Welcome, 2013

Happy New Year loves! I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful holiday with your nearest and dearest. I worked mostly through the break except for the public holidays but I managed to escape down to the south coast to visit my sister who has just moved down there. It is such a beautiful corner of the world and it was lovely to get out of the city, if only for a few days!

The start of the year is not only a time for new beginnings but also reflecting on the year that was. Looking back, 2012 was one of the most challenging years I've ever had. Life threw a curve ball when my marriage ended, but I managed to keep myself busy to get though it, and worked on redefining the direction my life was headed in. Which, if I am being completely honest, is still somewhat of a work in progress, but I am trying to focus on the journey rather than the destination. 

Aside from that obvious downer, the year was also filled with many highlights, like being featured in Style at Home's Bloggers Budget Decorating Ideas article; being named by Mashable as one of their top 20 Pinterest accounts to follow; being featured in MTV Bloggers by day, Pinners by night article; having my first article published in online magazine, Latitude; spending a month travelling and meeting long time blog friends Lisa and Caterina; plus joining the Life in Style team as a blog contributor.

When I look back at the goals I made for 2012, my plans for the year got swayed and I didn't end up achieving all that I hoped to. But if there is one thing I have learnt this past year, it is to see at this as an opportunity for what is yet to come, knowing that sometimes the best made plans don't aways turn out the way you expected.

With the new year upon us its time for a fresh start and I feel that so much opportunity awaits. I don't have a long list of goals, but rather a few things I hope to achieve that I thought I'd share with you...

Be Adventurous. By this I mean trying new things and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. This year I will train to run for 2 fun runs: the City to Surf in August and the Blackmores Running Festival in September. I want to see more of the world. A month trekking in India and Nepal is still high on my list, but l also need to decide if I will take the leap and live overseas, which is something that I have always wanted to do. Now that I am single it seems like there is nothing holding me back.

Simplify + find balance. This post on slow blogging really resonated with me because lately I have been feeling overwhelmed about having to stick to a regular blog schedule and trying to fit this in around a hectic work schedule, seeing friends and getting enough exercise and sleep. Things have been a bit unbalanced as a result, which has taken the joy out of blogging for me and I have often thought about stopping. But the truth is I love blogging and I love the friends I have made in the blogging community, so I won't be stopping, I will just be doing things a bit differently from now on.

Be who I am. Being single, after a long term relationship and a marriage, I am on the path to rediscovering who I am; what it is I truly want and where I want to be. Yes, this is a journey, but I plan to have fun along the way! 

I want to also take a moment to thank each and everyone of you for taking the time to visit this little blog. It warms my heart to know that I have created a space on the internet that I hope serves as a lovely escape for you to enjoy those small moments of pleasure in your daily life.

Here's to an amazing year ahead,

Much love,

Rachel xo

P.S Congratulations to Helen, the lucky winner of the Vision Direct Giveaway! You will be receiving an email soon :)

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