Anticipating!

image by Mark Mawson

I am so freaking excited about 2012, I have no idea why.

I just am. I can't stop smiling today.

2011 wasn't a particularly bad year for me. It was actually very good to me.

Weird to think I'm not smiling because the year is over, but because I'm looking forward to the future.

I formed a really strong bond with a great bunch of friends, and I kept my job and therefore my visa to live in Europe.

I travelled a lot, and saw a lot of new places on the planet.

I went home and saw my family and friends and had a lot of nice realisations about my life.

I didn't get slapped in the face with any obviously hard lessons this year, just some gentle reminders.

Here are my resolutions this year:

- Be more responsible. I want my finances to be in check and also my health. And I want to be reliable, so when I say I'll do something, someone can rely on me to do that. Turning up on time to things is a good start.

- Quit the social smoking. Blagh. It's going to be tough, but I want to live for a long time and be around to accomplish some great things.

- Lose weight before I go home in March.

- Plan time for exercise and passion projects. (See resolution number 1 to understand why this is important.)

- Be more selective about who I interact with and what projects I decide to take on. It's all about quality and not quantity this year.

BOOYAH!

I hope 2012 blossoms into a phenomenal year!

Happy New Year!! xxx

Yule tide doors

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One neighborhood in Brugge, twenty eight charming doors which sent me swooning.

A very Belgian Christmas

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On Christmas Eve I jumped on a train to Belgium and met Sarah, Luke and Luke's BFF and his fiance in Brugge.

As usual, the Dutch trains delayed everything. A train that was supposed to take me straight to Antwerp became a train that only took me to the border, to a town called Roosendaal, and then I had to change to an ancient Belgian train to Antwerp and then I missed my connection and then had to wait an hour to travel to Brugge.

I had quite the relaxing, easy and lovely Christmas weekend with them.

I truly had a cosy Christmas day without going wild with the drinking, or shenanigans.

We had a champagne breakfast, followed by a long walk around the old town (everything was pretty shut but we enjoyed the wandering anyway) then headed into the centre for mulled wine and Flemish coffees at the Christmas market.

Mel bought some brownies from the patisserie around the corner from the hotel and then the ladies had an impromptu high tea infront of a (gas) fire.

Very civilised. Just like the little town.