Happy New Year to you all!

from Josh, Jan, Emily, and Sebastian

Lucky 13, right? Here’s hoping 2013 is as great as 2012. Cause 2012 really was pretty great. At least for us. Why was 2012 so great? Let’s go for a little stroll down Memory Lane…

Even through the financial crisis that rocked the world (and particularly Spain), my job at HP stayed intact, allowing me a flexible work schedule, requiring the mind-numbingly close attention to detail that I appreciate, and providing the infrequent yet much-needed opportunity to play volleyball. May it continue unchanged in 2013.

It was a banner year for my Jocular Theatre Company. We kicked off 2012 with Bat Boy: The Musical, the most ambitious project I had ever undertaken and also the show of which I am the most proud. It was a monster. And then we finished the year with Ives’ Shorts, which was supposed to be a “small” show that allowed me to catch my breath after a major musical. It wasn’t as “small” as planned but I couldn’t have been happier with the way it turned out. I was especially happy with the fact that it allowed me to work with so many new people, including my fabulous co-directors Jenny and Jo. What’s next for 2013? Watch this space.

In addition to the shows that I directed and produced in Barcelona, 2012 saw an unprecedented explosion of English-language shows on offer. There must have been at least six different companies presenting shows. It was fantastic! And I already know of a couple more being born in 2013. Nice.

Jan was thick in the theatrical mix in 2012, as well, though not exactly as we had planned. Ives’ Shorts was to be the perfect opportunity for us to finally work on the same project. Since there were multiple directors, rehearsals wouldn’t all be at the same time and child care would no longer be an issue. But it was not to be as her other company, Look Out, had already booked her on one of our performance nights. Dammit! So she couldn’t do a show with Jocular in 2012 but she did do four(!) new shows with Look Out. Maybe in 2013?

Outside of the theatre, I continued to lend my voice to a plethora of adverts, video games, corporate videos, films, and cartoons, including some heavy hitters such as the breathtaking Sendokai Champions and the Emmy-nominated Ask Lara. My schedule is already filling up for 2013.

We traveled the world a bit in 2013. We stayed with family in Outwell and Florida, climbed mountains in Montseny, soaked up the sun in Menorca, explored volcanoes in La Garrotxa, suffered a layover in Atlanta, and visited friends in Berlin, Oxford, and Amsterdam. Where will 2013 take us? Who knows. But there has already been talk about California, Italy, France, and a few other exotic locales. It’s all good.

Oh yeah, and we have kids! They also had a pretty exciting 2012 full of firsts. Sebastian started school (P3) and Emily started primary school (Primer). They now go to the same school and have the same timetable which makes everyone’s life a whole lot easier. This is Sebastian’s first taste of a Catalan-only environment and Emily has started studying Spanish and English at school. The kids went trick-or-treating for the first time this year and enjoyed their first summer Olympics. Emily is continuing with her gymnastics and has started taking a dance class. And 2012 had Emily appearing in her first full-length motion picture. When asked if she would like to be in another film, Emily replied, “Maybe next year, when I’m a bit older”, so we’ll see.

Outside of specific events, our kids are pretty awesome. They’re good kids with fun personalities and cause us the minimum of headaches and sleepless nights. They’re sweet, empathetic, good-humored, adventurous, clever, curious, cheeky, and loving. And keep getting better every day.

And of course, 2012 was full of friends. If we continue to surround ourselves with fantastic people as we have in 2012, how can 2013 be anything but amazing.

To all our family and friends, have a rockin’ New Year full of La La Love!!