Happy New Year to you all! This is my usual end-of-year review format that I stole from Austin Kleon. You can see 2024’s post here, 2023’s post here and 2022’s post here.

1. Seeing lots of Superb Fairy Wrens, mainly while out for my runs.
2. Hosting E and K’s engagement parties. One for family in the afternoon, one for friends in the evening.
3. Wedding preparations – cake tastings, food tastings, sending out invitations, wedding dress shopping
4. Getting a dress for the wedding at the first shop I went to. I tried on three dresses, but I knew after the first one that it was the one.
5. A weekend away in Lorne with friends to do the Mountain to Surf run. Stunning beach days, good food and lots of rounds of Bananagrams.
6. A warm summer with just the right number of beach days.
7. Our annual berry picking and jam-making expedition.
   
   
   
8. Sitting outside at Point Lonsdale, chatting with various members of my extended family.
9. Celebrating Dad’s 85th birthday with a big family lunch.
10. Produce from my garden – a bumper crop of snow peas, broad beans, and beans. Lots of green tomatoes that I made into relish.
11. Rereading Sharon Penman’s Welsh Trilogy and then seeing some of the sites and castles on our trip to Wales.
12. The growth in our mainly music group at church. So many good connections being formed.
13. Getting back into running.
14. Running a decent 10K in the Carmen’s Fun run after not too much time back at running. Then, hosting our friends for brunch afterwards. A new tradition that is on hold this year due to conflicting with THE WEDDING.
15. Eating lots of mandarins off my tree and fixing the sprinkler so that they won’t dry out.
16. Watching some good series: Landman, The Swap, Andor, Anne with an E, Down Cemetary Road and the latest seasons of Slow Horses, The Diplomat and Outlander
17. Dad’s successful aortic valve replacement.
18. Starting HRT, which really helped with my fatigue and sleep.
19. Breaking up with Meta.
20. Meeting fairly regularly when I was home with a friend from church for prayer, going to our monthly Wednesday prayer nights when I could.
21. Pottering round Oxford and London by myself, while G was working. Spending as long as I wanted in museums and galleries.
22. My Oxford walking tour with a friend from church. Interesting information, punctuated by his trademark dry wit.
23. Cheering G at the London and Sydney marathons.
24. The most amazing weather we had while visiting Wales. Over two weeks we only had a few drops of rain.
25. Summitting Mount Snowdon.
    
    
    
26. And admiring the spectacular scenery from other high spots: Yr Eifl and Pen-y-Fan
27. Putting up artwork and getting a cabinet for our bedroom. Still loving it.
28. The Soho Twilight food tour. Epic food, cocktails and fascinating locations.
29. The colleges of Oxford, so much history and tradition. Seeing various Harry Potter filming locations.
30. Seeing puffins in the wild. This was amazing!
31. Long runs in Wales, on the Los Ogwen Rail Trail and alongside the Brecon Canal
32. The Four Waterfalls Walk in Wales.
33. The tour in and around a prehistoric burial mound.
34. Finishing a Parkrun inside the walls of a castle
35. Coastal Scenery in Pembrokeshire
36. Walking among the stones at Stonehenge at sunrise.
    
    
    
37. Strength training with Nik most weeks when we were home. Building up the weight I’m lifting.
38. Completing running and walking the streets of Gardenvale and Elwood, only Brighton to finish off now.
39. My running playlist.
40. Voting in the federal election at the Australian High Commission in London.
41. Breakfasts at the Guilty Moose, Ned’s, DB with the running crew.
42. Family dinners (Every Monday at home) and birthday dinners at restaurants.
43. Catching up with lots of old friends at the celebration for the senior pastor at our old church, who just finished 30 years and is retiring. He married G and I, and he will be marrying E and K in February.
44. Waking up at the Gold Coast and seeing whales from our balcony.
45. Dinner at St Peter in Sydney, a real bucket list experience.
46. Fantastic weather during our four-week stay at Noosa.
47. Sunsets on the river.
48. Having the kids visit us at various times while we were in Noosa.
49. Visiting some old and new favourite restaurants while in Noosa—Ricky’s, Humble on Duke, Bang Bang.
50. Noosa running—The Longrun Loop and the National Park Loop.
    
    
    
51. The lasagne from Ari’s Italian deli.
52. Carmen’s low-carb granola.
53. Engrossing fiction reads: Babel (my favourite book of 2025), The Lathe of Heaven, Happiness Falls, We Do Not Part, Swords and Crowns and Rings, Heartwood, The Mountains Sing, Where the Axe is Buried.
54. And fascinating non-fiction: A History of Thinking on Paper, A Broken Heart: A True History of the Voice Referendum, The Naked Now, Deep Calls to Deep, The Underland.
55. Going dairy-free (sort of) again. Feeling a lot better by staying mostly dairy-free with the occasional splurge when I’m away from home.
56. A few fabulous days at Umina beach with great weather.
57. Playing keys at church. So good to be making music again, even if it’s been a steep learning curve playing with just a chord chart.
58. The City-2-Surf weekend. Doing the race this time and a little bit faster than I expected. Lots of fun despite the crappy weather.
    
    
    
59. E landing a full-time position in his dream job.
60. Elsternwick Park—so good for Riley, who loves going off lead there.
61. Ned’s Bakehouse banana bread. The best one around.
62. Finally seeing blue skies in Sydney for the marathon weekend.
63. Doing the biggest shakeout run on the Saturday before the marathon.
64. Seeing The Impressionists at the NGV.
65. Clear results on my routine health screenings.
66. Our weekend at the Grampians.
67. Getting S and E’s primary school albums done as well as a book for my mum of the photos from her 80th birthday.
    
    
    
68. E moving out to his own apartment. K moves in after the wedding.
69. Planning what we will do with the spare bedroom. Appreciating the extra storage.
70. Alpha course at church.
71. Our new spot to sit in the garden.
72. My new wicking bed. The veggies in there are thriving.
73. NaBloPoMo
74. Finally getting myself to an Evensong service (I managed three while in the UK)
75. Another fun weekend at Pop and Pour. Dancing for hours, crashing a wedding.
76. Long runs along the coastal tracks past Sandringham.
    
    
    
77. Making a list of travel we want to do in the next five years. Booking our trip to Kangaroo Island this March and flights to Germany in September.
78. Watching Christmas movies.
79. Having three celebratory birthday meals.
80. More memorable restaurant dishes: Crab Pasta at Bar Carolina, Prawn Toast at Bay 81, Everything at Jackdaw in Conwy, Apple Crumble from Humble Crumble
81. Passionate gallery guides at the NGV Ian Potter and the Sydney Gallery.
82. Getting a bigger crop of chillis—enough to make three jars of sweet chilli sauce.
83. Learning how to identify different pollinators for the Australian pollinator count.
84. Searching out the Street Art in our neighbourhood.
    
    
    
85. The Cool Bloggers Walking Club
86. Getting new skills and completing challenging projects for work.
87. Lots of hours of puzzling with the girls.
88. The girls being able to look after Riley while we go traveling.
89. Ticking things off my 101 list.
90. Fresh rhubarb from the garden
91. Socialising with running friends
92. My updated Christmas playlist
93. Everyone being home on the 1st of December to put up the Christmas tree.
94. S exceeding her expectations in the Rip View Swim Classic.
    
    
    
95. Naps
96. Sparkling water from the tap—my go-to drink with dinner.
97. Herbal teas.
98. Christmas Lunch—must be my favourite meal of the year
99. Reading lots of books, chatting with the family and staying mostly off screens between Christmas and New Year. Having my usual internet-free Christmas Day.
100. New Year’s Eve dinner at ChinChin at Geelong Stadium with G, the girls and the rest of the extended family that are still down at Point Lonsdale.

What are some things that made your 2025?