Confession: I've been down in the dumps lately.

It's not the kind of down in the dumps you should be worried about. It's more like: Can I just lay here? If I lay here will you bring me cookies?

I don't like ringing in the New Year talking about laying down eating cookies! I wanna talk about kicking butt! I wanna talk about plans! Goals! The future! I wanna feel spunky. Rip roaring ready to go.

I'd love to say that 2014 was a blast - that it was my best year yet - that it flew by.

Unfortunately that's just not true. It was a doozie and it felt never ending - when I look at where I was / what I was doing a year ago it feels like a really, really long time ago. I actually couldn't really remember. I had to go back into my blog archives and look it up...I knew the word Beyonce was in there somewhere (which in retrospect makes me chuckle) and used that as my search term.

For the record: last year I rang in the New Year at home in Hilo....and then I wrote about Beyonce....and then I wrote about not knowing when I was going back to work which was code for, 'they sold my ship ohmygod what am I gonna do now?!'.

Here I am a year later. On the other side of a job search and six months into not having an official abode. I wish I could say that I put all the pieces together this year - that I had a life changing epiphany - that I'm stronger than ever. Again...just not really true.

Don't get me wrong. Some really, really great things happened!

I went on a few roadtrips. I discovered a love of podcasts. I tore up New Orleans and Vegas with my Mom and Step Dad (holy smokes it was fun).

Hello! BALI. NEPAL.

I did find a job before I ran out of money. That's a positive!

I took photos of flowers in the desert.

I met and travelled with a group of girls that rocked my world.

I ate good food with good friends. I snuggled with Chihuahuas.

I got my Captains license. Boom.

I went on a hike...like a super hard one. I laughed so hard I peed. I sipped coffee with my mom and watched fireflies zoom through rice paddies.

All those little things add up to more than I could have possibly imagined for myself - so where does that leave me? It leaves me with this:

2015 IM NOT SCARED OF YOU.

I hope you're just as unpredictable as 2014. Challenges? I'm ready. Good times? Yes please. More travel? Of course! Fun? God, I hope so.

Happy New Years Nautie Friends! Congrats on a successful 2014!