2015 Year in Review

Wow, what a year 2015 has been.  From ringing in the New Year in Spain, to life in England, and then a bold move to Thailand, this year has been everything I could never have imagined.  As 2016 rolls in, Zack and I thought it would be nice to take some time and reflect.  Through all the adventures, the challenges we've faced both personally and professionally, we are reminded just how lucky we are.  My mom always tells me that we must have some "golden horshshoes" following us around because somehow through all the situations we find ourselves in, it always works out in the end.  Well mom, I think you're on to something there.  We definitely are most defintely being taken care of by the big guy upstairs, because honestly Zack and I sometimes feel completely lost.  But somehow we find our way and we've come to learn that you don't know unless you try.  So with that said, here's 2015 in review:

To be honest, I think January was one of the harder months for us.  After ringing in the new year in Palma, Spain with my parents (which was awesome), we found ourselves back in England later that day on January 1st thinking, "what now"?  For me, goodbyes aren't the hardest part- it's after the goodbyes have come and gone that's the hard part.  The excitement of living somewhere new was wearing off, and I found myself longing for a room full of family and friends.... for familiar faces and familiar feelings.  Those feelings were overcome however, and though January in England seemed to really drag (cloudy days and dark nights aren't my favourite), it wasn't all that bad.  Here are some highlights of the month:

Merry Christmas from Thailand! The beaches of Krabi are merry and bright!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from Thailand!

I always miss my family back home especially over the Christmas holidays.  I think of what people might be doing at home and imagine those cozy Christmas feelings I get each year at this time.  Although I wish I could be home for even just a short time, I realize I can't get the best of both worlds.  And my world right now, I have to admit, is pretty sweet.  Zack and I have seen the sun set over the ocean horizon for the last five days and then each new day we've had the freedom of traveling and exploring more of the country we're living in.  This Christmas I feel so thankful to have Zack in my life and to be experiencing these things together with him.  It's December 23rd, and as I write this I can see palm trees blowing in the breeze.  It's evening time and I am relaxing at our hostel, my feet bare and my hair still drying from our ocean kayaking this afternoon. 

Three Days in Bangkok: Markets, Rooftops, and Tuk Tuks

To be completely honest, we weren't so sure we would love Bangkok.  The first thoughts that came to mind were: crazy, dirty, busy, loud, etc.  People move to Chiang Mai to get away from that crazy lifestyle.  But yet, with a 3 day weekend ahead of us, we decided to take that opportunity to put our big city shoes on and find out for ourselves what Bangkok is all about.

Perhaps it's because we went in with fairly low expectations, but we left Bangkok on Monday night in love with this city!  From markets, to rooftop bars, to tuk tuks, we left feeling like we really got a good feel for the city.

A peek into our Chiang Mai apartment and how we found it...

One of the first things I did after arriving in Thailand (after a few days of walking around dazed and confused, of course), was get down to business finding a place to live.  With the language barrier, I knew we’d need assistance here, so the first thing I did was email a list of probably 5 or 6 real estate companies.  Within two days, two of those companies had responded to me, sending me possible apartments we may be interested in.  The one company sent me links to places that were totally not what we were looking for (unfurnished full homes outside of town…. ) whereas the other company, sent over a couple of really good looking options.