PERSONAL – December Ups and Downs

This has been one roller-coaster of a month. Plenty of highs and lows. So, in a nutshell:

During the first week of December, me and my boyfriend went to Sicily for a short 4-day break. You can read the first part of how that went here, but I’ve still got to continue writing about the rest of the trip. You might ask yourself – why is she taking this long to write about a mere 4-day long trip? The point is, I love travelling – I am simply enchanted by the plethora of emotions, new thoughts and ways of perceiving the world which open up whenever I set foot in a country different from my own, with ‘exotic’ mentalities, colors, history and trends, SO I actually don’t find it that easy to describe it all when I come back, because there is just SO MUCH TO SAY! In fact, if you look through my past posts, you’ll realize that I’ve never actually sat down and documented each and every one of the places I’ve traveled to – simply because there are so many of them. However I told myself I’d make an attempt with this 4-day Sicily trip just to see how it would go. Anyhow, there you have it, still to be continued. And don’t worry, it WILL be, all in its own good time.

Got sidetracked there. Sorry.

On our last day in Sicily, I woke up suffering from some serious back-pain. Sciatica to be precise. The pain extended down to my left leg and I could hardly walk. Needless to be said, the last day was the climax of our trip, as we had planned on going for a jeep-trip up Mount Etna… you think I flunked that? AS IF! I still went. Hopping and wincing and dragging my sorry carcass up the whole mountain. And boy, was I glad I did!

More of that in future posts relating to the actual holiday.

We came back on the 12th. Tuesday 13th was a local Public Holiday so I didn’t have to go to work, and spent the whole day in bed resting and hoping my back would get better. It didn’t. On Wednesday, I went to the doctors’ who gave me pills, painkillers, and the advice to get MORE rest. So, that was the second week of December – which I spent in bed sleeping off my pills.

Luckily for me, the pain retreated, and I was okeyish for the weekend. This was important since my birthday was on Saturday 17th, and I knew that my boyfriend had planned the whole weekend with events for me. That is what we do – I plan stuff for his birthday and he plans stuff for mine. We spent some days meeting friends and family, and I really enjoyed that. Kudos luv! Not to mention that one of the pressies I received is a nice voucher from Ryanair to be redeemed by November 2017! Yay!

On Monday I felt a bit better and so went back to work, taking a large cake with me for my colleagues in celebration of my birthday. The cake was in fact so large, that we are still eating from it (we are a small department). And today is the 27th! During the third week of December we also had our ‘official’ Xmas party at work. The food, I admit, wasn’t anything spectacular, HOWEVER I did make up for it with alcohol consumption… enough said. Unfortunately this also meant that I was too tipsy and suffering from a hangover to actually do my Yule ritual. Ah well, I’m sure the Gods didn’t mind all that much since I celebrated with libation anyways.

On the 24th I cooked and slaved the whole day to prepare an enormous family dinner. Family members came late, and I was quite angry about that, but it was ok in the end and the food was a huge success. We still have our fridge packed with delicious left-overs. On the 25th we ate an enormous Indian buffet, after which Aunt Flo came to visit, and actually floored me. I had to stay home and rest to cope with that, so I missed another family gathering in the evening.

I’m so so tired of eating… AND YES my weight has gone up again! Frankly after noticing the first 3 kilos, I stayed away altogether from the bathroom scales… they scare me.

January will come soon enough, and then it will be time to face the music all right!

 

2014 is over, and what have you done?

So, tomorrow is the last year of 2014, and as the song says ‘What have you done?’

2014

I don’t expect to remember everything I’ve done this year, what’s worse I don’t think I’ll even remember everything IMPORTANT I’ve done, but let’s at least try ok?

1. January – started to work for an online magazine. At first it was just sporadically but throughout the months I’ve now become one of their top 3 contributors = SUCCESS!!

2. February – Went to Venice to celebrate Valentine’s with my other half. Was amazing 🙂

3. May – Participated for the third year running in the Medieval Mdina event as a Medieval reenactor – FUN!

4. June – Finally had the guts to have the eye laser operation! Bye bye glasses and contact lenses! Eyes are now better than ever! = SELF IMPROVEMENT

5. July – New tattoo! My third one so far and the bigger and most special one, depicting my chosen Goddess, the Lady of the Ravens.

6. August – Celebrated my 2nd year Anniversary with my <3. A love found is a treasure, a love kept is a life-long blessing.

7. September – Went to London on a work-trip and enjoyed it a lot too!

8. October – Went to London on ANOTHER work-trip lol. This time round I even had time to visit Camden Town!

9. November – Met one of my fav contemporary artists in the whole world – LUIS ROYO!! Have pics, his signiture and a painting he did for me too!!

10. December – Went to Southern Ireland for 10 days with my other half. 7 nights in a cottage and 3 in a b&b on the beach. Now, that’s what I would call BLISS.

Hmm… I’ve ‘done’ ok for myself I think ;p

But… much much more is still to come in 2015!!