Hey!
It’s that time of year when people talk about the
year that’s been! Since I’ve only had this blog since May, I bet most of you
don’t even know most of the things that have happened. :D
If you’re not curious at all, feel free to click the big ‘x’
on the tab or the window. It will save you some grief, I guess. Although I
cannot figure out how this post may give you grief...?
Warning: Life full of awesome ahead...
Just kidding though! My life is great, but you may not think
that. :D I think it’s great for me though. It’s way better than last – oh,
right. I’ll just get to posting my 2012 review, right.
2012 – The Year of Change
Officially put a label on the relationship
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| Look! I still had long black hair! |
This year Justin and I finally put the boyfriend/girlfriend
label on our relationship even though technically we’ve really been going out
since mid-late 2011. Finally on 2nd of January 2012, Justin officially asked me
out (again), and I said yes while we looked out over a night-time Auckland from
the vantage point of the posh restaurant Observatory at Sky Tower. He gave me a
cute ring as well! It was one of those costume rings that sit on two fingers.
It depicts a couple of lovey-dovey birds, and I keep it in my drawer since
wearing it out usually gets in the way of doing, well, stuff.
Moved in with Justin officially
Early this year I went ahead and changed all my details at
the banks and major institutions or whatever that new my details to Justin’s
deets. It was cool, I guess, because that meant I’d finally get mail at his and
his family’s place instead of having to go to my dad’s for my mail (At the time
my parents were still separated!)
Got off anti-depressants
Hallelujah! Those things were annoying. I hate medicine
because I have this fear of super viruses that are immune to all known
antibiotics. I think being overly-reliant on medicine is probably a bad idea.
No doubt people need medicine (as I do from time to time), but sometimes people
just reach for a bottle of happy way too much. Anyway I was happy to stop
taking anti-depressants. I never wanted to take them anyway! Suck on that,
psychiatrists! I’m way happier without your silly pills! Nya nya nyaaaaa!
Chopped off my long locks
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| Haha, remember this picture? |
I don’t know if you know this, but in 2011 I had long black
hair. Now it’s short and orangey. In January this year I walked into some
fancy-ish Korean salon in Midcity and asked them to chop most of it off. The
change was so drastic the hair stylist kept asking me if I was sure, and if I really wanted it to be that short. Yes.
When you change your hair, you change your life! This is one of my deepest
beliefs.
Rediscovered Gyaru
I just know I’ve heard of gyaru before. I even watched that
show with the kogals. Was it called Super Gals or something? But for some
reason I never took it to heart until this year. Somehow I finally fell in love
this year for real. It took a hold of my heart and has been influencing my
makeup and style ever since. I’m still not full-blown gyaru, but gosh darned it
I am on my way!
Started this blog
It was May this year, and I’d been stalking Shuntara on her
gaijin gyaru journey. I thought to myself ‘I WANT TO DOCUMENT THIS GROWTH TOO’.
Presto! I made a blog! This blog has come far from its May 2012 roots. It’s no
longer a sad dark theme with an uglier than sin header. Now it has a clean
happy theme and a reasonable-looking header to greet you lovely readers as you
visit. Cheerio!
Bleached My Hair
Oh my gosh! Bleaching my hair was one of the best decisions
of my life. How had I gone through life before this year without going blonde?!
Or red?! Or orange?! How? It was like my hair finally matched who I was. For
people who know me in real life, you would vouch that I have a larger-than-life
personality. I’m loud, excitable, hyper and extremely random. Black hair just
does not seem to match that personality. In fact, I asked my best friend if I
should dye my hair brown, you know, to something more normal, and she just said
she couldn’t imagine me with dark hair anymore. Yes, life, I have responded to
your call of bright hair fabulosity. Your time is now and forever more. I’ll go
back to black when I’m old. Yeah, right.
Did Odd Jobs for people who were not My Dad
This year I started working! For the first time everrr!
Technically I’ve worked before, but come on. If you’re working for your
parents, and you’re not doing anything particularly difficult (I did some
graphic design and administrative work for my Daddy), it just isn’t really work
to me. This year at the ripe old age of 20 I finally sunk my teeth into the
working world. Sort of. I worked as a mystery shopper and got paid commission
for assignments. I worked as a social media consultant and got paid $20 an
hour. THAT was a great gig, let me tell you. It was all Twitter and good times.
I did some other stuff I can’t remember. The bottom line was OMG I, Patricia
the bum, was bringing home some money.
Decided to take 2013 as my gap year
If you’re from New Zealand or Australia or some other
Western nation, you may be familiar with the concept of the gap year. It is a
year when you just take a year off and take a break before heading off/back to
university. Some people use it to travel, others to work. This decision was
something I was so scared off because I come from a family where my dad’s
working on a PhD, my mom has a MBA, my grandmother has a PhD, my grandfather
was a lawyer, etc. Education + career = muchos importante. But I need that gap
year! Before I shrivel up and give up on life and decide to be a hobo.
More on
this next next next post.
Got a casual job!!!!!!
I got a job at a retail shoe store! And this has been one of
the best experiences of my life. I know most people absolutely hate working
retail and think it’s one of the worst possible jobs ever. But let me tell you
something. It’s teaching me to value hard work, responsibility, multi-tasking
and just taking things as they are and being happy with what you have. In
retail, you may not earn much (unless you work in Australia! Why do you lot
earn so much?!), but it’s really not that bad. I complain duh. It’s repetitive,
not that great pay, customers can be really annoying, but I’m happy and
grateful. When everyone was telling me getting a job in retail was impossible
without prior experience I nailed one in a walk-in interview where supposedly
thousands applied. Oh, yeah, I am happy. And my manager gives me good shifts.
THANK YOU.
Sponsors, sponsors, sponsors – Thank you!
I bought Shannyn of Frugal Beautiful’s Rockstar Blogging
guide, and I thought it was amazing! Using her words of wisdom and awesome
guidance, I managed to score two sponsors this December! I will be revealing
them to you in January, so watch out for that. Unfortunately they’re Auckland,
New Zealand only, so my foreign readers, you’ll have to wait a bit longer
before you can get nice deals through me. :)
And I am pretty sure there were lots more things that happened in this beautiful year of 2012!
I feel like I’ve changed a lot as a
person, like I’ve grown and developed. It’s wonderful! And I truly and honestly
believe there’s a lot more in store next year! More on that nexttttt time!
Thank you for reading this! And see you in 2013!
Let’s all kick some major butt!
What were your fave things about this year? Let me know in
the comments below!
Love the soon-to-be butt-kicker,
P.S. Special mention to some lovely friends who made my 2012 awesome: Avantika, Keith and Irene :)
