It’s already the end of 2022 so that means it’s time for the annual review post: a summary of my year in pictures.
January
Started the year off with something I haven’t done in a while – being a tourist in my own town. The main goal of this specific day was to see the travelling exhibit “The Witness Blanket” at the Kelowna Art Gallery. If you get a chance to see it in your town it is definitely worth seeing.
Other than that January was pretty quiet.
February
Took a mini vacation to celebrate my husband’s birthday (it was a big one, ending in a zero!) but since both our birthdays are in February we celebrated them both and valentines day (just because we could). This is probably going to be an annual tradition – booked in at the Watermark in Osoyoos again this year. Hoping for similar weather and views!
March
My Artistic Swim team finally got a chance to perform for our friends and families! The masters team started just before Covid so this was the first year of the team that we actually swam a full season!
April
This was a Christmas gift from the family and I put it to good use through the spring. We put it up in February (a touch too early) and used it to start some seeds but also as a sun room – my favourite thing was to sit in there and just enjoy the warmth!
May
Something totally new to us – our friends invited us to join them on their houseboat adventure. Kid, dog and I spent a day and night catching up with them and enjoying the beauty of the Shuswap.
June
June really kicked off my Across the Lake Training with twice a week swims to get the feel for open water swimming. I think I opted out of swimming this day but did swim one other evening when the waves were even bigger, it was fun but I’m happier with calmer water for sure.
July
This was a big month so it needs more than one picture. This month saw a return to camping for me after several years (the dog was not a fan of tenting so I’ll have to figure something else out, maybe sleeping in the SUV?), My first ever 2.1km Across the Lake Swim: completed in 48mins, and I learned (sort of) how to golf.
August
Another big month: Trip to Edmonton to see the Lumineers and tour University of Alberta, and a family gathering in Silverton to celebrate my dad’s 75th birthday.
September
The weather this summer was pretty weird, my garden didn’t produce as well as previous years but at least the sunflowers thrived and I did my part to help the pollinators!
October
This was a bonus summer month and the month where I discovered two things about paddle boards: 1. you get what you pay for and 2. For things like this paying more is worth it! I ended up working with a local supplier and upgraded from the board in this picture to a better quality one and the difference was incredible as far as stability.
Checkout www.canadianboardco.com/hcgardiner for info on the company I’m working with (and if you decide to buy something use my code: HCGARDINER for a discount! I have an 11′ PopUp board incase you want a recommendation)
November
Summer ended with a cold snap and all my outdoor fun was replaced with indoor time instead. Rediscovered how great yoga is! Also really didn’t take a lot of other pictures.
December
Classic chilling by the tree picture! A pretty relaxing month aside from one week of chaos when a storm and flight cancellations changed up a lot of our holiday plans!
So there we have it – a pretty good year!
I also attempted to do 52 new things throughout the year. I didn’t get to 52 and certainly didn’t document everything new I tried but it was a fun project to have on the go.
Stay tuned for a 2023 post soon – all about how I signed up to do some pretty crazy athletic things (cycling and swimming) and how that will shape my year!
Outside in Kelowna 