It's hard to believe that Ghost and I have just celebrated our first wedding anniversary. With all that has happened in the past 12 months, my head is just spinning.

We had a quiet dinner to celebrate at a very good local seafood restaurant. Best of all, one of my clients finally got around to paying me just before the weekend, so we indulged ourselves. I tried not to go berserk with glee as the waiter bought over fresh oysters, barbecued king prawns (nothing shrimp-like about these babies) and a steaming platter of lobster and other delights. The waiter just backed off slowly as I bounced in my seat and squeaked gleefully. He understood later when Ghost took him to one side and explained the situation (that it was our anniversary, not that I'm a complete mental case.)

The weekend turned out better than expected. It was looking tough for a while there. Double booked projects meant a working weekend and on top of that, a client had offered me a contract that I really wasn't willing to take.

This early on in the business, it's really, REALLY hard to refuse work. A little voice in the back of your head chants, "You need the money, you need the money..." and you can’t help worrying if you turn something down what the future will bring.

I knew this client. I knew the level of politics involved. I knew the excruciating hours that would be required of me. I knew that no matter how much we needed the money, I just couldn't take the gig. It would have burned me out badly at the end and I'd be no good to anyone.

The money just wasn't worth it.

Nervously, I called the client Monday morning to break the bad news. Turns out, they had rethought the position and would rather me come for a week here and there over the six month period, rather than full time work. Now that I could do.

So here I am, Monday morning, with the potential for ongoing work for this client, all the work that I needed to do on the weekend done and another year to look forward to with my beloved.

Life is good.