Amsterdam

 Between Christmas and New Year my boyfriend and I went for a wee trip to Amsterdam. It was lovely exploring a new place for a little while. We spend most of our time there wondering around seeing the sights and eating a huge amount of delicious food. Seriously. Huge amount.

Because of the trip the whole Christmas/New Year period seemed to fly by. It has been a good one though. Christmas was spent with the families, his in the morning, mine in the evening. Again with the huge amount of delicious foods.

New Year celebrations were also really fun. I am superstitious about how the way you enjoy New Year will determine how the rest of your year will go. Going on that logic I am confident to say this year is set up to be a good one. The evening celebrations began with a beautiful meal with friends at Cafe 52 (moooooore fooooood). After this, Phil and I went to an old friend's party. It was really nice to catch up with good friends I haven't seen in a long time. Just before midnight we took a quick dart up to the city gardens to see the fireworks being set off as the New Year commenced. After this we went for a few drinks and dances at our favorite club before heading back to the party and eventually at some point in the night we must have went home to bed.

So all and all an exceptionally busy and fun-filled night (and year ahead).

I am usually one for being reflective and making New Year resolutions but this year it seems so futile because there is so much I want to change. There are a few big things that I need to make happen over the year, preferably as soon as they can. Other than that there are a couple of smaller things I hope to achieve.

The first of the smaller things is that I want to get more into running. I made a solid effort to start exercising for the first time, like ever, at the start of last Summer. After my body got over the initial shock of it, I really quickly started to notice how much better I was feeling. The myths they tell you about exercise are actually true! I was more alert, less stressed, got ill less often, found it easier to sleep and best of all after going to the gym for only one month I had lost one stone in weight. The compliments people started paying me were the icing on the cake. Last June I ran 5k for Race for Life, this year I plan on doing the 10k. And hopefully I'll take it even further than that.

Secondly, I want to start being more creative. Since graduating from art school I've lost confidence with what I want to do artistically, but I don't want to give it up all together. Once some of the bigger things have changed in my life I'm hoping it will be easier to start making things again. Until then I will try bringing creativity into my life a little more, bit by bit.

The main reflection I've made on the year passed is that I was in a much happier place at the end of it than at the beginning. I am so ready and so excited for change and for good things to come.
Bring it, 2014.