2012; An Ode to my best year yet

2012. You have been my biggest and brightest yet, no doubt about it.

Looking back over the past year has my emotional self well up with happy tears. Most that follow the blog could stand back and say any year that involves 4.5 months of travel (& going on to 6 months of no work) would make for anybodies best year...but that is only part of it.

Sure. The first half of my year was full of organising the final parts to our holiday, scrambling even, to make sure everything was perfect before we embarked on our trip of a lifetime. It was certainly Busy with a capital B. And yup, there were nerves about leaving our comfort zone and challenging our relationship with living in each others pockets 24 hours a day 7 days a week, both of which ended up being why we loved travelling so much. But that's not just all.

There has been so much change and transformative growth both personally and within Morgs & I's relationship. I turned from an 'almost didn't care of what other people thought but still let it affect me' to a 'hey I've got this, I just need to trust and love myself and the rest will sort itself out' kinda gal. My trust within myself got kicked up to a whole new level and 2012 was the year I let my intuition and gut guide a lot of big decisions - & guess what? It worked a treat. I also learnt how truly important it was to base my goals around what I wanted to feel vs what external gain I would achieve from them - & oh baby has that been a life changer.

2012 was the year I started to harness the energy inside me and try to use it for as much good as possible - be that with a positive word, some loving advice or genuinely and enthusiastically showing up and being present in life for myself and for anybody else who I came in to contact with.

It has been a ginormously g-r-e-a-t year with goals, friendships, love, travel and general feel good kick assed'ness internally with growth and understanding

The biggest change of all though was this. I let go. I let go of worrying about rejection and judgement from others and started to be 100% myself. I started living authentically. I stopped second guessing myself. I  I ensured I tried whenever possible (nobodies perfect) to live and love with good intentions so by being myself I knew confidently that if anybody had a problem it wasn't me, it was there own fear or misunderstanding.

And you know what happened? I felt more free than I have my whole life. Good things, GREAT things started to come in to my life. New beautiful friendships, amazing job opportunities, beautiful moments of peace and genuine happiness like I'd never experienced.

2012 was the year I had hoped, tried & manifested it to be but what's even more exciting is there is SO much more growth, learning, laughs and goal attainment for 2013.

I truly believe 2013 is going to go off with a Sonic BOOM and I for one and ready to go in to the year feeling aligned, energised, excited and spontaneous.

Below are some of the highlights of my big, beautiful 2012...

p.s here is when I did my look back at my 2011.

Eat.Yoga.Self Discovery trip to Bali 

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February saw me whisk myself away to spend 7 magical days in a women's retreat in Canguu Bali. I set out on the trip with a goal to 'find' myself, do a lot of yoga, eat good, wholesome food and do a tonne of journalling - all of which I did..a LOT of and came home with a calm and belief in my belly like never before. I know without a doubt that this solo trip was the start of my journey to letting go and working out just what I'm all about and who I want to be. Thank you universe for that one!

You can read all about it: 

Bali Trip - Day 1
Bali Trip - Day 2
Bali Trip - Day 3
Bali Trip - Day 4
Bali Trip - Day 5
Bali Trip - Day 6

Rottnest Island with my bestest girlfriends

March I was surprised with a day trip to Rottnest (or 'Rotto' for those of you Perthies that know the slang!) by 4 of my gorgeous girlfriends. This was the first 'wowza the universe DOES have my back' moments as having lived in Perth for over 11 years, I had never taken the short 40 minute ferry to this beautiful little island...I decided to slap it on my '25 things to do before 25' that I hadn't yet shared, and 2 weeks later, I was there as an amazing surprised by the girls pictured above. I had one of the best days of belly laughing, swimming and chatting about life, boys and the universe.

Celebrated 5 years with the love of my life

April was a month full of love as Morgs & I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. We had an amazing day - believe it or not we went to Rottnest too, funny how the universe delivers as soon as you ask! - full of laughter, talking, swimming, eating and reflecting over how far we'd come in those 5 years. It was an extra special anniversary for us as we had felt such a huge shift in our relationship towards positive and bigger things. 

You can read all about it:

5 Years

The blog getting in the newspaper

May was an incredibly exciting month for the Blog & I as I got my first write up in a newspaper! When starting lifesshinyprettythings I never thought in a million years things like getting approached by an editor to feature in a newspaper could happen, I was just an unknown Perth girl writing about things I loved after all - but it did and it was beyond exhilarating  It was a special moment for me in 2011 and there is more to come from this in 2013 - so stay tuned for that!

You can read all about it:

Media Spotlight - In the press

Doing something extraordinary for Morgs

July was special for me as not only were we on a hugely exciting countdown to our trip of a lifetime, I got to cross off number 3 on my list of 25 things I want to do before 25, which was 'Do something extraordinary for Morgs". I still have a separate post to come for this as I want to do posts for each thing I tick off my list but let's just say it involved lots of surprises  hints, spoiling and his favourite things. It was SUCH a fun day and something he says he'll remember forever.

Traveled Europe on a trip of a lifetime with my soul mate

August all the way through December saw us put a big ole' tick against this one. My blog has been consumed the past almost 5 months with travel stories from our adventure so most will be well aware that this has obviously consumed most of our year. There was so much saving, sacrifices and planning to go along with it but it was all more worth it than I can ever express as we got to see things, experience things and share things we could never have deemed possible or imagined in our wildest dreams. The trip truly was in every way, shape and form made of magic and was a once in a lifetime kinda experience (although we hope to do it all over again for the U.S and South America!). It made my 2012 a completely unforgettable year and one I'll reflect on with future generations of my family to come. Moments like watching sunsets I never imagined possible, becoming emotional in amazing flamenco shows in Spain, swimming with dolphins in Dubai, walking the Cinque Terre, eating and drinking our way around Italy, immersing ourselves along the South of France, falling in love all over again in Paris and seeing snow fall for the first time in Switzerland are all things that filled my heart with happiness, gratitude and pure joy. 

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So there it is. 2012 in all it's big beautiful glory. A year I grew in, learnt in, fell in love with, and started my new journey on living more authentically and purposefully with love and gratitude. 

I am literally bursting out of my skin with excitement for 2013 and can't wait to share with you lots more inspiration and bigger things to come. 

Thank you, thank you thank YOU from the bottom of my big joyful heart for being part of my little ole blog and sharing in all of lifes excitement and inspiration when it comes to stopping by to say hello, leave a comment or even just quietly read a post. You gorgeous readers are what keep me writing and I want to give you even more bright hope & help with posts in 2013. 

2013 we're all coming to you with a Sonic Boom & I can't WAIT and 2012 I will NEVER forget you. 

Lots, and lots and LOTS of love,

Anna xx

psst - Another huge thing happened for me in 2012 that I am yet to share on the blog but will be coming this week.

Photo source - found here