One Year (+ a couple days) Older

Well I started this post a couple days ago (Sunday to be specific) when it actually was my birthday (golden* birthday... ha!). But then work turned into hell and I got the flu. What a great birthday (to be fair, C was really nice and took me out to dinner -- when I thought I was up to it -- and made me a carrot cake and got me wonderful presents).

I have to admit I'm starting to feel old though. This has been my first real year out on my own. College and even heading back to Germany last year were sort of old hat -- something familiar enough that I felt I understood/could handle the situation. But now I've moved to a new city (though having C here with me has been a big asset, and made it not so intimidating!) and started a real job. One where I only get a certain number of vacation days (and not many!) and can be rather stressful at times. And then there's worrying about health insurance (luckily now well covered through my job, but I had to wrestle with crap "short-term" insurance for a while... ugh!) and car insurance and all other forms of insurance. Of course, this amount of worry and stress is really nothing new. It's just different.

But I've also loved having a place of my own (well.. C and I both, but you get the point)! Feeling like I could set down some roots (actually hanging pictures on walls!) because there is no set point when I know I'm going to be leaving. Actually being able to decorate. Setting up a craft(/guest :o)) room. And having a reliable income that covers more than rent/bills has been nice!

The past year+ has also brought about a lot of change in my knitting/fiber life as well. I knit my first pair of socks in Decemeber of 2006. I now buy yarn other than the acrylic super cheap stuff from non-craft stores. I started spinning (though admittedly haven't done much the past week). I got addicted to in to the online knitting community. Podcasts!

So all in all the past year has been great. I'm hoping for the same this year (though it certainly didn't start out that good... ).

Happy knitting.

* For those of you not familiar with the term, golden birthday refers to the birthday on which your age matches the day of the month (ie I just turned 24 on the 24th).