2015: in review

I'm not going to lie, I was quite happy to see the back of 2015. Although it was eventful, it wasn't plain sailing in the slightest. Hard-going would best describe it.

Back in January I made a very unspecific list of things I wanted to achieve throughout the year and, despite my putting a bit of a downer on 2015, I have actually done pretty well (funny how things work out eh?!). So, as I love a good review, let's break it all down shall we...

The big goal of 2015 was to move out of my parents house and buy our own flat. Oh my god, the stress of buying property was something I couldn't have conceived. Naively writing about how scary mortgages are, back in January I had no bloody clue about the months of frustration and stress quietly simmering away at the back of mind and pit of my stomach. But, raised blood pressure and extra grey hairs aside, there IS a happy ending to this: we officially became homeowners on Dec 4th :D We've not moved out of my parents' house yet (the flat is lacking a few crucial elements such as a fridge and washing machine) but the move is imminent (two weeks time if everything goes to plan)!

★ Career - if you're a long time reader you're probably already aware how absolutely miserable I was during my four months of unemployment. It was shit. The shittest, in fact. The joblessness played a starring role in why 2015 was a tough one for me, but... This has a positive ending too because I found employment with a charity and I now work with the nicest bunch of people a gal could ask for. Sure, the money ain't great and the work itself is pretty boring but, rather fortuitously, at the end of 2015 I got some freelance sewing work which'll help with the extra money and interest that my office job can't provide. Like I said, it's funny how things work out.

★ Health - badminton games became a regular occurrence throughout my unemployment but, as soon as I started my job, regular exercise (and having any kind of self control when it came to crisps and chocolate consumption) fell by the wayside. It took quite some time for me to settle in, figure out my routine and it wasn't until the end of September that I finally joined the gym. The last few months have been great - I go to the gym twice a week and I've been gradually shrinking my portion sizes. Just before Christmas I felt pretty good, the best I'd felt in aaaages to tell the truth. Of course the festive period arrived and now I feel over-fed, over-tired and very squishy around the middle. But that's ok, I'm ready to stop eating all the biscuits and get back on that elliptical machinecome Monday.

★ Travel - I did extremely well in this department. Continuing the trend that started last year, 2015 saw a lot of long weekends away around the UK: Dorset, Shropshire, the Isle of Skye, Yorkshire dales, Brighton for our anniversary and most recently, the Brecon Beacons. My passport also got some use this year what with our amazing holiday to Iceland, a few days in Slovakia and the week long road trip along the west coast of Ireland (which I still need to post the pictures from...it's super late but I really want to share as I've got lots to reccommend)! I think 2015 will take some beating travel-wise and, what with having just bought a flat, I don't think 2016 will be a big holiday year for us but who knows!

★ Making - I'd say it was a productive year, a bit of crochet, a bit of design, a bit of knitting. I tried weaving for the first time and although I didn't get around to using my printing kit, I DID some rather successful dressmaking, a dress but more importantly tops (something I'd been sorely lacking). Both the Bess and Zippy tees are great patterns, which I've recreated more than once (and will continue to do I'm sure)! Although I probably did more sewing than anything this year, I'm particularly proud of my jumper, the most labour intensive project of 2015 but so so worth it.

I mentioned that this was a tough year, particularly for Mitch's side of the family. In October, his uncle passed away - what I'd call a character, incredibly warm and welcoming, very chatty, loved his tea and always had interesting stories to tell. I was lucky enough to have met him a number of times, including when we stayed with him and his wife in Germany. He died before his time and, in a way, quite suddenly. We'd known he was sick but the truth of how bad it was wasn't really shared. I have great memories of him and, more importantly, so does Mitch.

This was also the year Moriarty passed on and I still miss that little guy one hellava lot. Ah le sigh. I've been contenting myself by looking at all the cute furballs on instagram, thankfully there's lots. Fortunately/unfortunately our new flat doesn't allow pets (not that that's stopped us before) but I think it'll be awhile before we get another. Mitch is holding out for a dog but of course we'd need a garden for that!

And speaking of gardens, 2015 was the year we whole heartedly threw ourselves into growing our own veg. It was a fantastic experience and, not to toot our own horns, but our hard graft really paid off. Gardening definitely became a new favorite hobby this past year. Sadly our flat doesn't come with a garden but we're hoping we'll be able to keep a few herbs on the balcony.

I guess this overview paints it in a rather good light but it's been a year of stops and starts, incredible highs and emotional lows. Through it all, my friends and family have been there, a constant source of support, advice and, when I needed it, the perfect distraction from the stressful stuff that gets blown way out of proportion (and there was a lot of that stuff this year). Mitch is obviously included in that catchment of friends and family but he gets a special mention because he's had to put up with A LOT. I know he's my husband and it's expected that he'll support me in anyway he can but damn, that guy goes above and beyond :) We've had some bloody amazing adventures last year (Iceland being perhaps my favourite) and I cannot wait to begin our next!

So, thanks 2015, you were a bit of a test, but we're out the otherside and all I've got are positive vibes for the year ahead :)

good night little pea

So I have some shit news, last Thursday morning our Moriarty passed away. He was fairly old for a syrian hamster, a few days short of 2 years and 8 months in fact. His health and agility had been in rapid decline over the last couple of months, he stopped using his wheel and struggled to climb the ramp to the first level in his cage. We took him to the vet the Friday before to see about getting some medicine for his ear infection (v.common I'm told in old hamsters) and it was then that the vet found a large tumour in his belly (again, apparrently very common in hamsters). He assured us that Moriarty wasn't in pain or experiencing any discomfort, there wasn't anything he could do for him so we just took him home and carried on as we'd done before. Despite knowing he wasn't 100% and that hamsters had short lifespans I wasn't prepared for the shock and gut-aching sadness I felt on Thursday. I'm not ashamed to say it: I cried a lot for Moriarty, even though I know we gave him the best possible life and all the cuddles and strawberries he could want. I put my v.emotional response down to the fact that I'd never had a pet before and was feeling childish feelings because most people experience this first loss of a pet at a young age. But actually, you know what? Loss doesn't get easier as you get older. We had Moriarty for two and a half years, he was part of the furniture and I loved that little guy. I'm so so glad I took tonnes of pictures and videos of him, he was such a cutie and I have so many great memories of him.

I miss him, particularly in the morning - checking in on him before going to work - and the evenings around 9pm when he'd normally be emerging from his nest or waiting by the door for food or someone to play with - preferably both :)

Good night little pea. No one has ever, or will ever, look cuter eating broccoli.

R.I.P Moriarty x

A video posted by _annie_h (@_annie_h) on Aug 18, 2015 at 2:52pm PDT

making the most of my weekends

I've only been back in full-time employment for six weeks but good lord, do I look forward to my weekends. Whilst I was umemployed there wasn't really any distinction, weekends just merged into the rest of the week, but now, now I feel like I've really earned them! I've had a run of some particularly excellent weekends and, truthfully, each of these Saturdays started out as an attempt at 'photo an hour' - hence why there's a lot of pics - but I failed at that, repeatedly. Instead, I present to you a mish mash of the best bits of my May weekeends.

A video posted by _annie_h (@_annie_h) on May 16, 2015 at 8:51am PDT

A trip to the cutesy town of Leigh-on-Sea to see my friend and her gorgeous bubba, the day before his 1st Birthday (cue lots of talk of how quickly time is passing - I swear it's speeding up!). I baked a lemon and bluebuerry cake for the occassion (which I fully intend to make again) and we ended the day walking through the old bit of town, eating cockels and icecream (not together obvs). On returning back to London that evening we headed to a friends' brithday dinner and drinks wherein I drank v.good beer AND made friends with a man and his sausage dog, the latter who happily sat in his owners bag with his head poking out. Cuteness overload. Sunday was mostly spent in the garden (here's our latest progress), general mooching about and a bit of sewing :)

The following weekend was my friend's hen party. Her bridesmaid had organised a 50s pin-up style photoshoot for us - complete with outfits, props, hair and make-up - which was A-MAZING. I went for a more modest outfit but I absolutely loved getting my hair styled. Truthfully, I don't really wear much make-up and spend, on average, 5mins on my hair so the shoot was a real treat. You'd be hard pushed to recognise me in the final pictures. Again, Sunday was super chilled which included giving our bedroom a huge spring clean whilst listening to Cerys Matthews on BBC 6 (she has the most soothing voice). On the bank holday Monday we had ourselves a mini London adventure featuring a visit to the beautiful Barbican Centre to see a v.cool exhibition about artists' collections, a mooch around the v.interesting Museum of London (which I'd highly recommend - even to Londoners) before dropping in on The Joint for some well deserved (we'd done SO much walking) beers and a BBQ pulled pork bun :)

Which brings me to last weekend wherein we had dinner at a friends' and admired the stunning views of London from the rooftop garden. The rest of the weekend revolved around preping for our impending trip to Scotland - buying a tent, sleeping bags and other camping paraphernalia as well as testing out said tent in the garden (it's all good). And one constant throughout all these most excellent weekends? Cuddles with Moriarty of course :)

A video posted by _annie_h (@_annie_h) on May 10, 2015 at 1:20pm PDT

Crochet Baby Hat

A little bubba is due to join our extended family in just over two weeks, cue lots of making :) The timing of this particular arrival is perfect as I have quite a bit of time on my hands (a definite perk of not being in full-time employment). After some searching (thanks Pinterest) for free hat patterns (there are so many good ones out there), I settled on this one. It was incredibly simple and took no time at all to make. The sex of the baby has been kept a secret so I went with yellow. My sister informs me that yellow is more of a 'girl' colour but whatevs. I'm sure my cousin won't mind. I'm also in the process of knitting a baby blanket too (so much glorious time on my hands). Here's a sneek peak.

In other news, tomorrow will mark two years since Mitch brought Moriarty home. At two years and two months, he's doing pretty well for an old boy. We've all noticed that he's a lot more reluctant to come out of his cage these days but when he does, the little guy is so full of beans, running and climbing about all over the place, just like the old days :)

Christmas looked like this

5 days down in the New Forest wherein we ate turkey and stuffing, christmas pudding and iced biscuits; drank sloe gin, port and lemons and countless cups of tea; watched festive films and back to back episodes of Mongrels; sat around the fire and opened presents; went for walks in the forest, along the sea front at Milford, around the winding paths of the old salt marshes at Lymington and up to the village of Lyndhurst for a couple of drinks in the pub and to see the lights; played cards for hours (sh*thead is the family fave) and took a trip to the outdoor (heated) pool - a vague attempt to work off some of the xmas feasting.

It was over as quickly as it arrived and I'd be lying if I said I feel rested. But, as always, I'm grateful for the break from London and to be able to get together with my family, including Moriarty who came along for the ride - he's a pretty well-travelled for a hamster!

In other news, it's the last day of the year - cue standard "where has the time gone?!" bewilderment -  the year when I had the best day of my life so far, the day I married my favourite person in the world. And where will you find us fairly-newly-weds on our first new years as husband and wife? Eating pizza and watching a movie, most probably in bed. We did have plans to welcome in the new year with friends at a party near Brighton but Mitch is a rather poorly. So, it'll just be a quiet night in for the two of us. I can think of worst ways to spend new year's eve :) Hope you have a good one wherever you are. See you next year!

TWO

As you may have guessed from the title, Moriarty turned two yesterday. It may sound odd but the milestone of his second birthday pleases me immensely. First of all because he is ace and I love him to bits. Secondly because the life span of a Syrian hamster is 2 - 2 ½ years and I feel happy in the knowledge that not only has he reached this expected life-span but he is experiencing the good life - clean home, varied diet and lots of play time. He gave us a bit of scare earlier this year but I couldn't be happier that he'll be sharing another Christmas with us :) Happy birthday buddy.

what Sundays are made for

1 // Sleeping in till late

2 // Crocheting whilst Mitch plays computer games

3 // Christmas present making (aka potato printing)

4 // Spending quality time with my sister (aka watching The Guardians of the Galaxy)

5 // Keeping myself sustained (aka eating mince pies with brandy butter)

6 // Cuddles with Moriarty

And not a job application form or cover letter in sight.

BHW bits & pieces

The bank holiday weekend went something like this...

On Friday night Mitch and I went to see El Dorado at the Arcola Theatre just off the Kingsland Road. It was meant to be a black comedy but it was seriously dark so I didn't laugh much - it was v.good though! A small but compelling cast, minimalistic set with excellent use of sound and lighting. The bar attached to the theatre was pretty cute too and sold the tastiest crisps I've ever eaten. Afterwards we went for pizza at Bite (they picked the best cheeses for their four cheese pizza - not enough places are ballsy enough to wack on some gorgonzola).

Saturday saw us head to Rivington Street to buy Mitch's wedding suit. I had a feeling that going to a proper tailors would be hella intimidating but the guy at Mr Start was v.patient and super helpful. We were also given beer to drink whilst Mitch tried stuff on which was cool and kinda reminded by of wedding dress shopping. In the evening we went to a friend's birthday. Not only did he make his own bread but the most a-mazing dip (cream cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms and other stuff - I need the recipe). It was a hilarious night of plenty of booze (including Mitch's signature punch), food and a good old game of mafia.

Sunday started out very chilled - lunch with my nan, some sewing (finished the top of my friend's baby quilt) - but come the evening it all went down hill. Moriarty hadn't come out to play for the last two nights so on Sunday I decided that that was long enough. I took the lid off his cage to find that he was curled up in his nest and v.poorly indeed. I know it must sound crazy, getting upset about a hamster but he's our little hamster and seeing him like that was unbelievably upsetting. Frantic googling of his conditions lead us to the same advice: take him to the vet. Amazingly Mitch found a 24 hour one so we made Moriarty as comfortable as possible in a shoe box and drove him over there. The vet was impressed with how active he was (Moriarty had perked up somewhat in the car and waiting room) and prescribed him antibiotics and some 'recovery diet'. On sunday night I couldn't sleep and I woke up with my stomach in knots. Moriarty made an unusually early appearance on Monday morning and thankfully, seemed much improved. By the evening he was climbing the roof of his cage - the medicine seems to be doing the trick!

Certain that Moriarty was in a better way state than the night before, Mitch and I went out to buy a few essentials for our long weekend in the Lake District (and a rucksack which I didn't really need but it was only 12 quid and I bloody love it). The rest of the day was spent being incredibly productive and ploughing on with wedding-related stuff.

So, although Ronny O'Sullivan didn't win the snooker and the bank holiday weekend felt, at times, more like an endurance test than a relaxing long weekend (I certainly didn't feel well rested coming back into work on Tuesday), I'm just glad that it was sunny and Moriarty is on the mend.

Melon

A couple of nights ago, Moriarty tried melon for the first time. He liked it :)

 

he could've been rhino

A year ago today Mitch went to Streatham and brought back a v.tiny (and probably quite terrified) little hamster. It was on the bus on the way back to the flat, with the hamster in a box on his lap, that Mitch apparently thought about what to call him. It came down to two names: Moriarty and Rhino (after the hamster in Bolt). By the time he'd got off the bus, he'd made up his mind.

Last night, Moriarty scared the crap out of us. I'm still not entirely sure if he was half-hibernating or what but for about a minute I really did think the worst. I'd never seen him so still! Of course this lead to panic and much frantic internet searching in a desperate attempt to diagnose his lethargic state. Of course, reading about all the terrible illnesses hamsters can contract did nothing for my peace of mind. But, thankfully, the little one was back to his usual energetic-self this morning and his appetite has definitely returned to normal. Don't go anywhere yet buddy, there's lots of good times ahead :)

happy birthday little fella

Today, Moriarty turns 1! 

(Ok, so I've never had a pet before which means acknowledging the hamster's birthday is happening.) 

The urge to knit moriarty a little xmas jumper is quite overwhelming but I just know that he'd hate it so instead, we opted to make him some new cage accessories. Hopefully, he'll like them.

That little video is actually from the summer but seeing as Moriarty tends to sleep all day and only wants be to sociable in the evenings (which in the winter means it's dark) this is probably the clearest footage of him. He's not changed much since June so I promise you're not missing anything - no radical hairstyles or neon dye jobs. 

When he came into our lives I was v.opposed to having a hamster. But now, I couldn't imagine being without him :) happy birthday little fella. 

Moriarty

This is Moriarty.

Two weeks ago, whilst at work, I called Mitch on my lunch break. Almost the first thing he said was: "Guess what I've just bought! A hamster!" Apparently he'd been thinking about it for a while but had of course failed to mention it to me, because "you'd have said no!" Which is true. I'm not going to lie, I  was pretty annoyed that I hadn't been consulted. However, as soon as I got home and met our new resident I was smitten. I've never had a pet before, my sister is allergic to animal fur so pets were a no-no when I was little and at uni I was, for most of the three years, unable to look after myself let alone another living creature no matter how small. A lot of my friends had hamsters when they were younger so it sort of feels like I'm a bit late to the party. But, as the old saying goes, better late than never.

He's not your typical brown and white hamster (as you can see), his fur is more grey in colour. V.shy when when he first arrived but I think he's used to us by now - letting us feed and handle him. We got him a ball to run around the flat in - which he seems to love.

When he's awake (mornings and evenings) he darts about with impressive speed for someone so tiny - hence all the blurry pics, it's very difficult to catch him standing still. Even when he eats he sort of quivers. I am amazed at how much he can carry in his pouches, plus he looks super cute when his cheeks are full (once they were so full he couldn't fit into his little house)! It's only been two weeks but I love this little guy.

And yes, we are big fans of sherlock holmes although there's nothing evil about this Moriarty :)