31st December 2014 - NYE

It's the last day of 2014! Crikey! Where did that year go?! Feels like only yesterday we were celebrating the arrival of little Ted, or my birthday in York, or our holiday or wedding anniversary! Cripes, how time flies!

What better way to spend the last day of the year than at work! Just like pretty much every other day this year!

Once again, there were a few issues with the car when Paul went to drop me off...

Trying to capture the gorgeous feathery shapes in the ice. Can't really see it as well as I could in real life. They sure were pretty!

I got to work earlier than I had the rest of the week and still was bored. I have loads of work, don't get me wrong, but without the constant unpredictability of the phone ringing, loads of post to deal with or people to talk to, it gets very monotonous very quickly!

Today's calendar. Such a gorgeous little thing. I think the office should get a kitten! I would keep me entertained on days like this. Granted, my productivity would take a severe dive, but I'd be very loyal!

The closest I'll get to an office kitten is the local wildlife!

This is my friend the squirrel! He comes to visit fairly frequently! If I ever write a children's story, he will be one of the stars as he has a few other little friends who keep him company and the characters write themselves. I'm not going to say who they are though, so no-one can steal my story!

Once again, I was in work until about 1:30pm when BigBoss T let me go home. Paul picked me up and we headed home. I felt the need to be decidedly lazy for the rest of the afternoon. Why not spend the last day of the year the same as the rest of it?! :)

Barney agreed.

As part of our laziness, we decided to order some pizza, which is also a tribute to an early date we had on this day 7 years ago. Dominos finest whilst supping fizz? Don't mind if I do!

Check out all that unhealthy and fatty goodness! Mmmm!

We ate most of it, saving some for later when we might need it.

We decided to go out for a couple of drinks at a local pub for a while. If it took us to midnight, great, but if not, at least we got out of the house!

We got there at about 8:30pm or so and it wasn't as busy as we thought it would be.

A nice glass of red in front of an open fire was enjoyed. Perfect.

We stayed for a couple of hours but it wasn't the most excitable of crowds and we were a bit bored. So we headed home where we were able to have a few more drinks and see in the new year with a bit of Jools Holland!

At midnight the neighbours went wild and cheered in the New Year by going crazy and making a LOT of noise. There were also a few fireworks which was nice.

I think I managed to make it to about 1am before falling asleep.

2014 - you were interesting! Lots of wonderful things happened but some sad ones too.

I wonder what 2015 has to offer!

PREVIOUSLY...

2013 and 2013

2nd February 2014 - 恭禧發財 (Gong Hey Fat Choy!)

“For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice.” - T.S. Elliot.

There wasn't nearly as much sleep had as I would have liked. Not just because Barney liked using me as a trampoline at silly o'clock, but Paul had to be up early to go and run 10 miles (crazy so and so) with his friend I, thus meaning I was awake too. Waaaa!

It took Paul a little longer than he had hoped to run it, but run it he did! He had to get ready in a hurry as we had an appointment with a dragon!

That wasn't me being mean, we were off to Manchester for Chinese New Year celebrations!

My cousin Adam loves Chinese New Year, and the dancing lions in particular, and he goes with my cousin Karen to watch the celebrations in one city or another. They've been to Manchester for the last couple of years and this year we decided to join them! Well, why not?!

Lucky for us it was a cold but dry day, thank goodness!

The dragon!

After the dragon paraded and they let off some firecrackers (more on those later), and then a big bunch of red balloons were set off into the sky!

Adam's favourite part of the celebrations, as I have previously mentioned, is the lion dance. So we abandoned the dragon and followed the lion! The lion goes into various restaurants and businesses to bring them good fortune in the coming year. Manchester was packed, so we were following them around for some time, trying to get a better view!

Outside some of the businesses (and I don't know why!) they set off a large tower of firecrackers! We couldn't really see them from where we were some of the time but you couldn't miss the sound of them! Or, apparently, the smell!

This isn't a photo of some random dude on purpose! It's the arch! At least the lady in the woolly scarf had the decency to smile...

 This is the tower which holds the fire crackers. We were determined to get a good spot this time!

 Here's the lovely Adam demonstrating his usual pose during the firecrackers! He loves to watch them but he doesn't like the loud noise!

I took video but blogger is being an a$$ and won't let me upload it. Will work on an alternative. Bear with me while I upload to YouTube.

I've never uploaded to YouTube before. Hope it works ok!

We stayed in Manchester for about 3 hours, following the dragon, but we were all ice cold by this point! While Adam would have liked to have stayed longer, we all agreed to call it a day.

 We got back home, frozen to the core! Paul and I were both shattered so we rested for a few hours before having a cheeky dinner of fake Nand0s and watching last week's Arrow. Then a nice early night before the start of the working week. Sigh. I hate Monday!

PREVIOUSLY...

2012
2013

31/12/2013 - New Year's Eve

I didn't have the best night's sleep, much to my dislike! I was having strange dreams, as I do. This time I was dreaming about buying other houses up our street and them all being bigger than ours. One even had a jacuzzi in both bedrooms! I don't know why I'm dreaming these things. Probably because I want a bigger house!

I did manage to doze a little, which was good, but it meant I really didn't want to get up when the alarm went off. So I didn't. I waited until 7:30am to get up! That's VERY late for me!

Back into work again, and once again alone. The business park was even quieter today than yesterday!

The postman came before 9:30am which is unheard of, and I had got most of my work done that I needed to do by midday, but had to stay in the office, which is a bit mean. I put my iPod on and sang loudly (I admit it today) because the office next door weren't in!

I left at about 2pm, and it was probably the safest time to leave before it got dark for the same reasons as yesterday.

When I got home, I did a bit of tidying up but decided to vegetate a little and be lazy because it's the last day of the year and why change the habit of the rest of the year!

Barney came for a play. I'd love to say it was a cuddle, but he was being feisty and very cute!

My stomach still isn't right but I was determined that I would enjoy New Years Eve if I could. So instead of starting on the wine/beer/fizz as most people do on this most celebrated of days, I had a different drink to tide me over.

Mmmm. Health salts. Aka soap water. I am not a fan. But I drank them because they should help. I think they did. I felt ok for a while afterwards!

Paul alternated between cooking and SimCity-ing while I was being lazy and doing some simming myself! Plus keeping up with people's rather poetic statuses on Facebook. I have been known to do the whole 'sum up the year in a status' thing before but couldn't be bothered this year. Mostly because I've found writing this blog very cathartic so have already waxed lyrical.

I don't know. Maybe I'll do a sum up post tomorrow. We'll see.

Anyway, dinner took AGES! I was really looking forward to eating something tasty and delicious! Which is a sign I'm getting better, right?

Soon enough (at like, 9:15pm!) dinner was served!

Spaghetti Bolognaise with parmesan and a glass of white wine...which I had been nursing for a few hours, but didn't want to drink as I had barely eaten anything all day and didn't think that would be a good idea.

A little history for you - the first New Years that Paul and I were together, all 6 years ago, he came over to my old house and made me Spaghetti Bolognaise! We drank a LOT of wine that night, and didn't end up eating it until about midnight! So eating it at 9pm was actually early in the grand scheme of things!

I enjoyed it very much but couldn't finish it. Joys of not eating a lot for nearly a week - appetite is suppressed!

We watched some comedy stuff on TV and a bit of Gary Barlow's New Year's show, then switched over to Jools Holland! It's a little bit of a tradition! It's a shame it's not live, but it has some very talented musicians on it and so it's all good!

That's how we saw in midnight! We did have some fizz, but it wasn't going down too well and so I'd finished my glass by midnight! So we chinked peppermint tea cups instead! ROCK AND ROLL! We're so old now!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I watched tv for a little bit longer (it had the chap from The Kinks on it...and I love The Kinks!) but was losing my battle with sleep so I left Paul downstairs and came to bed. I had a play with Barney and fell asleep well before 1am!

Oh, and for the record as I have been asked at least 3 times in the past 48 hours or so: Definitely. Not. Pregnant.

:)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hope you all have had a fantastic 2013 and here's to an awesome 2014!

Cheers from my husband and I! :)

Cxx