This year was rather quiet and uneventful Ð I guess it doesnÕt have to be always like a roller coaster.

Christmas 2013 and the change into the new year 2014 was celebrated with good friends. Christmas was even celebrated twice on Christmas eve and Christmas day. Unfortunately I don’t have photos from Christmas day.

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Of course as always the outdoor movie season was a highlight. I guess we saw around 15-20 movies, but never without a yummy picnic.

In January I had my friend Vada and BenÕs dog Zoe over for a couple of days while they were on holidays. In the morning we did a small walk in the park and in the afternoon we always went for a big walk on the beach. In between there was a lot of cuddling Ð her favourite activity.

In February and March I was starting volleyball again and this year the question was, if I should change club. After multiple trainings in both my old and a new club they issued team lists and to my big surprise I was listed in a higher league in the new club.

I had already decided to stop playing if I canÕt play in a good team and here we are I was listed in one! We played quite well for most of the season and even though we had a drop in between we made it into the finals. However we couldnÕt perform in the quarter final and lost. But all in all the season was far more enjoyable then last year and hardly any frustration. Lets see what is happening next year.

Like in the last two years (or is it already three years?) I still play Frisbee. ItÕs running the whole year with four 12 weeks seasons. Since the volleyball season is finished I am also going to Sunday trainings again Ð unless I canÕt get out of bed!

The teams are mixed after each season and hence it is much more interesting and good fun to regular play with new or different players.

In March I had a visitor from Germany: my friend Petra! Besides some day trips and various activities in the evening together she went also for a trip up North through WA. And when she was home, Petra spoiled me with some Bavarian specialties.

One afternoon we went to the Sculptures by the Sea in Cottesloe, another day we went to Caversham Wildlife Park and we did some other little trips.

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In April I made a short trip to Busselton to visit my friends Peter and Bernie. We hiked the full 1.8km length of the famous Busselton Jetty before we enjoyed a yummy home made roast dinner.

Im August machte ich mit ein paar Freunden einen Tagesausflug ins Inland um ein bisschen die Wildblumenbluete zu bewundern. Am meisten sahen wir diese rosafarbenen Strohblumen.

Am 20 September lŠutet ich die Badesaison ein:

Und einen Monat spŠter gab es Hagel mit einem krŠftigen Regenguss:

Since then the weather is like a roller coaster: Sometimes hot and the next day the temperature is dropping by 10-15 degrees.

Work wise it wasnÕt going very well in the first half of the year. I did find regular new clients, but nothing was permanent and a bigger project and hence I didnÕt have a lot of money and therefore decided to go back into employment Ð either part or full time. But that wasnÕt the end of it! I started writing applications and it got a bit frustrating that I wasnÕt even given the opportunity for an interview. Often there was either no response at all or a negative response. I guess it didnÕt help that I was so long self employed.
At the end of July I finally got an offer for a part time job, but the salary was suddenly dropped dramatically. On the same day as I got the offer I also saw another ad, I found interesting. So I applied for this job while still in the process of negotiating.

I wrote the application on Monday evening and already on Tuesday morning I got a call and an invite to an interview. I went there in the same week and some days later I got invited for the second interview. A day later I was offered the job and just 10 days later, on the 18.8.2014, I started my new job!

It was difficult for me to adjust at the beginning. Suddenly I had to leave at 8:05am in the morning to arrive by latest 8:30am in the office. However I can go home at 5pm and we have an hour lunch. In the meantime 3 months have past and I have adjusted too and I am very happy.

My new job is called Administration / Sales Coordinator with a real estate company. We are around 17 staff and it is a very old company. We mainly do estates from start to finish and commercial leasing.

Everybody is very friendly and the company really looks after their staff: every 4 weeks we have morning tea, a 10-minutes corporate massage, Friday afternoon drinks with nibbles and on the unofficial Fridays we mostly still open a bottle of champagne or wine.

Of course they did realise that I can do much more and it didnÕt take long to get new tasks for all sorts of marketing material etc. The big boss recently mentioned me as “in house graphic guru”. And my colleague, the Sales and Marketing Manager, recently said ãYou are scary”. When I asked why am I scary he said: ãYou are scary good”.

Last week I had my first review after 3 months: besides an increase I also got a very nice bottle of champagne! Looks like it was worth the wait!

Since I have got a regular income again I can also plan my next leave. The problem is now, that I have only a total of 4 weeks and I already have to use 4 days over Christmas! Currently a trip to Germany is on top of the list.

Lastly some words about my hobby: greeting cards! As in the last years, it is a very big and important part in my daily life. I call it my relaxation from the daily grind. It easily happens on a Saturday, that I sit down for breakfast on my craft table and I get up again for lunch.

I am in “Christmas Card productionÓ since August and I already have broken two records:

• I have created more Christmas cards then in any year before Ð the tally is currently at 162 and I am still going, and
• I have sold a massive 86 Christmas cards to date!

And I am now famous! I have got a client in New York! A lady ordered in August 7 cards and once I had the first lot of Christmas cards online she ordered again!

Now I am wishing you a

and a very happy New Year!

This post is also available in: German