2013 was a year of ups and downs for me but I feel like I came up on top.

I spent the 2012-13 New Year with my friends Sonja and Jess at Hogmanay in Scotland before travelling to Glasgow with my Mum, over to Paris by myself and back over to London. January was a pretty hard month, I came to terms with my Mum’s cancer diagnosis, said goodbye to my best friend and flew out of London back to Brisbane.

I settled back down in Brisbane, getting back in touch and moving in with Sophie in Norman Park. I had a number of temporary jobs leading up to when I started at QUT in May and it was a dark and difficult time for me. I was very thankful to friends and family at this time sticking by me and continuing to provide love and support.

In 2013 I enjoyed some neat visitors including Kris Turk who crashed for about 8 weeks before returning to London (still miss you bro), my Mum for Easter, bestie Rachael Hedges before she left for Canada, Chris Meggs during his Aussie tour, Danny and Murray during their Aussie tour, Mum and Dad for my bday, Jonny Bravo from NZ, Rach Monro from NZ, Hollie Doar for our blogcademy course and Amanda and Dimi for Xmas.

My Dad had a heart attack on his bike in October and was helicoptered to Wellington. He’s alive and well now (the above photograph is after his operation before he was put into the air ambulance from Wellington hospital back to Palmy) . For me this was a definite sign that I had made the right decision moving back to Australia and felt so lucky to be able to travel home to be with him, my Mum and my brother.

I had an early Xmas with my family over New Zealand Labour Weekend and enjoyed myself immensely.

I lost about 10kgs starting properly with my health and fitness in June through the gym and Ashy Bines eventually winning my Ashy Bines Challenge in December.

Finally, I headed over to New Zealand for a relaxing Christmas in New Zealand with Lesley and Graham before spending time with my best friend Claire and her family.

Blessed!