In 2000, I turned legal--19 baby! I went into the liquor store on my 19th birthday all psyched to whip out my newly useful ID...and the clerk barely even glanced at me. It was the first of a series of terrible disappointments, a foreshadowing of the 365 days of suck to follow. 2000 was a miserable year. Horrendous. There was more drama than you can shake a stick at, relationship-wise, school-wise, money-wise. Things were tense with my parents and I got in huge trouble for not going to class. I was partying way too much and making stupid decisions on a daily basis. Things shifted around over the summer, when I got a summer job with the Moncton Times & Transcript, made new, decent, non-drug-dealer friends and earned enough money to get me through the following year of school comfortably. But the first six months of 2000 were just abysmal. I also watched a lot of Much Music. I don't know if that's directly related to the craptacular nature of the year. Probably.



In 2001 I graduated J-school and took a maternity leave position with the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal. This involved moving to Saint John, NB, which is arguably the worst city on the planet. I challenge you to find a shittier place to live. I cried every day and I had literally one friend in the city who was also my cousin, so she was obligated to like me :) I dyed my hair blonde and was using self-tanner every day. I'm sure I was an amazing shade of jaundice-slash-Oompa Loompa. A big outing for me was going to the mall and buying a new Tommy shirt. Again, 2001 ranked pretty high on the poopmeter. I did get a trip to Disney, which was a highlight.



2002 was the year I moved back home and started working at the Sackville Tribune-Post--I was pretty sure I still wanted to work in journalism and hadn't become jaded yet. I joined a gym, but I also started sitting on my ass for 8+ hours a day and finally my fast food habit began to catch up with me. I was very antisocial (notice a theme?) probably because of the uber-controlling relationship I was in. I went to Boston in '02 and loved it. Still rocking the self-tanner and horrible highlights. I also wore a lot of red and in general my goal was to be mistaken for a 16-year-old as often as possible.



In 2003, my life consisted of work, gym, and being boring. I went to the beach a lot and tried to reconnect with friends. My parents got a dog, Sophie, which was a highlight. My grandfather died, by far the low point of the year. I was still in the worst relationship ever but one bright spot is the tool moved back home so we were at least long-distance and I didn't have to see him every day. Looking back on this period, I really want to shake or slap myself. I truly wasted some potentially great years doing absolutely nothing.



Ahh, 2004. I got my first taste of unemployment. The small weekly paper I worked for was taken over by a big conglomerate (LOVE that word!) and thanks to "restructuring" I was one of the unlucky staff to get the boot. I flipped out...unemployment and me do not mix well. Within a week I had a freelancing gig and over the remainder of the year secured a few freelancing contracts with different papers. I also started doing proofreading on the side at advertising agencies in Moncton which definitely piqued my interest in the ad world. I was really busy with grabbing up any freelance work I could, which was still not enough to live on. Thankfully I was living at home at the time. I looked for full-time jobs and had no luck for the longest time. I was beginning to think I was completely screwed.




In 2005 I took a job with the Canadian Cancer Society as their communications manager, which meant a move to Charlottetown and a move back in with the douchey boyfriend and his family. Since it was a term position I didn't want to get stuck in an apartment lease so I ended up staying with the most dysfunctional family I have ever spent time with including five cats. I will never, ever, until the day I die, have a cat in my home. They used to throw up and poop in my bed and on my pillows. It was like they knew I didn't like them and they reacted by shitting on my things. I went to the beach every day after work and realized I actively hated my boyfriend. I put up with him until my work term was finished because being homeless did not sound like the most appealing option. I think I actually sang, "FREE AT LAAAAST!" when I packed the car to come home for Christmas. We hadn't broken up yet but as I backed out of the driveway I knew I would not be back.



In 2006 I finally snapped out of my stupor, dumped the asshole, moved to Halifax and took a full time position at an ad agency. Finally I was having fun. I made friends, I loved my work, I went out a lot, I loved being completely independent. I lived in a house with three other girls and one dude and then moved into an apartment with one of the girls from the house. I went out...a lot. I drank...a lot. I ate...a lot. I gained weight. I didn't care. I had a blast in 2006.





In 2007 I was set up on a blind group date with the man who would become my husband. I was still loving my job, but early in the year I decided I needed to get in better shape. I started going for long walks, then adding little spurts of running into the mix, and eating better and drinking less. I felt better than I had in ages! I spent lots of time with Peter and we became closer and closer and by the end of the year I was all but moved in with him in downtown Halifax. 2007 was another serious turnaround year and things improved huge time.







2008 highlights included switching jobs AGAIN, getting engaged, smashing up my car, getting a new car, going to the Dominican Republic, STARTING MY BLOG, picking out an apartment with Peter and getting all moved in, going to the beach a bunch of times and being a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding. 2008 was exhausting but awesome. There was never a dull moment and lots of great times. I felt happy and loved.






On to 2009, which I've said before has been stressful and tiring and has nearly resulted in 29857248 nervous breakdowns. It's my wedding year. That was awesome. We went to New York and Paris and to the beach lots of times. We started doing our weekly Wednesday dinner dates and settling into married life, which is not remotely different than unmarried life when you're into the whole living in sin thing. Work has been ridiculous, but at the end of the day, I love what I'm doing. I also have a small but close bunch of friends who are wonderful.