Guys, it’s 2013. Two thousand and thirteen!! Every year I am slightly boggled by the fact that I remember the year 2000 like it was last year and that so much and so little changes over the years simultaneously.

Amazing Things That Occurred in 2012:

I traveled the world. This year alone I visited: France, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Croatia and Greece, plus of course the US and Switzerland. Not too shabby! Next year is looking like it will include at least England and some beach town somewhere (maybe France? Maybe Italy?). I’m trying to talk Florian into a Spain visit so if anyone can help me talk it up, that’d be great.

Basically everyone I know I had a baby/got pregnant. Obviously this is a slight exaggeration, but only slight. My niece was born and my other sister is pregnant with my future nephew. My other “niece” was born (my best friend’s baby) and I had 5 girlfriends here in Zurich that had babies this year. Plus like 80% of my Facebook friends seem to be pregnant even if I haven’t spoken to those people in like 5 years.

I finally speak German!: It took long enough! But my German is finally at the point where I can function on my own without having to ask people to speak English or asking Florian to call somewhere on my behalf. This was soooo important to helping me feel like I could finally start to integrate myself into my new life here.

I started my consulting business: I know I don’t talk much about my work on this blog but 2012 was awesome n helping me jumpstart my own strategic marketing consulting business here in Switz. I laid some foundations that are making 2013’s business outlook really good and I actually had paying customers. Yay!

Florian took over his family company: Many people ask why I moved to Switzerland and why Flo didn’t just move to America. I always want to answer because that would have made life too easy but instead I respond with the truth; Florian runs a 4th-generation family business. This year Florian officially took over majority share from his dad and is now the CEO! Well, as much as anyone can be a CEO of a small 20-ish person business, I just think it sounds so cool to say that. Anyway, I’m so proud of how amazingly well he did! And how can you not love the adorable old-skool picture of him that’s still on the company website??

We bought a house: Just in the last minutes of 2012, Florian and I bought our very first home! We spent over a year looking and I was pretty much convinced we would never find a house that met all of our (my) requirements. Then we stumbled upon something in an area we weren’t even looking at and BAM!  just weeks later we were giving away all of our money.

It was my first full year being married: I had so much fun being married this year that I can’t wait to spend the next 50 years doing it! Flo and I have so much fun together and have so many similar interests and a stupid sense of humor. We can discuss economic policy one minute, football the next, and then watch Jackass the next minute. We also bonded over our love of the dog, the adorably sweet Mrs. Bella Pumpkin Pants. I honestly never thought it would be possible to find someone that is this much of a perfect match for me but I never gave up searching! I only had to travel across the world to find it but you know, I’ve never regretted it for a minute. To my best, best friend and husband, and the love of my life, here’s to 50 more amazing married years!

So 2013, it’s gonna be pretty tough to beat this awesome year, but I have a lot of faith that 2013 will bring its own special gifts 🙂