For the summer holidays this year, A and I decided to rent a campervan to travel from Christchurch in the South Island to Auckland in the North Island. We’ve been going at our own pace, stopping whenever a cool place presented itself, going on walks and swims along the way. The weather has also been cooperating, raining only during the evenings and nights. So far, we’ve been very lucky.

More than half way through our Christchurch-Auckland road trip, long hours on the road provides an ideal time to reflect on the many things that has happened this year. 

Who could have imagined that I’d find someone with whom I would not be embarrassed to be around despite not showering for three days, in the tiniest of spaces? Someone so perfect for me that I could not imagine anyone else to be by my side as my partner and the father of my future child? 

2017 began with a dream wedding. Friends and family from all over the world made their way to the end of the globe just to celebrate our special day with us. We had survived the long and the even longer distance relationship and had come out winning. Everyone looked handsome and they made the day and evening more meaningful. 

The mid-year surprise honeymoon had a rocky start with a missed connection but was more awesome than I could have foreseen, thanks to my A+ husband. Escaping the NZ winter to travel around Montenegro for two weeks, staying in a mushroom shaped chalet to a tiny wooden camping cabin to a luxurious five star boutique hotel, going swimming, scuba diving, tramping and generally eating heaps... What a dream. I think perhaps all of 2017 was a dream.

In between the major life events, everyday life also kept us pretty busy. 

We started a new hobby of scuba diving. Though on pause during the cold wintertime, we are halfway through our open water certification and can’t wait to get our advanced levels soon, so we can explore the amazing sea life in deeper depths. 

Our unit is coming along nicely, with newly added homely touches here and there: a coffee table and a wine barrel TV console, both designed and handmade by A, a Thermomix to make cooking and baking easier for me. If only the indoor herbs garden will just stay alive. That’s a continuing project for 2018. 

Work had its ups and downs but was almost always full on, and we’ve settled down quite comfortably in our professional settings. We are both ready to take on more responsibilities in the new year. 

The new year 2018 hasn’t even begun and we already know that it will be supercharged with more work, trips, and lots and lots of nappies. 

Will 2018 be better than last year? 2017 will be pretty hard to beat. It may even be impossible. But we won’t stop trying!

As a person who always has a list of goals for herself, here are a few resolutions for the upcoming months:

• To be stronger, mentally and physically. Take time for reflections and go on daily walks. Add weekly runs by the end of the year. 
• To read more. Be it fiction, non-fiction, English, French, Kindle or audiobooks.
• To use my hands more. Cook more, play the violin again, make things. 
• To get out of my comfort zone. Namely, get back into driving.