Auld Lang Syne

2012 has been an amazing year, and the ups have far outweighed the downs. I learnt how to Lindy Hop, we've been to Spain, I got an A* in my GCSE Spanish, I had a Charleston hen do, we got married, had a fabulous honeymoon in Italy, redecorated the living room, have been on some fantastic walks with our dog, Levi, and have finished it by adopting a lovely new dog called Jess. I have spent time with family and friends, made new friends, and danced. And danced. Oh, and danced some more.

As the world didn't come to an end on any of the numerous predicted world-ending dates, I think it's time to sit and have a think about what my New Year's Resolutions for 2013 are going to be to help it be (almost) as good.

A Complimentary Culture
In a time when people seem quick to complain about things, I'm going to make an effort to be quick to compliment. If a salesperson is particularly helpful, or a product I buy is particularly good, or an event I go to is particularly good, I'm going to be writing a very friendly letter.

Shop Local
When I first thought about this one, I thought about trying to avoid tax avoiders. Places like Starbucks and Ikea are pretty easy to find alternatives for, but when you think about trying to avoid Google, it starts getting harder. A friend pointed out that all these companies are doing is paying the least amount of tax that they are legally obliged to, and whilst I think that there is some truth in that, I also believe that there is something ethically wrong about it. The blame should, however, rest with the government for allowing the loopholes in the first place and, unfortunately, we definitely can't avoid them without moving somewhere with different (or worse) problems than the UK. Maybe if Scotland goes, the Rileys will go too...
Anyway, in the meantime, I decided that as we live in Sheffield, which is approaching some kind of foodie haven, with a bit of foresight and planning we can reduce what we spend in big supermarkets and make the most of local produce and local suppliers. I have even bought myself an old lady wheeled shopping trolley in preparation!  Our milk will be from Our Cow Molly, our meat from the local butcher, our eggs from my egg lady, and we will make use of Sheffield's craft and vintage fayres for presents, along with the Nichols Building and Sheffield Antiques Quarter. Any suggestions for other local suppliers will be gratefully received!

Debt Reduction
So, with a wedding and two fabulous holidays this year and previously a good while of living slightly above our means has led me to announce that 2013 will be the year to pay stuff off. We will only be buying things that we can afford to pay for, and I intend to have made a sizeable dent in our debt... the first aim is to get us out of Riley Recession and have two consecutive quarters where our debt has reduced instead of increased. If we can't afford to buy something, we don't buy it. Nothing is to go on credit cards.

The Normal Shit
Every single year I say "Lose Weight, Exercise More, Keep the House Tidy". These are standing resolutions and I'm making them again. Fortunately I've eaten a fucking shit load since the wedding, so am at my heaviest that I've been for a while, therefore losing weight should be easy (if that can't be called cheating!), I definitely want to get back to cycling to work again this year, and I have already signed up for the Lincoln 10k and the Sheffield Half Marathon so am dusting my running shoes off. We've also got a nice new living room that I'm DETERMINED to keep tidy and presentable, so maybe, just maybe, in a year's time, as I reflect over 2013, I'll be able to say that I actually managed these three!

Photography Challenge
We bought a Nikon d3100 earlier in the year, and I haven't had it off the auto settings yet, so I have signed up to 365 Project to kick me into learning a bit more about my camera. My username is MrsWickie (of course).

Now all that's left to do today is to reflect on the good and bad from 2012, to celebrate the coming in of 2013 and to look forward to what the new year will bring. I hope it is a lucky one for everyone, that people can appreciate the good stuff and can find a way to cope with the bad.

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere !
and gie's a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,
for auld lang syne.

Honeymoon Part 3: Stresa, Milan & Bergamo

We travelled 1st class again up to Milan, and then just used a machine to get the tickets up to Stresa. I have to say that public transport in Italy does seem pretty straightforward. We had a bit of time to kill before our train, so we went to a horrible canteen thing and had a slice each of pizza with chips on. Yes, the chips were actually on the pizza. And it was cold. And really unpleasant. Still, you have to have at least one horrific meal, right?

We checked into our hotel, the Hotel Villa Mon Toc, which was 5 minutes from the train station. We then went to explore the town and find some food. We decided to have... burgers! It may not have been the most traditional Italian meal, but it was better than pizza with chips on, and actually they were really good. We had noticed in one of the tourist leaflets the hotel had given us that there was a bar called Willy's Cocktail Bar that had live jazz every Thursday, so we went there but it turned out that we were just out of jazz season and there was no music. We stayed for a drink or two and then popped back to the main bit of town for some food. We chose La Botte randomly, and had a really excellent meal with great service. In fact, Mr. Riley said later that he would quite happily go back there every night for the rest of our stay. Praise indeed. To finish off  the evening we went to a little bar called Caffe Savoy for a nightcap.

I had a rubbish night's sleep that night so we had a lazy morning. We pottered around a local market and then had some bacon and eggs. Mr. Riley went out to find a boat to play on the lake whilst I had a bit of a sleep, but he came back unsuccessful. After lunch (another burger!) we walked to the Parco della Villa Pallavicino, which is Botanical and Zoological gardens. It was a lovely place, and you actually get in with the animals. Not that they have lions or things that can kill you, but goats and deer and stuff. Walking back to town we stopped for a game of crazy golf, which I won. Of course.

That night we chose one of the many restaurants near the centre and went back to the Caffe Savoy for a drink. As we left we walked past two guys playing old rock 'n' roll tracks on guitars outside a pub, and as we walked past an old guy from the audience had got up and was tap dancing with them. He was ace! I would LOVE to learn how to tap dance. And I would LOVE to have the nerve to get up in front of that many people and just do it. He got a bigger round of applause than the musicians.

More photos and whatnot after the jump...

Honeymoon Part 2: Firenze

We arrived in Florence and walked the short distance from the train station to our hotel, Soggiorno Sogna Firenze on Via Delle Porte Nuove. When we checked in we were thrilled to find that our room was the only one with direct access to a little patio area on the roof. Mr. Riley went out for a bit of an explore whilst I had a siesta. When he got back he was pretty excited about what he had seen, so we wandered into town and had some food in the main square. We had no idea how to get back to the hotel as we had walked a fairly circuitous route into the centre, but kept walking down the road we happened to be on and ended up at the right place, just at the point that I was thinking we should turn round and try a different direction. Sometimes you just have to keep on plodding on and stick to your original decisions I guess.

The next morning when we woke up it was raining heavily. Mr Riley was pretty grumpy and wanted to go home on the basis that we could sit inside in Sheffield, but at least he'd be able to understand the TV. Fortunately for us, my wedding vows had included ignoring his morning grump, so I chose not to pack our bags just yet and instead go for breakfast. By the time we had eaten, showered and left the hotel, the sky was already clearing. We walked along the river, over Ponte Vecchio and then decided to go for ice cream at the Gelateria dei Neri, which had been recommended to us by a uni friend of mine who had spent many years as a tour guide in Europe. I have to say it was pretty damn good. I had stracciatella (kind of like chocolate chip ice cream I guess) and amaretto & peach, which was beautiful.

More photos and whatnot after the jump...

Honeymoon Part 1: Roma

* If you just want our recommendations for places to stay, eat and visit in Rome, scroll down to the bottom of the post... I doubt anyone other than Mr. Riley and me will be interested in what we did each day, I just wanted to record it for posterity's sake. Something to show the grandkids, I guess!

We went on our honeymoon the Tuesday after our wedding. I had a bunch of cheques to pay into the bank in the morning, some in Mr. Riley's name, some in my maiden name, some in my new name, but all into one account. Fortunately it was easier than I expected. I guess people get married quite regularly.

We set off for Manchester airport and probably left it a bit too late. I was entirely unworried until we got to Glossop, and then the queue of traffic did make me have a flicker of doubt about whether we would get to the airport on time. Fortunately, that fear was unfounded and we arrived with plenty of time.

Neither Mr. Riley nor I are happy flyers. He gets really worried from a couple of hours before and then all during take-off. I don't worry about it at all until the plane starts moving, and then I'm pretty terrified until we land again. However, this flight was a particularly smooth one. Mr. Riley pointed out the White Cliffs of Dover, and then we were presented with a bottle of champagne, which had been bought for us as a wedding gift. This meant that we were sipping champagne as we flew over Paris... pretty romantic if you ask me!

We arrived in Rome on time, and organised transport to our hotel, the Hotel Artemide on Via Nazionale. It was a scary-arsed drive into the city, with the driver driving with his knees, whilst sending text messages, on the motorway. We got there incident-free however and checked in to our fancy hotel. I must have mentioned whilst booking that we were there on our honeymoon, as they had upgraded us to a 'superior' room and we had a complimentary bottle of wine with a little note from the hotel staff, and best of all the mini-bar was free for the duration of our stay!

We decided to just eat in the hotel's roof top restaurant that evening. I had MASSIVE prawns and Mr. Riley had steak. We were given a free glass of prosecco each and finished with an ice cream to share. We got back to the hotel room, put Avenger's on the TV and both fell asleep in about 6 seconds flat.

More photos and stuff after the jump...