Laura Kalbag

My 2013

My 2013 has been another big year. Oskar and I moved down to Brighton to live with Aral, I spoke at 13 events in 3 countries and worked with 13 clients on 20 projects. 2013 was the year of the podcast and I was a guest on 12 podcasts, most frequently with the lovely Andy Clarke on Unfinished Business. I also started writing a lot more, and now have my own column on A List Apart.

Like last year, I thought it would be fun to sum up my year in pictures. Looking back through my collection of photos, I’ve done so much that I’d forgotten half of it! But these are some of the best bits…

Oskar the husky-malamute cross, standing in the snow

Oskar had a great start to the winter in the snow.

Jeremy Keith introducing Responsive Day Out

In March I spoke at Responsive Day Out. Probably the most nervous I’ve ever been…

Laura and Annie at Skunk Anansie

I went to see Skunk Anansie with my sister, Nini. It was the best gig I’ve experienced.

My family pulling stupid faces

Every year it’s harder to get all the family in one room, but whenever we do, it’s like this…

Aral, me and Nina in Venice

We went to Faenza in Italy for the excellent Kerning conference and ended up on an impromptu day trip to Venice with our new friend Nina

Aral in the window inside our flat

I moved to Brighton, and moved in with this nice man.

Oskar the dog in the sea

While Oskar loves Brighton, he wasn’t so impressed by the salty taste of the sea.

.net award 2013 Winner, Brilliant Newcomer

Winning the .net award for Brilliant Newcomer. That was pretty amazing.

Six walkers and their dogs in Sheepcote Valley

I started Web Talk Dog Walk, a fortnightly dog walk for locals wanting to chat about the web in the great outdoors.

Critter award for Next Big Thing

Then winning the Critter award for Next Big Thing just a couple of weeks later made me totally giddy.

Two flags at the Northern point of North Cyprus

We had a lovely holiday in the very hot North Cyprus

Me cuddling Oskar, he's bigger than me

Oskar got big enough for cuddles to be like this…

Workshop attendees on a rooftop in Barnsley

I gave my first solo workshop in Barnsley to these lovely people

My sprained ankle up on a pillow with the dog leaning against it

I sprained my ankle again and broke my toe a week later. I’m hoping this doesn’t become a yearly occurance…

My family in matching Christmas jumpers

I managed to convince the whole family to wear matching jumpers at Christmas…

Following goals for 2013

1. Keep saying yes to things that scare me

The amount of events I did this year was hard to manage; I was so excited at people asking me to speak at events, I said yes to too many. So 2014 will have to be a year of saying “maybe”!

2. Get a better balance of more client work and be more fussy about the conferences I attend (19 events in one year is too many!)

I was very fussy about what I attended, only going to the few events I really wanted to be at (and missing out on a few too…) My balance on client work was much better, and I had a more consistent year financially.

3. Be more efficient with my time

Must try harder in 2014…

Goals for 2014

Until I looked back over these photos, I’d not noticed how solitary 2012 was (there’s not so many people in last year’s photos!) And I want to make next year more sociable still:

  1. Collaborate more.
  2. Be more selective, say no more often.
  3. Challenge myself physically in a new way.

The third goal is because I missed the build-up and fun of the Spartan race last year. This year I want to try something completely different. It might be returning to ballet. Might be.

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