So, here we are. It’s 2013, it’s February, it’s cold; the perfect time to catch up on my blogging.
\nWhat the heck have I been doing for the last 12 months?<\/p>\n
TRAVEL –<\/strong> Despite my resolve not to mosey around too much while on my leave of absence, I did a solo trip to Thailand<\/a>, and also visited Iceland<\/a> and Greece<\/a> with Darren. Iceland was amazing, I would love to go back, even though we spent an insane amount of the trip driving.<\/p>\n CULTURE – <\/strong>I did a lot of reading. According to the all-knowing Goodreads, I read 66 books<\/a> in 2012, which is more than one a week and also 26 more books than my reading total in 2011<\/a>. I’ve set myself the more modest challenge of reading 50 books in 2013<\/a>, since I’ll be working full time but will hopefully be able to read or at least listen to audiobooks while commuting).<\/p>\n CREATIVITY – <\/strong>I finished 12 knit projects<\/a>, including 3 cowls, 3 scarves, 2 lace shawls, a hat, legwarmers, wrist cuffs and my first ever cardigan<\/a> – it is lovely and stripey but seriously warm and it sheds a bit. Need to return to my abandoned Sonnets Librivox project. On the internet, I reached my 1000th tweet<\/a>.<\/p>\n COMMUNITY – <\/strong>I decided to do more volunteering, so I joined Oakville’s “Friends of the Library” executive<\/a> in October, and did my first Book Sale with them in November. As of last week’s AGM, I am now their Media & Communications lead.<\/p>\n EMOTIONAL – <\/strong>I celebrated my fourth anniversary with Darren long-distance, as he was in Nepal at the time.<\/p>\n BREWING –<\/strong> After two years of producing homebrewed wines of varying quality – Drunk Robot (yum), Space Madness (good for sangria only) – I am disappointed to report no 2012 vintage. Remedied that last weekend by brewing what I hope will be a nice malbec.<\/p>\n ACTIVITY – <\/strong>I fell down on the physical front. Exercise was not big on the agenda for 2012 – I only ran in one measly 5k, the Ford Race to End Diabetes at Coronation Park, Oakville in April. I did do a lot of long, lazy 20-30km bike rides over the summer, but that’s nothing next to the roster of six races in 2011!<\/p>\n HOUSING – <\/strong>After selling our condo in Toronto back in April 2012, Darren and I took up residence with my Mum in her townhouse in Oakville. Darren went off to travel, and while he was globetrotting, my Mum found an ideal low-maintenance apartment near the lake, and decided she wanted to live on her own again. I took over the mortgage, Mum moved out, and so Darren and I are residing in a townhouse in suburbia and commuting to the city to work… For now.<\/p>\n LOOKING AHEAD<\/em> The biggest physical challenge I’ll be facing in 2013 is my first ever Ride to Conquer Cancer<\/a> – 200kms in 2 days on a new Giant Avail 3 road bike<\/a> I’ve just bought.<\/p>\n 2013 is also starting out with the purchase of a new (used) car: a little red 2008 Honda Fit that I’ll pick up from the dealer on Tuesday. I applied for my first Ontario Outdoors Card and fishing license, hoping to fish with my friend Amy now that we can go car camping. I’ve signed up for a Sunday afternoon Boot camp and Monday night Cyclates at the local community centre, and am considering Fencing lessons later this summer. Hoping to pick up a community garden for growing veggies in as well.<\/p>\n That’s 2012 in a nutshell. Looking forward to what 2013 will bring!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 2012 in a nutshell. Looking forward to what 2013 will bring!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1639,1641,540,364,1642,1676,1640],"class_list":["post-2986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consciousness","tag-1639","tag-annual-braindump","tag-knitting","tag-reading","tag-resolutions","tag-travel","tag-year-in-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2986"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2986"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3284,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2986\/revisions\/3284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nTo remedy this situation, I’ve signed up for a couple of runs in 2013: the Harry Rosen High Park Spring Run-Off 8k<\/a> on April 6, the Sporting Life 10k<\/a> on April 21, the Midsummer Night’s Run 15k<\/a> on August 17, and the Oakville Half Marathon 10k<\/a> on September 22.<\/p>\n