Today, all over the world, thousands of blog posts are going up to acknowledge the turn of yet another Gregorian year with a recapitulation of the past 364 days. While I typically don’t like jumping on the bandwagon, I felt I needed to write something to commemorate this milestone. This year for me has been a tremendous learning journey from start to end.
I created this space to re-ignite my love for writing, and at the same time, share my love for fashion, food, and green beauty. Since then, I’ve started writing for ION Orchard as one of their ION Insiders and had the opportunity to attend food tastings and events. Something I didn’t think I’d have the chance to do until I further established myself in the saturated blogosphere. I also made the decision to uproot myself from my BlogSpot beginnings and move to self-hosted WordPress. My fear of a foreign platform and a million other questions I had about the technicalities like losing my organic search traffic I’d worked so hard to attain almost made me pay someone an exorbitant amount to do it on my behalf. But I’m glad I toughed it out because the transition wasn’t as nearly bad as I imagined it to be. And I sure learnt a lot working out everything on my own.
I also took the plunge and invested in a spankin’ new DSLR this year. I’m someone who firmly believes in self-improvement and learning. Photography has always been an interest of mine, but I’ve never really taken it seriously until I started blogging again. Great visuals are the cornerstone of quality content, and that’s something I’m looking forward to bettering in 2015.
My trip to Maldives marks a tick off the bucket-list. It was a dreamy five days and four nights that saw us having the most fun we’ve had in a long time. A well-deserved sabbatical from the hustle and bustle that is Singapore. We left Malé with full hearts and friendships forged with endless cocktails (mocktails in my case), fresh seafood, salt water, and powdery sand. Isak Dinesen was on to something when he said, “The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.“
This year, I also signed my first official lease on a tiny studio apartment measuring less than 400 square feet. It’s forced me to become a more organized person and to really consider if I truly needed something before making a purchase. Every inch of clutter-free space counts in a tiny area. I now realize we really don’t need a lot of things to live.
Not having a full-time job this year gave me precious time to repair my health and sanity. I learnt how to say no to things or people I no longer wanted to associate with. This is an issue I’ve always struggled with because I find it really difficult to turn some one down. My boyfriend says I’m too nice. Because I’m always at home, I got to spend a lot more time with my dogs. They are the best colleagues, the greatest inspiration, and the most perfect company. I won’t lie, working in bed on a rainy day with dogs keeping you warm is honestly the best feeling ever.
2014 also saw me spending rewarding time in the kitchen whipping up experimental meals, as well as eating way healthier than I’ve used to. The benefits are tangible, and it’s really not that difficult making a home cooked meal (washing up is tiresome thought!). Cooking is really therapeutic, and seeing the happiness and enjoyment your food brings makes me simply overjoyed. In a bid to brighten up a dreary rental space, I’ve also brought a couple of house plants home and discovered I do have a green thumb. There’s not much we can do to make the place our own because of the landlord’s rules, but I like to make the best of what I have!
2014 in it’s entirety has been everything I could’ve wished for, and I can’t wait to start making exciting memories in 2015. Thanks for all your support and coming back to visit my little corner of the vast interwebz. Happy New Year!
xx Charm
