A year of Instagrams

These are just a selection of Instagrams I've posted this year, when I put them all together it looks like a fairly colourful and event filled year.  I won't be sad to see the back of 2013 however I am grateful for all the experiences I have had this year, good and bad.

Here is to 2014, may it be sunny, bright, healthy and happy!

New Year Love

Sadly I won't be hosting a fabulous and sophisticated New Year's Eve party this year, if I did it would probably look a little like this...

// 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 //

Future Cinema does Ghostbusters

The weekend before Christmas MozzyMr and I went up to London to visit my brother.  Surprise, surprise we went to see The Drowned Man again (best visit so far!) but my brother had also booked us tickets to see a Future Cinema presentation of Ghostbusters.  Future Cinema has the strapline 'WE ARE LIVE CINEMA.  Cinematic experiences like no other'.  I'd say so.  It took place at The Troxy, I doubt there is a better venue for it, the building is amazing. We plonked ourselves right at the front, loaded up on hot dogs and drinks and watched the action taking place around us.

Whilst queuing to get in the Ghostbusters car circled the Troxy.

Mini sets to explore at the back of the enormous venue.

Could this building be anymore perfect for a screening of this film??

Alternative advent calendar #24

Ahhh Christmas, it's finally here!  So this will be the last Alternative Advent Calendar post for 2013, I really hope you've enjoyed the journey?  To round things off I thought I would share with you a collection of Bill Murray inspired festive messages and images.

A very Murray Christmas everyone, I hope you have a relaxing, restful, happy time with those you love!

Anna xxx

Alternative advent calendar #23

2013 has seen me posting on this little blog more than any other year, I can't say that all of the posts have been quality but I've enjoyed writing them (I hope you've enjoyed reading them).  Here is a small collection of some of my favourite posts of 2013...

16/02/13 "Cloud Collection" Granted this isn't the most exciting post in all the world but I do love a good cloud photo and this post had a lot of them!

06/04/13 "Allotment Geekery" I'm including this post because it was so exciting to see my lovely seeds doing well and to be back in the growing season on the allotment, this year has been a good allotment year for us, may we have many more to come!

14/06/13 "France: all the greens" I spent a gorgeous week in France with my family in June.  The weather was hot, we had bbqs, sat out in the sun sipping French cider and just totally relaxed.

03/07/13 "London: The South Bank" OK so the photography in this post isn't amazing, but the day was.  I had travelled up to London for a conference and decided to spend the weekend visiting my brother.  We went into London and had a touristy day visiting the London Eye and the London Aquarium.  I loved it!

04/08/13 "Garden Geekery" I made more effort with my Garden this year and thoroughly enjoyed the process of planning and planting.  I think the glorious weather in the summer helped and that tons of foxgloves have decided to seed in our garden.

26/08/13 "Paris: Disneyland" Being witness to my nieces first trip to Disneyland was one of the highlights of my year.  Missy Big in particular was about to pop with all the Disney Princess joy!

29/09/13 "Shrooms!" Autumn around these parts was an absolute corker, MozzyMr and I took full advantage of the forests so near to us and stomped through fallen leaves and photographed lots of mushrooms!

27/10/13 "The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable" Am I still going on about this?  Yes I bloody am, don't judge me!  This play has been such an eye opener and has encouraged me to engage more with cultural experiences.

10/11/13 "Getting to grips with art" Listening to this years Reith Lectures was a real joy and has switched me on to more of what Radio 4 has to offer. (Yes that was the sound of me crossing the line into middle age.)

Alternative advent calendar #22

So Helene in Between wrote an excellent post called 10 Things That 2013 Taught Me, I sat nodding my head in agreement with almost every point listed so thought I would list my own 10 things that 2013 taught me in homage to Helene's excellent blog!

1. 2013 taught me that I cannot get enough awkward cat photos, I post so many to Facebook it's a miracle more people haven't blocked me...

This fella ate a bee, his face is a picture of regret.

2. Breaking Bad stole my life in 2013, but then I think it stole everyone's life didn't it? 2013 taught me that opening a Netflix account might have been a bad idea.

{source}

3. 2013 has been a painful wait, waiting, waiting, waiting for Sherlock series 3 to air.  As it happens it's going to be shown on 1st January 2014 but whatever.  It's here!  It's here!  Therefore 2013 has taught me that patience is a virtue.

4. 2013 taught me to embrace my inner old lady and so I turned all out-doorsy, lots of walking in the woods, walking on the beach, digging on the allotment and visiting National Trust properties where I enjoyed a cup of tea and a cake.  Oooooh lovely bit of cake.

Introducing the 60-year old girl meme

5. Coffee made me it's slave.  I've always been partial to the odd cup of coffee but this year I don't seem to function without it.  Help me.  2013 taught me that I need to get more sleep.

6. Millenials.  2013 taught me the best ways to get the best out of my millenials.  It's not easy folks.

19 facts we learned about millenials

7. 2013 taught me that sometimes you just have to stand up and be counted.  It's scary and isolating (yep I've lost friends over my decision to strike) but if you believe things are wrong then you have to show those that make the decisions that you won't stand for it.

8. 2013 has taught me that I scan Buzzfeed far too much, but that means I find gems like this computer game in the making, so that's ok then.

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9. 2013 has taught me that I'm not scared of flying after all, duh.  I'm guessing 2014 will teach me not to spend all my money on holidays.

10. and finally.... 2013 taught me I can have my mind blown away by The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable.  Have I mentioned it before?  I not sure I have.  Accidentally purchased another ticket for February.

So what has 2013 taught you?  I would love to know!

Alternative advent calendar #21

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This post should probably be subtitled 'Things I Would Craft for my Perfect Homemade Christmas if I Had the Damn Time!'.

It's all well and good having Kirstie Allsopp wibbling on about how perfect your Christmas can be with a tissue paper pom pom or pine tree syrup (!) but everyone I know works ridiculous hours and collapse in a heap of exhaustion when they do finally get home.  

Bah humbug.

Alternative advent calendar #20

I lost my reading mojo a little this year and haven't read as much as I normally do.  I stopped writing my Month of Reading posts because I found I was reading less for enjoyment and more for content filler.  As we wind down 2013 I thought I would share with you my year in books, for the purposes of this list I have given each book a rating out of 5.

1. Pantheon of the Dead by Jon Rosenberg - daft but brilliant! {4.5}
2. Never the Bride by Paul Magrs - just daft, not really my thing {2}
3. The Killing Floor by Lee Child - surprisingly good, super gripping! {4.5}
4. The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson - An awesome adventure and a great story - {4.5}
5. Bedsit Disco: How I Grew Up and Tried to be a Rockstar by Tracey Thorn - a bit lengthy in places but overall a really interesting life story {3.5}
6. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - captivating and just a bit magical {4}
7. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce - a touching story about bridging the gap and reconnecting {4}
8. Dominion by C.J. Sansom - I always love a bit of C. J. Sansom and this is no exception, very moody but an awesome story {4.5}
9. Uglies by Scot Westerfield - Utter. Bobbins {1}
10. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey - there is something of the Scandinavian fairy tale to this one, an ok read, not entirely my thing {3}
11. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein - ohh love a World War II spy novel, especially where the lead is a woman, really enjoyable read {4.5}
12. The Attachments by Rainbow Rowell - this story captures the essence of my friendship with my lovely friend Charlotte and therefore I love it {5}
13. The Most Beautiful Thing by Fiona Robyn - meh. {2}
14. Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher - Double plus meh. {1}
15. Capital by John Lanchester - a mystery weaving in and out of the lives of the residents on one street in London with an awesome undercurrent of mystery {4.5}
16. Homeward Bound by Emily Matcher - the most thought provoking book I have read so far this year exploring the world of blogging and the implications of the resurgence of women returning to homemaking {5}
17. Lets Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson - the most hilarious autobiography I have read {5}
18. I Can Make You Hate by Charlie Brooker - Charlie Brooker can do little wrong in my eyes, more books please Charlie {5}
19. Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch - the Peter Grant series continues with this stonking addition, Aaronovitch cannot write books quickly enough they're just awesome {5}
20. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch - yeeeah I loved Broken homes so much I went back and read the whole series again from start to finish {5}
21. Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch {5}
22. Whispers Under ground by Ben Aaronovitch {5}
23. Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch - (don't judge me ok?) {5}
24. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - I really didn't expect to like this book (I don't know why) but really, really did but I'm not really sure why... {4.5}
25. Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valents - it's never easy reading about how far the fight for equality has to go but this book is thought provoking and educating {4}
26. Remarkable Creatures by Tracey Chevalier - I used to love Chevaliers' books but either she has lost her mojo or I've moved on from her style, this was a bit meh {3}
27. The Chronicles of Narmo by Caitlin Moran - you all know how much I love Caitlin Moran so when I saw she had another book out I pre-ordered and couldn't wait for it to download to my Kindle, I didn't realise she wrote this book as a teenager.  It's great, dang this woman has talent! {5}
28. Grayson Perry: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl by Wendy Jones - I have a fascination with Grayson Perry which grew ever stronger after hearing his Reith Lectures earlier this year.  I read these following them, Perry has such a fascinating story to tell with buckets of humour {4.5}
29. Mr Penumbra's 24 Bookstore by Robin Sloan - in a similar vein to the Aaronovitch books I loved the interweaving of 'Old Knowledge' with the vast and growing Google empire's pursuit of New Knowledge, a great read {4.5}
30. 50 Shades of Feminism by various authors - I'm currently reading this one, so far I'm loving every chapter written by a different female writer, artist, CEO etc. So far, so very good.

Well that's my list, not a very full one but from the number of 4.5 and 5 reviews I've dished out I think it has been quality over quantity.  Which books have you enjoyed this year, I'd love to know as I'm always looking for my next book to read!

Alternative advent calendar #19

Check out the Christmas jumper on Julian!  Not only that, check out the Topshop pose he's pulling off so well!  As part of our work Secret Santa lunch everyone wore a fantastic array of Christmas jumpers, tinsel and Santa hats.

Everyone got a present, whoever was my Secret Santa knew how much I love good wrapping paper :)

There was certainly a touch of Christmas magic in the air, by this point in the term everyone at my work is shattered but everyone kicked back and enjoyed an extended lunch with an enormous buffet and presents :)

Alternative advent calendar #18

So snowflakes yeah?  They're pretty awesome when you take a closer look.  Anyone who follows me on Pinterest will notice I go through phases where I will pin all the Christmas things, or all the pictures of mushrooms or in this instance snowflakes.  Here are some of my favourite snowflake pictures...

For image sources click here

 

Alternative advent calendar #17

This post should more accurately be titled 'The amazing things my friend Katrina can do with gingerbread'.  We had a Secret Santa lunch last week at work where everyone brought in food and snacks and we kicked back for a long lunch (more of this in a later post).  As part of the event Katrina made a gingerbread village (!) where the gingerbread houses were lit from the inside with battery powered tealights (!!).  It looked awesome but we're all too in awe of it to start tucking in!

Alternative advent calendar #16

Last year I didn't dare have my nice baubles on the tree because Mewster was still so young and bouncy.  She is still a lively character but I trust her enough not to jump up the tree or destroy my precious decorations!

I've kept things very minimal this year, lights and maybe ten or fifteen baubles, the tree we bought was really dense and looks great it doesn't need excessive decoration for it to be beautiful.  Plus it smells amazing!  There have been so many white artificial trees on the blogs I read and they look amazing, at the last car boot sale I went to I was tempted many, many times to buy one, but... I just love the smell of a real tree I don't know if I can do it??

Alternative advent calendar #15

Shameless Christmas present wantsies...

// 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 //

Alternative advent calendar #14

I haven't done a life lately for a long time so if you follow me on instagram some of these photos will be familiar... apologies.

// 1 // 2 // Mewster taking some time out to sit on towers of boxs and files

// 3 // 4 // Mewster taking some time out to schlomp about the house

// 5 // Being a bit right on and protesting the EDL presence in my home town

// 6 // Getting some fresh air and having a stomp in the woods with my wellies on, literally the best thing

// 7 // Embracing winter and filling up on homemade stodgy pies packed with homegrown veg

// 8 // Buying and making MozzyMr wear daft hats.  Best IKEA purchase ever.

// 9 // Making metres of paper chains for decorating the office

Alternative advent calendar #13

Over Christmas I get a little over a week off work and I am so grateful for that time especially as I have known the horrors of Christmas time in retail.

During that time off I have a few aims, some festive, some not:

• Bake mince pies
• Take a walk on the beach
• Dig up fresh parsnips from the allotment for Christmas dinner
• Fix the side light on the car (ohh Christmasy!)
• Hang out with family and friends
• Wear a Christmas jumper
• Have at least one glass of mulled wine
• Dig more of the allotment over
• Do some work at the studio
• Quality time with MozzyMr
• Read, read, read!
• Watch Dr Who and Sherlock!
• Have a bonfire on the plot
• Beat MozzyMr at Trivial Pursuit (pfft as if)

What is on your list?