One Hundred

This is my hundredth post on The Wandering Flamingo!

My first post was published five years ago, in January 2015. So much has changed since then! The Wandering Flamingo started as a way to document my ‘25 before 25’ journey and has now turned into a mash up of sporadic travel posts, running routes, book reviews and other ramblings.

I was surprised (and little ashamed) to discover that I haven’t posted since last September, but I thought this milestone post was a good opportunity for a catch up.

So, here goes…

WORK
As most of you know, I’m currently working as a freelance translator. I set up my own tiny business a little over a year ago and it’s starting to pick up; I’ve collaborated with lovely people these past few months. I’m also looking for a part-time job. After being contracted by a local tattoo studio to work on a marketing campaign last summer, I realised that getting out of the house a couple days each week, meeting new people and having a slightly more stable income really did wonders for my mental health!

RUNNING
I completed the #run1000miles challenge last December (there’s a post about that somewhere in my draft folder), but I’ve pretty much lost my mojo since. I’ve barely run since the beginning of the new year and focussed on yoga instead. I’m hoping my motivation will come back with the return of the longer (and very slightly drier) days.

READING
Work was slow around the holidays, so I had plenty of time to work through my ‘to read’ list. Some of my favourites from the last year include:

• Jog On – Bella Mackie *****
• The Stranger Diaries – Elly Griffiths *****
• The Year of Living Danishly – Helen Russell ****
• The Body – Bill Bryson ****
• An Astronaut’s Guide to Life – Chris Hadfield *****
• 401 – Ben Smith ****
• Born to Run – Christopher McDougall *****

KNITTING
I started knitting two years ago as a way to keep my hands busy in the evenings instead of scrolling on social media. I never expected to stick with it, or that I would love it so much! I made a chunky pompom hat for my little sister for Christmas and I have to admit, I’ve quite proud of the result. I also learned to knit socks. It’s not been a major success yet, but I’m getting there.

OTHER STUFF
There’s been a few celebrations lately! This blog’s fifth anniversary, for a start. It was also my fourth ‘expat-versary’ was at the beginning of February. We had planned a Canadian-themed day trip to mark the occasion, but had to postpone after our car gave up on us for the weekend. The car is good as new now, so hopefully we’ll be able to reschedule soon. And finally, Edward and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary! We always try to spend quality time together instead of exchanging presents, so we took it easy with a freezing motorcycle ride (it’s one of the downsides of having your anniversary mid-January) and a visit to the in-laws.

It’s been a busy few months and the New Year is turning out to be just as busy – in a good way! But I’m hoping to keep on top of blogging since ‘writing more regularly’ is one of my goals for this year.

How about you? Is 2020 shaping up the way you expected? Have you set yourself goals?