2015: Year in Review

The year is nearly over. 2015 was a very interesting year and it had a lot of ups and downs – mostly ups, and when things keep looking up, that’s pretty good too. In summary, I got my driver’s licence, did quite a bit of travelling (both near and far), switched jobs twice (yet enjoyed every part of it), climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, got involved in public speaking and subsequently inspired a few people, and got spoiled terribly throughout the year. 😆

I started doing these yearly summaries in my ‘Hello 20_XX_’ posts on the first day of the year, reviewing the previous year. It didn’t make sense to do that, though – it made more sense to do it on one of the last few days of the year. Here is my summary of achievements and happenings in 2015, and if you haven’t checked it out yet, I also published a post on my Best posts of 2015. ☺️

January

• I photographed Field Day festival on New Years Day. The music wasn’t my cup of tea but there were some other people photographing, including my friend Gwen – so I had some company. 😊
• Finally succumbed to seeing a Beatles tribute band with my dad – after previously thinking that there was no point in seeing something that was ‘not the real thing’. After my experience, I threw away my criticisms and had a change of heart.
• Nick took me on a little cruise boat that went around the harbour. We had a beautiful dinner on the waves. It was probably the most romantic thing anyone had done for me (to that date). Tears of joy. 😭
• Went to the zoo! 🐨🐯🦁🐷
• I had to photograph a Highasakite concert. I get in for free if I’m taking photos and I will occasionally get to bring another guest. Most of the time I just buy another ticket for Nick. This time they him in for free for some reason (saved about $60 there haha).
• Watched an Eddie Izzard show on the steps of the Opera House.

February

• Nick and I went to Palm Beach then I took him to Sizzler as a surprise. It was kind of hilarious, really, because the only clue I gave was a fire emoji. 🔥 It had been a while since I had been to a Sizzler restaurant.
• My friend Andrias got married. 💍 It was a beautiful wedding ceremony and reception.
• Nick and I had an eventful Valentine’s Day with a romantic lunch and a Hey Geronimo show (that was the second time we saw them that month).
• Nick started photographing my Fashion Friday shoots this month.

[caption width=“1200” id=“february” align=“center”]Me and Nick on Valentine’s Day[/caption]

March

• I took Nick to the Thirlmere Festival of Steam. It was hard to keep it a surprise but I knew he loved steam trains and I didn’t think he would have ever come across the festival.
• Went to Wollongong for the Farmer and the Owl Festival. Nick didn’t like it. 😢 I now should avoid taking him to see thrash metal, metal, grunge, hard rock, garage rock or any other kind of sub-genre of rough rock music unless we have seats, haha.

[caption width=“1200” id=“march” align=“center”] We went to the Thirlmere Festival of Steam in March[/caption]

April

• We went to Hunter Valley for Easter and had a nice relaxing trip.
• I had been really keen to go to a disco that played actual disco dance music from the 70s and 80s, and tried going to an ‘After Work Disco’ that was advertised. I was disappointed to find the place was pretty empty and totally not playing disco music.
• Apple released their Apple Watch this month, and Nick and I went to the store to have a look. We were interviewed and Nick got famous and appeared in these two news videos.
• Went to a Ross Noble show. He was hilarious. I like his improv style.

[caption width=“1200” id=“april” align=“center”] We spent the Easter long weekend in Hunter Valley[/caption]

May

• Climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge! It was not as scary as I thought.
• Went to a Thomas the Tank Engine event. Aw yes!
• My birthday present from Nick was a holiday in Hamilton Island. It was beautiful, and lots of fun. I think my favourite part was the jet skiing. I was so scared but it was marvellous and so exhilarating.
• On my birthday we had a Back to the Future themed hackathon at work. I was quite pleased with the amount of effort that went into the organisation of the day. Nick and I had a really fancy lunch in the Sydney tower, I had coffee and cake with my close friends, and to top it off, watched Hey Geronimo play a show that night.

[caption width=“1200” id=“may-bridge” align=“center”] We climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge at sunset[/caption]

[caption width=“1200” id=“may-jetski” align=“center”] Nick bought me a trip to Hamilton Island for my birthday. I love this photo of us jet skiing.[/caption]

June

• I left my job as a front-end developer at Freelancer.com, and started working at hipages.
• Saw Jebediah in concert. I love that band!
• It was Nick’s birthday and my mum’s birthday this month.

July

• I got to photograph Blur. And see them play, obviously. It was amazing to photograph them, and I am so thankful for the experience.
• I saw The Wombats in concert. I hadn’t really listened to them but after seeing them live I really wanted to see them again.

[caption width=“1200” id=“july” align=“center”]I got to photograph Blur live in July[/caption]

August

• We went to a disco which was more enjoyable than the ‘fake’ disco from April. The music was great, even though it wasn’t all Donna Summer and Wham! kind of stuff.
• I got free tickets to the Dog Lovers Show from work, because we were a sponsor. Of course I attended the event and took some photos as well! I love dogs.

September

• Went to a Walk the Moon concert. I really only knew Shut Up and Dance, but they proved to be fun to watch.
• I went to a Chatime tasting session and got to try some of the new sparkling iced teas they would be releasing in the summer (December and onwards). The Sparkling Strawberry Guava Black Iced Tea was my favourite, and they actually chose it as one of the two flavours they released this year! :D
• Nick and I both bought Canon 6Ds. It was time to buy a new camera!
• More in Splurging Money on Expensive Things, I pre-ordered my rose gold iPhone and had it delivered to my work office. Everyone marvelled over me opening it.
• I resigned from my job at hipages. It was very difficult to have left a place I grew so fond of in such a short period of time (four months). I cried a little, and everyone farewelled me warmly, but I had a more exciting opportunity on the horizon.

[caption width=“1200” id=“september-phone” align=“center”] I bought the Rose Gold iPhone 6s in September[/caption]

[caption width=“1200” id=“september-camera” align=“center”] Also spent a lot of money on a new camera…[/caption]

October

• Went to Indonesia for my cousin Antonius’ wedding. We had more adventures visiting a few tourist attractions. The funniest part was being bombarded by schoolchildren who wanted to take photos with Nick and myself using their selfie sticks – they love tourists.
• I started working at Campaign Monitor. It’s almost everything I expected and wanted, but most importantly, I felt welcomed, loved, and very much a part of the team. I feel very lucky to have been given the opportunity to work here. ☺️

[caption width=“1200” id=“october” align=“center”] Prambanan Temple was one of the few places we visited in Indonesia[/caption]

November

• I did my P1 driving test and passed! I was a bit nervous but I couldn’t have done it without some professional help from a qualified driving instructor. They really do tell you everything you need to know.
• I dived into public speaking, doing an internal talk at work on the topic of microdata. I didn’t practice enough, but a lot of people at work thought my topic was very interesting. I hope to do a much more refined version of the presentation at some point.

December

• I did a presentation at the December SydCSS event on how important documentation and comments are in CSS (summary and slides coming soon!). By the way, you can have a look at some of the photos. 🙃
• I also did a presentation at Girl Geeks Sydney about blogging.
• I spent Christmas with both my family and Nick’s, though Nick’s family were more festive, and so were his extended family. They were generous with their gifts, too. ☺️
• I went to IKEA for the first time in my life! Big deal, I know. Their veggie balls were yum!

[caption width=“1200” id=“december” align=“center”] Photo of me speaking at SydCSS, taken by Omar.[/caption]

What awesome things did you achieve this year?