This time last year, I was...

New thread idea for everybody taking a trip down memory lane!    Part game, but part chit-chat, I think.  (Mods feel free to move it if you think it's more game, than chit chat.)

1) This time last year, I was...

(This was the hardest one for me to remember - maybe I am trying to block it out!  )  I was getting ready to paint and redecorate our main bedroom, together with DH.  We nearly ended up strangling each other in disagreements over paint colours, carpet colour, and our individual ways of going about DIY.  Hence, my fondness for the poet Tony Curtis's reply to Alan Ginsberg's Howl - Trowel:  I have seen the best minds of my generation destroyed by DIY.  (There remain bits of redecorating still be finished in that bedroom...  )

2) This time 5 years ago, I was...

A recent newlywed (since August) and had just received my FLR - first spousal visa.  We were getting ready to go on our honeymoon in early October.  My first trip to Spain!  We flew to Barcelona, then traveled to Madrid where we spent a week including day trips to Segovia and Toledo.  Then we traveled back to spend a week exploring Barcelona including a day trip to Figueres (birthplace of Dali).

3) This time 10 years ago, I was...

Two years separated, but still legally married to my second husband.  Living with my then-new (now-ex) boyfriend in Tampa, and working at a job I loved for a mutual fund company in St Petersburg.  Enjoying the weather and sunshine and beaches of south Florida - no idea or inclination that I'd ever end up in northern England!  DH completely unknown to me back then.

1) This time last year, I was...

Admiring the beauty of my newly renovated bathroom

2) This time 5 years ago, I was...

Becoming British and halfway through my MA. 

3) This time 10 years ago, I was...

Contemplating marriage and leaving London and considering a move to either Boston, MA or The Netherlands.

Oh! A year ago is easy. I was sleeping on an air mattress in my own basement (so that I didn't mess up the house) with my one remaining cat (the other vanished, presumably sick of all the workmen about the place), in absolute despair at the unlikelihood of selling my property right in the teeth of the mortgage meltdown.

Actually, five and ten years ago is easy, too. This is right around my DH's birthday, so I would have been in South London in 2004 and 1999. Celebrating his birthday and trying to deflect pointed questions about when I was going to sell up and move over here.

1) This time last year, I was . . .

Packing up to leave Prague, heading back to the US to prepare for my wedding!  Sooo happy to leave Prague, which had not been a good experience, and still in shock from DH's proposal a few weeks earlier. 

2) This time five years ago, I was . . .

Living in Syracuse, NY teaching French, had just finished my MA.  Kinda boring.

3) This time ten years ago, I was . . .

Starting my junior year of college, after having spent the summer working in a market research call centre (worst job ever).  Incredibly happy to be back at school after that awful summer, and glad to see my friends again since the previous semester I'd been in France.  Anticipating my 21st birthday.

Nice thread, Mrs Robinson!

1) This time last year, I was...

Waiting to hear back from a promising job prospect (interviewed in early October and got hired...only ended up working there for 6 months, though.)

2) This time 5 years ago, I was...

Easing into the first semester of my junior year in college and preparing to study abroad the following semester in Sheffield, England   I was of course completely unaware of how incredibly life-changing that experience was going to be (and that I'd be living there permanently 3 years later!)

3) This time 10 years ago, I was...

almost 15 years old and 30 lbs lighter than I am now

This was also about the time I started hanging out with my high school friends who were in the debate club...a few months later, I began my year-long relationship with my high school ex-boyfriend (at a debate tournament! hehe.)

1.) this time last year

Preparing for my 2nd trip to the UK in October of 2008. I had just given my notice to my temp job that I was leaving since I'd be gone for a couple months, and little did I know that everything for me would start to change in November when I got engaged.

2.) this time five years ago

I was in my medical assisting course in Oregon. I was almost done with the clinical and administrative portion, going into Professional Development (fancy word for writing resumes). Within a couple months I was looking to my externship, which was a PITA, but I was excited about my prospects anyway

3.) this time ten years ago

I was 14, and just entering my freshman year of high school. I can't believe how long ago that was, and how much of a newb I felt like as I tried to fit in with all the big kids. But, even though at the time it was painful to fit in, I still look back on a lot of those memories quite fondly, since it's a period of my life I'll never get back, nor experience again.

Today 10 years ago I was getting married!!! Its my 10th Wedding Anniversary today! Eek.

This time last year I was living in Cumbria with my in-laws, sick (though didn't know what was wrong), and anticipating my move back to the US with very mixed feelings.

5 years ago I was getting ready for my wedding!

10 years ago I was teaching at a university in the US and figuring out how I could move to England!!

1. This time last year I was: finding out our company was going into Administration. Around this time last year, I was made redundant, then told I could stay an hour later. Very stressful, since I had only just started my job a month before and it was my first job in UK. I had only been living here for 2 months then. I was still very happy to be with my husband, though!

2. This time 5 years ago: I was at an extremely low point of my life. I had finished my bachelor's degree, but struggled to get a job that would provide enough money for me to live on my own. I was living with my grandmother at the time in pretty bad conditions. I was deeply depressed.  :\\\'(

3. This time ten years ago: I was living with a loser boyfriend who was just mooching off of me and wouldn't work or contribute in any way, he just sat around the house playing video games and smoking pot while I was at work. I would be about to find out my dad was dying of terminal liver cancer, but I didn't know that just yet. So the worst days of my life were just around the corner.  

So, um, yeah, sorry all of mine were kinda depressing. But the good news is that I've never been happier than I am at this point of my life.  

Today 10 years ago I was getting married!!! Its my 10th Wedding Anniversary today! Eek.

Happy Anniversary!!! 

1) This time last year, I was...

newly separated from my husband, sitting in a cold and damp flat in Edinburgh (i had been running the heat and using my electric blanket since mid-August!), plotting my return to Glasgow... looking at lettings sites, trying to think how I was going to make this work with my job, commuting, etc.

2) This time 5 years ago, I was...

Living in Linlithgow.  Stuck in a cold, dead, boring, and soul-destroying marriage.  At this stage I was probably just starting to allow myself to think about how to get out of the marriage.. I didn't think there was any way out, cos I couldn't see how I could do it without causing immense heartache to then-DH, his family and my own family.


3) This time 10 years ago, I was...

Living in Stratford, East London, and hating it.  Threatening then-DH every so often that I was moving back to Scotland one way or another, either with or without him.   It was an empty threat at the time... I wouldn't have gone without him at that stage, but i was trying to let him know that I was really, really unhappy.  A difficult task when you're married to a Vulcan.

Today 10 years ago I was getting married!!! Its my 10th Wedding Anniversary today! Eek.

Congrats!    I think it's someone else's 20 year anniversary today - wondering if they'll chime in?

(The 1/5/10 year marks are kind of tidy and arbitrary, but I hope people feel free to change it up if that works for them)

So, um, yeah, sorry all of mine were kinda depressing. But the good news is that I've never been happier than I am at this point of my life.  

I can relate to that!  If I'd have gone to like pre-1997 days, most of mine would have been depressing too!

Also - you folks that were 14, 15, 21 at 10 years ago are really making me feel old! 

1-This time last year I was busy buying things for my daughter, getting ready to send her off to University for the first time.

2- This time 5 years ago I was adjusting to my new life in England and preparing for our wedding in October.

3- This time 10 years ago I was in an unhappy marriage and making the decision to move on with my life.

ha, I was just thinking that 1, 5 & 10 years ago wasn't the best time periods for me because all the *really* interesting stuff happened between 1.5-4 years ago! LOL. Most of it's documented somewhere on UK-Y, though!

And I honestly can't believe either that I was in the middle of my teenage years 10 years ago...those days seem like another lifetime almost.

I do this meme every so often on LJ.

1) This time last year, I was...

Single-handedly holding together our library branch while my line manager and co-worker were both off sick.  Did I mention that we were also moving house AND I'd been to A&E with a UTI??  If all goes well (never say never), this will be the first year since 2003 that I haven't moved house.

2) This time 5 years ago, I was...

Facing my first autumn as a non-student - from 1983 to 2003, September meant starting a new year of school.  Instead, I was working as a reference librarian, living in Boston, and had just introduced DH to my parents.

3) This time 10 years ago, I was...

Starting my second year at Emory, living on campus with one of my sorority sisters, loved up with my college boyfriend, and waiting tables at a chicken finger restaurant (think Flingers from Office Space). 

1) This time last year, I was...

Worried sick that hubster would be made redundant and then he was. Ended up as a blessing as he has a much better job now that he is much happier in.


2) This time 5 years ago, I was...

In an abusive marriage, feel trapped, lonely and hopeless.

3) This time 10 years ago, I was...

Living the single life and playing the dating game.