2018

2018 was a big year for some personal items most notably purchasing our first house, a little late getting on to the property ladder, the last decade or more it’s been increasing hard for first time buyers, finally we managed to do it and it’s been amazing to really call a place home, and put our mark (where possible it’s a new build) on it, next year we will be able to add some more marks most notably do some painting to brighten it up — with new builds they recommend waiting at least twelve months before plaiting to let the house settle and dry out.

Owning our own house gave us the opportunity to finally add another addition to the family, that of the four legged kind. We have always talked of getting a dog (cat’s seem to be more accepted within the rental market), and during the summer we added Einstein to the family, a fox red Labrador who is amazing, and both children adore him — still not convinced Fred (the cat) has taken to him yet but there’s still plenty of time for them to finally allow me to get some pictures of them cuddled up together sleeping like best buddies.

Couple of months after moving into our home I joined a gym, not your typical gym. I wasn’t after a membership to a room full of equipment for me to eventually stop going. This gym has a focus on functional fitness, lots of classes during the week which is a big focus. As my work schedule is a little different to the normal, I work an offset day to provide more overlap with the East coast of the US I was finding that I was working too much — trying to make up time in the mornings when the US was asleep but then also feeling guilty for not being online during their afternoon hours. This was leading to me not getting out much, getting exercise and starting to mentally struggle to keep up with everything. By joining the gym that has morning sessions four days a week it provided me a way to enforce I wasn’t working too much, getting me back into shape and making new friends. In the eight months of attending the gym I am a jean size smaller (only a few kilo’s lighter) and much stronger physically and mentally.

The finally thing of 2018 that was a huge achievement was me and my wife celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary which I’ve wrote about in a separate post.

2019.

Looking ahead to 2019 I am planning to make the year about Focus.

My primary focus will be on my family and health, professionally I am putting focus into areas that really excite me and try not to spread myself across all areas. With some recent changes this is heading in the right direction, the start of the year will provide the time to ensure steps are in place to move it towards where I want it to be.