Hello my lovely friends! Today’s post is a bit quick n’ dirty, but seeing as it’s Wednesday and also the last day of the year, I wanted to share some bits and pieces from this year. As I mentioned last week there have been some struggles this year but there were lots of awesome bits too!

This will be the year that I started to take my writing seriously, the year I made some great new friends, the year I learned a whole lot, and the year that will help me hit the ground running for 2015 — so it can’t be all bad!

In short, in 2014:

I went

— to New Zealand on my first real holiday with Chris. In spite of my (at times excruciating) back injury we had an amazing time and so many mini-adventures.
— to Sydney, where I saw The Lion King on stage and game 2 of State of Origin (but we don’t talk about that…)
— to Canberra to check out my sister’s new digs. Also revisited Questacon – not quite as fun as I remember from childhood but still very interesting, and worth checking out.
— White water rafting at Tully. Even though the water level was low there was still plenty of white water and it was heaps of fun.
— in a V8 for some hotlaps! It doesn’t feel like they go that fast until the driver hits the brakes and your arms and legs fly forward. I’m sure my arms had stretched by the time I got out of the car.
— out of my comfort zone a couple of times! But it was always worth it 🙂

I met

— one of my favourite writers.
— some of my favourite bloggers, including Gala Darling. I popped her on my vision board thinking it was far-fetched because she lives in New York. She was scheduled to do an event in Sydney that, at any other time, I would have found a way to get to — especially because she would be joined by some other fab women. Except it was on the night before the election, so there was no way I could make it work. But then the event company decided to add a one-night appearance IN MELBOURNE!! I went, I met, I hugged. So good!
— a whole bunch of wonderful new women who are friendly, fun, and inspiring. I’m so grateful to have them in my life (not to mention some terrific friends that have been there forever).

I read

— too few books. I plan to change that next year, if only to re-jig my attention span. It’s far too short these days. I also didn’t come across many books that really sucked me in this year — if you have any recommendations I’d love to hear them.
— lots of interesting and inspiring new blogs.
— Every issue of Renegade Collective. It’s always interesting and beautifully presented.

I saw

— Les Miserables on stage. A-mazing. So many powerful songs. Goosebumps galore!
— The Lion King. It was pretty cool, not amazing. The puppetry was really impressive though.
— Some great movies (and some terrible ones). I can’t pick the best, but I will point out that the Lego Movie still makes me giggle after 6 or so viewings. I also loved Walter Mitty I love going to the movies and need to take advantage of $8 movie Mondays at my local theatre more often next year.

About halfway through the year, I made a commitment to take my blog more seriously, which started with a pledge to post regularly. Once I made that commitment, I stuck to it (although I was a day late once or twice). I also joined a few Facebook groups to make connections with people who were also doing what I was doing (and more!). In January, I had 13 unique visitors to my little corner of the web. This month, December, it’s nearly 350! Sure, those numbers don’t compete with Huffington Post — yet 😉 — but that is huge growth, and is pretty exciting. It’s also motivating; if making one change (posting to a schedule) can make such a difference, imagine what can be possible if I make bigger changes, continue to learn, and maybe work on some strategies for growth!

Now I want to hear from you: how was your year? And what are you most excited about for 2015? Let me know in the comments below!