Before Turning 30.

One of my favourite things to do on this blog is to recap the year on my birthday and see what I’ve been up to. I am 30 now after all and my memory is not what it used to be. I started doing this on my old little blog Doodlezilla when I was turning 27. I find that it is a great way to look back and appreciate the time that has past and kick my buttocks into doing more things.So here are all the adventures I managed to squeeze into my year of being 29*:

• Visited the Cambodian Island of Koh Rong Samloem
• Saw Angkor Wat
• Hand fed monkeys
• Swam in the river with Elephants
• Went to Bangkok (and didn’t loose all our money this time)
• Went to a Thai cooking class
• Saw the Singapore Garden of lights
• Visited our friends in Singapore

• Visited Indonesia
• Saw Bobodur in Yogyakarta
• Fell in love with Ubud
• Survived the boat trip to the Gili Isles
• Had a hotel to ourselves in Nusa Lembongan
• Ordered room service every day in Lombok  
• Moved to Perth and stayed with Mo and his lovely girlfriend Paula…plus met the worlds best dog, Diego
• Went to Wine country in Margret River
• Learnt about craft beer at Bob’s Bar
• Saw the MCG in Melbourne
• Watched Post Modern Jukebox live
• Went to the museum of moving pictures and saw my Lego game animations on the big screen
• Had a letter from one of my writing heroes
• Saw the Sydney Opera Bridge
• Visited Luna Park, a place my Mum went when she was a 5 year old living in Sydney
• Drank German Beer with an Ompa band in Sydney
• Visited Manly Bay
• Went Whale watching
• Saw wild Kangaroos
• Moved to Brisbane
• Started working at a fantastic Animation Company
• Visited Tokyo
• Got to be a tourist in the UK
• Jumped all over Ogmore Castle
• Saw my old school friends for ‘Mikemas’
• Got to spend time with my brother before he moves to America
• Went for Korean food in Birmingham with my Favourite Korean’s (Hazel, Lauren, Rob and Kieran I mean you)
•  We both had the best Christmases with our families. ….the BEST!
• Built my first ginger bread house
• Got sponsored and invited to live in Australia for 4 years (I spoke too soon and fell into a world of Visa pain…fingers crossed it’s sorted before 31)
  
• Saw the Sunshine Coast
• Saw the Gold Coast
• Saw wild dolphins on Stradbroke island
• Moved house for the 14^th time in 12 years
• Bought furniture with Lee
• Held a Koala
• Got a visit from our favourite American writer and did our own wine tour (Ms Kaleena )
• Started planning our upcoming road trip around America
• Learnt to build a terrarium
• Found some lovely Australian friends to bug every day
• Had purple hair

Worried about being old? Dye your hair purple!

• My sister got a tattoo and turned 18 (WHAT?!?)
• My mum joined twitter
• Lee got a great job in Brisbane
• Lee’s brother came to visit us in Oz

It’s been an amazing year. But there were sad moments. We lost my Great Aunty Pat this year. She was an incredible lady that raised my mum. I thought of her more as my grandmother than an aunt and it was really hard to be away from home. I wanted to just run home but money wouldn’t allow it. It broke my heart because I had carried her last letter to me all around Asia and I’d sent her a postcard from every location we’d been to .It made me happy to know she’d read them but also …it hurt so much. Life is full of ups and downs. I know these lists make it sound like it’s perfect but it’s far from it. Most of the year is boring days and a lot of bad ones too, but when I look back I only see those happy moments….even losing my Aunty, which hurt so much, makes me think about how beautiful a person she was and all the things I would be telling her now about my year.
Every time I think I’ve met the best the world has to offer, seen the best things, tasted the most delicious foods, I’m struck down once more by all of the awe inspiring things this little blue dot has to offer.   I don’t know how it’s possible, but life always finds a way to be more pretty and the people I know become more spectacular.
Thank you 29 for being filled with beautiful, lovely and delicious moments xxx
*I would like to point out that I wrote ‘my 29th year’ in this post. Lee pointed out that I had just lived my 30th year. What a Bumface he is. Boo!!! He’s lucky he’s cute.