Time for my 33rd trip around the sun - what will the year hold?

I turned 33 on September 9th, and I’ve been doing a bit of reflecting. This past year has been a whirlwind. So much is going on, and a bunch of my goals have been achieved. I wouldn't change it for anything if I'm honest. As you may know, Adrian and I bought a home, and we've been spending much of our time working on settling in, making things cozy for the cats!

As you can see, they are quite comfortable

I haven't done a cancer update in a while, so let's do one now.

1. I recently completed my radiation treatment. I had to do 5 targeted sessions over the course of 2 weeks. Better than my last round of radiation, where I had to do sessions 4 days a week every week for 6 weeks. That was really tough, even living relatively close to the clinic. Because we moved further out from the city center, going to the clinic now can be a bit of a pain - it's about a 45-minute drive now.

2. I continue to go to immunotherapy every 3 weeks. Don't know how long that's going to continue, but honestly, it's not too bad - the routine is pretty consistent at this point. The clinic knows that I'm coming and that I typically work from the chair while the pump is going. Additionally, work has been pretty great about allowing me to be flexible with my schedule. As long as my work gets done, it really doesn't matter too much where I'm working from.

3. Symptom management remains important. So long as I remain on top of my routine, my symptoms are under control, and I go through the day like a normal person. I do have some down days or lower energy days, but for the most part, I manage like everyone else who has a chronic condition - you do what you can and you endure.

So what am I looking forward to in my 33rd year? There's so much to look forward to this year. Adrian and I will continue to work on the house - I have so many plans!

• I want to put in a garden and grow our own vegetables; ideally, I'd love to have a hydroponic garden on my patio. I'd love to be able to say that I grew my own salad greens.

• I want to redo our front flowerbed. The developers put in holly bushes, and I hate them. I'm thinking that I want to put in some flowering hydrangea bushes or something similar. I'm just not sure if they will be able to survive in our super clay soil, and if they will be able to survive the full sun that the front of the house gets.

• We've been working on our offices mostly, so we'll probably work on other parts of the house. I am thinking mostly of paint or things like that. I know at some point, we'll need to replace some of the Ikea furniture that we bought for our old apartment. I'm not in a rush to do a bunch of renovations - I know we're going to be here for a while.

• I would love to start exercising again - I'm hoping that I can get some of my stamina back. After 4 years of treatment, I can confidently say that I've lost so much muscle mass. I'd really like to get back into lifting weights and going to the gym. I do think I need to probably hire a personal trainer to keep me from overdoing it - which is very possible considering that my brain thinks I'm more fit than I actually am.

Overall, I think it's going to be a really good year. There is so much to look forward to, many adventures to have, amazing food to cook & eat, and friends to make!