Happy Anniversary To Me: A Year With No Job

I know right?  A whole year has already gone by since I said good bye job and hello freedom with a dash of pink glitter and dancing involved.  

And it has been awesome \o/

Which is so not the thing people seem to expect me to say.  I've been asked quite a few times if I:

"Miss working" - nope not even in the slightest

"Miss the money" - sometimes but there are other ways to make money, live frugally and pay the bills AND still have a good life

"Get bored" - not once, not ever.  In fact I find I still haven't done everything that I wanted to do which just means more goals for the next year

"Miss the social contact" - okay this one I'll give.  I do, sometimes, miss some of my colleagues and our weird day-to-day conversations that we had BUT I have Facebook and Twitter and email to keep in contact and chat with people so it's not a life of complete isolation which weirdly people seem to think it must be.  I DO go out sometimes you know.  Having said that I do quite enjoy having lots of 'me' time so it's a pretty good balance on the whole.

Looking back I've done quite a bit.  Certainly a lot more than I thought I would last June the 30th.

Travel

I actually managed 2 trips.  Something I never thought I would be able to do while living the life of the poor and the broke.  Just goes to show you are never as poor as you think you are.

First up was a week long trip to Sydney.  Mostly thanks to special deals, Airpoints and doing as many free things that we could.  By saving money where we could we managed to treat ourselves to a massage and pamper session at a very ritzy hotel and have an amazing time.  We also as usual walked heaps.

Second trip was 2 weeks in the South Island.  Again accomplished by saving money where we could.  This meant camping.  In an actual tent.  In the outdoors.

I know?  I'm still amazed that I managed to do that.  The girl who likes a comfy bed and room service.  And yet I did it and it wasn't too bad, not that I would recommend it as a life long habit.

We also ate cheaply (bread rolls, coleslaw, boiled eggs - cooked in our cooker on the side of the road no less, and apples).  All of which meant that once again we could spend money on the things we really wanted to do like whale watching.

Moving House

Who would've thought this would happen.  Certainly not me.  But in the end we did it.  Sold a house, moved out of a house, lived a life on the road while our things were in storage, brought a house and then finally after what seemed like an endless wait we moved in.

Very stressful but also very worthwhile.

Now we live in a small rural town, surrounded by farm land and noisy cows, have a house that cost us about half the price of our house in Auckland and a feeling much more relaxed now that we are away from the noise and pollution of the big city.

Exercise and Get Healthier

An all round success despite getting the flu in February (like seriously, who gets the flu in the middle of a summer, in a heatwave?  Me, obviously) and having the worse panic/anxiety attack that I ever have because yeah that was so much fun.

Yet despites those setbacks I'm actually feeling really good.  I've managed on average to walk for an hour about 3 times a week and that's counting in a heatwave and wet weather.  I definitely feel that my fitness has improved.

As for health I've had not one single cold or asthma attack or bout of bronchitis; something that I had every year since I had worked in the city.  I'm also eating better.  Sure there's still chocolate on occasion but there's also a lot more fruit and vegetables and eggs and chicken in my diet.  Takeout has gone completely and I'm even cooking from time to time.  My soup making skills are on fire.

And All The Rest

As for the rest, I've blogged more, read an enormous amount, done a fair amount of gardening, knitted, caught up on movies and TV shows I wanted to watch and even done a bit of genealogy research.

I now know that though some of my family ended up as paupers they came from quite wealthy families several generations back; that I have 3 ancestors who were Master Mariners but all died young and at sea including 1 who died from cholera and that while one side was very Catholic another side were Bapists and Quakers.

I'm looking forward to not only what I can find out this year but also writing more, learning Italian, taking up Tai Chi, finishing my 365 Movies in 365 Days and generally being busy as always.