2012 in review....

It's gone.  It's done and dusted.  2012 - it's been nice knowin ya but I'm not gonna miss ya!  Roll on 2013 and what it has to offer - and I'm already liking what's on offer, yay!

I've had a rough 2012, some of you will know all about that and it has probably been the hardest year of my life but I have learned a lot from my struggles and although it was a pretty bad year, there was plenty of good in it.  So pull up a chair and come along with me as I review some of 2012 and look forward to the future :)

Family.......

No new babies in the immediate family unless you include Mr Archie Cuddles, my sister's puppy that she got after the untimely death of Ollie, her beloved chihuahua.  So welcome Archie :)

Here he is again, Archie.

Honey turned 40 and we had a lovely family dinner. 
Ezra turned 19 and Macy, 11.  Time is flying with the kids.  This year, I get to say I have a 20 year old son....that's freaking me out quite a bit, lol.
We had some awesome family trips to Christchurch to see Ma, Pa and little sister.

Honey and Macy at either Wellington or Christchurch airport.

Ezra got a new job and is enjoying that even though he starts at 5am.  And Macy had a brilliant last year at DPS, gaining 2 big awards and having a lead role in the kapa haka at the final assembly.

Fun times......
2012 started off in Christchurch, having New Year's with the family and then Drewe came up to stay with us for 10 days....was so much fun.  So we went on a road trip to Auckland, swam a lot and chilled out together.  It was sad when she left :(
We did a lot of fishing and spending time at the beach during 2012 - there's something soothing about the ocean and I did quite a bit of thinking and walking when we were at the beach.  It was the first time I had been to many of the spots that we went to so it was nice to explore new coastline.

Mataikona

Castlepoint

Te Awaiti

We got a tandem lead for our boys so now I can walk them by myself without ending up wrapped in the leads!!  Caused a lot of excitement in our house, lol

Walkies on the tandem lead.....Chilli and Tonto

Macy's netball team won their grade, again!!!  Woo hoo.  And got best defensive team. 
Macy whipped her dad on X-Box kinect boxing, hahahaha. He'll be so happy I shared that with the world.

We spent a wonderful day at the Wellington Zoo with our friends, the Laughtons.  And...we went to our first international netball game with some special friends and got on TV!!

Music, movies and television......
The London Olympics - I spent days, and nights, soaking up as much of the Olympics as I could...now I have to wait another 4 years!
Another good year of Survivor!  Although, I still think Malcolm should have won the latest series and if you don't watch survivor, I suggest you do ;)
The final installment of Twilight came out and it was amazing!  I've decided that perhaps I should be a vampire - I mean, Bella looked gorgeous once she was turned into one.  I'll keep hoping. Hahaha.
One Direction became the soundtrack to my life :)  It played in Mace's room, in the car, on TV, in the dining room and was always played super loud when Macy had a shower so she could hear it above the water.  Luckily, I'm a bit of a teeny bopper and didn't mind it at all....and I'm so cool, I know most of the words!!

And we all know Gangnam style...that funny song and dance took over the world....you know the one I mean and I'm guessing, even if it was in secret, you've tried to see if you can do it!!! ;)

Other stuff........
Whitney Houston died.  Sad face.
Obama won the US election although I thought Mitt gave him a good run.
I really fell in love with my iPhone, discovered the joys of instagram (follow me) and realised that I don't use my laptop now that we have an iPad and a Samsung Galaxy tablet!!  So much technology in this house, geeks.
It was the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.
Queensland won the State of Origin, again, woop woop.

I went to the dentist 17 times this year.  Now, I'm a complete dentalphobe so this was quite a challenge and helped me on the way to 2012 being a really crappy year.  Anyway to cut a long sad, scary, anxiety riddled story short....I found a wonderful new dentist who has repaired all the faulty work in my mouth and I'm not so scared anymore.  Dr RWJ - thank you. Around this time, I need to thank some wonderful people and I'm going to do it by name but please don't be offended if you are not named because there are so many people who helped me in tiny little ways that I would be here all day thanking you.  There was, however, a few very special people who came to my aid often and I want the world to know how wonderful they are, that they mean a great deal to me, that I love them to bits and am grateful for them.  So in no particular order (hahaha) big huge bunches of virtual flowers to.....Anna, Leah, Mel, Karen, Kim, Mum, Drewe and my beautiful family. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

So that's 2012......well, some bits anyway. Except.......after 10 years of super long hair.....I got it cut off!!!!  I'm loving the shorter style, embracing the natural curl most days and straightening it sometimes....it was a hard decision to chop it off but I'm happy that I did. Be warned....the photos are hideous - I'm no good at selfies!!!

Before.....it was pretty long.....

That's how long it was!

Or having it straight.

Embracing the curl!!!

I'm excited about this year.  I face it with a positive attitude, energy and courage.  It's been pretty good to me so far.....we've enjoyed some lovely family time, Macy's currently out at the beach with her best friend and family, Honey gave me the new iPhone5 (screammm, I love it) and we've started painting our house....so far so good.

2013....bring it on.

trudy_n xoxx