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Planning it Out: 2015 Planners/A recap of 2014

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1. Sugar Paper for Target Planner 2. 24/7 Planner by Poketo 3. Throw Caution to the Wind Planner by Kate Spade 4. Day Designer by Whitney English 5. Wall Calendars from Rifle Paper Co. 6. This is Your Year planner by MiGoals

I'm a big fan of yearly planners - this year I decided to give up my trusty 18 month Moleskine for MiGoals' This is Your Year planner - it has ample space for goal-setting and brainstorming, and in the spirit of making 2015 your bitch, you're going to need plenty of space to plan some goals to work towards. Decided to do something a little different - haven't really done round-ups in the past, partly because my handle on Photoshop has deteriorated over years of misuse and neglect, and also because it is HARD to source things that fit into a category you're trying to write about - a two word letter to all market editors: Well Done.

And now a brain dump that I wrote over the holidays about 2014:

Christmas in New York is one of those things reserved only for movies and songs from the Northern Hemisphere - I've always felt like Christmas was hardwired for those with snow. Christmas in Australia means overheating to the point where eating a feast is expenditure of effort far too great to bother, and celebrations/cheer are exchanged for a good flop on the beach and a third degree sunburn.

I didn't get the White Christmas I've been starry eyed and hopeful for, but I did get a city where each street one-ups the last in the Christmas Cheer stakes - where for all the old timey songs blared in department stores around the world are pale in comparison, and where buskers play "Santa Claus is coming to town" on subways with a country twist. My family has never been one to celebrate Christmas in any huge way, and this year my boyfriend and I left Christmas tree buying way too late...but it was my first time tasting eggnog (it is fantastic), I watched It's a Wonderful Life for the first (it is even more fantastic), and I got to celebrate with a bunch of oprhaned Australians (the best part of all).

A lot about my move to New York this year has not been what I expected - but neither has growing up a little. This year has been the biggest year of change, growth, surprise and happiness - and I never knew I'd emerge on the other side with more cooking skills than just Mi Goreng, that I'd be on the other side of the world thriving as a functioning adult, and without having lost my wallet or phone at all (booyah)! Moving out, graduating from university, getting my first and second jobs, moving across the world, being in my first real long-term relationship - this year has kept on giving and giving, and I have a feeling it's not going to stop next year, or the year after that - and it's simultaneously scary and exciting.

For all of New York's garbage, rats, exorbitant health care costs and smelly subways, there has been ice skating straight out of Home Alone, wandering down SoHo streets prettier and grittier than I ever saw on Instagram, the best burgers I've had in my entire life (lookin' at you, Ruby's), holding down an awesome job with co-workers who have Brooklyn and Jersey accents, eating $1 dumplings in Chinatown, wandering around in Brooklyn and all the while thinking "I'm in New York. This is so New York."

This NYE was one of the best I've ever had - I spent it with my boyfriend, a few friends, hours of blurry dancing and the strains of Alicia Keys singing "In Neeeeeewwww Yooooooooork...." as a rain of confetti fell down and the clock struck midnight.

For all of growing up's rent, budgeting, health insurance dilemmas, spending hundreds on travel vaccinations, budgeting time to Skype my family, doing my own laundry and learning how to cook, there has been an exciting and dizzying freedom, happiness and anticipation for what lies ahead and what has been accomplished. Here's to 2015 - less rats, more burgers and more growth.

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