Another year is fast approaching. Every year I mention the same thing, I cannot believe it is already so-and-so year, it came so fast. Some days felt as if they dragged on other days went very fast. But every year I make a list of the things that made me happy or I had accomplished. Usually written on the back of calendars. Or on a blog. Some are big events while others may seem like nothing but can be a big deal. Here is my list of 2013:

1. Traveled to Mallorca, Paris, Rome, Poland (again), London, Juan-les-Pins, Rapperswil, Saint-Paul-De-Vence..
2. Saw my niece for the first time during Christmas.
3. Got a job. A real job.
4. First pair of real winter boots since I was 7.
5. Skiing for the first time in Celerina. And trying cross country.
6. Got to witness my beautiful friends get married and photograph it.
7. My other 2 friends getting engaged.
8. Finding out a new niece/nephew is on the way.
9. Purchased my long awaited for Great Gatsby tote.
10. Learned to cook at a decent level.
11. Being Maria from The Sound of Music for Halloween. Going out with family/friend for "trick or treating" and going into a scary house and getting picked up by a school bus.
12. Going to Seven concert.
13. Pielgrzymka.
14. Roadtrip to Cornwall
15. Apple picking
16. Baptism.
17. Biking 60 km to Toronto.
18. Tree-top trekking
19. Living in Switzerland
20. Making sugar cookies with M.
21. Starting to play a song on piano.
22. Seeing family for the first time in London.
23. Getting lost in Paris at 5 AM, dancing in a boat, eating too much baguette..
24. German classes
25. Primark, Top Shop, River Island, etc.
26. Biking in London
27. Weekend at Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Renting car and exploring for hours. And bumping into an old friend randomly.
28. Mattress stairs
29. Marché, Distillery District, Christmas Market, Soma, St. Lawrence Market
30. Scarborough Bluffs Beach day
31. Laser Quest for the first time, November drive-in
32. The Ex, Dragonette concert, Janelle Monae concert
33. Yoga retreat
34. Driving up to Penetanguishene
35. Going to Anthropologie for the first time and bumping into a friend as well. Amazing store.
36. Eating one of the best sandwiches in the Kawarthas. Fresh ciabatta bread.
37. Updating my website.
38. Walks in the park with neice.
39. Feeding birds at Port Credit.
40. The library.
41. Evergreen Brickworks
42. Empanadas, sitting on benches in the fall by the lake, talking about what is to come.
43. Creating 32 personalized Christmas cards and envelopes and mailing them "on time".
44. Purchasing a record player.
45. Make pierogi and uszka with mama.
46. My dad in the morning, is as cute as my neice. So happy and still not fully awake.
47. Good coffee.
48. Ice storm
49. Long walks with Snoopy.
50. Couch surfing for the first time in Rome.
51. Singing Tal Bachman "She's So High" with my brother.
52. Getting kicked out of the Vatican.
53. Cemetery with Ciocia.
54. Loving Kraków. Naleśniki, restauracja, archaeology museum, etc.
55. Trying a deep fried Mars bar in Camden Market.
56. Buying well awaited Adidas Samba shoes, finding my size only in Zurich HB randomly.
57. 1 hour talks at the top of Sacré Coeur for an hour with strangers.
58. Seeing one of my favourite paintings at the Louvre.
59. Biking to buy film.
60. Grocery shopping
61. Lindt Advent Calendar
62. Dropping of J at school/residence. Seeing her new place.
63. Flea markets in Zurich, London and Rome
64. Easter in Paris
65. Perfect rose gold watch.
66. ASOS orders
67. Three days of Christmas dinners, Cranium, cupcake ornaments.
68. Biking to the old town in Poland.
69. Calling babcia.
70. Autumn walk with O in Etobicoke
71. Driving to Cobourg Beach, walking on rocks by water
72. New hair straightener
73. Night movies, Celebration Square and Roman Holiday
74. OCAD dinner
75. Spanish classes
76. Painting Legally Blonde set
77. Nieces' first birthday
78. Biking in Mississauga
79. Coming back to Canada
80. Buying a prom dress.
81. Good hair cut.

There are so many more memories that were fantastic. Sometimes it is hard to keep track of them. But when a bad day comes along or it feels like nothing exciting is going on will re-read this and know how much actually can happen in a year. And how many interesting people there are to meet and how next year there will be even more things added on.

I find that I have trouble keeping New Years' resolutions. I know I want to keep some sort of fitness going. Learn to swim, visit some new places. Want to keep up with German and Spanish. Read again more in Polish, spend less time online. Take less digital photos and more photos on film. Read more, religious, historical, art, etc. Go to the library. Sit and have coffee. Cook more. Wear my leather jacket. Looking forward to the first two months of the year, who knows what will happen after.

Credit: 001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007

The last two-three months have been thinking about hands a lot. This must seem like a crazy thing to spend your time thinking about. But why not? Why is something we use every day not thought of and appreciated?

I was on the bus a few months ago when a man comes on and sits across from me. I didn't quite look at him but focused on my iPod and probably how I have to get rid of those Russian techno songs from 2008 off. When I do glance up, I notice one of his hands is in his pocket and the other is out on his lap. He has a prosthetic hand. I forgot any manners and as if I was 5 years old stared for a few seconds. Children when they see something different, or new take a good look at it. And question it. They don't remember manners, being nice is not in their mind, they just want to know why? What is it? They ask their mom, not in a whisper, why that person is the way they are?

For a few seconds I felt like that 5 year old, until I stopped, remembered these manners. It is not as if it was my first time seeing a prosthetic hand before but for some reason it made me stop. Stop and realize how easy life is. And how amazing people can be.

Let us go back to this scene, he came on the bus and sat down. Now let us go through step by step this process. What do we begin with? We know the bus is coming, we prepare ourselves. We take out our wallet from our pocket. Or need to unzip our purse. Then we try to unstick these bus tickets from stick to each other, or rip them apart. The bus arrives we step inside and put the ticket into the machine. And grab a transfer. We look to the back of the bus to find a spot. However, the bus starts moving before we sit. So we grab into the poles and swing ourselves to the back to find a seat. The bus swerves a bit and we grab on tightly to a pole to avoid falling over. We take hold of another pole to drag ourselves up to a seat.

Take hold, grab, unzip, take out, in this simple bus process we use our hands numerous times. We don't even realize it. How our every day routines without our hands can become a day of such difficulty. I sit now and have put on Soul Surfer. A movie, based on a true story from 2011 about a young girl who was bitten by a shark while surfing, she lost her arm. Watching her process of working with something she didn't have to work with before. Something as simple as cutting a tomato. Opening a bread bag.

Like this man on the bus, the beginning must have felt impossible. Why me? The famous why questions that 5 year old would be asking. Why is it like this? I don't have an answer for why. I don't even know if there is a sort of answer. Instead, we can say what? Or how? What can I do now? And how can I do it? It has to be different than before, but there is a way.

What do I still have? Family, friends, interests, etc. That all has not changed, some may have, friends might have a different contact with you. But like those kids asking questions they just see it as something different that they do not understand. Maybe sometimes these situations can also show who is the most important in your life and who may be sort of disposable. Some people may need more time, we all react differently to situations.

But returning back to what you have and what you like to do. When I see this girl swimming and surfing with one arm. I cannot believe what I am seeing. I cannot swim and to see her preforming like this. We had a family friend who was paralyzed after an accident when he was younger. For years he spent his time in a wheelchair, unable to move. The only movement was his mouth. We cannot imagine how depressing those first few years must have been. And at such a young age, when you have so many plans for what you want to do, suddenly seems to all have halted. But now for the past few years we have had a painting hanging that was painted by him. And he created many beautiful paintings over the years until he passed away. That painting still hangs around and sometimes staring at the details you cannot even imagine how much patience mentally and physically was put into it.

I think about graphic design, how I need to use the keyboard to design. I think about taking photos. How the shutter button to take a picture needs a click with a finger. How even turning pages in a book or spreading cream cheese on a bagel all requires these parts of a body. They are just parts.

- an amount or section which, when combined with others, makes up the whole of something.

- some but not all of something.

- leave someone's company.

The second definition works the best. It is not everything but just some of something. And when I think about Bethany Hamilton, I can't imagine how strong her arm must be. Imagine arm wrestling with her? She'd be insane to beat.

I have, what I see as, a big collection of shoes. For some it may not be a lot and for others it is. I own twenty-eight pairs of shoes. Some days it does not feel like a lot, when I try to form an outfit and think, ach those shoes I saw last week would have looked great, I have nothing to wear, etc.

This shoe collection has changed drastically over the past few months, and the past few years. Some shoes I kept buying over many times. Such as my white canvas shoes. They are simple, went well with shorts and dresses. They would range from $5-$8 and were great for summer. I never wear running shoes unless I am running, or with kids, so these were casual and light and didn't make a nice outfit look unclassy. But since they were white, I liked to keep them this way. That proved to be a big problem, either bleaching them once every 2-3 weeks or just throwing them out after some point and buying another pair for $5.

While in the south of France I came across bensimon shoes. They were in every shoe shop window and reminded me a lot of the white canvas one. But they came in many different colours. And for some reason red seems to be the colour this year. In the past I didn't enjoy adding any red in my closet. At first I searched, for a white pair, then a black and a navy. Somehow the red was different, something not in my comfort zone and threw in my Euros. They are a simple pair of canvas shoes, but not running shoes. Very comfortable and can also be worn with a blazer or a skirt. Magic shoes. Actually I call them my play shoes.

This shoe collection ranges from moccasin slippers. The preferred camel colour ones were sold out, so black was next. The boots, one pair of black and one pair of brown. The thing is, my calves are rather small. I always seem to buy tall boots and think they will somehow work out. In Switzerland, this crazy shoe phase also came about. A lot of flat ankle boots, in suede. The white low-top Converse shoes that every Swedish girl seemed to have and work well in. Found a knock-off version in Mallorca. At that point where brands really don't matter, just the style. Three pairs of heels. Three that are a pain to wear. And even while purchasing wondered if I'd ever wear them. One still sits and collects dust.

The rest are one pair of flip-flops, sports shoes, tap shoes, real winter boots, flats, and the combat boots. The reason I write this, is because I am very happy and fortunate for these shoes. I have never had so many shoes before. Shoes that I am all happy with, that I worked hard for.

There was a time a few years ago. It was the first time I had seen the ocean, in Portugal. I was taking a photo for some friends and had left my shoes far away from the waves. But the waves are much different than the ones here and took my shoes with it. I ran after them, making my friends wonder why I have decided to become crazy and run into the ocean with their camera and not take a photo. I was left with no shoes. Trying to explain in no Portuguese to the bus driver what happened. This was the first time, since I was 1 years old, where I didn't have a pair of shoes. Thankfully I did not have to walk anywhere, just from the bus to the place I was staying at. However, it made me realize how much I do have. 28 pairs of shoes to choose from.

A few years ago had the chance to go to Auschwitz. For those of you who have not been there, there are displays, behind a glass wall. One of those displays in Block 5 was filled with shoes. Glass panels with victims' shoes piled. I have never seen so many pairs before, and for once these pairs of shoes did not get me excited as I would if I stepped into an Aldo. So many old shoes, in the same shades, that would never be worn by the owner.

Shoes seem to be something we might take for granted. Something we simply can pick up from a shop for a few dollars, or some shoes which we wait for our pay cheques in order to spend it all on this one perfect pair. Something as we grow older perhaps we need for comfort rather than for style.

This year I broke perhaps 5 or more pairs of shoes, from walking too much. After speaking with someone close to me, we discussed how shoes used to be made with great quality and time. They would last a long time. I looked at many good Italian shoes and also how a pair of Mexicana floral boots were created. The time and effort was amazing. There were also many stops at the shoe tailor. Watching worn shoes become new again. People owned good shoes and would have them for many years and get them repaired. There is a show repair shop close by I would pass by many times. The smell, the green colour, etc. I remember going there when I was younger or passing by. But it was the only shoe repair place I knew of.

There is a photo circulating viral content sites about a man giving shoes to homeless girl in Rio de Janeiro. A picture is worth a thousand words. The titles all seem to be stating the same story, I am not sure who these people are or where the photo originated from. But I'd like to keep it as that title because it is very heart warming. Sometimes we need a small reminder such as a snapshot to show us these things we forget or take for granted.

Credit: 001, 002, 003, 004, 005