So Long, 2013!

'Tis the season, the season I no longer shy away from the post box ("MORE bills?! *runs away*)! Christmas cards! :D And, of course, the newsletters.

Victoria Wood does a fantastic routine about the family newsletters in Christmas cards. I can't find the Youtube video, but it's funny. Take my word for it. Frankly, we get a few, and I quite enjoy them! Of course there are the ones that are blatantly just "not-so-humblebrag" newsletters..."This year unfortunately we've spent a fortune on fuel, even though we got a super-economic new car, driving to New Haven, but it's worth it to visit Binky at Yale! Did we mention our little Binky got into Yale?" But if you've done something to be proud of, why not tell the world? Just tell us!

We don't do a family newsletter, but if we did, it might run a bit like this...

January: I gave blood for the first (and currently only) time. They made a terrible mess of my arm, but I would do it again in a flash. Unfortunately I had some iron issues and then flu, so I haven't managed to donate again since. I plan to in 2014 though.

February: Valentine's Day! I can't remember precisely how we celebrated. Welcome to married life, y'all.

Pancake Day! Not normally newsletter-worthy, but this year I discovered pancakes with home-made chocolate orange ganache sauce and whipped cream.

Commence Droolage....Now.

March: I hit the big 2-9! :D I took a few days off work, and had a couple of road trips, including taking myself to the Harry Potter Studio Tour at Leavesden Studios which was AMAZING. If you want to go, I will go with you. I want to go again. Christmas would be good, they do special trips and there's snow and...Anyway. Travelling companion available! :D

Amazing. Scale model of Hogwarts at HPST.

April: Play-Offs!! We spent a great weekend with family friends in Nottingham.

Meat Loaf! We went to the Last World Tour, and it was brilliant.

Yes I do pick my seats based on Paul Crook's stage side. Sorry Randy, love ya, love Paul more.

May: We went to see Mick Foley again. His stand-up show is VERY funny, I would imagine moreso if you are into wrestling, but still, he's a funny guy. I also went on my friend's hen do, and got the drunkest I have probably ever been in my life (which isn't hard to do, because I don't really drink, but hey).

June: We went to Manchester to see Bon Jovi (again!).



Rumboldfest! We had a great time at our friends' awesome campsite wedding in Wales.

BFF and I got up stupidly early to queue for tickets for Michael Buble's "surprise" gig (public dress rehearsal) in Sheffield...AND GOT TICKETS!! Awesome show as usual, and we got to see for £25 what would have cost us £80 in London. Plus every penny of profit went to local children's charities. What a lovely man.


July: I did the "Insanity" programme (July and August too). Even though I had to finish a little early because of an injury, I finished eventually!

We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary, by not doing very much at all. Ho-hum. The traditional 6th wedding anniversary gift is sugar.

I went to London for a girly weekend to see Rascal Flatts. Awesome show, and Laura Bell Bundy was the support act. Bonus! This was one of those weird circumstances when someone I don't know that well and haven't seen for months tagged me in a status because I was the only one of her FB friends in England who also liked the Rascal Flatts fan page and said "Hey! I have tickets! Want to see Rascal Flatts?" and I said yes, and then awesomeness happened.

Second row standing, people. Second. Row. Standing. Which as we all know, for short people, soon turns into FRONT row standing. I spent the evening wearing a stranger's cowboy hat, which he passed up to Laura Bell Bundy to perform in, and then put back on my head. SSSF (Stranger's Stetson Sisters Forever).

August: Family Holiday to Norfolk. Great times, even though John had to come home early for work. We still had a fantastic time and I LOVED having a dog again for a week. :D

September: John's birthday. I fear I set myself up for a fall when I made the Big 3-0 birthday so spectacular (his day included a trip out to buy a Blu-ray player, meal out, cinema, hockey, takeaway).

The cake came later. First there was a Birthday Cookie.

October: We started the Christmas shopping! First time we have been able to be this organised but 2013 has been kind, LOTS of monthly payments have ended (YAY for steps closer to being debt-free, even baby steps!), and John worked extreeeemely hard and got lots of lovely overtime, and hence Christmas was a lot less panicked this year!

We also had a visit from one of my best friends and his wife from Canada, who we've been looking forward to meeting for years. We had a great week showing off our favourite places in England and getting to know Lisa. Before they came I missed one friend in Canada, now I miss two! I'm lucky that all my friends choose awesome partners. Yay!

November: Disney on Ice! Rapunzel is one of my favourites, so I had to see Dare To Dream.

December: I worked. John worked. When the stars aligned with a prevailing wind we actually saw each other once in a while. Christmas was quiet with both families, and New Year celebrations will be similar. As usual we will be ringing in the new year at home tonight, just the two of us, good food, some treats and the TV.

Next year we are looking forward to my Big 3-0 Birthday, which will hopefully include a girly trip to London amongst other activities. Hopefully we will also be able to afford to put a deposit down for my Big 3-0 Birthday Trip to Walt Disney World (actual trip delayed to 2015) when we will hopefully be travelling with friends and meeting up with at least one more! It's weird planning so far in advance, but we also have our eye on a trip to Canada (hopefully in 2015), visiting friends in Quebec and Toronto with a road trip to New York (state not city). Quebec/Toronto/Ontario/NY peeps, get ready! At some stage, we're coming!! This will be timed to coincide with hockey season, obviously. ;)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope 2014 is happy, healthy and brings you everything you deserve.

Listography: 10 Really Annoying Things That Are Still LESS Annoying Than Sniffing.

It's sniffing season. I hate the sound of people sniffing. Just blow your nose!! I even hate having to sniff myself, I actually irritate myself. I have gone so far as to offer tissues to people who are browsing at work because their constant sniffing was driving me insane. I'm just being helpful, maybe you forgot a tissue...It's not that I'm wanting to smack you in the head with something to stop the Chinese-water-torture-esque noise (honest!).

Few people realise how much it irritates me. So in no particular order, I give you 10 Really Annoying Things That Are Still LESS Annoying Than Sniffing:

Screaming children.

Rave music.

People who cut lines/traffic.

Cold-callers.

Running out of toilet roll.

"There's an unexpected item in the bagging area..."

Kids faking American accents.

Smudging/chipping a nail.

Jazz Music.

That stupid Flora "Wrestling" advert.

Listography: 5 Things I Inexplicably Love

In no particular order of preference:

1). Notebooks.

My name is Sarah, and I am a notebook addict. There. I said it. If there was a Stationery Anonymous, I would be a founder member. I love notebooks. The day they opened a Paperchase in Sheffield was easily one of my happiest. I am obsessed with Paperchase notebooks (and Paperchase in general), especially the big chunky ones with decorated pages, like the one above. I think it all started when I used to get little scented notebooks (do they still sell those?! I want one) in my Advent calendar when I was about four years old.

2). Paisley.

I think paisley is much under-appreciated these days. Yes, it can be garish and hideously bright and busy, but that really is all part of it's charm, don't you think?? It's exciting! It makes your brain wince a bit and, if the pattern is patterny enough, it's a bit baffling and your eyeballs get a bit bamboozled, but in a good way. I love it. As if you didn't all feel sorry enough for my husband, we have not one but TWO sets of paisley bedding in our collection (I say "our", obviously I mean "my". As long as there are covers of some description he doesn't really care either way...and I think he only cares that there are covers because I shout if there are pillows that don't have cases on).

3). Brown labels.

Paddington Bear. Old vintage suitcases. Bottles that say "Drink Me". Black and white photos of small children on station platforms in dufflecoats. We should use more brown labels. They're awesome.

4). Leather bookmarks.

I don't have this one. I wish I did. Always expanding the collection...

I guess the inexplicable thing is that I collect leather bookmarks (as in, I have over 100 of them), but I never USE leather bookmarks, because they make your pages stay too far apart. My bookmark of choice is a tissue or a square of toilet paper (purely for size, not reading location!!!!!). I don't actually own the bookmark above, but I chose it for illustrative purposes as it also covers some of the obscure places that have their own bookmarks. I have bookmarks from places that don't even exist any more. For as long as I can remember when we went anywhere with a gift shop, my Grandpa would buy me a leather bookmark. Then whenever I went anywhere they didn't that had a gift shop, I would buy myself a leather bookmark. It has become my souvenir of choice. Now, other people also buy me leather bookmarks. I'm concerned and disappointed that Walt Disney World do not sell leather bookmarks. John was more than a little concerned that I am concerned by that.

5). Pointless glass objects.



Image copyright www.glass-sphere.com

Yup, love them. Not all of them are pointless, some are vases, glasses, etc, but I LOVE pretty glass things. Colours, bubbles, shapes, snowglobes, jars, candle holders...Love it all.

Awesome Video - Femme Visibility.

This awesome video was posted this week, by Megan Evans of "What Wegan Did Next" fame...

It's a bit of a detour from the topics I usually post about, but I think the video really does contain a number of messages (as well as the main one, obviously) that should be important to ALL women, gay, straight or otherwise, including...

Femininity means strength.
How you look shouldn't affect who you love.
Challenge stereotypes!
What you look like has NO bearing on who you are inside.

Along with the original message, I think they're pretty important messages for everyone to hear. :)