Reflections: The Best of 2013

Happy New Year once again!
While it's still hard for all of us to remember to write "2014" instead of "2013" (I know this because I had to change the dates written by some of my coworkers on some paperwork haha), I hope that this brand new year is off to a great start for all of you. If you've made resolutions for yourselves, I wish you the best of luck with maintaining your goals and ambitions. For myself, I wanted to take the time to reflect on my top ten favourite moments and highlights from this past year (in no particular order).

1. Travelling to San Francisco: The header for this post was a photo taken near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fran when my boyfriend and I visited that beautiful city back in May. I fell in love with the food, the architecture, the shopping, and the general laid-back Californian vibe of the place. I can hardly wait for my next trip to the Golden City (the planning is already in the works)!

2. Travelling to L.A.: I definitely indulged my urge to travel this year by quite spontaneously planning these little trips to various cities in the States. This particular trip was to see my boyfriend's favourite rock band on the weekend just before the crazy holiday season began. And while I loved visiting all of the famous places that L.A. had to offer, I am much more excited to visit Asia this summer for more than a month (tickets have already been booked)!

3. Seeing my first Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas: On my last trip to Vegas in July, I finally saw my first Cirque show (Zumanity) at New York New York. While this was certainly not the show I most wanted to see, I was still greatly impressed by the showmanship and prowess of the performers!

4. Finishing my History Major and Gender, Sexuality, and Women Studies Minor: After 4-and-a-bit years, I finished my Bachelor of Arts degree with a cumulative grade point average of 3.95! I was greatly pleased that I was able to both maintain my 24K scholarship for four years and my nerdy need to get as many "A's" and "A+'s" as I could possibly get! Also, this year I started my Publishing minor, which hopefully will be a great stepping stone towards obtaining a career within the publishing industry.

5. Gaining and Maintaining New and Old Relationships: Over the past year, I've had the wonderful opportunity to make several new, wonderful friendships with amazing people. As well, I've been able to strengthen my bonds with the friends with whom I've been close for many years.

6. Blogging on What Doffy Does on a regular basis: Over the past year of 2013, I've made the commitment to blog in a consistent manner. This commitment that has resulted in countless positive experiences that have made my efforts more than worth the trouble! Not the least of the benefits of blogging has been the opportunity to meet wonderful new people both locally and internationally; I have been able to expand my fashion horizons and knowledge of other parts of the world in an unique manner that would have been impossible otherwise.

7. Attending the wedding of two good friends: I had the pleasure of participating (by decorating and singing in the ceremony) in the wedding of two close church friends. We had the honour of attending their actual engagement (we hid inside the house while the soon-to-be groom proposed), so attending their actual wedding was even more special!

8. Obtaining new skills and experiences through various jobs: Over this past year, I worked in three different jobs, one in retail, the second at a condo development, and the third in a customer service capacity. Each job has taught me new skills and experiences; as well, they have highlighted my various strengths and weaknesses (something that everyone should know about themselves).

9. Running my third 10 km Sun Run race: As a longtime runner, I find it important that I have a goal to challenge my fitness levels in order to avoid complacence and plateauing. Each year for the past four years (one year I was forced to not run due to sickness), I have trained harder and harder for the annual 10 kilometer race held in downtown Vancouver. Although this particular year was not my best (I got 47 minutes plus), I will be working in 2014 towards beating my personal best of 45:06 back in 2012!

10. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone: During 2013, I also made a great effort to do things that I normally would not have pushed myself to accomplish. For example, I made a bigger effort to meet and befriend new people and I joined a Toastmasters club (and took up a role as club secretary) for public speaking. Here's to making 2014 a year of even greater risk-taking, character building, progress, self-realization, and love!