My review of 2013

Happy 2014!
What a fantastic year it has been. There were so many brilliant experiences and it felt like a real step into the rest of my life. I think starting Dear Friend, the blog and the workshops is the thing I am most proud of. It has been my dream for a long time and to actually see it happening is brilliant. This year I'm really going to try and grow it, ultimately I would LOVE it to be something that grows and I am able to devote my time to. It will be an exciting journey!

We started 2013 on the roof of our block of flats with a 360 degree view of the fireworks going off over London. It was absolutely breathtaking. We were with two of our closed friends and spent the evening discussing our dreams for the next year.

This year we started it all off by trying to light a bonfire.... using wet wood....in the rain.

A few highlights:

Korea
February was the month we went to Busan, S. Korea to celebrate a friends wedding. Busan is the most beautiful city I have ever visited. We had such a lovely time, there was so much laughter and delicious food. It was such a privilege it be accepted into the bride and grooms family. Also my first time in Asia!

India
Whilst in Korea I sent off an application to get some funding to go on a trip to India and help with a
charity out there who run daycare for the street children in Kolkata. In March I was awarded the money and spent a brilliant 10 days in a really noisy and colourful city. It was the first length of time I'd ever been away from Matt. There were a few scary experiences like being lost on my own after
dark in the back streets. It was challenging and brilliant and a real adventure.

The start of Dear Friend
In April I had to do a Dragons Den style presentation to a board of people from Unltd. A organisation that awards money to social enterprises. I was sooo nervous beforehand. A few weeks later I heard back and they really liked my idea, I had been awarded the money! This is when I first started thinking seriously about it, and 7 months later we had the first workshop! Already I have learnt lots, made some mistakes but am really looking forward to seeing where this goes.



Summer Holidays!
We had the best time over the summer, I still have long school holidays and Matts work is a lot quieter. This meant we could do lots of exploring. This started off in The Netherlands, we spent just over a week in Meppel with some of Matts family friends. This was a really inspiring time for me. The family we stayed with are very creative, so I planned workshops, was really excited to be staying in their beautiful house and we did lots of bargain hunting in the markets. When we got back to England Matt was off again, him and a friend cycled from Bilbao in Spain to St.Malo in France.
Whilst he was away I spent time with my family. We went kayaking and camped on beaches, it's so nice to spend lengthy amounts of time with my siblings. We then went to France to meet my lovely husband.

And to finish, New York.
This was such a wonderful time, more so than we could have ever planned. We got upgraded, met one of our favourite musicians, went to amazing bars, ate amazing food, got upgraded again. It was wow! We were so so blessed during our time there. Thank you to everyone who made it possible!

This year has been full of joy, provision and excitement. I am constantly thankful for having such a loving, supportive and dreaming husband.

 I have such a long list of things I'd love to do this coming year- I'm almost too scared to write it all down. I think one of my biggest hopes this year is to treat every day like an adventure, regardless of which country I'm in or things I have planned. To find the joy in each day.

I hope you have enjoyed the first two days of 2014 and have things to look forward to in the year to come!