Happy Birthday Cardigans and Cats

This Friday marks the 1^st Birthday of C&C and the 68^th post on this blog!  I am a little excited for this milestone.  I have wanted to be a writer for a wee while now and this has been really fun.  My top rating article was The day after the London Riots – 159 page views!  That article was written with such emotion and very few hours sleep, so I am excited that this is my top rater.  This blog is a few days early due to my hectic life, I am going to see The Muppets tomorrow night - finally and then there will be my normal Friday...

The last few months, I have found it hard to write, it’s been a struggle as I have been feeling really homesick.  And that is something that not everyone wants to read about endlessly.  I have been going over and over it in my head and I still don’t really have the answers but there has been a lot of thinking that is for sure.  So hopefully that is the end of sentimental blogs for a while.  I am trying to get back on track and write something a bit more meaningful.  I was recently told that in this lifetime that I would write a book.  So with a view to getting published, I have a favour to ask.  You are all super supportive of this blog when it is posted on Facebook and make loads of comments there.  Please can you make them on the blog, it will never get the attention that it needs without these.  Right ranting over.

Here are some highlights from the last year….

• Weddings – Royal, Family and Friends.  I recently received a thank you card from Fe and Dan, it’s gorgeous and took me right back to that gorgeous weekend in Sydney.  Much warmer than it currently is in London.
• London Riots – not a highlight but a definite event in London.  It changed the way we look at each other and made me realise how peace can really be balanced on a knife edge.  And it destroyed my fav costume shop.  Not to trivialise it all, that night spent holed up in the pub was scary.  Scary enough that my Sister spent a chunk of her work day texting me and making sure I was ok.
• Friends coming and going – we lost a lot of friends to the greener pastures of home last year.  I saw a lot of them when I was back home for Christmas, they are not forgotten though, there are some rather large holes that are not quite filled.  This year sees more holes appearing, with Caz, Alex and I in competition for the last expats standing.  I guess that is a pretty big feature of living abroad. 
• Many happy nights/days and all in between at the pub.   This is where my London family meets.  Sadly, the Castle Battersea will be closing its doors for the final time in May this year.  I know that I will be shedding a few tears when this happens.  This pub that is the centre of my London social life had some great times in the last year.  The Royal Wedding and….
• The Rugby World Cup – we freaking did it!  It was a nailbiting finish for Kiwis the world over.  I was watching it at the pub and felt like I was about to have kittens in the final minutes.  When it was finally over, I hugged, screamed and cheered.  And marvelled at the number of grown men shedding tears.  And then I went to work.  Stink.  But still I was so damn proud.
• My parents visited!  What a wonderful two weeks that was.  They saw as much of London as you can pack in to that time.  They had a great time (I think!) They got to see how I live and where I party.  They met my friends and bought me giant jaffas.  It was bliss.
• I have seen a crazy amount of live music!  Whether it be at the pub on a Friday night, or that notorious trip to the Redback or at the O2 or Brixton Academy, oh and how could you forget the Milton Keynes trip, it’s been epic.  To say I love music is an understatement.  It is the soundtrack to my life.  My ipod is my best mate sometimes and now that it’s broken I am still grieving for my music.  Silly huh.  And I am so jealous of those that can make it.  Oh how I wish I could sing.  My talent is being able to know the words to a song after listening to it twice.  And it has made me some great friends.  I spent a very cool road trip discussing music this year, I was in my element.
• More movies  and books than you can shake a stick at.   And the odd theatre visit.  It’s been a crazy year.
• That waxing blog that upset men and made women laugh.
•  Brax pushing Charlie up against a fridge and women the world over swooned.  Brax can push me up against a fridge anytime.  Anytime. 

So that is some of this crazy life that has been documented here.  And there is more to come.  There are a few more adventures planned and unplanned to happen.  There are more concerts, more friends, more books, more movies and more happy mess to come.  There will definitely be more baking, more running, more cooking, more smiles, laughing and dancing like no one is watching!  There will be more of the overuse of exclamation marks and more of these blogs.  What’s not to love?