the year that was 2011

a few snippets of 2011 from instagram

Well, somehow it is 3am and of course what better time to look back of the past year and see how far we've come. Oh, I now see that I did that for the 2010 review too.

Despite is being an exceptionally crap year with maintaining this blog, it has been a pretty good one in all other aspects. Which I think might be why this blog has not been attended too!

2011 was...

• The year that Marcus completed his studies. If I thought the first year was challenging- I was wrong. Marcus has worked unbelievably hard from March 2010 through to November 2011 without a break, studying 3 years of Bach Ed compressed into 2 years. He's continually got excellent marks and managed to juggle working part time as well as being the main person maintaining everything at our home. This year has show me just how strong our relationship is and how unwavering Marcus' commitment is. He is simply amazing and I love him to bits.
  
• The year of The Design Files Open House. I do not know where to start with this one. The last half of 2011 has been completely consumed by TDFOH. Ginormous spreadsheets of inventory, communicating with over 70 suppliers, bump in/out, very quickly learning POS and online webstore systems and then 4 days of madness. Oh my! It was an unreal experience and I really did love it but by golly, it was a lot of work.
• The year of Guest Blogging. I saw out my first full year of managing the Guest Blog on The Design Files. It has been an brilliant year on the Guest Blog! I'm a bit overwhelmed by how many outstanding guest bloggers we've had and how generous they are to spend their valuable time putting together a series exclusively for us and our wonderful readers. But where would we be without the beautiful Lucy Feagins?? What a woman!!! A motivated creative GENIUS and no one can hold her back! I love working with her and I am so grateful that she has given me the opportunity and trust to work with her too.
  
• The year I decided. The end of last year saw me trying to figure out what was next. I knew I needed something different, I realized after 8 years in the same job that I was only there for the people who I love like family but the work I was doing wasn't something I enjoyed, it was just something I was good at. Early in 2011 I had thrown myself into a project decorating a friends house which I was loving SO MUCH and Marcus said to me "You can do this as a job. This is a real job! You know people who do this as a real job!" and I realized- I could so this as a job! *facepalm* Anyway, after much research I found that Interior Design and Decoration at RMIT was the course for me and is what I'll be doing for 2012/13. I'm not quite sure what it will lead to but I'm excited!
  
• The year I studied and got 100%. After deciding that RMIT was what I was aiming for, I enrolled in 'Colours of Interiors 1' as a night class every Wednesday for 15 weeks. It was a great course and I learnt so much! Our teacher Ambuja Hunt was outstanding and her knowledge and experience was really motivating. I was really chuffed to have score 100% on my folio too, it made all that hard work and late nights completely worth it.
  
• The year I juggled. I had way too many balls in the air for most of this year. Working full time, Guest Blog, waitressing a few nights a week, TDFOH and studying. Trying to fit friends, family, a lovely puppy and a handsome husband in around all that too. I felt really scattered and very unbalanced for a lot of this year and random teary breakdowns have been at an all time high! Thankfully most of those things had an end in sight and while it was hard work, I probably wouldn't change much about how I managed the above.
  

Looking through last years list of things I'd like to achieve in 2011, I must admit I didn't do so well! So I'll add them to the 2012 list!

• read more books
• become a better photographer
• exercise regularly again
  
• re-carpet the house (vaguely scheduled)
  
• clean out the spare room and garage (scheduled)

In addition to these there are 2 other items I'm going to add

• cook more
• finish the interior of the house!

2012 currently has a very, VERY exciting event that my whole family is looking forward to- my brother and his girlfriend are having a baby! Yay!!! I cannot wait to meet the little Captain (which is what my mother is calling the baby boy!). I expect it will be THE highlight of 2012!

I feel like this year will still be busy but at least under control. Marcus has been employed full time at a local high school and I start at RMIT on the 6th of Feb. There is a lot to look forward to and no doubt many surprises along the way.

Wishing you and your family all the very best for 2012.

Jenny x