December 31 – The Best Bits – Bloggy Review 2009

Last December (2008) I came across this idea to

Post the first sentence of your first blog post of each month. You can also add a favorite picture from each month

I cheated slightly, as it is my blog, and I can do what I want (sort of!) so having read over my last year of blogging posts, I have listed this significant moments each month and selected a relevant photo or two (or three!).

So to that aim, I am including this in You Capture – a year in review hosted by I Should be Folding Laundry

So here is my blogging Review of 2009

January 2009

• Surprise – telling the kids about our surprise trip in February to Disneyland Paris

• Published! – my first ever digi-scrap layout publised in a “real” magazine
• Project 365 – challenging myself to take a photo a day for the entire 365 days in 2009 (a few lapses, but I made it, but now I have lots of digital layouts to complete!)
• Planning our new kitchen

February 2009

• Snow

• Transfer Test results- delighted that our daughter’s hard work paid off and she got the result she wanted
• Disneyland Paris

• Started my jewelery course – who knew where that would lead

www.janmarydesigns.com

March 2009

• Prayers for Peace (some darker days in N Ireland)
• St Patricks Day (and my first bloggy carnival)

•   Kitchen makeover begins – the before pics

April 2009

• During the kitchen makeover – scary stuff!

•   Top places to visit in N Ireland

•   After the kitchen makeover – delighted that the main work is over 🙂

May 2009

• Our family (through our kids’ art)

• Super kids

• 15 minutes of fame – not mine!

June 2009

• Result! Eldest daughter got accepted to the Grammer School of her choice

•   A trip to Bristol – just for me!

• Some finishing touches for the kitchen

• Eldest daughter finishes primary school and son finishes nursery school

July 2009

• Enjoying the summer at the cottage

• My best spicy sausage pasta recipe (one of the most popular searches that finds my blog)

• Start planning a home exchange / house swap for next summer (2010) with our cottage

August 2009

• School uniform for BIG school

•   Tall Ships visit Belfast

• I get an iphone for my birthday (maybe being 42 ain’t so bad!)

• A spa retreat

• First day at the BIG school for my eldest 

September 2009

• My wee one starts Primary School

• Meet a lovely US blogger on her trip to N Ireland

• The “before” pics of the dining room makeover

October 2009

• My son turns 5

• I photograph a wedding

• Pumpkin carving (some more enthusiastic than others)

• Fall Fest at our church

November 2009

• a quieter month!
• Youngest learning to read

• Trip to Ulster Museum

December 2009

• A daughter has her eighth birthday

• Another daughter has her 12th birthday

• I attend EIGHT carol services/christmas concerts
• Eldest daughter chosen to perform a solo at the Cathedral and in front of her entire school
• A bloggy home tour

• A Nativity Bloggy Carnival

• More snow than we are used to!

• Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home with my family – perfect

Thanks for joining my gallop through the year. What are the highlights of your year?

Happy New Year from Northern Ireland (where we are currently freezing in our holiday cottage, awaiting someone to come and fix the heating!) to my blog friends, old and new.

I am linking this up to Jo-Lynne’s 2009 recap too.

For more photo reviews of 2009, visit I Should Be Folding Launry

Hope to see you back here next year.