We hardly ever get to go to the big smoke.

Yet in the last week Sammy has walked the streets of the capital twice and I am back there next week working!

As a special treat for his little cousin's end of radiotherapy party, 20 of us met at the O2 Arena in North Greenwich to watch Disney on Ice.

I had a whole day with my big boy, which we have never done before, but we will most certainly will be doing again soon.

Time to bond, time to chat, time to practise his handwriting on a wobbly train, time for an adventure just the two of us.

To this 4 year old "boy's boy" a train ride and the thrill of the Underground was almost too much to handle!

After a 2 hour journey from the station near my in laws in Poole, we navigated Waterloo like two salmon swimming the wrong way up stream and found the right train on the Jubilee line.

The O2 is an incredible venue and the size and scale of it is only really and truly felt when you walk inside. Of course the merchandise stand was right at the front and there was no way my boy was going to choose anything other than the 2 and a half foot long light up sword! And what did he choose for me....

I feel so honoured to have shared this special time. Sammy adores his cousin and to watch them passing popcorn to each other (pretending to be passing it in secret) was magical.

Disney stories have a way of making you regress to your own childhood. They always end with people falling in love and living happily ever after.

No one gets sick and doesn't get better.

I caught my cousin's eye several times and I know we were both praying for the same Disney miracle.

The most wonderful day. Made even better by the very lovely Alison, who put me in touch with Instinct PR who gave a poorly boy a very large goodie bag!

36 hours later we were back in London for a christening of my other cousin's little girl. It was held at his in laws' beautiful house in Islington (I basically wanted everything in the house, mismatched plates a plenty and a beautiful antique revolving bookcase I wish I could have smuggled into the car!). The family vicar drove from Oxford and the font was a beautiful old stone pot from my cousin's late Granny in laws' garden.

This was the first time all four of us had ventured into the city. So we took the opportunity to have a whizz around Spitalfields Market and take in the sights along the river as we drove home.

I'll save my little bargain purchases for another time ;)

This how I started last year.

And this was my year, through the little lens in my pocket. And a couple from my husband's. His camera is a bit better ;)

What a year!

And this is how we ended the year.

The same 7 faces.

 I almost feel not ready to say goodbye to 2013.

I wanted to post all these photos from my phone because often these snapshots hold the best memories. Sometimes if I ran for my camera bag, to whip out my Canon SLR, I'd miss the moment!

So this year I want you all to snap away to your heart's content and for the bloggers reading this - let's all share a post like this, this time next year.

All together now... cheese!

Before I look forward I want to take a moment to look back.

Last year I wrote a list of goals. A list of firsts to achieve in 2013. 

Here's how I did.

1. My sister will have baby. •Hooray! Yasmin lu was born on 17th April!•
2. I will be an Auntie. (I actually have 3 beautiful nieces and a nephew on my husband's side but this will be the first time I will be called Auntie Lucy). Auntie Lu in fact. •An Auntie and a Godmother no less!•
3. We will leave both boys for the first time and fly to America. •We had a wonderful trip to the States. You can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 if you still are interested!•
4. The boys will see the old Pier at Clevedon and walk along the rocks on New Years Day. •Done, in style and in hats!•
5. My brother will own a house with a swimming pool. Jammie dodger! •My brother and sister in law are creating the family home of their dreams and I hope we manage a trip again this year, I am not sure when but fingers crossed. The boys loved their New Jersey Adventure. Part 1 is here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here. I took A LOT of photos ;)•
6. An Easter egg hunt on a beach. •Baskets of eggs and beach huts are a magic combination! You can see our beach egg hunt here.•
7. Our big boy Sammy will start Primary School. •Not only started and settled like a duck in water, but was chosen as one of the two pupils to win the Oustanding Progress Head Master's Award for the Reception Class. I felt dreadful when I read the newsletter, I thought they had given every child one!•
8. Ollie will play in snow. •Played, rolled, laughed, cried with cold hands. I adore how our house looks in the snow.•
9. A family holiday in a hot sunny child friendly resort. •NOPE. We are too lucky, too spoilt to have wonderful holiday homes in the family so I am not complaining at all!•
10. Ollie will speak. •Ollie speaks, all day long and in his sleep. Well and truly achieved!•
11. Host a Doctors and Nurses party. (Children's I might add!) I've never seen this theme for children before! •The best party theme I have ever done. The photos are definitely worth a look!•
12. Sammy will learn to ride a bike. •NOPE. Better luck this year.•
13. We keep our cars all year. •Done!•
14. We make it down to Penzance to visit family and friends. •NOPE. Our friends in fact moved back to Weston and to about 4 streets away from us! My niece has a special birthday this year so we might try and surprise her. Unless she reads this of course.... ;)•
15. Host a dinner party in our new dining room. •We have eaten a lot in the dining room and I can confirm that white fairy lights work all year round.•
16. I will bake a cake. •Done! A piñata fairy cake was my very first attempt and they were absolutely delicious!•
17. Sammy will start swimming lessons. •NOPE. But we have been completely spoilt with visits to my in laws new house. Just take a look at our Christmas photos to see why.•
18. My Mum and I will host a baby shower. •We gave my sister the most wonderful Bumble Bee themed baby shower, games, gifts and lots of giggles.•
19. One whole side of my family will be travelling on the other side of the world. (It makes me nervous.) •This side of my family has been rocked to the core. Very shortly after my cousin and her family returned from a 3 month sabbatical travelling the world, her son was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour. He is fighting for his life at the moment and tomorrow Sammy and I are travelling to London for an end of radiotherapy party. The next 2 months are about hoping and praying.•
20. I shoot and print my first lomography film. Anyone else guilty of having old films they have never developed and printed? •Hopefully my Christmas present from Rich will change all that. This is the year of Project Life.•
21. I get paid to photograph a wedding. •Done and done and I have another this year. But I think I have realised that whilst I love photographing my family, my real passion for photography is with still life. Products and food. I am off to London next week for a coupe of days for a big assignment with Leon. Woo hoo!•
22. I will meet some incredible bloggers at my first blog conference. •You can read my experience of BritMums Live here.•
23. I host a link party on my blog (and that someone joins in). •Thank you to everyone who has joined in with Bento Babies and Sunday Prop Shop this year. I am going to change them up a little this year so watch out.•

This year is different.

Last year I knew what might lie ahead. Even to the point that I could almost predict all 23 items on that list.

But this year we are starting 2014 unsettled. Unsettled in both our home and work life. But for good and exciting reasons. 

We will complete on the sale of our house on the 10th January and have already started moving into a rental house close to the boys' current school and pre school. We are looking to move to North Dorset, and just before Christmas had to pull out of our dream home in the countryside. So we are now on the look out for a new dream. And preferably one without an agricultural tie on the garden. 

Fancy coming along on the house hunt?!

We are also going to launch a new business. Hopefully one the boys will want to join when they are older. We have bought a tea company. Yes you read that right. A family business based in the South West. We are busy working through a new packaging design, making contacts with tea factories and dreaming of trade shows and marketing ideas.

So come along for the ride, bring your mug! 

So we have the most exciting and daunting year ahead. An adventure. And I am going to record it all in my new Project Life albums. Out of the hundreds of pictures I take, I am going to make it my goal for this year to print one every week. Just one. One that captures our life that week.

And this is what I am going to remind my self every day. Even on days where we feel like we will never find a house or are sinking in tea bags.

We all live busy lives and sometimes we are too busy to appreciate what we have. Sometimes it's impossible not to compare yourself, harbour a little resentment or envy, but instead I am going to make this my motto for 2014.

In place of resolutions I am going to make a goal to try and apply this to every situation.

I have had the pleasure to work with the founder of Pretty Nostalgic this year. The ethos behind the magazine has struck a chord with me and made me rethink my goals for this year. No lists of do this, do that, achieve this, want that.

My goals for this year - Appreciate what we have, avoid excess, be kind and smile.

We are going to have lots to smile about this year. The calendar already has 2 Christenings, 4 weddings, 2 holidays, a flamingo first birthday to help plan, umpteen birthday parties in the pipeline and a new home on the horizon.

Happy New Year everyone, what is your motto for this year?