A feeling of nostalgia kicked in on my last visit to New York. The last time I was there I was only 19, living in this apartment and going underage drinking with a fake ID. I couldn’t help but feel sad that so much had changed since revisiting the apartment – friends, relationships, jobs. I also knew that in that moment that I was very grateful that all those changes happened.

Spending the end of 2011 in New York for that very reason was great because it also forced me to reflect on all that had happened in that past year and I’m not going to lie, 2011 was a huge year of change for me.