2014 was not the best year ever. Quite close to the opposite. It started out with the worst flight ever (lost luggage and delays), morphed into a breakup of a relationship that never was really defined as such, which lead to a snowboarding adventure with a sprained ankle that took 2.5 months to fully heal, which lead to a bad bout with depression and anxiety.

Got the negative junk out of the way, so now I can look at the good things of 2014.

I started SetMeravelles! I travelled to Ibiza, Ireland (Cork, Blarney, Cobh and Dublin. I missed all the amazing parts, I know) Zaragoza, Valencia, Barcelona twice, Cantabria twice, La Rioja three times, and all over the Basque Country. I made it to Nashville (entry coming Friday). Unfortunately, it was a rather quiet year for travels. I had a trip to Belgium planned that was postponed to February, and I got money back from Ryan Air as the flights ended up being cancelled due to the Belgian General Strikes. Pam Swynford de Beaufort got a good send off. I read 111 books and saw a lot of classic films.

In short…I survived.

I don’t believe in resolutions per se, but I do make a list of goals every year that I hope to accomplish. I don’t think I did so well in 2014, but I did manage to cross one that had been on there for about 12 years: go snowboarding.

2014 Goals Accomplished: Get down to 150 pounds/68 KG and develop muscle, snowboard, started the Camino de Santiago, continued the fight against depression and anxiety, slowly developing a social circle.

It was not the most successful year, but I have a feeling 2015 is going to kick 2014’s culo. Here are my goals.

1. Come out to my mom. It has to be done. Life free of lies and a meaningful relationship. (saved from 2014! Okay and every year since 2002!)

2. Submit my first two novels for publication, and get to 75% finished with novel 3. (saved from 2014! Oy.)

3. Eat healthy, learn to cook. Tuesday will be my cheat day, as it’s a day of hell for me. Every Sunday, I will learn to cook a new dish. For real.

4. Continue the progress at the gym. Lose body fat. Go to Body Combat at least once a week, go to Body Pump at least once a week, go to Body Balance once a week. Be able to do 100 pushups and ten pullups (at the moment I can’t do one) by the end of the year.

5. Try surfing again and go kayaking.

6. For the Camino de Santiago, I vow to make it at least from Zarautz to Santander over this year. It’s my Camino.

7. Work on developing a social circle and go out more. Maybe even find a steady boyfriend.

8. Work toward finding a permanent job and figuring out grad school. (Saved from last year). I am looking in Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao. I’m open to coastal areas, and while I know I will probably have to teach, I would love to write full time. And grad school at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona or Universitat de València would be amahzing.

9. Continue the struggle with depression and anxiety and not let them get the best of me like they did in the latter part of 2014!

10. Be able to afford a studio apartment and a golden ‘triever dog.

11. Learn to relax and enjoy the moment.

12. Listen to every song on iTunes once and delete the ones I truly don’t like. This may take a while.

13. Learn yoga

14. Find my way back to God

Another tradition I do is list all the places I’ve slept in the year. I feel as this is supposed to be a travel blog, that this might be the best part of the entry for most!

Places I slept: Over the Atlantic, Bilbao, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Ibiza, Madrid, Cork, Dublin, Pamplona, Zaragoza, La Almunia de Doña Godina, Valencia, Barcelona, Lawrenceburg

And a meme I’ve done since 2002 I believe.

1. What did you do in 2014 that you’d never done before?: Snowboarding, drive a standard transmission

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?: Some, and I always have goals for the New Year, as seen above.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?: A few people from high school.

4. Did anyone close to you die?: A guy I had just met committed suicide around the time Robin Williams did. RIP to both.
5. What countries did you visit?: Spain (and Basque Country and Catalunya), Ireland, France, United States

6. What would you like to have in 2015 that you lacked in 2014?: Money, a boyfriend, and dogs.

7. What date from 2014 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?: Nov. 8 for my date with Lady Gaga in Barcelona. I guess March 1 for my trip to Ibiza too.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?: Surviving. This blog!

9. What was your biggest failure?: Coming out, financial issues, social issues.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Two cases of food poisoning, a sprained ankle, a couple of colds, and depression-anxiety.

11. What was the best thing you bought?: Plane/train/bus tickets and bus.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Mariah Carey

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?: The Partido Popular. 99,9% of politicians, but the PP and Republicans really terrify me.

14. Where did most of your money go?: Travel, café con leche, books.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?: Traveling, my new iPad, Barcelona trips

16. What song will always remind you of 2013?: “Gypsy” by Lady Gaga and the entire album Me..I Am Mariah, The Elusive Chanteuse

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier
ii. thinner or fatter? thinner
iii. richer or poorer? about the same (poor!)

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?: Writing, travelling.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Procrastinating, being afraid to be who I am, worrying

20. How will you be spending Christmas?: I spent it with my mom in the States.

21. How will you be spending New Years? Eating grapes at 6 PM Eastern Standard Time (midnight Spanish peninsular time) and packing.

22. Did you fall in love in 2013?: EZ. No.

23. How many one-night stands?: Even Americans living in Euskadi never kiss and tell.

24. What was your favorite TV program?: True Blood, Community, Fargo, Everwood, Nashville, Jack & Bobby, Veep, Happy Endings, Jericho were the ones I watched.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?: I try not to hate anyone.

26. What was the best book you read?: I have 111 to choose from. Crime and Punishment, Primera temporada de Enric Pardo, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding, Until I Find You by John Irving, La verdad sobre el caso de Harry Quebert, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (why I’m Pablo Supertramp on Twitter!)

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?: I finally discovered Queen at the age of 32. How sad is that?

28. What did you want and get?: An iPad, a start to the Camino.

29. What did you want and not get?: A boyfriend, various travels

30. What was your favorite film of this year?: Boyhood, Ocho Apellidos Vascos, Wish I Were Here

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?: 33 and went to Barcelona and the Pont de Diable. Yes, I know I’m the same age as Jesus was when he died.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?: Stability and less anxiety/depression/loneliness!

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2014?: Preppy-casual

34. What kept you sane?: Jordi, my iPod

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?: David Villa, Cesc Fàbregas, Mario Casas

36. What political issue stirred you the most?: La crisis and the ineptitude of the PPSOE.

37. Who did you miss?: Fallon Fey. Still.

38. Who was the best new person you met?: This will remain to be seen.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014: Once again, Mimi’s part to the Rent classic “Another Day”

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: No hay más que hoy…no day but today.
¡FELIZ AÑO NUEVO! BON ANY NOU! URTE BERRI ON! HAPPY NEW YEAR!