had the best time exchanging e-mails, reading her blog, following her on social media and getting to know her during the month leading up to the swap. Alex put together an awesome box and included scrapbook paper, stickers, an alpha stamp set, pretty metallic markers and two of my favourite treats - Reese and dark chocolate. Plus an adorable card. I can't say enough wonderful things about Alex. It was probably the easiest swap I've ever participated in and I really wish we were closer and could arrange an awesome blogger date! 

Christmas Eve afternoon J. and I had our own unconventional but awesome Christmas. 

Originally the plan was to go out for lunch when he finished work and then go back to his house to exchange presents. He ended up working a little later than anticipated and town was absolutely crazy by the time he was finished. We opted for McDonald's take out back to his house and a fast food lunch before presents. It wasn't the least bit fancy but I kind of love it. I'm positive that McDonald's lunch on Christmas Eve will not become a forever tradition but in this moment, when it's just the two of us it felt fitting. And knowing that I want to focus on documenting the everyday moments during 2016 this felt like a good start. Anyway, after we had finished our fries we got to presents. We had already determined that Christmas would be small since we're going away next month so I was pretty darn surprised when I opened my FitBit. Thankfully J. was equally as happy with the somewhat random assortment of stocking stuffers and gifts I had compiled. Shortly after gifts we went out separate ways to spend Christmas Eve night with our respective families. I headed to church and my aunts and was happily in bed by 11 p.m..

Christmas morning we opened our gifts, Peyton had the time of her life playing with wrapping paper, jumping in and out of boxes and bags and generally causing as much havoc as possible. We had Christmas dinner with my Dad's side of the family and then visited with my Mom's side. On Boxing Day (which I've only recently learned is mostly a thing in Canada and the U.K. and not so much anywhere else) I woke up bright an early and headed to the city to be reunited with H. & R.!

As per usual our time together included wine, Twisted Teas, hot tubbing, shopping (purchasing matching t-shirts) and a snow storm. My drive home on Monday was pretty sketchy but it was worth the time we got to spend together. 

Since I got home I've been visiting relatives, colouring in my adult colouring book, organizing my supplies to tackle both Project Life and One Little Word in 2016 and squeezing in time to stay caught up with The Curse of Oak Island and Top Chef!

I don't have any big plans for New Year's Eve. J. and I are going to make supper at his house (or go to his parents for Chinese that part is to be determined) and then spend the evening watching Harry Potter movies (we started the first one last night after homemade pizza) and playing boardgames. There is a supposed to be a fireworks display in town at midnight so we might check that out but it really depends on the weather. I have no interest in being outside in the cold for hours, especially in the snow.