Spent the year working as a nanny to 3 very over achieving kids, one of whom recently played one of the Billy Elliots in the Sydney production!

First nephew was born. 

2001 dawned. Last year of college... Moved house, down to 3 other flatmates instead of 4, still house-mother to a bunch of younger girls... but all very independent, thankfully!

Finally got home to visit first nephew.

Big highlight was the Arts Festival wherein the two girls pictured above were joined by two marvellous fellas and sang an a capella set of musical arrangements for an audience - our major work with such classic tracks as 'Tuxedo Junction, Amazing Grace and Java Jive' classic barbershop numbers, some of which were our own arrangements and we had a BLAST!  Oh, and we passed with flying colours...

2001 was the 2nd year I had volunteered with the Music Department at church and at the close of that year, which finished out my college career to that point, I walked into a job as Assistant to the Music Director - the first of the 13 3rd years who graduated to get a full time job... but more about that later...


2002 Was my first full year of being a PA.  It was busy, I was on call, I babysat the kids, ran errands, booked travel. We recorded an album that year and gradually work and my boss moved into the central focus of my world. Truth is I loved them, I loved the life.

Moved house again, this time with one other flatmate. It was a great flat in Queenscliff with beautiful views of the Ocean.  My flatmate Bliss was a dream to live with and we had a great time singing and working together in the Music Team.

2003  Another year of work.  All the the same really as the year above with the further reduction of time and space for anything (singing, photography) else.  It was unhealthy, I was unhappy that the fun stuff was being shafted in favour of working. But I still loved work, loved my boss, loved the people around me.  Thankfully my familial and social relationships remained mostly intact.

Nephew number 2 was born and I went home to see him at have Christmas with the family.

2004

Was my rock bottom year of the decade. By Easter my boss whom I'd loved and served like a Labrador for 4.5 years (2 as a volunteer) was exposed as a workplace bully.  It's a long story, the centering of my world around him was down to his particularly manipulative management strategies and when my eyes were opened to how damaging that was to me and to the rest of the team I was absolutely gutted.  Worse still was that I'd been an unwitting party to his games and perpetuated the problems and manipulation.  It goes to show that some charismatic people can be dangerous.  I cut ties with him and his family for my own safety. 

I spent the rest of the year in therapy.  Some of which was blogging... Singular Scene was born!

I remained on staff and by a whole series of fortuitous experiences I ended up working in the IT department as the Web Princess.

Whether or not you belive the Bible, there's a passage that reads "all things work together for good...: and in spite of the incredible angst in that time, much of what I'd learned of web technology in those Assitant years actually served to be the ground work for what I'm doing now... but that's another story too.

My Godson was born, his mother's name is Freddysmamma but his name isn't Freddy...

Bliss decided to move on... NOOOOO! She went home to Queensland, and I had 9 weeks at the end of the year with a fella for a flatmate, a very quirky one, we called him The Count...

2005 Flick moved into the Queenscliff flat with me.  We had lots of fun, initiated the apartment building christmas barbeque and generally socialised over champagne and cards! Wow, halfway through the decade.  Nephew number 3 was born, I got home to see him in his early weeks too.  Nephew number 4 came later in the year.

Work carried on with a couple of very different foci. I refused ever again to let work or my boss have that central focus in my life.  As a Christian I decided that such a place was better left for God... Sensible really... shocking I had to learn it in such a traumatic way... I also worked only from 9-5, also sensible but unfortunate that I remained one of the few people in that organisation who ever managed to keep that boundary firmly in place.

I got to go to Hawaii for the annual global conference.  It had been so long since I'd done any kind of decent travel I went with some trepidation... however I LOVED it and got that spark lit to do some more adventuring...

I started the As Scene business this year as a means of supplementing my church income, never thought it would be come my sole means of support later in the decade!!

2006 was the year I embarked on the higher educational path taking up the opportunity to get my existing Adv Dip quals upgraded to Bachelors Degree.  It was an interesting journey, one that lasted that year and into the next where I juggled full time work, part time business and part time study... I thought I was busy then... guess it was good prep for 2009 when life got INSANE...  Still it was an incredible fulfilling year!

It is also the year I became an Australian... (but shhh... don't remind the Kiwis).

Flick and I went on holiday to see Bliss in Brisbane - highlight of that trip was riding EVERY ride at Dreamworld!!! 

The other big events were that my adventuring took me to a wedding in Asheville NC to be bridesmaid for a girl I'd never met. And while that was going on my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and bravely had her 'girls' removed as a preventative measure.  (have you had yours checked recently?).

In the last weeks of the year I packed up my seaside flat and moved to Balgowlah.  Still close enough to walk to Manly but no longer any sea views. Instead, I have a garden and I live on my own, which I love!

2007 was my 2nd year of studying and the year that I finally became a cat owner again after 8 years without one.  Chino moved into the house and my heart and between us 2007 was basically pretty uneventful!

Nephew number 5 was born.

2008 - Chino got finished off on the road at Easter, I turned 40 and went home to celebrate my birthday with family. I graduated with my Bachelors' Degree and the seed was sown for what would become the year of upheaval...

Nephew number 6 was born.

In May I made a home for Princess Lulubelle a rehomed Burmese who had big shoes to fill, and she has done so in her own inimitable way... a very clever puss with loads of personality and she's wormed her way into my home and heart, and the hearts of a few of my friends who love to come over for cuddles (hers, not mine!)

In August I wrote my leaving speech to wrap up 7 years of working for the church, In December I actually resigned with an offer of a place in the Masters' Program at Sydney Uni.

And so we come to 2009, and if you've been reading along all year you are pretty much up to date with the comings and goings around here... 

I think it's safe to say it was the scariest and most thrilling year of my life to date!!!  It was wonderful to stretch my brain in the gorgeous halls of the University of Sydney, it was challenging to stretch my faith and my mettle to support myself wholly by my little tiny web business!! 

To top it all off, I jetted home for Christmas and a visit with nephew number 7 who arrived while I was there!

Thanks to those of you who read along and comment occasionally! I hope the Noughties was as fun and thrilling for you and that the 'teens' are even better!