Happy ‘Boo’ Year

Wow, I really am the worst at this! My poor blog keeps getting buried and resurrected until I make a resolution to write more outside of work. I didn’t even write about the amazing milestones like travelling, meeting my close friend’s baby or having our beautiful wedding.

A Wedding, A Wedding

Our wedding in 2022 was really a dark dream come true – a black dress and veil, cascades of flowers, anatomical-heart candles and decor, and treats like wood-fired pizza and donuts. Our suppliers were all AMAZING, friends and family made us feel special, everyone had a good time and we were spoiled with books from our registry. I’m going to cherish our vows and speeches (and my groom!) for a lifetime. As a bonus, being a chronically depressed bride I was able to be my own “something blue”!

Halloween Happy

Halloween 2022 was a lovely little fright-fest – I got a few fiends together for a goth picnic, complete with homemade creepy cupcakes and cookies, and we did the Cape Town Zombie Walk which was a lot of fun. I should have written about all of it!

Mental Hell(th)

Unfortunately, 2023 was a bit of a nightmare for me, and not the good kind. I collapsed into an intense depression and anxiety spiral, and spent several months trying to climb out of that hole. It was a year of new medications, new therapies and so. many. doctor’s visits. I even tried ketamine therapy which was, obviously, quite a trip. And a reminder that I CANNOT handle needles and injections like an adult (tattoos notwithstanding). I finally turned a corner once I got settled on magic new meds, and I’m in a pretty good (cautiously optimistic) place now. My partner and family gave me so much support, which really helped to ease the struggle. I’ve also managed to reconnect with old friends this year, which has brought me a lot of joy.

The Ghoul Abroad

In November my partner had a conference to attend in London, so we took the chance to visit my family in Scotland. We saw castles, petted highland cows and took walks in the rain. Then we spent a few days in Edinburgh, just the two of us, and fell in love with this most gorgeous gothic city. We were lucky enough to be there over Halloween 2023. We visited the Dungeon, met some owls, did a walking ghost tour and had dinner at a Frankenstein-themed restaurant. It was all very satisfying for my dark little heart. Then I got to catch up with an amazing friend from college over drinks, and spend some time with a very dear school friend in London, which was lovely, especially our trip to Camden and the iconic CyberDog. I haven’t travelled in a long time and it was a little nerve-wracking but also really amazing.

December Days

I’ve written before about how difficult the festive season can be for me, but this one was pretty good. I worked steadily through the month which kept me occupied, and I got the BLACK CHRISTMAS TREE of my dreams! It’s so beautiful it went up in November the minute I got it. I never thought I’d be happy about buying a Christmas tree but there we are. For Christmas, my love spoiled me with a book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, a Nightmare Before Christmas calendar, and an absolutely gorgeous tarot deck with a Universal Monsters theme. I fell in love and felt so attached and in tune with this deck almost immediately. I’ve started a morning reading ritual, recording each one in my daily diary entries (I write a diary now!) and the insights I’ve gotten have been eerily accurate. It’s also a nice way of adding some structure to my mornings.

Weird Girl Wellness

I’ve been doing wholesome stuff like yoga, breathwork, juice cleanses, forest walks, full moon hiking and conscious dance, all in the name of staying happy and healthy. People love to romanticise depression but it’s an absolutely awful and unenviable state to be in. I dearly hope never to go through such a prolonged and serious episode ever again.

Future Feelings

Once again, I’ve got that “start of a horror movie” feeling because everything seems a little too good to be true. This year we’ll be building our own house in one of the most beautiful parts of Cape Town! We also both have some great work prospects on the horizon – so it will be a busy but amazing year with big changes. Ghoulhood feels good right now.

Whew, that’s a lot! Let’s see if I can keep up some more regular posting in the year to come.

Boo to you,

The Ghoul Next Door

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash