Dec 31 - The Year In Review

  I thought I would spend the last day of the year sharing some of the significant and mostly good things that happened to me this year.  Each year, as we all know, is not without its trials but rather than dwell on them, I prefer to celebrate the joys.

  In January I joined Plenty of Fish, an online dating website.  My profile began with the tagline "Well read? Affectionate? Apply Here!" On the 24th of Jan I received this message which sparked my interest in someone special. "How would you define well read?  I read a lot of books, but not sure if any of them would be considered high literature!"  It was a clever question asked with correct spelling and grammar.  How could I not respond?  This was not your everyday man.  So respond I did and over a hundred emails and text messages later, on a sunny afternoon at Lake Reserve, Coburg on the 31st of Jan, I met the man who you've all come to know as Mr Smart.
  In February, well it's my birthday so that's always a plus but I think the top achievement for this month was on the 23rd of February.  My work team went bowling at AMF Forest Hill and I scored my highest bowling score ever: 100!  It even included one strike!  I know, I'm still pathetically bad at bowling, but we had a really fun night and I really felt good about my score.
  In March I headed up to Brisbane for Earnest's birthday.  We couldn't afford a fancy dinner so we ate at home and watched a bunch of cool movies.  It was only a quick trip but it's always great to see him though I can't help but think sometimes that the 1800km distance between us seems way too big!
  In April, my friend Teddy and I declared April 2nd to be Trogg Day.  Trogg Day is all about peace, love and music and is the primary religious holiday of the Church of Trogg, an imaginary religion Teddy and I created over the course of many emails and one very giggly night in Boston.  We even wrote eleven commandments for those wishing to identify as Troggy.  My favourite is A Trogg Shall Love.  It's the first and foremost commandment and the truest way for a Troggy to be.
  I took the first week of May off work and spent a fabulous fun time in Adelaide with my family.  I got to see Nathan Sawaya's Lego Art Exhibition, toured around the Barossa, went to a classical music concert, saw the Pandas at the zoo with my adorable nieces, saw Dolphins in the Port River with JoJo, and had a huge family barbecue when Bertie and my nephew joined us (they were staying for the week after mine).  I had a great time.
  In June my best friend Earnest visited me for a week.  He got to meet Mr Smart and the three of us went for dinner at Cafe 58.  We got to hang out, watch movies, talk until the wee hours of the morning and see the Mesopotamia exhibition at the Melbourne Museum.  It was so great to get to see him for a whole week.
  In July I started this blog and my fabulous journey into my new world of health, wealth and wisdom.  Admittedly these are still all works in progress, but baby steps people, baby steps.  I can't thank you all enough for how much support you've given me and for the great compliment you pay me by being interested in and even entertained by my life and writing.  It's meant so much to me.
  In August on the 17th my divorce was finally granted.  Divorce is never a fun or good thing, but this day marked a release nevertheless and peacefully and quietly closed a large chapter in my life.
  September 16th saw the completion of my almost month long hunt for Mali the Elephant statues around Melbourne.  Click here to see all the Mali statues if you missed them the first time around.  It gave me an enormous sense of accomplishment to find all 50 Malis and I was pleased as punch that my determined three year old nephew managed to see more than half of them with me.  He's a real little trooper!
  On October 6th I lost my paternal Granny.  This is the only sad event I shall allow in my reflections here.  She was an amazing lady and you can click here to read the post I wrote to her memory.  The only silver lining to the whole sad event was that the loss brought all the family together and we gathered after her funeral and reminisced about our time with her and laughed at the happy memories.
  In November I finally went back and visited a place I'd been longing to see since I was 15 years old!  My trip to Tasmania with Mr Smart was an amazing experience and I wouldn't have traded it for anything.  Spectacular scenery, friendly people, great fresh food, lovely wines and wonderful animals everywhere!  I can't wait to do it again someday.
  In December my baby sister Gub came home and we finally got to meet each others' partner.  We conferred in private away from the boys' ears after the happy event and I'm pleased to report that both boys got two thumbs up from the other sister.  December of course also brought Christmas, one of my favourite times of year, though fraught with danger from a dietary perspective.  Tomorrow's weigh in should be interesting!  Eeep!

  Thank you to each and every one of you for making this such a great year.  For sharing life and laughs with me, for taking those 2am phone calls, for being honest with me, for not shying away from any topic of conversation, for coming with me to things I didn't want to face alone, for staying with me when I needed you, for saying what the hell and doing something new with me and finally, for loving me the way I am.  I couldn't ask for better friends or family than you.

  Today's food was (no pictures so that I could get this out on time):

• Breakfast was two small pieces of toasted Turkish bread spread with margarine and Vegemite and a 170g tub of Dairy Farmers Thick & Creamy Field Strawberries 98% fat free yoghurt.
• Lunch was four hand rolls from Sushi Sushi with a little dish of Japanese mayonnaise.  California Roll, Salt & Pepper Calamari, Crispy Chicken and Salmon.
• Afternoon snack was a choc chip cookie, a Mint Slice biscuit, a tiny piece of Cadbury Dairy Milk and a teensy weensy Fry's Turkish Delight (the last two treats in my drawer).
• Dinner and many drinks are about to be had at Mr Smart's sister's house.  I am not going to try to record them all.  Let's just say I ate and drank too much for one last day of the year! 

   I won't go in to the details of the party we went to tonight but I will relate back one cool thing happened at work today. Our Maintenance Officer rescued a couple of feral kittens that had fallen from in between floors down the inside of a column. He cut out a panel and fished the hissing, spitting, scratching buggers out. I got to hold one of them and only suffered minor injury. It bit my right-hand index finger and scratched the hell out of my pinkie but I calmed it down enough to get this photo taken by my wonderful offsider. Normally we take these litters of kittens straight to the RSPCA or the local vet for care and placement with a family but these lucky two have gone home with a big-hearted BigW staff member.
   Farewell 2012, Good Luck Kittens and Happy New Year Everyone!!
   Jess