It has come down to that time, where we summarize and recall on what a wonderful/shitty year 2014 has been and then proceed to make new year resolutions for 2015.

How has my 2014 been? AMAZING! Let me tell you why it's been amazing. First of all, I have managed to achieve TWO of my 2014 resolutions, out of the many I have. The only resolution I botched up was my fitness resolution, which I kept up so well in 2013 but managed to kill in 2014 – I guess I may have spoke to soon and loved my body and food too much to care about what other people think. But anyways, despite the laziness and weight gain – I've never been so happy! :) I kind of feel I need to do a round-up of all the amazing things that happened this year (I made a pretty impressive one for 2012). Here goes!




#1 ACHIEVED ONE OF MY RESOLUTIONS: TO TRAVEL MORE
And travel I did. I don't usually venture out of my comfort zones of travel like Bangkok or Singapore – where little or no planning is required. This year, I painstakingly and very proudly, planned out the itinerary for my Australia trip from Gold Coast to Brisbane and Melbourne. I came back and was immediately off to Cambodia (for the very first time) on a company trip – you can read about the culture shock we experienced there and see the beauty of Angkor Wat. A few local trips down to Malacca and Ipoh in between, and I was off again for my first time to Osaka, Japan. We had so much fun at the Universal Studios Japan theme park, über excited mainly for the Harry Potter park! I can now proudly say that I've been to Hogwarts! Later on we travelled out of Osaka into Nara, Kyoto and visited the iconic Umeda Sky Building. It's been such a long time since I travelled with my mom, so glad we got to do this. And just this month, I was in Boracay, Asia's ultimate party island! So much fun, I can barely wait for another planned trip to Bali next year! :)




#2 ACHIEVED ANOTHER RESOLUTION: GETTING MY BLOG INTO ACTION
My blog's existence has been somewhat so-so for a long time. This year, I vowed to bring it to life by being more 'sociable' on the blogging scene (an introvert's first world problems) because I am socially awkward around people I don't know, sometimes. I called out to my old PR contacts and made new ones – from then on, my blog took off from it's abysmal 2,000 visitors-a-month to over 8,000 now. Many other brands soon came to sought me out on their own, and much thanks to them and the amazing sponsors I got, my blog has never looked or felt more alive. From churning 1 or 2 posts a week, I am now working and churning out at least 4-6 posts weekly (except when I'm on vacation, I cannot blog while on an exciting journey).





#3 SURVIVED THE TERRIBLE TWOS
Yeah, so many relationships and marriages suffer this syndrome called 'the terrible twos' – which is the phase between year 2 and 3 where many things seem to go wrong in the relationship. You fight more, you feel sick of one another sometimes and the one you love starts to do little things that annoy you. But then again, this is just perspective. For me, things like fights and arguments happen – and should happen because that's part of the process, but only over petty things. We probably get sick of one another once in a while – but that's what friends (and other hobbies) are for. He has his business to run, and I have my blog to work on – so we have some good time apart until bedtime. As for him being annoying – that's been part and parcel of this relationship since Day 1 so it doesn't faze me. I have built tolerance for so much annoying-ness, I am almost achieving Zen. So, we toasted to our two years this year and are looking forward to the third!




#4 (NOT REALLY MY ACHIEVEMENT) HELPED ESTABLISH EL LIBRE
My boyfriend and his partner started their own food company, El Libre, specializing in burritos this year. I was involved heavily in the logo design and all their labels and promotional items, as well as the initial planning and jump-starting the brand. It went pretty well considering the amount of orders they get and a radio interview, as well as a video interview with The Star. It's quite amazing how fast the business grew and we are looking forward to better things in 2015. You can help by spreading the word and liking them on Facebook!




#5 COMPLETED THE 100 HAPPY DAYS CHALLENGE
The popular #100happydays trend was created to give you something to appreciate everyday for 100 consecutive days  – sort of like finding the silver lining in your everyday life. I am super stoked to have completed it without missing a single day (although I sort of slacked posting the updates here on my blog). I have to say, it has positively helped me boost my optimism.




#6 I MET DAVID BECKHAM!
The one and only. When he came down to Malaysia to launch Haig Club whiskey, I was given the opportunity by YTL and The Peak magazine to attend and be one of the first 40 media members to meet him, fresh off his flight. It was quite an experience – meeting him in the flesh and tasting the delicious Haig Club whiskey cocktails. I'm extremely grateful for this experience.




#7 MY CAT FAMILY EXPANDED!
My cat Karma, got pregnant and miraculously delivered 4 pure black kittens (some with white stars on the chest, like herself). This all happened just 2 days before Chinese New Year – so you can imagine the chaos and the stress, as told in the full story. It was however, a blessing in disguise. The kittens were a bundle of joy and we managed to give two away to good homes. The other two however, stayed on with us. Tragically, Karma escaped one day and left her two babies behind. We have managed to now secure all escape routes with wire netting, and these two, Wally and Coco are tuning a year old in a months' time. Here's to maintaining my little black cat family.




#8 MANAGED TO SQUEEZE IN SOME TIME FOR ART
I haven't been producing as much artworks as I did the previous year but I still managed to come up with at least three greeting card pieces for Christmas (see above) and finished the third piece in my Meat Series, entitled Porckchop. These and my first acrylic on wood piece, Foxtrot.



I guess these 8 parts of my life sums up my 2014 pretty well. If anything, I loved this year more than the last. I am also very blessed with food this year, so many food reviews and reasons to celebrate. Not great for the waistline, but food is nourishment for the body and soul, and I am so not complaining. As tradition holds, time to make new resolutions – and hopefully by end of 2015 I'll be able to refer back to this post and check-off each item here.

• Get my 2013 body back! My boyfriend has fed me too much. 
• Travel to new places in 2015. I want to visit a cathedral with gargoyles and catacombs.
• Make more art (and more time to do art).
• Learn how to write with my right hand.
• Maybe write a book?
• Organize and makeover the room (it is a rat's nest at the moment).
• Put more ideas into action.
• Donate old clothes and replenish with new ones.
• Read more books. To be fair, I've read A LOT of books this year.
• Be more religious with cleaning my hamster's cage. (Sorry, Boss)
• Get another hamster? That is, if Boss doesn't kill his new friend.

That is about it. If you have a list of resolutions or year in review, do drop me the link in the comments section – I love reading stuff like that! Have a wonderful 2015!