By Melissa Reid (courtesy of www.ladieseuropeantour.com) Having had a good few weeks off over Christmas I m now very much back in work mode (like all of you, I guess!) I had a fantastic snowboarding holiday with my family over New Year in Austria which was a great chance to reflect on last year. It was quite an eventful year really, with highs and low and some changes in my life. The main one was moving out of home for the first time. It was time to get a bit more independence in my life and I moved into a house in Loughborough which I share with a couple of friends. Thanks to regular visits from my mum, it wasn t such a complete shock and the place was tidier than it might otherwise have been. If I m honest I hadn t realised how much there is to do in keeping a house going but I know it s been good for me. I ve just recently put a deposit down to buy my own four bedroom house nearby which I am really excited about. It should be ready in June. On the course I was generally happy with my performance. I had a problem with my wrist in the middle of the year which saw me off form for the most important two tournaments of the year, but other than that I feel I made good progress with my game. I finished the year in seventh on the Henderson Money List. I just heard last week that I ve earned a place in the first major of the year, the Kraft Nabisco Championship in Palm Springs in March. Before then I have an LET tournament in New Zealand and two in Australia and I might play Morocco before heading off to Palm Springs. It’s supposed to be an amazing event so I really can t wait. Another new experience last year was taking part in the filming of a global TV and print ad for the Wii Sports Resort Game and the Motion Plus handset. I went to Prague for the filming and spent hours in front of bright lights repeating the smallest actions time and time again (see photo). The result was good though and it was quite weird walking through airports and sometimes spotting a life size cardboard cut-out of me in duty free. Two weeks ago I went to Abu Dhabi to take part in the official opening of a new course designed by Gary Player. The course, Saadiyat Beach, is on an island of reclaimed land and is a stunning ocean-side course. It was a privilege to meet Mr Player himself; he is so interested in everyone. His memory is amazing and his energy and passion even more so. There were a few other LET players out there with me as well as some European Tour pros including Rory McIlroy and Oliver Fisher who I used to play with as amateurs so it was great catching up with them and comparing notes.