My fourth year in Amsterdam proved to be the most difficult one as an expat, but also one of the most productive years I`ve ever had.

Never before had I missed my family more or felt more nostalgic about my home country, Romania, than in 2013. I started to feel a huge gap between what I thought was right and wrong and what was considered as such in everyday life here in the Netherlands.

On top of that, I realized just how robotic my life had become and how, in spite of keeping an agenda, could still not make time for all the things I wanted to do. And this obviously brought a lot of frustration.

Luckily enough, 2013 was also an “year of ideas” as I felt highly creative and dedicated most of my spare time to photography, writing and to my blog. Needless to say this made me feel good and managed to put those not-so-very-happy moments in the second plan.

As a side effect, my social life became almost non-existent, as dividing oneself between a full time job and a full time passion has never been easy for anyone.

2013 was definitely a turning point for me, a year with lots of lessons learned and with a dream starting to take shape.

Not sure to what extent the photos below manage to reflect all these, but here they are anyway, my mood photographs from 2013! 🙂

Morning coffee at home in January, in the two mugs I had brought with me from my Winter holiday in Romania (see also here):

Being totally spoilt by my boyfriend with amazing dinners like this one:

February brought lots of snow and this made Amsterdam look even more beautiful:

Reading in a cosy atmosphere at home sometimes in March:

Home became my favourite place to be (something rather new for me) at the end of those long and tiring days:

June: More of home cosyness (and an invitation to a wedding on a sunny & heavenly island in the following year!):

Waking up to a sunny day surrounded by my favourite flowers – peonies:

July: Reading a book about Provence on an amazingly warm and sunny Summer in Amsterdam!

I loved to surround myself with flowers. They simply made me happy! 🙂

Baking Summer tarts and inviting girlfriends over for some girly time:

Exploring creativity with watercolours (and champagne!) on a peaceful day at home:

The result:

September: Happy to have found carnations at the local market, as they always remind me of Romania:

Quality time meant time spent writing or photo editing at my desk:

Yet another delicious brunch at home, this time with french toast made by my boyfriend:

Baking pumpkin pie on a peaceful October evening:

November: Tea + notebook = perfect way to spend a cold day:

December: Winter holidays brought some very peaceful days, well deserved and long sought after:

Putting an end to 2013 by reflecting on all that it had been and hoping the best for the future:

If you liked this post, then maybe you are also interested to see the retrospective of my other years in Amsterdam: the  first, the second and the third.