Seeing as I didn't post what I got up to throughout the year 2018 let's have a little catch-up and see if I managed to meet any of the goals/aspirations I had planned. If you'd like too, you can catch up on what they were here!
How was 2018 for me? I have to say it was a pretty damn good year! I got to travel, see faraway family, do some pretty cool things in-between as well as have new beginnings like starting my new job.
So without further ado here are a few key moments of 2018.
- Finally booking a driving instructor. One of my goals for 2018 was to end the year a confident driver. I've had my license for 6 years and have done very little driving. Now, I can't say I'm going to be the next Michael Schumacher, and I am still super nervous on the roads. However, I did manage to have three top-up driving lessons to which my instructor told me I was a wonderful driver and pretty much didn't need him anymore. Although I haven't driven since March, I've decided this is the year! If I can drive myself to work every morning which is only a 10-15 minute drive, I just know my confidence will skyrocket! It's a small goal and one I know I need to do. Watch this space...
- All the food dates with Alex. We are both big food lovers, and we don't often go out for meals. For some reason we just prefer not to and save the money for other things but having said that, there is something so lovely about going out for a meal. When it's not very often it feels so much more...special. We had some delicious dim sum for Alex's birthday in Feb, and it was so lovely to reminisce about Hong Kong. Looking back we just about managed to go out for a meal every month!
- ICELAND. This beautiful country has ALWAYS been top of our list and I'm so pleased we finally went! We stayed in two stunning wooden cabins with hot tubs, and we hired a 4x4 (which you definitely need). We did so much driving around which pulled us out of our warm, cosy cabins but my they were always a joy to look forward to after a long day of sight-seeing. It reminded us so much of our favourite country New Zealand and I would totally go back! We visited the Blue Lagoon and if you're wondering if we saw the northern lights - hell yes we did! Talk about #blessed and we saw them two nights running. Once coming back from the Blue Lagoon and again from our hot tub - as well as a shooting star.
- Celebrating our 9 year anniversary. It still blows my mind that we've been together for this long. I never thought for one second the day I met Alex we'd still be together 9 years later. It just goes to show that when you're with the right person; time is forgotten. Alex treated me to a beautiful Astley Clarke bracelet and a voucher to walk alpacas in the summer (my favourite animal). He also surprised me with a meal to our favourite restaurant Kyoto's Kitchen. We also took a week off from work and went for a meal at Burley Manor in the New Forest. The food was stunning.
- Scotland (twice), Norfolk and France. Glorious holidays with Alex. We spent two weeks in Scotland seeing my grandma and my family. The weather was gorgeous for the entire duration and we got to have a lovely long break. We never take two weeks off from work and it was so lush. Staying in a yurt in Norfolk was incredible- the location was tranquil and we also went alpaca trekking. The best weekend I could have asked for. We also had a mini break to France and it was honestly a fairy tale - it looked like Belle's hometown.
- Climbing Ben Lomond. We love hiking and haven't done so since our travels three years ago. I think we managed to go on the hottest day ever so I literally couldn't breathe but wow it was so worth it.
- All the music gigs. Ladysmith Black Mambazo; All Points East Festival and Fat Freddy's Drop - all fantastic to say the very least. I would love to start going to more music events.
- Double dates with my brother and his girlfriend. It was lovely to see them more often than usual throughout the year and eat yummy food.
- Mum and Mark visit. My mum and her partner Mark came down for a long weekend in October and it was lush, lush, lush. We took them to all our favourite pubs and had a delicious meal at the Giggling Squid for my birthday. It was such a lovely weekend to start the best season of the year. It felt so festive!
- My 26th birthday. Brunch at The Ivy; Afternoon tea at The Waldorf; drinks in London, The Lion King in theatre; Bonfire night. Such a wonderful 'birthweek' and I was very spoiled!
- Starting my new job. Déjà vu anyone? I seem to recall saying this exact thing in my last farewell blog post. Unfortunately, my time at House of Fraser had to come to an end. I wasn't enjoying my role anymore. I hated getting up at 5:30/6am every morning, getting home late, inconsistent working hours, no money, using £250 of my salary just to get to work and the stress of House of Fraser in general. There are many reasons why I left, reasons I won't go into because I did enjoy a lot of my time there but the negatives outweighed the positives. Now, I'm currently working A LOT closer to home, I get to wake at 7 am, have more money and I actually LOVE where I work. The people, the place just everything. I love it, love it, love it.
- Finishing my Invisalign treatment. It was originally meant to be for six months but that was always a guess. My treatment went on for about a year and I now no longer have to wear the brace during the day anymore. Yay. Although I will have to wear a brace every single night for the rest of my life.
- I came off the pill. This may be a strange one but this is something I am going to talk more about in a future blog post. I stopped taking the pill (after being on it for 9 years) at the beginning of July and haven't gone back on since.
- Finally starting the gym. This may seem like a strange one to include but hear me out. My role at House of Fraser was very physical, so I never really needed the gym. I also had absolutely no time for the gym by the time I would get home. Now that I have a job which is very stationary and I finally have the time it had to be done. At the beginning of October Alex and I opened our gym memberships and can truthfully say we've managed to go three times a week since! We took Christmas off however, we are back to it now! I do enjoy it and I love knowing that with time my body will start to evolve and I cannot wait to see the results! Slow and steady wins the race.
- My first proper Christmas/ New Year in five years. December was such an incredible month. So many meals out, staff dos, decorating the office, all the fizz, baking, wreath making, secret Santa, a trip to Bath Christmas market, pressie hunting/wrapping, all the laughs - I loved it. I have to say this has been one of the best December's in a long time. I think it comes down to the fact that going to work every day wasn't a chore. I loved going to work. The people I work with are the best. It was also my first full week off from work for Christmas/New year in five years! Alex and I spent Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing Day with his family. Then on the 27th, it was off to Scotland to spend a second Christmas with my family/New year with them. We had a wonderful time going to Edinburgh's Giant Lantern Festival and Glasgow Christmas markets. We welcomed in the New Year tucked away at home with my family watching films, fireworks and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was truly wonderful and on the plus side coming home knowing I had work the next day didn't phase me at all.
I guess now is the time to set a couple of goals I would like to achieve.
-I would like to become a confident driver.
-I would like to take part in a pottery course, even if it's for one day.
-I would like to dabble in jewellery making. I've seen a couple of one-day courses that involve metal work and this is something I would love to try. It's always been a goal of mine to be self-employed one day and I can so see myself in a little shed making jewellery to sell online and at markets. I'm yet to figure out a hobby for myself that I love so pottery and jewellery work is first on the list.
-Save a little money each month for a two week trip next January. At the moment it's looking like the Philippines but Australia has been calling my name since the day we left...
-I want to visit my Nanny. She lives so far away and I miss her all the time. We made an effort to visit last year and I want to see her again this year. I don't want the years to go by and not have seen her.
-I want to update my blog every month as like a monthly summary. I think it would be pretty cool to reach the end of the year and have a monthly update for every single month. Based on what I've done that month, treats I've had/bought and things I want to remember.
Well, I guess that's it for now. Pretty achievable if you ask me and that's what it's all about.
Thank you for reading!
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