While the rest of the world welcomed in the new year, I was in bed by 8:00pm. I am officially old. Either that or just very jet-lagged. I like to think it is the latter. We had planned on arriving back in California a full day earlier than we actually did. The journey was a mission! We flew from Cape Town to Johannesburg only to find that our flight was 12 hours delayed. We then stood in line for 3 hours to get accommodation for the night. We finally got to the hotel at about 11pm where the porter deftly sent my camera bag rolling out of his golf cart. Really? I spent the night hiding from a dive bombing mosquito to crawl out of bed at 3:30am to a downpour.  We called for the golf cart man to take us to the lobby (I held onto my bag this time). Our entire flight of passengers then had to wait in line at 4:00am for a bus to take 12 people at a time to the airport. What a mess. We finally made it to the airplane and spent the next 17 hours watching movies while getting progressively more sleepy while being unable to sleep. We arrived in Atlanta (where my sandal broke...now its barefoot all the way back to SF. At this point all I could do was laugh. And snort.) to find that there were no seats available on our flight to San Francisco. We had to fly standby. Charlie made it onto the plane, I did not. So, it is another 4 hour wait to get a hotel. I finally made it home the following day. So you see, After hardly sleeping for three days, I figured that welcoming in the New Year with a bubble bath, a glass of champagne and and early night was a perfect plan. And it was.

So it was a bit of a rough way to end the year, but I can not complain. We have been extremely fortunate, it has been a wonderful year for us. We have traveled more than our fair share, spent loads of time enjoying friends and family. My business has brought me more joy than I could have hoped for while being challenging and pushing me to the limits of my creative and professional ability. We are healthy, strong, happy and excited for what the future holds. Life is good.

P.S. This shot was taken in from my in-laws home in Simons Town, South Africa. We had Christmas there, they have a beautiful view. Perfect for recovering from a cold!