HAPPY NEW YEAR! (and decade!)

Image from CNN Go

a.k.a.

Prepare for cheese...

Dear Friends,

I just want you all to know how much you mean to me. Looking back over '09, it has definitely been a year of strengthening friendships with wonderful new people, and simultaneously realising the strength of long-held friendships that I hope will stick for life.

Being here in this new land, where the roads are lit by vending machines and the language is strange and unfamiliar (but where there is so much to learn and experience!) I have realised just how lucky I am to have so many brilliant people already in my life.

I talk all the time about people back home, about crazy things I've done or fun events I've been to. I can't shut up about it half the time. And all of the amazing, fun and crazy things I've had the opportunity to enjoy have only been possible because of all of you – and how amazing, fun and crazy you are.

I'll wrap this up now, as it is partly due to an afternoon New Year's Eve gin (which is packing more of a punch than I'd like to admit!) and also because I don't want to be such a cornball in this oh-so-public forum.

In conclusion: You are all wonderful. And yes, I mean you. Don't forget that, and don't underestimate how much you bring to the lives of the people around you.

Happy New Year!

Love from,
The Girl Who Loves Gin A Little Too Much (but hell, it loves her right back!)