Happy New Year!

I would like to wish all my reader's a very Happy New Year for 2011 and I hope that it is a good one for us all!

Taking a moment to reflect on what 2010 held for me (as I always do), I would say that 2010 was a mixed bag with some aims achieved and others left by the wayside. One of the best decisions was to return to my old love of writing, as from a young age I loved to read and write. I remember times when I would borrow a book from the library and have finished it by the time I arrived home. My love of writing has never diminished, just the time I have allocated to it.

So 2010 was the year that I put aside time to re-establish writing and return to beauty routines, and my life is all the better for both.

I also managed to fulfil a dream to visit Venice, which I absolutely loved and would love to return to again one day...

My hopes and dreams for 2011 are to visit more gorgeous places, enjoy more afternoon teas, discover new make-up brands, products and fabulous skincare - and just have a beautiful life.

More seriously, I wish to conquer my  fear of driving. A major setback was a car accident in November 2009 that literally has me sweating every time I am a passenger in a car, and has meant I haven't managed to drive my own car in 2010 :-(

I wish to thank each and every one of you for your support during the past 6 months, and I aim to bring you even more reviews, pictures and musings of all things beautiful in 2011. As ever, I love hearing from you so if you have any ideas for future posts, things that you would like me to cover or even just to say hi, please send an email to bettina@beautyswot.com.

Today I start with the one object that will help to keep me organised this year

My cute new diary :-)

I love the excitement of a fresh new diary and what the future holds, but I also love to save my past diaries to keep as a memory of the years gone by.

What has 2011 in store for you? What are your hopes, dreams and resolutions?