All change

It's been a busy year. Lots of changes and new adventures.

I started it living with my mum and then moved into a shared student house. The idea had been to move in with some friends perhaps in the new year. 

A shared house it was not. Though students were plentiful. 

I spent 99% of my time in my room or at Sean's house. I often went to bed leaving Robin Williams' The Birdcage on the TV to block out the comings and goings of the students I lived with. I've lived by myself for a long time and really was too old for this experiment. 

The only good thing of course was the rent. It was extremely cheap. 

Luckily Sean's mum and Dad said I could move into their house and suggested we seriously thought about buying a house. 

Next year (2016) we thought. I moved into Sean's room and we'd planned to save £s and see where we were in 12 months, maybe a bit less.

One Saturday in March Sean's mum Lisa decided that Sean and her would just take a look at a house or two to see what was out there and what sort of price we'd be looking at. 

It was probably a month after that we put in an offer on a 3 bed house. We now live in Tuffley. 

In the autumn of last year I got in touch with my local Quaker Meeting and made enquires about helping out with events for young Quakers. When I was growing up my Dad took us to some great Link Weekends and I thought it would be good to give back to the current generation of inquisitive 11-17 yr olds. I am now a co advocate for Children and Young People for Gloucestershire Area Meeting.

The first event was a trip to the National Memorial Arboretum. Then a walk along part of the Cotswold way. We had a weekend in Weston Supermare and cemented a new tradition of Sock Sunday. This is where all ages pack socks for the local homeless. 

After that the next change was leaving Tommy Hilfiger and going to work for NewLook in July. Having worked in the same department store for 12 years I was surprised how easy the move was and I love my new role. I now realise how important it was to think about my development and wish I'd done it sooner. 

The next big event for 2015 was a holiday to Boston with Sean in late October. Remarkable because although we have been together for 14 years, we've never been out of the country by ourselves, together. 

America has always been high on my list and after going through some ups and downs last year Sean rightfully suggested we needed something grand to look forward to. We had almost a year of looking at maps of New England, watching videos of Halloween activities in Salem and pinning tips on Pinterest. 

Now we're back we have our first Christmas in our house to create new traditions.