2017 Jahresrückblick/Looking back

About two hours until 2018 here in California- time to look back! Oh 2017, it’s been a year. Rollercoaster of a year.

I can’t quite remember a year where there had been such lows but also such highs. To an extent 2017 was one of the most challenging and most difficult years of my life, incredibly trying and filled with sadness. And at the same time there was proof that without darkness there can’t be light. There also was an amount of love, laughter and commitment that I did not previously know.

So here are the sweetest moments from My Tree and Me:

January

Smudging- Celebrations- and travel. We went to celebrate Daniels birthday in Milan and I made him climb up all the stairs of the Duomo because we ate our body weight in pasta yet again. Hashtag Italian Eating.

February

Travel continues to Florence where we meet up with my parents, to Maranello where we simulated Italian driving and up to Como, where dinner finishes at 10p after limoncello, coffee and after coffee snack. Bless Italian eating! After returning to the states I went on an amazing trip to Miraval in Arizona which had been on my bucket list for years!

March

Travel took me to me to one of my very favorite places- the southern United States, Savannah. I have a big heart for the south and specifically the Savannah-Bluffton-Hilton Head Island region. And the resort we stayed at is one of my top 5 resorts in the continental US: Palmetto Bluff.

April

Spring rejuvenation started with shedding some skin, I did a deep skin peel at 22% TCA, those work like a charm for me. They lift an intense amount of pigment and the skin underneath is baby-perfect-and-then-some. Looks scary for a few days, SO worth it.

May

New adventures all around in May, My Tree and Me Blog was born and with it a new morning routine – which since has been re-stared and let go off too many times I care to admit! Ha! And the mane, I cut the mane.

June

Great travels – great losses. Though one of my favorite movements was watching the sun set on top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The best moments of your life leave a mark, not just the sad ones do. It’s all a journey.

July

Daniel’s brother got married at The Ranch in early July and the celebration was grand- the day perfection and the love sweet. I also got my brows micro-bladed and absolutely dislike it (but that’s a story for another post). And we celebrated Dora Lunerkind’s 6th birthday with a beach bash. She’s got our heart!

August

Many sunsets spend by the beach and Mother Nature certainly made it worthwhile. I can’t count how much wisdom I get from Chinese fortune cookies – a lot. Either that or tarot cards.

September

Ultra fit challenge- life changing. Gym nights and mornings. And cooking. At home nonetheless. And no, Daniel did not get food poisoning- surprising even to me.

October

All the feels in October. All. The. Feels. A resort project I was helping with opened its doors after plenty of construction and new envisioning and there is something really powerful about hotels opening. Their doors will then always be open, welcoming travelers from all over the world. -That’s why I work in hospitality. For those moments.

And most importantly Daniel and I shared a very special-life changing-moment. He asked me to be his wife and I said yes! I never really knew that I wanted to be engaged or get married mainly because commitment to me does not come from a marriage license- it comes from two people who care enough about one another to grow with- and support each other so that they can become who they dream of being- together. And Daniel is that person to me. But the moment he asked me to marry him, I had all the butterflies and all the feels. Hashtag OctoberWedding.

And of course October equals Pumpkin Patch. Obvi.

November

End of year re-set anyone? Me!! Urban Remedy to the rescue!

December

A full-circle kind of month, moved back to Carmel Valley exactly 4 years after moving away from it. Such a great feeling being back – there is something about Carmel Valley, it’s quiet and stunning and the rolling hills remind me of Italy. What’s not to love. Shared a surprisingly fabulous sunset in Oakland’s waterfront also- in the 10 years I have lived in California I had not been to Oakland, I even refused flying out of OAK international once or twice so I was certainly positively surprised by its beauty.

We took our engagement pictures with stunning redwoods in Big Sur with Mike Steelman and he made it just so easy and fun for us. A really wonderful day!

Let’s finish with the final sunset of 2017, captured from my driveway.

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.” – T.S. Eliot

Thank you so much for reading in 2017, I cannot wait to see what we can accomplish in 2018!