Goodbye 2009

January - Engaged, Anne

We spent New Year’s 2008/2009 in the company of Ciaran Vipond and Jane Chadwick in Amsterdam - and the New Year was only a day old when I asked Cliona to marry me, right there in Ciaran and Jane’s living room. Cliona said yes, thankfully, and even bought me a Macbook as an engagement present, what a woman!  (Cliona, I’m using a photo of the Macbook here, not because I’m getting married to it - but because you feature quite heavily over the next 12 months).

In January we lost my aunty Anne; who was an incredibly special person; a fabulous aunty (more like another mum) to me, my brother and sister - also an amazing wife, mother, grandmother, friend. She rocked, and no mistake. I am incredibly grateful for having known her.

February - Cliona’s Graduation

In February Cliona graduated from her M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Analysis from Trinity. She is a smartie. I got to attend the graduation ceremony, which - because it’s Trinity - was conducted through the hip and upcoming tongue of “latin”. Fair play to you Trinity, you know how to party.

March - Scanning

In March I finally finished scanning hundreds and hundreds of family photos that had been sitting in boxes for years, and which - surprisingly given most them are only a couple of decades old, had started to fade away. This was a bit a herculean task, but of course since then I’ve discovered all the ways you can do this type of thing incredibly quickly.

April - San Francisco

In April I spent a glorious week in San Francisco at the Web 2.0 Expo; a conference for nerds like me who are trying make the web more like this (points to efficient, pleasurable, fascinating, educational pile of something awesome) and less like this (points towards difficult to use, unengaging pile of pants).

May - TriAthy

In May I sucked, completely, at my only Triathlon of the year; TriAthy. I nearly had my jaw broken in the swim start, which didn’t help. Lack of winter miles made for absence of summer smiles.

June - Malta, Car

June was completely jam-packed. We had an amazing holiday in Malta replete with relaxation, scuba-diving, snorkelling, and of course much eating up a storm.

We were lucky enough to be given, yes given, a car in June too. The car had been sitting idle in one of Cliona’s neighbour’s farm buildings - he offered it to Cliona’s dad for parts, and he then gave it to us in one big, perfectly driveable part. Since then we’ve been learning how to drive and generally loving the freedom the car has given us. It rocks. (I still love you bicycle, I promise)

July - Raining

It rained, rained, rained in July. We spent a day at the quirky, awesome Knockanstockan festival seeing our good friends Verona Riots (who had their best year ever in 2009). In July my Front colleague Patsy Lagan completed Triathlone, which made me more than a little bit proud; a great achievement.

August - MacMillan Street Party

In August we helped out at my cousin Annette’s Macmillan Street Party; raising a stack load of cash for the cancer charity. I like to think that my efforts on the burger stand were pivotal to the success of the day.

September - New Home

In September we paid a surprise visit to see Kevin Cannon in Copenhagen, and caught the end of his show at CIID.

During the summer I arranged with Front to spend more time in Dublin, and the changes kicked in from the end of September. Me and Cliona found a lovely new home on one of the coolest Georgian streets in Dublin, a stone’s throw from where Cliona used to live on Parnell St. This is the first place we’ve ever rented together, and apart from being a lovely apartment, just being in Dublin more has changed our lives.

October - All Moved In

We moved into the new apartment completely, properly in October. We attended Paul McKeever’s wedding in Belfast, and got all dressed up for Halloween.

November - That Goal

In November I turned 29, and spent a lot of the month travelling with work. During the first few weeks of the month I took practically no photos - which is always the sign that I’m having zero fun at all. Ireland were cheated out of a summer of footballing adventures, but the month ended on a high as we confirmed the venue for our wedding next May.

December - Christmas in Longford

I was sick as a parrot in the first week of December, spending a week in bed sipping fluids and generally feeling rough. Since getting better I’ve been working hard in work on some new projects, and getting ready for Christmas.

We had the pleasure of having the Gardiner Street Gospel Choir over to our house for their post-Christmas-party shindig, which was a lot of fun.

I’m spending Christmas outside of Dublin for the first time ever, enjoying the crispy cold down in Longford. We’ll be back to Dublin in time for New Year’s Eve, ready to kick off another year.

2010

2009 was a memorable year. We’ll all miss my aunty Anne terribly, but we’re looking forward to a great 2010; Simon will be home in January for the first time in 2 years. We’re getting married in May, and thinking about plans for the future - who knows what time will bring. Hopefully all good things.