WRAPPING UP 2023
Bit late with my yearly review, but the past few weeks have been packed with traveling. But, finally back home, rested, unpacked and settled to write my 2023 year recap.
I love writing my yearly recaps as much as I love going back and rereading them. It’s such a nice walk down to memory lane, but also a great way to see how far I’ve come and where all life has taken me. You can find my year recaps in the lifestyle section of my blog.
Without prolonging too much let’s get into it.
Started the year in NYC (together with all the tourists lol). January was a pretty chill month, lots of time spent at home, visited a few museums, worked, hanged out with friends.
February was packed with trips. First was a weekend getaway to Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Followed by going to NY Fashion Week as well as Milan Fashion Week, which were so exciting but also so hectic and tiring. And in between fashion weeks I had to pack my whole apartment and move everything into a storage unit.
March was reserved for a late ski trip on the beautiful Dolomites in Italy. A week of skiing, sun and lots of Aperol Spritzes. In March I also visited Lake Bled in Slovenia, which had been on my travel list for a while. And in March I was officially back home in Macedonia which meant catching up with family and friends and eating my favorite home cooked meals.
April was another busy month of traveling. Early April I headed to Spain for a 10 day road trip which started in Madrid, continued in Toledo, then Valencia and finished up in Barcelona. 10 days of tapas, wine, churros (I was eating churros every day for the 4 days spent in Madrid), lots of museums and sightseeing. Awe moments like seeing Picasso’s Guernica in real life, visiting Palaco Real and walking the streets of Toledo.
End of April I flew to the Cote d’Azur to celebrate’s my best friends birthday and spent a whole of week of celebrations. Lots of good food, wine, visiting small towns and partying. I am always super happy when I go to the South of France and Monaco.
May I was back home in Macedonia briefly before heading to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was on the top of the list for the places I want to visit in 2023. My trip to Saudi Arabia was amazing, I loved every second of it especially the days spent in AlUla. Came back home right before my birthday, which I spent it celebrating it with my family. Rest of May was spent in my mountain house working, going on hikes and reading.
June was a pretty hectic working month, so I spent most of my days in front of my computer filling out Excel spreadsheets and cursing myself for doing a start-up instead of a 9-5. By the end of the month I was so burned out, that I decided to book a short vacation to Corfu. Where I spent the morning working (the irony) and afternoons and evening exploring the island and eating some delicious Greek food. And it finally started feeling like summer.
July was officially summer and I had a lot of traveling planned out. Thinking back now I overdid it, and did not enjoy it. Early July I headed to Montenegro for a few days before heading to Hvar for a couple of days. Hvar was absolutely beautiful, spent the days hopping beaches, tanning, swimming and eating good. While in Hvar we also ended up paying 400EUR for dinner which bill I posted on TikTok and went viral. So viral that I ended up on the Croatian national TV station. After Hvar we did a long road trip down south. We first made a stop to Split and Dubrovnik, before going back to Montenegro for another week. This all seemed fun in theory but not in practice. It was peak holiday season there were crowds everywhere, traffic was insane and on top of that there was a heat wave. But the trip didn’t end here from Montenegro we headed to Greece. This time I went to Pelion, which I don’t know how I did not know about this place, but I fell in love with it instantly. The cute little villages, the secluded beaches, delicious food..Few days in Pelion before heading back to Chalkidiki for 2 more days and officially ending the trip. By the end of this trip I was absolutely drained both physically and emotionally. It was 3 weeks of constant traveling (lots of hours spent in the car), lots of compromising (some to please other people some because of the traffic and crowds) and lots of anxiety because I was behind on work.
So the first 2 weeks of August I went to my mountain house. Spent the first 3 days sleeping and recovering and the rest working from home, going on walks and kinda tried to get back my energy. I did however sneak one short weekend to Chalkidiki again for partying (I guess I never learn). Second half of August I went back to Montenegro, this time it was less crowded and more pleasant. So spent a week or so by the beach before heading back to Macedonia and the horrors of NYC apartment hunting started.
I think that between August 20th and September 8th I lost 5kg and 1/3 of my hair from the stress of finding an apartment in NYC. First of all, 50% of the ads were scams, the other half they wouldn’t reply, or the application process was too long. So it was extremely stressful. We eyed an apartment that we really wanted, but that fell through so within 2 days we had to find another one. We ended up in a very tiny studio with no sunlight at all (classic NYC). However, the location is great and the subway connections are great so it’s fine, and it will only be for a few months. After moving in I could finally breath and enjoy and be happy that I am back in NYC. Spent the whole month catching up with friends, working on fun projects with brands, trying out new places around NYC, watching the US Open and so much more. In September I also finally in 25 years of living I started working out regularly, I am so proud of this achievement because I’ve been such a lazy person when it comes to working out. So the fact that I started and still am working out is such a big accomplishment of mine.
First week of October was time for fall foliage. We did one last year in New England and loved it. So this year we decided to go to Upstate New York. The weekend was spent in nature, doing lots of walks, a few hikes, and fall activities like apple picking and pumpkin patch. The rest of October was in NYC- working, trying out lots of new restaurants and dressing up for Halloween.
November was pretty relaxed with the majority of time spent in the city, end of November I went to visit family in California for Thanksgiving and did a bit of traveling while in California, went to LA but also visited Yosemite National Park which was amazing!
December I was back in the city and it was absolutely insane with all the tourists. So most touristy parts of NYC were avoided at all costs. But the month was spent catching up with friends, going out, my traditional gingerbread house decorating, lots of cooking and Christmas movies. Ended the month with a trip to Tulum, which travel guide I am yet to publish in this upcoming week or so.
That summarizes the past 12 months, it was a year of a lot of traveling, lots of places on my bucket list crossed off, lots of dreams of mine fulfilled. There were of course a lot of things I wish I spent more time on, especially work related affairs but all in all it wasn’t too bad of a year when I think about it.