You’ve heard it so much it’s almost become cliché, but this time of year does make one reflect and think about the year ahead. For me, this year holds the promise of many things.

I’ve been a little quiet on social media and on the blog of late – sorry lovely readers – here’s why:

Work

I’ve been trying to have some down time over the last couple of weeks, away from the desk, like the rest of the country. I haven’t been very successful (see below).

Dakar

For those that know me, you know I have love for motorsport which extends way beyond my motorsport clients. One of my clients for my day job (Pronto PR), Isuzu Motorsports, was competing in the world’s toughest race, the Dakar Rally held in Argentina, Boliva and Chile over two weeks. I was glued to  the computer, and my iPhone, for two weeks waiting for results of the day’s racing, going through every social media site I could find and reading all I could about it. If there’s any other petrol heads reading this, make yourself known in the comments! Today is the first day since Dakar ended, and I’m having withdrawals!

Adrian Di Lallo driving for Isuzu Motorsports at Dakar 2015

Pronto PR

I also spent time building my business’ new website – who knew that I could be so tech-savvy to build a whole website on my own? It’s easier than it seems – I used Weebly and it was very straightforward. Do you like it?

Health

My 2015 is going to be a whole lot healthier. It’s hard to always choose the healthy option as a food and travel blogger – I want to taste everything!  However, my body needs a break and needs nourishment. Here’s what I’m doing:

Sweetie

Then:  I have a well developed sweet tooth. I’ve taken coffee with two sugars ever since I can remember, tea too. In the dictionary under the definition of ‘chocoholic’ there might as well be a picture of me – my dad is convinced that I was born with a in-built chocolate radar because I could find chocolate if it was hidden anywhere in the house. I eat nutella straight, milo too. I have loved sugar for a long time, and for a long time, eaten way too much of it.

Now:  It’s been over two weeks now since I’ve had sugar and I haven’t died. At home I normally drink my coffee black with two sugars or sucrose tabs, and I’m proud to shout that it’s no longer. Admittedly, I’ve struggled. And if I’m honest, I’m still struggling a little with it, but I know I’m over the hardest hurdle and plan to stick with it.  Bye-bye sugar, for now. The end goal is to drastically reduce my sugar intake and be a healthier me. I’m not going to say that I’ll give it up forever – never say never is my motto.

Maggie Beer’s Peanut Butter pie – rich and oh so calorific – I made it to bring to a NYE party we went to

Going against the grain 

Then:  For two weeks over Christmas I had panettone for breakfast every single day. I love panettone and could never get sick of it, the sight, the smell, the taste, the way you rip it apart to dunk it in coffee, in fact everything about panettone reminds me of my Nonna. I dedicated my panettone eating fest to Nonna’s memory, but it had to stop. Not just eating panettone, but eating  bread, pasta, crackers, and wheat in general. I was having too much wheat and gluten and my IBS symptoms have returned. For anyone that’s had IBS, you know just how uncomfortable it is, not to mention the need to be within 30 seconds of a toilet at any given moment.  IBS and Christmas kilos had to be banished from my body.

Now:  It’s been more than two weeks since I’ve not eaten wheat or any grain and my gut feels so much better for it. I can see that my shape has changed slightly – less chunky around my middle and more waist definition. There’s a long way to go, but the scales say I’ve dropped almost 2kg too, so a promising start. Without a doubt, eliminating sugar would’ve contributed to my weight loss too – little happy dance!

Not quite Paleo

The idea of following the Paleo ‘cave man diet’ appeals to me. I’m going to follow a modified version of the meat, fish, fruit, selected vegetables and nuts way of eating. I’m not going to completely cut out diary. I love cheese and I love my morning Mundella yoghurt with seeds.

Moving

My little westie Bella is the apple of my eye and I want my walk with her each day to be a joy, for both of us. When I’m short of time, taking her out for a walk can feel like a chore. No more. We’ve been driving to the beach and going for walks in the sand – a great calf / leg workout for me and fun for both me and Bella. Next step is to get back into the gym and do more weight bearing exercise.

I’ve been cooking!

Yes, cooking all sorts of healthiness. I’ve made my own tomato / bbq sauce using date syrup and coconut sugar as the sweetener, I’ve made my own granola, I’ve activated nuts, I’ve made raw chocolate slice and blended my own almond milk. It’s a house of healthiness at the moment and it feels good. I’ve not invented any recipes besides the tomato / bbq sauce, but if you would like recipes for any of these things, let me know and I’ll post them for you. Travelletto is food blog – more eating than recipes but I’m more than happy to post recipes if that’s what you’d like.

Home made granola

Writing & Blogging

I wrote a book! Yes, a book. A memoir in fact – 72,000 words in 38 chapters – it took me 14 months and I finished it last year. I’m currently pitching it publishers and hope to be able to tell you more about it in the coming months. My second book is in development in anticipation of the first getting published.

Travelletto is a passion project – I love this blog and writing for both you and for me. Writing about topics that matter to me, or telling stories I’d like share brings me enormous joy – and I hope you enjoy it to.

Last year I completely overhauled Travelletto – I moved it from wordpress.com. to wordpress.org. I changed the theme I was using – which takes so long to do – just choosing one was itself a mission. I was much more discerning with the sponsored posts I accepted, declaring them all, and probably made less money as a result. But money is not my prime motivator. You are. I have also made an effort to write more engaging posts.  I’ve also upped the ante on SEO which seems to be working.

I attended ProBlogger for my second successive year and got enormous value from it. There’s TBEX this year – a specific travel industry conference in Bangkok – that I’m planning to go to with some lovely travel blogging friends. My goal is to get better at what I do, bring more joy to you, network with like-minded types and importantly, keep learning.

Travel 

Last year was a big year for travel. Eight glorious weeks were spent tripping around Monaco, France, Italy, NYC, Brazil, Argentina and Dubai. We went to Melbourne a couple of times, visited my folks on the Coffs Coast, went to the Gold Coast for ProBlogger, Port Hedland for work and had a couple of weekends away ‘down south’ to my beloved Margaret River region.

2015: Travel this year will be much lighter than last year in anticipation for another big travel year next year (2016) – we’re saving up for another 8 week trip next year to Europe – my husband wants to sit on a Greek island in a little village for a month. Why not I say?  Sounds good to me!

This year I’ll be going to the F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne in March, the Coffs Coast to see my parents in April for a week of golf, fishing, and mum’s cooking, then planning an extended weekend in Hong Kong sometime toward the middle of year.  There’s ProBlogger in August that I’m considering, a work trip also in August, TBEX in Bangkok in October, and if I can convince the other half, Christmas in Melbourne with NY in Tasmania – I really want to go to to Taste of Tasmania! We’ll see what the families decide to do.

We’re also doing some work to our house, which also limits our ability to travel much this year.

Photo from Emily’s Quotes

What next?

Besides being healthier, I plan to write more, read more, move more, save more, and work less – well, work smarter is probably a better way of putting it. We all know it can be so easy to get distracted with social media and other things. I’m going to make an effort to work in blocks of time and stay focussed on the task I need to complete. I want to be at my desk less and out enjoying life more. I’m ready – bring it on!

My blog will still bring you delicious travel adventures, travel stories and tips.

What are your plans for 2015?  I’d love to hear what’s on the horizon for you.

But I really want to know is:

What to you want to read about?