While starting to write this, I still can’t believe that what something had been a dream for a long while, is now turning one! It’s been one year of firsts – first ideas (most of which have been scrapped and replaced); first attempts in creating a website; first photo shoots of sunsets and teapots; first blog writings, editing, scrapping and starting over; but ultimately, the first time in sharing our ideas with anyone wanting to read them.

This had been a dream of mine for a very long time – starting a blog about travel. However, I always wanted something more to come out of it. The internet is full of blogs about travel, where to go, where to eat, and so on. This constant thought of needing to create something different was what kept me back from starting it out in the first place.

I have known Maria and Monique for a very long time, as we’re family. But our friendship started, funnily enough, when we started going to Pilates sessions together a year and a half ago. This didn’t last very long and we switched to meeting up for cocktails instead 🙂 We started hanging out more and talking about what we could do more with our time. While I am more of a travel fanatic, Maria and Monique are more artistic. We all wanted to portray something positive. Something that brightens up one’s day. Something that makes you smile. And so over cocktails, and the occasional tea, we built up this dream, bit by bit.

Although it might be sounding easy, this project did not come without any hardships. One of the hardest things about it is exposing yourself, your thoughts, your work, your opinion on different matters, basically to the whole world. Once you hit that Publish button, it’s there for anyone to see, to read, to criticise. And this took a while to get used to. However at the end of the day, we learned that it’s not what others think, but how you feel about your work that is most important.

Another thing that we’ve been battling with is time. Our posts might not be regular because we are obviously not doing this full time, and life tends to take over. These posts need to be done out of love, rather than halfheartedly. We will be working to keep this dream alive, and maybe this might also lead to the birth of other dreams we have in the future, who knows? 🙂

And so, while remembering how I spent a whole 30 minutes lying on the sand in the same position, snapping shots of the sunset for that first cover photo, I smile because this is a dream that took flight and it’s still there to keep building upon. It is a lesson for me, for all of us, that dreams do actually happen if you work towards them. And this is something that we wish on you – never give up even if it is just a trivial wish. Life is what we make of it. Do not get lost in the daily routine. Once in a while stop, think about what would make you happy and act upon that little wish. At the end of the day, when the sun goes down, we hope you raise your cup* and be proud of what you have achieved with your life. Here’s to us and all our dreams, let’s do us proud 🙂

*words taken from One Republic’s song ‘I lived’ – check that song out for some positive inspiration on life 🙂