2013 recap
Merry after-Christmas! My favorite time of the year. :) Seriously, the days between Christmas and New Year's seem much more like holidays to me than the actual Holidays. Mostly because I don't care about the Holy Days in any kind of Christian sense, and all the festivities mean very little time to relax and reflect as you run from one family gathering to the next. But these days? The between days? Are awesome. :)
Sven and I have been mainlining the first two seasons of Game of Thrones, and omg, it's exactly as amazing as everyone's been saying! And I've been playing with my new Sims 3 expansion - University Life, which is super challenging to get the hang of, but in the good way!
I actually had a really nice Christmas this year. No drama, great presents, really good food. It was excellent.
So usually around this time of year I do a bit of inventory, to see what the year brought with it. And, well, at first glance, it doesn't seem like a whole lot.
But, we did manage two vacations this year, one of which was our honeymoon. And that's two vacations more than we had last year, and one more than we had the year before. All in all, I think we've really been improving our game when it comes to taking time off. After last year, I think Sven realized that he can't keep going at the tempo he has, and while I won't say it's been a strain on our relationship, it had the potential to become one down the line. We've actually been really selfish this year, taking a lot of weekends just for us, even if we didn't actually DO anything with them, other than the occasional spontaneous brunch date and general vegging out. It comes at the cost of not seeing friends as often as I'd perhaps like, and a bad conscience towards people wanting to hang out that have been put off. I'm sorry for that, but I love that my year hasn't felt half as hectic as 2012. Hopefully, we can find a middle ground this year.
Sven spent many of his weekends hunting, which meant that I had a lot of time to myself, and a lot of girl-time with friends, which massively improved my outlook too. I have to remember that I actually recharge in the company of friends, even if the process of making plans and actually leaving the house can seem like more work than it's worth when you're in your jammies and home-body'ing it up.
I took quite the rollercoaster ride regarding our plans to procreate, arriving at a solid "undecided" at this point. I think it's been good for me to really think things through, examining every possible aspect and outcome, and truly figuring out if I wanted kids because it's something *I* actually want, or because it's just what one is supposed to do. I thought I wanted kids like burning. Turns out I want kids like... warm water. :) It's a scary prospect, spawning. It's unknown territory, and all you have are the starry-eyed assurances from experienced parents that "it will be the hardest and most rewarding thing you'll ever do." Which... isn't actually a lot to go on, and isn't exactly reassuring, either. So... I've arrived at a point where I'm realizing that no matter what happens, I'm actually ok with it. I leave it in the hands of whatever powers that be. Obviously, I am well aware that we can help ourselves by actually being quite a bit more Project Baby about the whole thing. Which is probably our greatest hurdle, because idly wanting something and actively trying for something are two very different entities indeed. And when you have no idea what to expect, you tend to focus on the inconveniences that will come with it, instead of on whatever undetermined amount of happiness it will bring. As for Sven, he doesn't spend a whole lot of time thinking about these things. He wants kids because "it's what you do," he doesn't want more than one, he'd prefer a girl, and he's concerned with the huge inconvenience and potential problems it would entail for the business. So, y'know. I'm trying his way now, and not actually giving it much thought, aside from this post.
We got a dog, though! Molly came into this world on March 25th, and we took her home 8 weeks later. She turned 9 months on Christmas Day. She's still pretty high energy, and I've felt quite out of my depth with her for most of her time as a small puppy. I've never had a dog, and Sven has very specific rules about how to train a hunting dog, while I feel like I've just been stabbing my way in the dark. I certainly don't have the rapport with her that Sven does, but that's ok. It's his dog, acquired to suit his needs. She's still enough of a snuggle bunny that I get something out of it too. :) But we're both looking forward to her calming the fuck down when she gets a little older so we can actually take her places. My parents think we're willfully withholding her, when in truth it's just really exhausting and kind of embarrassing that she completely spazzes out whenever she's in a new place and/or meets new people, and it takes quite a bit more than a couple of visits for her to not think of a place as new and exciting.
We'll be getting a lot of new neighbors in the new year. They finally started building on the empty lot next to ours. We woke up at 5am on the Wednesday before Christmas with floodlights through our bedroom window as a giant truck delivered most of what will be a house. I'm unimpressed with the notion of starting a project like this 3-4 work days before a long holiday, but whatever. It's not like our poor new neighbors hired them to start up in October or anything, except that's exactly what they did...! They're set to move in come April, so it's definitely high time to get started. We also learned yesterday that the neighbor we share our back fence with passed away last week, as did another elderly gentleman in our little community. I didn't know the second guy, other than that his name was also Svend (with a D) and he was also a plumber, because we would get his mail more often than not. (Considering the return envelopes I deal with regularly, that really pissed me off. Not the same street, not the same last name, but make it my problem to deliver his goddamn mail, because my husband and this person had two things in common that more often than not weren't even mentioned on the envelope! Meanwhile, I get mail returned to me because I spelled Tomas with an 'H'! The "postal" "service" can go fuck themselves and the imbeciles they employ.) I'm unsurprised by the news of our back fence neighbor, and not especially saddened either. He'd been sick for a long time, and also, he was a really weird dude, and I shan't miss him. - Or his trailer park refugee camp. In any case, it'll be interesting to see what new folks will bring.
On a happier note, I managed to spend time with almost all of my favorite people at one point or another this year. And that always makes for a good year, no matter what. :) I forged a wonderful new friendship with my niece Astrid (my clone) as well as with my in-law niece Michelle, who, it turns out, is a fangirl as well, and was so thrilled to find out I read fanfiction too, and that we share a couple of fandoms. We hung out on the 26th with the rest of Sven's family, and she gave me a couple of comics (wrapped, and addressed "To the most awesome person I know" - AWW!) and she made me an amazingly talented drawing of my boyfriend, Captain America. :)
All in all, I don't feel that this has been the most exciting year of my life. I have a hard time accepting constants, and I live for change, but a lot of the time, change comes with heartbreak. Without one, there is very little of the other. Which... is kind of wonderful in itself. So. This was a good year. I was happy, or at least content, for all of it. I have a life I appreciate, with a wonderful husband, wonderful friends, and wonderful luxuries to enjoy. Basically, my biggest problem at this juncture is boredom, and I'm the only one who can change that. So, while I'm not doing any kinds of resolutions for the new year, I'm going to do what I can to be less... occasionally mildly discontent. Or at least distract myself with enough awesome experiences to not have time to contemplate how I feel about the day-to-day too often. :) Which is pretty much the ultimate in luxury problems.
Lessons learned: Sometimes things happen, and there is no good reason why. There is no answer to the question, "why?" There's no fix-it, no solution, just fact. All you can do is turn it upside down and be thankful for what was.
Happy New Year, darlings. I wish you all truly wonderful things in the year to come.
Sven and I have been mainlining the first two seasons of Game of Thrones, and omg, it's exactly as amazing as everyone's been saying! And I've been playing with my new Sims 3 expansion - University Life, which is super challenging to get the hang of, but in the good way!
I actually had a really nice Christmas this year. No drama, great presents, really good food. It was excellent.
So usually around this time of year I do a bit of inventory, to see what the year brought with it. And, well, at first glance, it doesn't seem like a whole lot.
But, we did manage two vacations this year, one of which was our honeymoon. And that's two vacations more than we had last year, and one more than we had the year before. All in all, I think we've really been improving our game when it comes to taking time off. After last year, I think Sven realized that he can't keep going at the tempo he has, and while I won't say it's been a strain on our relationship, it had the potential to become one down the line. We've actually been really selfish this year, taking a lot of weekends just for us, even if we didn't actually DO anything with them, other than the occasional spontaneous brunch date and general vegging out. It comes at the cost of not seeing friends as often as I'd perhaps like, and a bad conscience towards people wanting to hang out that have been put off. I'm sorry for that, but I love that my year hasn't felt half as hectic as 2012. Hopefully, we can find a middle ground this year.
Sven spent many of his weekends hunting, which meant that I had a lot of time to myself, and a lot of girl-time with friends, which massively improved my outlook too. I have to remember that I actually recharge in the company of friends, even if the process of making plans and actually leaving the house can seem like more work than it's worth when you're in your jammies and home-body'ing it up.
I took quite the rollercoaster ride regarding our plans to procreate, arriving at a solid "undecided" at this point. I think it's been good for me to really think things through, examining every possible aspect and outcome, and truly figuring out if I wanted kids because it's something *I* actually want, or because it's just what one is supposed to do. I thought I wanted kids like burning. Turns out I want kids like... warm water. :) It's a scary prospect, spawning. It's unknown territory, and all you have are the starry-eyed assurances from experienced parents that "it will be the hardest and most rewarding thing you'll ever do." Which... isn't actually a lot to go on, and isn't exactly reassuring, either. So... I've arrived at a point where I'm realizing that no matter what happens, I'm actually ok with it. I leave it in the hands of whatever powers that be. Obviously, I am well aware that we can help ourselves by actually being quite a bit more Project Baby about the whole thing. Which is probably our greatest hurdle, because idly wanting something and actively trying for something are two very different entities indeed. And when you have no idea what to expect, you tend to focus on the inconveniences that will come with it, instead of on whatever undetermined amount of happiness it will bring. As for Sven, he doesn't spend a whole lot of time thinking about these things. He wants kids because "it's what you do," he doesn't want more than one, he'd prefer a girl, and he's concerned with the huge inconvenience and potential problems it would entail for the business. So, y'know. I'm trying his way now, and not actually giving it much thought, aside from this post.
We got a dog, though! Molly came into this world on March 25th, and we took her home 8 weeks later. She turned 9 months on Christmas Day. She's still pretty high energy, and I've felt quite out of my depth with her for most of her time as a small puppy. I've never had a dog, and Sven has very specific rules about how to train a hunting dog, while I feel like I've just been stabbing my way in the dark. I certainly don't have the rapport with her that Sven does, but that's ok. It's his dog, acquired to suit his needs. She's still enough of a snuggle bunny that I get something out of it too. :) But we're both looking forward to her calming the fuck down when she gets a little older so we can actually take her places. My parents think we're willfully withholding her, when in truth it's just really exhausting and kind of embarrassing that she completely spazzes out whenever she's in a new place and/or meets new people, and it takes quite a bit more than a couple of visits for her to not think of a place as new and exciting.
We'll be getting a lot of new neighbors in the new year. They finally started building on the empty lot next to ours. We woke up at 5am on the Wednesday before Christmas with floodlights through our bedroom window as a giant truck delivered most of what will be a house. I'm unimpressed with the notion of starting a project like this 3-4 work days before a long holiday, but whatever. It's not like our poor new neighbors hired them to start up in October or anything, except that's exactly what they did...! They're set to move in come April, so it's definitely high time to get started. We also learned yesterday that the neighbor we share our back fence with passed away last week, as did another elderly gentleman in our little community. I didn't know the second guy, other than that his name was also Svend (with a D) and he was also a plumber, because we would get his mail more often than not. (Considering the return envelopes I deal with regularly, that really pissed me off. Not the same street, not the same last name, but make it my problem to deliver his goddamn mail, because my husband and this person had two things in common that more often than not weren't even mentioned on the envelope! Meanwhile, I get mail returned to me because I spelled Tomas with an 'H'! The "postal" "service" can go fuck themselves and the imbeciles they employ.) I'm unsurprised by the news of our back fence neighbor, and not especially saddened either. He'd been sick for a long time, and also, he was a really weird dude, and I shan't miss him. - Or his trailer park refugee camp. In any case, it'll be interesting to see what new folks will bring.
On a happier note, I managed to spend time with almost all of my favorite people at one point or another this year. And that always makes for a good year, no matter what. :) I forged a wonderful new friendship with my niece Astrid (my clone) as well as with my in-law niece Michelle, who, it turns out, is a fangirl as well, and was so thrilled to find out I read fanfiction too, and that we share a couple of fandoms. We hung out on the 26th with the rest of Sven's family, and she gave me a couple of comics (wrapped, and addressed "To the most awesome person I know" - AWW!) and she made me an amazingly talented drawing of my boyfriend, Captain America. :)
All in all, I don't feel that this has been the most exciting year of my life. I have a hard time accepting constants, and I live for change, but a lot of the time, change comes with heartbreak. Without one, there is very little of the other. Which... is kind of wonderful in itself. So. This was a good year. I was happy, or at least content, for all of it. I have a life I appreciate, with a wonderful husband, wonderful friends, and wonderful luxuries to enjoy. Basically, my biggest problem at this juncture is boredom, and I'm the only one who can change that. So, while I'm not doing any kinds of resolutions for the new year, I'm going to do what I can to be less... occasionally mildly discontent. Or at least distract myself with enough awesome experiences to not have time to contemplate how I feel about the day-to-day too often. :) Which is pretty much the ultimate in luxury problems.
Lessons learned: Sometimes things happen, and there is no good reason why. There is no answer to the question, "why?" There's no fix-it, no solution, just fact. All you can do is turn it upside down and be thankful for what was.
Happy New Year, darlings. I wish you all truly wonderful things in the year to come.