As we creep ever closer to the end of 2009, I thought it would be nice to note down for posterity some of my highpoints of the year. And to make it more fun, I thought I’d turn it into a game and get some of my blogging friends to share their best bits from the year too by starting The High-5 Meme. So here are some of my potted highlights from this year.

#downingtweet
Being invited to Downing Street scores pretty highly in the highlights of my life, never mind my year, so the Downing Tweet Christmas Party is this year’s runaway winner. We’ve already blogged about it in detail, but the main reasons why it made my year were because it provided the perfect excuse to go shopping and pamper myself (with no expense spared!), I spent my first ever night away from my children in a swanky London hotel (and they survived 24 hours without me, which means I can do it again!), I met the Prime Mininster, his lovely wife and loads of other inspiring people, and I got to order a full English Breakfast from Room Service!

The Twilight Saga
I love books and this year I was thrilled to discover Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga which provided me with 4 stonking good reads! Bella, Jacob, Edward and the rest of the Cullen family have been my companions throughout much of this year, and accounted for a large proportion of my ‘me-time’. Once I’d read the first installment I was equally excited to watch the film, and I’m just as excited about watching New Moon next year when it comes out on DVD.

My ‘Fry’ Tweet
Another high point which has already been documented on the blog is the day I got a tweet from Stephen Fry. Twitter has, without a doubt, opened up a whole new world to us this year, and many of this year’s highs wouldn’t have come about without it. So to say I’m excited about what next year will bring is a bit of an understatement! 

Northern Ballet Theatre’s Wuthering Heights
I went to my first ever ballet back in May. As I knew (and loved) the story of Wuthering Heights so much I thought it might be a good introduction, as I would be able to follow the storyline regardless.  But to my amazement I loved the dancing more than I ever thought I would. The whole production was spellbinding, the dancer who played Heathcliff was sheer perfection, and I spent the entire performance utterly enthralled. A complete joy from start to finish!

Mum’s The Boss 1st Birthday
This was a high point for so many reasons. Firstly it was a measure of our achievement – we had actually kept going for a whole year! It was also a good yardstick on which to measure how far we had come, from our humble beginnings with just 6 of us meeting in cafe twelve months before. Our birthday meeting was the busiest one yet (complete with a specially commissioned birthday cake topper!) and provided the perfect ‘good news’ story for us to generate some fantastic local PR about the group.

Closely missing out on the Top 5, but still well worthy of a mention are:

Joining the RSPB – this is a bit of a strange one but back in the summer we went along to our local RSPB reserve at Sandy Lodge for a walk in the woods. We absolutely fell in love with the place, so much so that we took out a family membership for the year. It was quiet, tranquil and so, so beautiful. But more than that it was a totally safe, open space in which the girls could run around and explore. Often when you take toddlers and young children out for the day you are so preoccupied with the potential dangers of traffic, water, heights etc that you cannot relax yourself. But in the RSPB woodland (or The Forest as my girls call it) they are free to be inquisitive children, and we can relax and enjoy ourselves too.

2009 Mumpreneur Conference – this was such a happy, positive day, as well as an opportunity to meet face to face loads of the people we were following on Twitter, and make some really helpful connections. Working for yourself can be a lonely experience, but to meet so many other mums, all busy making their own businesses a sucess, really highlighted to me that even when I’m on my own, I’m not alone. Can’t wait for next years Conference on 18th September!

Discovering Mojitos – like a dripping tap I kept hearing mention of this cocktail throughout the year but had no idea what it was. After 4 fairly sober years where I had either been pregnant or breastfeeding, 2009 was the year when I rediscovered alcohol! And thanks to some really glowing recommendations I finally tried my first Mojito in December – and I fear I may now be ruined forever!

My KitchenAid Artisan mixer – it is a fact universally acknowledged that I like baking, and eating, cake. So when Father Christmas kindly brought me my very own KitchenAid mixer – in Boysenberry (which is a blackcurrantly/purple shade to you and me) – my first thought was ”more cake baking!” My favourite celebrity chef is, without doubt, Nigella Lawson, and when I first saw her using her KitchenAid mixer I just knew I had to have one. So to christen my mixer (who I think I shall name Boycie!!) I will be making Nigella’s Chocolate Guiness Cake. Nom nom.

So now, after my trip down memory lane, I am going to pass on the baton to 5 of my blogging buddies - Sandy at Baby Baby, Natalie at Bambino Goodies & Self-employed Mum, Josie at Sleep is for the Weak, Wendy over at The Life of Wendy Wife and Liz at Living with Kids. Ladies, will you share with everyone your High 5 of 2009 and then tag 5 of your pals so they can do the same?

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We feel like we have properly ‘arrived’ in the world of blogging as we have just received our very first Blog Meme!  Joanne at Parent Dish has kindly tagged us and challenged us to “describe our seven personality traits”. So to make things fair, as there are 2 of us, we have picked 3 traits each along with one trait that we both share. So  read on to find out what makes Mum’s The Boss (aka Helen & Sam) tick!

Helen
1.  Cuddly - I love to cuddle my boys – and I am lucky as they are very cuddly back! First cuddle of the morning is always my fav as they are still hot & sleepy. We also snuggle up to read books or watch TV. Unfortunately they have a habit of saying ‘Mummy’s got wobbly bits’ from Jill Murphay’s Large Family stories!

2.  Creative – this is a side of my personality that I think lay dormant for quite a few years – but there are strong creative family genes.  When I was teaching it was always one of my favourite parts of the day, and since having children it has given me an excuse to go wild with the paint and contents of the recycling bin at home!!! 

3.  Determined – I have always had a strong will and an element of stubbornness which I think gave both my parents and my teachers an interesting time when I was younger!! However I would like to think I have harnessed this in a positive way now and this aspect of my personality seems to shine through in every aspect of my life – whether it is family, friends or work – I like to succeed and achieve and I don’t give up.
 
Sam
4.  Open-Minded  - I love learning new things and am open to new ideas, new technology and new ways of doing things. I love progress and change and find the novelty of new interests exhilarating. I am also open-minded in that I am not easily shocked or offended or judgemental – which I hope makes me a good friend.

5.  Arty Farty  (but only because Helen beat me to it with ‘Creative’!) –  I love reading and writing for pleasure, both prose and poetry, and have had a few of my poems published. I have always enjoyed live theatre and, more recently, ballet – plus I’m extremely partial to a nice BBC period drama!  My former career in Marketing allowed me to be creative with words and design and now I’m a mum my creative streak permeates everything I do – be it writing for our blog, cooking cakes, gardening or getting creative with the girls, with paint, glue or Play Doh!

6.  Optimistic – I really do try and see the best in people and situations. When negative things happen I find it quite easy to draw a line and move on. I believe we get one life and it’s our responsibility to make the most of it – and ourselves. And as I approach my 40th birthday I feel as though life really is about to begin – and it’s feels brilliant!

Joint
7.  Team Members – We only met a year ago and now we share a company and a vision which just grows stronger each day. We love bringing people together and making things happen for a common good. We are very in tune with each other and have the same visions for the future. In our partnership there has been a very natural division of tasks based on our individual strengths – and in our national network Mum’s The Boss has a formidable number of skills and resources we can tap into to inform and inspire wannabe business mums. Plus our ’team’ is bound by so many other common interests – motherhood, wine, chocolate cake, Johnny Depp and bags to name but a few!!!

So now you know a bit more about the personalities behind Mum’s The Boss, it’s time for us to pass the baton on again, and we do so to some of the other work-at-home mums we have had the pleasure of meeting in person and in cyberspace – Superwomanwannabe, Business Plus Baby, Ivy House, Wise Genius and Family Friendly Working. So ladies, describe your seven personality traits if you please. Or in other words: Tag, You’re it.

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