Busy Bee

Well it appears that it has been over a month since my last blog post. I have to admit though, I am still on a high about being able to drive. Each time I make it to a young person's house and then make it back home, it feels like a little victory. I knew that I was making not driving a huge obstacle in my head that I just needed to get over. Matt is also enjoying my ability to drive us both home after he's had a few beers. Which means that we've branched out to restaurants outside of our town (i.e. not just walking distance).

Since I wrote a one year review back in November, I don't think I'll go over everything again. Instead, I'll discuss my hopes and plans for 2011. I only made one resolution and that was to not buy any magazines. The main reason is that I read them in 5 minutes and then recycle them so they are not really a good use of my money. I suppose the magazine thing is part of the bigger resolution to be more financially responsible and financially conscious (paying attention to what I'm spending).

The main reason that I'm a busy bee these days is because I have two jobs and I'm taking two courses! My main job is still working at youth justice as a substance misuse worker and prevention worker. My second job is a youth worker at a youth club one night per week. The first course is through the Open University (and I'm being sponsored by youth justice to take it) - its called effective practice in youth justice. You need that qualification to be a youth justice officer (essentially a youth probation officer) which is what I would like to be doing in the near future. The second course is a youth worker qualification through the second job and I get paid to attend the workshops which are every other week. My life is full of youth justice!! I'm trying to take advantage of every opportunity available at youth justice. I'm not sure how long I'll be there due to budget cuts. I have high hopes that I will have my contract renewed at the end of February.

I've also been trying to cook more and eat out at restaurants a bit less. I have a fully stocked kitchen and have found lots of little shops that stock many of my obscure ingredients. Its not quite the same as being walking distance from Whole Foods but I'm making it work. Matt continues to be supportive of my healthy eating attempts although there are some complaints about the occasional cooking smells coming from the kitchen.

There are quite a few (too many actually) trips that I'm looking forward to this year. My very good friend Alexxa is going to be in Spain in March and thanks to the close proximity to England, I can go and meet her!! I've never been to Spain and I think its going to be so fun to get to meet up and catch up! Matt and I have booked a few days off in April because due to the amount of stat holidays (thanks for getting married Prince William and Kate Middleton and giving everyone an extra Friday off), there is an excellent opportunity for a holiday. The top contender is New York. The plan is to wait for a last minute deal to save some money and head there for a week!

Other trips that I want to take include: Florida, El Salvador (to visit my sister and her family who are there for the year), Canada in August for a wedding and my dad's 60th birthday and then Canada again in November when my visa expires. The big question now is how to make all of these holidays fit!! Once I know my position at work I will be able to sit down and make some decisions.

The other recent development is the flat is now painted. After spending too long in places with white walls I decided that the time had come for some colour. I asked (ok told) Matt that instead of exchanging Hanukkah/christmas presents, we would split the cost of painting and decorating. So now I feel more at home here. I'm having a party/open house to show off all of the hard work put in. Admittedly, Matt painted a few more walls than I did. His parents were a bit skeptical about some of the colour choices but after seeing them on the wall agreed that I had missed my calling as an interior decorator.

The days are getting longer making me very happy and I'm looking forward to Spring :)