2014

I've been inspired lately by my sister to continue my blogging. It's a great opportunity to relive life's moments, tell others how things are going, but more importantly for me, it's a way to simply talk.
As I'm writing this, Mary berry's telling what I should cook for Christmas, the cats are wandering the house looking for a crumb to fill their bellies and my hubbie is asleep after his night shift. It's a peaceful home and that's just the way I like it.

As we've got just short of 2 weeks remaining until we hit 2015, I was going to do the usual Facebook-Status-About-My-Year. I realised as I opened the app, that actually, far too much happened this year and well frankly, a Facebook mention wouldn't suffice.
I'll start from the beginning, I don't want to miss one small detail.

New Year:
Not long into the term, work was drastically different. I had a new manager start with us; she bought a real passion into the team. Work was worthwhile again and going to work with a smile was no longer a challenge. From this moment on, work was becoming a memory that I'll treasure for many years; the students, colleagues and the wonderful friendships that formed.

The weather had begun to warm up:

By March, the sun had greeted us from a long awaited absence. I remember a couple of weekends in particular.
1. Aysh's Hen Do
What a weekend to remember! I wasn't convinced I would get to Nottingham for the event of the month, fortunately, Nottingham was calling loud enough. We partied, drank, ate, laughed hard and generally had one of the best girlie weekends ever! Quite frankly we celebrated Mrs-Clarke-To-Be!

2. Weekend with EmJ
Kris and I made our way to a beautiful countryside village to see two
dear friends and their gorgeous kiddies. There were country walks, walks to the pub, wine and more wine, sunshine, smiles and pure joy. The day we departed was a day to remember. Kris and I were asked to be God parents to the beautiful babes. How could we say no?


Two Weeks later:
My beautiful childhood friend was hitched! I've known Aysh since forever and to witness one of her most prized days was a privilege. She was dressed in white and wore a smile as bright as the sun. I had the absolute honour of reading out a poem, how I didn't stutter, or trip on my heels Ill never know. The service was heart warming, the food was delicious, speeches both hilarious and touching, and the alcohol infused dancing finished the night off perfectly. Congratulations old friend! (An added bonus was seeing Eva from Germany! A lady with a heart as gorgeous as her face!)



Our Easter getaway to Cornwall:
It was about time Kris and I had some time to ourselves. Our social lives had clearly been too much to handle, so we headed to Cornwall to breath in fresh air and soak up the sun. If someone ever tells you that you can't holiday with no money, they are most definitely wrong. We went walking, discovered beaches we didn't know existed, threw pooh sticks over bridges, came across incredible waterfalls; literally wandered Cornwall at its finest.
Arriving home, we were greeted with a wonderful surprise.

We were expecting KITTENS:
We'd had our Millie since February the following year, she was well and truly our bundle of joy. The moment we saw her as we arrived home, we just knew she was pregnant. Her skinny little figure remained, but now there was a ball of fluff under her belly. We made a hasty visit to the vets, which is when we could start to feel the fur balls moving in her.
We had to wait around 6 weeks until we could meet the kittens. Unfortunately, I was at work at the time, but Kris was at home to witness the birth of all 3 kittens, lucky guy!

A month after the kittens were born, Millie never returned home.
We treasure our little ones every day knowing how special and unique their mumma was.





Miss Smith becomes Mrs Hodge:
Kris' twin sister Jenni became a Mrs in a beautifully intimate and inspiring wedding. She was a dashing bride in an unconventional wedding dress. Her husband wore tailored shorts and trainers. It set the path for their individually wonderful look on life as Mr and Mrs. To be a part of their day was magical, and it showed us just how simple love really is.


Summer Term at the FA:
I've got too many photos to choose from, so I'll spare them for now. The ending to my first year at the Academy ended with an absolute bang. I witnessed some truly talented students on Sports Day, we all got burnt and ate melting chocolate on House Day on the hills and I think it's safe to say I've never drunk as much as I did on the last day of term. The girls and lads I worked with that year were amazing, not just personality wise, but in the way they lead the students to be more than they dreamed they could be. They're some of the most inspirational role models I've come across. OK, here's my favourite photo!

I then celebrated my 21st:

I'm not the typical party girl, with alcohol remaining in my blood weekend through to weekend. I wanted a birthday that meant something, and one that I would actually remember, not one I'd later wish to forget.

Friends came round for food and girlie time, my girlfriends from work joined me for a luscious meal and cocktails, my parents and hubbie celebrated with me over an afternoon tea in our garden, and we then had a belated celebration with family members who were in Kent for the week. It was perfect!


Departure from Ashford:
We had lived in Ashford since May 13. Originally we rented a sweet little cottage. It was a home for about 6 weeks, and then it just became a nuisance. 6 months later, October 13, we found ourselves moving into a lovely 2 bed. Little did we know that our Landlord were "The Landlords" that had caused many families misery over many parts of Ashford and surrounding. It was August this year that we found ourselves dealing with the devil of the renting world. We were left with no choice but to leave the house immediately.
It was with a heavy heart that we left Ashford, only reason being, we knew we would never see our Millie again.

Our biggest decision yet:
Knowing we were moving out of the house prompted one decision we'd laid to rest for the time being. We were moving to Cornwall. We knew we didn't want to look for another house locally just to take us through to New Year, and with Kris' family moving West anyway, we figured this was our moment to go too. It wasn't long after we moved into Kris' Dads that we began rolling the ball. Notices for work were written and we had already began the search for new ones. The heartbreaking essence of this decision was leaving those we love dearly in Kent. We're not moving to Australia I know, but the distance can be highly inconvenient for a cup of tea and catch up. Telling our friends an family became heartbreaking, and yes, there were many many tears.

Our last week in Kent:
I'll never forget our last week in the Garden of England. The support we received from friends and family that surrounded us was overwhelming. There were many people to say goodbye to in such a short space of time. I wouldn't change the way we celebrated that weekend.


Saying goodbye to the wonderful friends at Folkestone Academy was emotional to say the least. We drank wine, reminisced, laughed and cried.







We said goodbye to EmJ and the Godkids. A family that will be treasured forever and ever.

Dinner at the Hudsons with the addition of Rob was special. They've known us individually and as a couple; a truly amazing bunch of people that are sorely missed.

We had an afternoon with Smiths and Hodges, before saying goodbye to the parents.

We sqeezed it all in 2 days. It was incredibly emotional, tiring and all together such good fun!






We moved:
Kris and I have endured a lot in the short space of time that we have been together, let alone married. We've experienced loss in more ways than one, we've had our fair share of financial difficulties, and between us we can't even count how many jobs either of us have held. It's been tough, and many told us at the beginning that it wouldn't work; yet here we are. We've battled on, we're strong, and now we live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country and we could not be more in love, more happy or more right.
We came here with no money, we lived at Kris' mums for a month; yet we picked up jobs in no time and now we live in a gorgeous house, reunited with our fluffy babies. It couldn't have worked out more perfectly, especially from the support we had from Kris' mum and Steve, without them, I'm not sure where we'd be. Yeah we've already had our challenges in the 3 months down here: no car, ill kittens, lack of money, no bed, the daily missing of friends and family back home and the general drastic change we've encountered.
But we are here. Happy, healthy and together.

I guess that's where our year ends. We've met new people, made new friends and we're somewhere, not just geographically but in life too, that we've needed to be in a while. It's more than perfect. It's our life. And we love it.