It's that time of year again where we look back on what we did with our lives for the past 365 days, see if we actually accomplished any of our resolutions, and think about what we want to change in the upcoming year. 2013 was quite the year full of new memories, crazy adventures, and new records.  I flew over 53,500 miles, which is guaranteed the most I've ever flown in one year - of course traveling across the world to India and Nepal helped a lot.  Other travel and adventure stats include:

  • 19 US States 
  • 4 Canadian Provinces 
  • 3 Foreign Countries
  • 3 National Parks
  • 5 Mountains Skied

From an entertainment perspective, I was lucky to see some of my favorite bands live this past year and get exposed to new bands that I've now added to my favorites list - Punch Brothers and The Milk Carton Kids. One of these concerts actually led to my #1 most memorable moment of the year - meeting Marcus Mumford and having a random conversation about guitars.  It was also a great year for theater shows, seeing some great actors and actresses on Broadway stages and locally in D.C.    

As for resolutions, like all years it was a mixed bag of those accomplished and those abandoned. One of my resolutions last year was to take a photo of five interesting places.  Not surprisingly, this was the one resolution about which I was most enthusiastic because it got my imagination running and served as a catalyst for my travel planning.  Here are the final five places, some with more than one photo:

1. Ice Hotel in Quebec



2. The Taj Mahal in India




3. A view of Mount Everest from Namche Bazaar in Nepal


4. The neon sign boneyard in Las Vegas


5. The Subway at Zion National Park


Looking back on my resolutions for 2013, I wondered if I just had too many that made achieving all those goals to be impossible.  For 2014, I want to keep it simple and keep it centered around things that are meaningful or that incorporate some of my favorite things to do.  So for next year, I want to:

  • Travel to at least 1 new country, but go abroad 2 or more times
  • Photograph 5 Interesting Places - Part 2
  • 365 Photography Project: Take a photo every day for a year (follow me on Instagram!)
  • Have lunch with at least 1 Facebook friend, each month, that I have not seen in over two years even though that person lives in the DC/Baltimore region
  • Bake something new at least twice each month

So here's to finishing out one great year and to keeping the pattern going in 2014.  Happy new year everyone!