Well, it's officially the 'new year', and I (like a billion other people) am squarely in reflective mode. 2014 was such an incredible year. I married my best friend, was fortunate enough to travel to some breathtaking, incredible places, and moved to Colorado (which I'm completely in love with).

Here's a six-second Vine snapshot of our year! You can see more pics and adventures at www.instagram.com/SweetDivergence

So it's going to be pretty tough to top last year, and make 2015 even better, but I'm sure going to try!

Have you ever made a bucket list...just for travel? My husband and I are making one now. Actually I think it is more likely to turn into two bucket lists, one that can be achieved in 2015, and one that might take us a little longer to complete.

So far we've added:

- River cruise through Europe
- Patagonia, Chile
- Vancouver, Canada
- Iceland
- Road Trip from Seattle to Big Sur (south of San Francisco)
- Overnight train anywhere
- Japan
- Explore more of France (specifically Saint-Emilion, Riquewihr, and Colmar)
- Czec Republic
- Poland
- Croatia
- Austria
- Grand Canyon
- See more of Switzerland (specifically Gruyeres, Montreux, Jungfrau Region, and Interlaken)
- Galapagos Islands
- Bruges, Belgium
- See more of Spain (specifically Ronda, and Seville).
- More of Germany (specifically Berlin, Cochem, and Konstanz)
- I'd like to take my husband to Italy because he's never been (Lake Como, Venice, Rome, Cinque Terra)

- Then there are the national parks here in the United States!

     - Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
     - Redwood National Park, California
     - Yosemite National Park, California
     - Glacier National Park, Montana
     - Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina
     - Virgin Islands National Park, US Virgin Islands
     - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
     - Yellowstone National Park, Wymoming

Now we just have to work out what we can fit into this year, and what will have to wait until next year.

Do you have anywhere else you think we should add to our list? I always love hearing other people's travel stories and about places they loved, hated, and were surprised by! Leave me a comment below!

And if you're interested in winning prizes for topping your 2014, check out the contest that LifeProof is running at the moment. Super easy to enter, and there are some cool prizes up for grabs! Details here.

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Last month, my boyfriend whisked me away to Paris on a surprise trip, and proposed! Here's how it went down...

I was on a work trip right before Thanksgiving last year, when the boy surprised me by showing up at my hotel with two plane tickets to Paris. The only problem was that I didn't have my passport! So while I was at work the next day, he drove back to Denver, got the first flight to San Diego, searched through the house for my passport, and made it back to the airport in time to get the last flight back to Denver, then driving for an hour through the snow to get to where I was!

The next day (Thanksgiving) we headed back to Denver to fly to Paris for five days. Let me tell you, no-one actually flys on Thanksgiving Day so we had the plane almost to ourselves! We did have to eat McDonalds in the airport for Thanksgiving dinner, but we more than made up for that meal with all the amazing food we ate in Paris. 

We arrived, and were taken to our hotel, which was only a block away from Trocodero Square, with our room looking straight through to the Eiffel Tower!

We spent the next two days exploring Paris, the museums, walking along the Seine, shopping, eating, and eating some more.

 

Then on the evening of December first we went all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I was too busy taking photos and looking at everything, to notice whether he was nervous or acting strangely. 

It was freezing up there, so he pulled me close to keep me warm, and proposed. I could only tell you about half of what he said, I think excitement took over and made things a bit fuzzy. But I said yes. 

So, now we are embarking on the journey of planning our internatinoal wedding. You see, we have family and friends all over Australia, all over the USA, and we are also completely in love with France. So just picking the destination is proving to be difficult!

If you'd like to follow along as we plan our big day, check out Our International Wedding Blog or find us on Instagram or Twitter!

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It's been a big year, full of adventure and far-away lands. I've travelled to places I've never been before, like Martha's Vineyard and Spain, and back to old favorites...Paris, New York, Chicago and many more.

I've lived abroad in the USA, changed jobs, got engaged, and so many other things along the way!

So here's a 15-second glance back at 2013 before we look forward to the New Year and all the possibility it holds. I hope that your 2014 is truly amazing!

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The walled city of Carcassonne has been on my bucket list for a long time, and on this most recent visit to France we decided to go on a road trip from Montpellier and finally see it. It didn't disappoint either, in fact, it was more amazing that I could have imagined.

The city was founded around 100 BC by the Romans, and has had an interesting history, which you can read more about here. People still live inside the medieval, walled city, along with businesses, restaurants, and museums which completely blows my mind.

Check out the little video montage from our visit:

There really isn't anything about Carcassonne that isn't spectacular, and the view from every angle is like something out of a fairytale. 

If you're planning a visit I recommend putting aside several hours to wander the streets, have some lunch, and visit the paid museum areas as well.

I love the little glimpses you get into what it would have been like to live in Carcassonne, the vegetable gardens inside the city walls, the tapestries that might have hung over the windows to keep the wind out (and it is mighty windy all the way up in some of those turrets).

The surrounding French countryside is so lush, green and beautiful it is also worth renting a car and just getting lost for an afternoon. You never know what treasures you might find! 

One last glimpse of the city across a field as we continue on our road trip. Goodbye Carcassonne, I hope to visit you again some day!

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One of the best things about Paris is just strolling through the streets. You never know what amazing things you'll find!

We walked from Montmartre, down past the Palais Garnier Opéra House to the Centre Georges Pompidou, stopping for a falafel lunch and delicious sweet things in le Marais. If you're up for a walk, our trip was 8.5 kilometres (5.3 miles) and you can see our route on Google Maps here.

Along the way we saw amazing street art, old men playing trumpet as they walked through the streets, a flea market tucked away in some covered alleyways, and some of the most amazing food you can imagine!

We stopped to explore the Centre Georges Pompidou, feed the pigeons and people watch. The Pompidou Center itself is worth seeing just for the architecture and design, but it also houses a huge public library, and the Musée National d'Art Moderne, the largest modern art museum in Europe!

Next we moved onto le Marais for some shopping and to eat as much delicious food as we could manage. The Marais is a historic area, known as the 'aristocratic district' of Paris. It has a large Jewish community and is home to some pretty famous falafel.

I'd also recommend a visit to Maison Georges Larnicol for more chocolates and delicious macaroons than you'll know what to do with.

And if you do nothing else in Paris you MUST make a visit to L'Éclair de génie! I recommend either the caramel beurre salé or champagne violet eclair.

Here's a little video of our discoveries:

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It's no secret that Paris is one of my favorite spots in the world, and this trip we stayed up in Montmartre, the 'artist's district' where the likes of Dalí, Monet, Picasso and van Gogh had studios. I'm glad I let my sister talk me into it, instead of staying down near the Seine like I originally wanted. Montmartre's beautiful cobblestone streets, and abundance of bakeries and cheese shops made me never want to leave!

Luckily the hill of Montmartre is pretty steep, giving you the chance to burn off all that delicious cheese. And if you're ready for a bit of a hike I highly recommend making your own pilgrimage up the hill to the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur. Sure, you could take the little funicular trolley from one of the Metro stations, but then you wouldn't get to walk through the little parks and see all the little side streets on your way up. And, you want to make room for even more cheese!

The Basilica of the Sacré Cœur is pretty spectacular, although it certainly struck me how new it is compared to the Notre Dame we visited the day before. Groundbreaking on the Sacré Cœur began in 1875 and the structure was completed in 1914, compared with the Notre Dame which began construction in 1163 and was completed in 1345!

After you've climbed all the way to the top of the hill you might not be too interested in climbing the 300 very claustrophobic and dark spiral stone stairs to the top, but it is well worth it. The view is amazing from up there, and possibly more beautiful and interesting than from the Eiffel Tower. It is certainly more intimate because they only let a handful of people up at a time. You'll find the ticket office out of the way, around to the left hand side and down some stairs.

Take notice of all the different gargoyles they have around the top, some of them are pretty amazing.

And here is the view from the rotunda at the top. Gorgeous no? As you walk around Paris you get glimpses of the Eiffel Tower, but because of the buildings in the foreground it never really looks that big. It's only when you get some distance that you can really appreciate it's height.

Ah the Tour Eiffel, hated by so many Parisians and loved by the rest of the world. Proposed as a centerpiece for the 1889 World's Fair, the Eiffel Tower is the most visited paid monument in the world, so expect to line up to climb to the first or second viewing platform, and even longer lines for the elevator to the top!

View of the Seine from the second viewing platform. I recommend going up about an hour before sunset, so you get to see the city in daylight and as it begins to light up for the evening.

Having only ever climbed the stairs to the second level on previous visits we decided to head straight to the top, and the view certainly didn't disappoint. I made sure to use a wrist-strap on my LifeProof case...can't imagine anything worse than dropping my phone all that way onto an unsuspecting tourist below!

It's only when you look down that you realize just how high up you actually are. When cars look like ants and people are just dots.

We took the stairs down from the second viewing platform, about 600 to get to the bottom from there.

Here's a little video from my time at both the Sacré Cœur and the Eiffel Tower. I'd love to hear your questions or about your own experiences in Paris, so why not leave me a comment!

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We braved the rainy weather to explore around the Musée du Louvre and the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris. It is one of my favorite spots, with the beautiful Louvre on one side of the Seine and the Musée d'Orsay on the other. 

The Musée du Louvre is housed in the Palais du Louvre which Philip II began building as a fortress in the 12th century. It officially opened its doors as a museum in 1793, exhibiting 537 paintings. The Louvre is now home to over 35,000 incredible objects of art and history, which means you need to allow plenty of time to look through the collections! If you're interested, you can read more about the 

history of the Louvre here.

The Jardin des Tuileries in front of the Louvre is perfect for a picnic lunch and people watching. I like to sit in the gardens and imagine King Louis XIV and his court taking tea in the gardens surrounding the palace, perhaps playing boules, having their portraits painted (King Louis was a big patron of the arts), or perhaps partaking in some archery or other royal pursuits.

If you walk right to the end of the gardens you will get to the 3,300 year old, and 23m (75ft) high Obelisk, gifted to Paris in 1829 by Muhammad Ali Pasha, the self-proclaimed Khedive of Egypt. You'll also get a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

On the other side of the Seine is the Musée d'Orsay, which houses the biggest collection of impressionist paintings in the world including most of my favorites from Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, and Van Gough.

I recommend heading straight for the impressionists on the fifth floor and working your way down, making sure you stop to admire the view from one of the giant clocks. Musée d'Orsay is housed in an old railway station and is an incredible piece of architecture by itself.

Here's a little video wrap-up, and if you'd like to see more photos head over to @SweetDivergence on Instagram.

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