I said hello to 2013 with a kiss.

2013 was like any other year,  a year of new adventures, huge challenges, a different focus and an immense amount of growth. 2013 brought with it a new 90lb member into the family and a move into a smaller space. One of the biggest changes though was the new career.

Steve Jobs used to look in the mirror each morning and ask himself, Do I like what I’m doing? Am I happy? And if the answer was no too many days in a row, he did something differently. It took me seven years to finally do it.

1. The career – after 16 years, I finally left education. And here I am – I write, I manage, and I lead. I work all the time, but that’s okay because I enjoy it. I truly am excited to wake up each day and work. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows and the learning curve is steep, but it’s new, exciting and I’m finally passionate about my work again.

2. The dog – Goliath is the coolest dog, with crazy abandonment issues. He is perfect until he is left alone. Then he becomes what can only be described as a sobbing, temper tantrum throwing, nervous three-year-old. He chewed up my seat belts. Both of them. Out of spite. TWICE.

3. The house – it’s actually an apartment, but it’s a new space. And after I move everything in, it’ll be great. Right now, I hate it. I’m ready to throw everything away and start new.

From the second 2013 began, I expected nothing of what it would hold. And when the clock struck midnight, signifying the end to another 12 months, I got another kiss.

Starting and ending a year with kisses is never a bad thing 😉

I also have no idea what 2014 will hold. It already has thrown me for a loop, and it’s barely into the second day! But for the first time in a long time, I can honestly say that I am excited and really, really mean it.

Happy New Year my friends. I shall see you soon (as soon as I find some balance again in my life and squeeze in a regular blogging schedule.

This was the first year in the last three that I didn’t make it to Vegas. Not ringing in the New Year on the Strip with hundreds of thousands of other people was sad, but we made the most of it by driving around Scottsdale in a party bus with ten friends.

It was actually a bus sized bus. Very fun.