It's Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Flissmas!

And then suddenly, out of left-field, it became - DECEMBER. And, my favouritest ever festival - Chanuka, the festival of lights, which is when we eat these bad boys:

Israelis BAKE. It's why Westerners who move here get fat.

This time last year, everything was very, very different. I hadn't yet moved to Tel Aviv; hadn't started work and my entire life was about to massively change - new city, new career, new people, etc. Last year everything was so exciting (and non-Christmassy, because it's not really a thing here to my dismay) that I even forgot my own birthday ('Flissmas') was happening.



This year, I feel like I  received  everything I could ever want or need - the stable set up, with two added kitties (here they are, btw). I've basically transplanted my life from London to RG, continuing from where I left off, just in different surroundings and another language.
2015 was the year where I:

Tigger and Meshugana

• Moved from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv
• Started a new job and career
• Met someone I rather like (and ended up leaving TLV to be with)
• Returned to London for 2 (!!!) sibling weddings (thank gd I don't have more siblings)
• Acquired a Meshugana,
• Passed my driving test - again, ten years after the first one
• Acquired a Tiggeroo
• Moved to Ramat Gan
• Broke my stupid thumb-wrist bone

It was also the year of filling in the gaps and the 'dead space' - a term I picked up (and hijacked) back at GCSE art, when I couldn't be arsed to paint anymore. It's where missed opportunities, laziness and apathy meet and conspire to keep you from doing anything productive. It's coming home from work at 5.30pm and slumping on the couch, not realising how it suddenly gets to 11pm and wondering what's happened; it's staying in at weekends, then becoming irritated that you didn't do anything - ANYTHING; it's not wanting to take on challenges, or improve yourself in some way, because, meh, you're alright as a person, I guess; it's watching your once toned and muscular body...drop, and feeling yourself wheezing up a few flights of stairs, and...well, we don't need to talk about it.

Ever since two months ago, when I accidentally broke that stupid area connecting the thumb/wrist/hand, I have been guilty of all of the above, although I had an excuse - that bloody cast weighed about a kilo, and it was nigh on impossible to actually do anything useful while schlepping it around (although the constant weight on one arm did act as a fun little hand weight, and I ended up losing a few lbs, so that was nice).

So I decided, while I was sitting there, that 2016 will be the year of change and improvement I feel that I've kind of exhausted the young and fun list. So, in 2016, I'll be focusing on growing AS A PERSON and being an adult.

Who needs food when you can feast on Tel Aviv's view from Jaffa?

Which honestly, is kind of overdue. Yeah, I moved countries by myself, and cities and blablabla, but these past few months have literally been the first time I've regularly had food in the fridge (and the freezer too, and the cupboards) and also had to go food shopping more than like every 6 weeks or so.

To that end, I've also started... exercising! Those of you who know me personally must have expected something completely NOT that at the end of that sentence (something along the lines of 'eating more biscuits', or fostering more animals').

The reason? It's time. As I'm nearer to 30 than 20 now (STILL NO GREY HAIRS OR WRINKLES, and still getting ID'd. So that's nice), I can see changes. I used to be able to eat pizza at 2am, like 4 nights a week, every week, and I wouldn't put on weight. Now...well, let's just say, even attempting that stuff -  it ain't pretty. Hell, I don't even think I can stay awake til 2am to do that in the first place.

This thing I'm doing is a horrible little 20 minutes everyday circuit-training jobby, called the 30 Day Shred. (Post to come on completion :D).

Otherwise, in 2016, I shall be:

• Trying to be more healthy - exercising (regularly...ish) and stuff,
• Making more of an effort to keep in touch with people (because I know I'm crap...),
• Making time to spend with positive, fun influences, most likely while drinking hot beverages,
• Cutting  out negative people (because they drag you down slowly and painfully),
• Building on the existing stability I've managed to gather so far, 
• Making the most of my weekends (because you don't live to work, right?)

And so on. Merry Flissmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

Roll on, 2016.