A Look Back at 2013

I’m so glad I started this blog this year as I can look back at what I did this year month by month, and re-live some great adventures, and some normal but really great days. I always used to have diaries growing up, and I really wished I had taped some pictures into them to remember things better, and just generally see what I got up to. I love that I now have this virtual scrapbook for not only myself, but to share with all of you as well.

:: January ::  
We had a few friends over to bring in the New Year and it ended up being really nice. We were meant to be going to Ireland to celebrate our friends 30th birthday, but our passports had to be sent out with my visa application in November and we still hadn’t gotten them back. Sad times. We headed to London to celebrate Australia day with our friends Lauren and Georgia so still got to catch up. It’s also my birthday month! We didn’t do anything extravagant, as we went to Paris the year before, and gathered some friends for a meal out.:: February :: 
I started this blog. I wanted a place to document our travels and life for our friends and family that don’t get to be a part of it as much as we’d like. It turned out to be one of my favourite things I’ve done this year as I love the community that comes with blogging. On the 9th of February I found out my residency had been approved and I can stay in the U.K. whoop whoop! :: March :: 

I headed back to New York for a couple weeks since I got my passport back and got a bout of homesickness. Ironic being told I can stay in England and want to fly back to America. It was a nice break even if it was mainly filled with snow. :: April :: 

With the weather getting nicer we headed to Yorkshire sculpture park, & Haddon Hall, the first of our wanderings of the year.:: May :: 

I started recapping our amazing year in New Zealand on this here blog, and got really nostalgic doing so. We signed up for a National Trust membership for the first time and printed out our passes to head to Nostell Priory.:: June ::

The weather for summer was nice most of the time so we took the opportunity to have friends over for BBQ’s and we dug a fire pit in our backyard. I don’t know why it took us so long. Our friend Michelle was doing a Euro trip and we took the train to Manchester to go see her, which was such a great day and we made new friends too.:: July ::

I finally finished up recapping New Zealand, a whopping 23 posts. I only wish I had started this blog when we lived there. Adam and I headed to Italy for a week long trip with our University friend Abhi. We stayed in Rome and Florence and took a day trip through Tuscany. It was such a great relaxed trip and we had so much fun catching up.:: August ::

I don’t even remember what we did for half the month, mainly headed to cities and wandered like this trip to Lincoln. I headed back to New York for a month and my first weekend home went to the rodeo and my best friend Maggie came to visit for the weekend too which was pretty awesome. :: September :: 

Still in New York for most of the month spending time with family and friends, and my Nana flew in from Oregon for the last three weeks I was there. While I was there I wrote some posts about our trip to Oregon and Washington the year before. When I got back to England we took a trip to Lyme Park, house and gardens while the weather was still nice.:: October ::

Yeah, Thanksgiving happened, but – Christmas Markets! I am all over celebrating Christmas for two months in England. I also started my first photo challenge, and learned a bunch of new settings on my camera, bonus!:: December ::