31 Dec 2017
A look back at 2017
2017 goals here
Am currently sat in our study come lazy-boy-chair come place-to-dump-things-and-close-the-door room. I don’t actually sit in here very often but just had a sudden fancy for getting cosy in the smallest room in the flat (bar the bathroom – but why would I go chill in there?). So I’ve created some kind of cosy cave with a gillion candles. G is sleeping because he’s ill and I’m wondering if he’s actually going to make it through the New Year’s Eve celebrations we have planned.
I may end the year surrounded by tissues and a feverish boyfriend. Hoping it’s not a sign of how 2018 is gonna go.
Because we’re in the final days of 2017, I’ve been having a read back of THIS post that I wrote this time last year all about my goals for 2017. It was fun to reflect on my ambitions for the year ahead but I didn’t think I would actually come back to it to see how I got on. Yet here I am.
It’s weird how you look back at something you wrote a year ago and think oh yeah, this time last year I was in that head space. I feel so different towards my job than I did this time last year. At the end of 2016, I knew I wanted to make some kind of decision about my day job. I didn’t actively dislike it but I was often bored and had a strong feeling of wanting to shake things up a bit. I actually went to a few interviews this year but, really, all they seemed to do was show me just how flexible my current job is. And flexibility is so important to me as it allows me to pursue other ambitions. I am so, so lucky to be able to work compressed hours and from home and I began to realise that giving that up would require something special to come along. It didn’t. As I was debating all of this, I was actually offered a promotion, to do a kind of hybrid role that involved more responsibility and more money. Although it’s been more stress and a rather big learning curve, I think I’m enjoying it and there’s a good chance a further promotion is on the cards in the new year. I have no goals surrounding work for next year, I’m simply adopting the ‘let’s see how we get on eh’ approach.
The year also saw G and I start sharing a bank account and I can now barely remember what it was like when we didn’t. This means regular discussions about our savings which isn’t actually the most interesting of topics but it’s a lot better than ‘oh shit, I have no savings’ discussions. Hashtag adulting.
(I did actually spend a few savings on buying the Olympus Pen camera but as if I have regrets about bringing that baby into my life).
Somewhat surprisingly, I took up running in the summer (I will admit, it’s fallen by the wayside in the last couple of months due to new jobs and dark evenings but I’m hoping we’ll get back on the horse in 2018). I eventually finished that proofreading course – at the 11th hour – and came out with a B. Sometimes I hated it, sometimes I loved it; I’m glad I did it. Ironically, the biggest lesson I learnt was that I much prefer re-writing and improving text rather than explicitly correcting grammar.
I also wanted to reduce the time I spent feeling anxious unnecessarily and time I spent pointlessly scrolling on social media. These little fellas ebb and flow but I guess that’s just life.
This year was a good’un travel wise. It started with a weekend in Devon for my step-dad’s 50th birthday in January – we stayed in a castle! I had weekends in Edinburgh and Bristol to visit old friends, a lovely week in Corfu with the family and two uh-mazing weekends in Wales and Paris with my gals. G and I also did a mini road trip around York and Newcastle/Northumberland and we had a little staycation weekend in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire at my cousin's. Of course, without a doubt, the travel highlight was finally getting to go on our big trip to New York in April. Sweet jesus, take me back.
Speaking of travel, I did finally put together my Iceland videos and discovered I loved the process, so made a few more videos here and there. Like, I’m not necessarily any good at video editing but I really love capturing a few video memories, and hope to keep doing so over the next 12 months.
Obvs this year has had lows (personally that is; let’s not even discuss the low points for the human race in general…cos, you know, Trump). G being made redundant, some family drama, the weirdness that was my first cervical screening but, in general, it coasted along quite nicely.
I turned 25, I celebrated two years with G, I wrote a fair bit. I saw this little corner of the internet slowly grow (I even had my first ever sponsored blog post) and I love each and every one of you people for giving it a read. Promoting my blog does not come naturally to me, mainly cos scheduling tweets may be the dullest thing in the world, but I honestly don’t know what I’d do without being able to type away here.
So yeah, thanks for listening you cuties. Hope you all have a marvellous new year’s eve, whether you’re out partying until 5am or hiding under the duvet by 9pm (looking at you mum).
See ya next year x
30 Dec 2017
My Favourite Moments of 2017
Admittedly there’s still some of 2017 to go so if my absolute favourite moment happens in the next 24 hours, I’ll let ya know. In the meantime, these are just a few of my favourite moments of the last year:
Surprising my step-dad in Devon for his 50th birthday at the beginning of January. He opened the door expecting a Tesco delivery driver and was greeted by us holding a big birthday balloon and yelling ‘surprise!’. His face was a picture.
Eating at Read’s restaurant to celebrate my birthday and our two-year anniversary. The food was incredible and we had such an amazing evening.
Exploring more of Edinburgh with one of my favourite people and having the best time.
Seeing the night time view of New York City from the top of the Empire State Building. The wind up there was ridiculous and I had to cling desperately onto my dress to try and maintain my dignity but THAT VIEW. It genuinely took my breath away. We spent 9 months planning our trip to New York and it was everything I hoped it would be. Seeing the city sparkle beneath us was my favourite moment of the whole week. And there were a lot of amazing moments to choose from.
Making a 5-year plan with G in our favourite pub. We imagined our wedding, travel, house buying, children; all whilst somewhat intoxicated.
Swimming in an almost-infinity pool with the. Most. Glorious. View. in Corfu, Greece.
Singing (very loudly) along to Britney songs with my gals after a day spent walking, saving sheep (no really) and chilling by the fire in our little cottage in the Welsh countryside.
Standing my ground at work and getting the exact pay rise I’d asked for. Empowerment and all that.
Meeting Eliza, my cousin’s little one; the latest addition to the family. She’s now five months old and is absolutely adorable.
Walking along Bamburgh beach with G during our mini holiday up north. The sky was a perfect blue, G persuaded me to dip my toes in the freezing sea and the beautiful beach stretched endlessly in front of us.
Watching my blog slowly grow. I did my first sponsored post, my first review post and St Albans cathedral got in touch to ask if they could use my images in this post for promotion purposes. My stats are still small but people are reading my rambles and it makes me smile.
Dancing to 80/90s music at my best friend’s hen do. We weren’t expecting to end up in a club but the spontaneity of it just added to the sheer joy of belting out some absolute classics at the top of our voices.
Drinking wine sat outside a bar with my girls not long after arriving for our weekend in Paris. I just had such a sense that it was going to be a corker of a weekend.
Finishing a week of working late in the office at the end of November and coming home to the St Albans Christmas market. The lights were twinkling, there was Christmas music playing and it started to snow. I just had this sudden spurt of emotional excitement at the fact that Christmas was here.
Waking up to heavy snow at the beginning of December. It’s been years since I’ve seen snow like that down south and St Albans was a magical winter wonderland; so happy I got the chance to see it.
Arriving in Sheffield for Christmas to find my dad waiting for me at the station wearing an elf t-shirt and a Santa hat. I laughed so hard.
Feeling pretty content with my lot throughout the year.
Happy new year folks!
29 Dec 2017
The Christmas and New Year Limbo
OH HEY.
First thing to tell you; I just had a bath with a Lush intergalactic bath bomb and am now COVERED in glitter. I got 8 bath bombs and a £40 Lush voucher for Christmas so am wondering if maybe people know I like bath bombs? I dunno.
So here we are. Christmas has passed (trying to be brave about it) and we’re now in that time period before New Year's Eve where I literally have no idea what day it is or what the heck my sleeping pattern is doing. I appear to be constantly wearing my pjs (new Fat Face ones – cheers mum), am working my way through The Hunger Games film series and am surrounded by an unprecedented amount of mince pies and chocolate.
This is the time of year where I like to play the I’m-going-to-be-productive-lol-just-kidding-going-to-spend-4-days-on-the-sofa game. It usually ends with me going back to work in Jan feeling like a snug little bug and then realising I am not remotely on top of my life and freaking the heck out. It’s a jolly hoot.
Apparently, this is also the most common time of year for booking holidays and I can confirm I’m very much joining the hype; there’s a rather large pile of travel guides next to me and I’ve got an unhealthy amount of internet tabs open researching places at opposite ends of the globe. Girl likes to dream.
G has a cold, I have period cramps; so let’s hope we’ve restored ourselves to full health in time for 2018 showing up eh?
Hope you’ve all had a marvellous Christmas. I got a dyson cordless hoover as a present so it probs wasn’t as good as mine but what’cha gonna do?
Might try and do something productive tomorrow. In the meantime, where’s the mince pies at huh?
24 Dec 2017
Bath Christmas Market
A couple of weeks back on a random Wednesday, my friend Alice and I met in the Starbucks in Paddington station, grabbed ourselves a take-away drink and hopped on a train to Bath.
Back in 2010 (!), Bath was our old stomping ground and we spent many a nights wandering the beautiful streets intoxicated and inadequately dressed.
We’ve matured some what since then (a bit anyway…)
We decided to pop back for a whirlwind trip to visit the legendary Christmas market. It was supposed to be a reasonable hour and a half train ride from Paddington but we ended up momentarily stuck in Swindon due to a signal failure. It took a train to Bristol and a taxi ride but we did eventually make it, only an hour later than expected (could have been worse!).
Despite living in Bath for three years and popping back at least once a year since moving away, this was the first time I felt like I did the Christmas market properly. I think the key factors to success were being there mid-week (being there on a Saturday is a bit like trying to do your Christmas shopping on the tube during rush hour) and because we dedicated the whole day to the market rather than trying to fit in extra activities.
We took our time to wander and look at each stall before even beginning to start shopping. We smelt candles and sampled cheese, brownies and cider. We ate lunch at more than one food stall and bought quite a few gifts for ourselves…
The weather wasn’t absolutely freezing and the rain held out so we felt okay to stay outside and experience all the hustle and bustle; the smells and sights. The carol singers and Christmas shoppers.
As it got darker, everything felt just that little bit more festive as the lights twinkled and the pop-up bars began to overflow.
And I swear I will never tire of seeing that giant Christmas tree lit up in front of the abbey.
We enjoyed some mulled wine in a pop-up ‘ski’ bar (the experience slightly hampered by the fact I managed to smash an entire bottle of just-bought cider All. Over. The. Floor.) before heading to dinner.
We’d booked a table at Acorn Vegetarian Kitchen, a cosy little restaurant tucked down a side street and serving plant-based food. Apart from the confusion over lime foam in an onion (I just did not get this), the food was gorgeous and far posher then we will ever be.
And with that, our day was up, and we headed back towards the station; my Bath fix done for another year.
22 Dec 2017
Un weekend à Paris II
Welcome back to Paris! Part 1 here.
I’ve seen it before, but that doesn’t take away from the excitement of coming round the buildings and seeing the Eiffel Tower properly against that crisp blue autumn sky. I’m always struck by the grandness of the Eiffel Tower; and the way it manages to be beautiful and ugly at the same time. It’s such an unusual structure.
We took photos, had a mosey through the Champ de Mars, around the tower (thanks to security, you can no longer wander under it which made me sad), stopped off to buy mulled wine from a cart, crossed the river and took more photos up on the viewing platform in the Trocadero gardens.
Because I’d seen it recommended on approx. 269475 blogs, I’d heavily emphasised that we should go to Angelina’s for one of their famous hot chocolates. There was a very long queue when we got there (always a sign of a good place but equally very annoying because I’m a very inpatient queuer) but the hot chocolate gods were looking down on us because they had a take away cart – with a much smaller queue! We each got a takeaway cup full of steaming hot chocolate and went and plonked our bums on a bench in the gardens.
THAT HOT CHOCOLATE. HAVE MERCY.
I was a bit worried I would find it too rich and only manage a mouthful before feeling sick but it was unbelievably dreamy and I could have had another cup in a heartbeat. I may be prone to exaggeration but I am being perfectly honest when I say it was the best hot chocolate I have ever had.
Mostly a reflection on how I much I wanted to sing GOD HELP THE OUTCAST in an Esmerelda outfit.
(If you don’t get this reference, you did all your Disney-film-watching wrong as a child).
Religious/Disney-inspired reflection over, we briefly rested our cold-battered selves back at Rosie’s. We could have probably gone to bed there and then but oh boy, there was raclette to be eaten.
If you haven’t already clocked; we are girls who love our cheese. I’d go as far as to say it’s a key factor in why our friendships have lasted so long. So, yes, we spent most of dinner discussing cheese, eating cheese, watching the cheese…
We smothered chunks of bread in the cheese fondue and scraped freshly-melted cheese over salami and new potatoes, and it was flippin’ wonderful.
(We also had a chocolate fondue afterwards and all came home nursing hefty food babies.)
Somewhat reluctantly, we awoke deliberately early the next morning for another attempt at getting into the catacombs. We arrived an hour before they opened and huddled in the cold with coffee and pastries (might have had flan for breakfast; absolutely no regrets). It worked: we were one of the first in the queue and made it in no problem. Take note kids.
The catacombs are a fascinating rabbit warren of morbid history; it’s easy to see why people find them so enthralling and are willing to queue for hours to see the underground tunnels delicately built out of the dead. I would implore you to go visit should you take a trip to Paris.
Our final sight to see was the Sacre Coeur. A snowy white building framed against a blue sky – anyone else think of Gringotts?! My main reason for wanting to go to Sacre Coeur was because I’d read about the glorious view to be seen if you’re willing to climb the 200 and something steps up to the dome. Which Rosie and I were.
Once again, I found myself nearly bringing on an asthma attack by climbing the spiral staircase of an old building. All in the name of a good view. Never underestimate how much I love a view from a tall building on a hill. Who even needs to breathe anyway?
The view was spectacular so total worth the faff. We could see right across Paris in all directions and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was beautiful.
We had a lazy lunch which included wine, chips, cheese and Nutella crepes before going macaron shopping (pretty much a requirement in Paris right?) and collecting our bags.
And with that we were scooting back to London on the Eurostar, feeling rather full and sleepy.
20 Dec 2017
Un weekend à Paris I
A couple of weekends back, my friend Ele and I took a mosy up to St Pancras station. I had that slightly gleeful feeling you get when you’re on your usual route to work but know you’re not actually going to work.
Naturally my first port of call when the train got in was M&S to buy an extra-large tub of hummus.
Gotta get your priorities in order ya know?
We stocked up on snacks and met Becca outside the Eurostar entrance.
We were off to Paris and travelling with Ele, who had never been on the Eurostar before, was a bit like travelling with an excitable child (for anyone in a similar position; yes, you can take liquids aboard and no, the train doesn’t plunge straight into the Thames…).
It was grand, minus the woman asking us to whisper because she was trying to sleep… on a 1pm train.
It was my fourth visit to Paris; this trip had come about because our gal Rosie was working there for a couple of months so naturally the girls, myself included, had insisted on visiting within about five seconds of her getting the job.
After eating a lot of hummus, failing to whisper for sleeping woman and navigating the metro without disaster, we met Rosie and headed to her little studio flat to drop off our bags.
We didn’t linger too long because we were in Paris and there was wine to be drunk.
I felt all warm and happy as we sat amongst the drinkers and smokers along the pavement outside a bar – yes, in November; all praise the excellent outside heating provided in most Parisian bars. We shared wine over a little table, sat under the red glow of the heater, and I could just sense that the weekend was going to be a good’un.
After savouring our wine, we headed to L’Ange 20 for dinner. It was delightfully cosy and oh-so-Parisian, and I loved it instantly. We were seated in the window table, on the edge of the bar and yet tucked away from the rest of the restaurant; our own private corner. We ordered prosecco and wine and got busy browsing the menu. At some point in all of this, Lizzie popped up at the window; her Eurostar having finally arrived.
After much deliberation, we settled on our choices. Naturally, I had to start with the crispy camembert, served deliciously hot and melting on a bed of greens. I thought it was marvellous but I was never not going to enjoy a big plate of melting cheese. I followed this with the lamb, roasted in a herb crust and served with carrots and sautéed potatoes.
The evening was spent filled with laughter and chats, and included an explain-your-job-in-one-sentence game. We were too full for pudding (something that very rarely happens to me tbh) but we did stop at another bar on our way home. It was midnight but we were able to settle down for more wine, again; outside seats, although I was firmly tipsy by this point and thought it best to not finish my share of the carafe of wine.
Despite this, there were still hangovers when we woke the next morning and we spectacularly failed in our attempt to be up early to get to the catacombs. We gave it go anyway, after stopping at a lovely little patisserie for pastries. My chocolate and pistachio pastry was the stuff of dreams, I assure you. As predicted, the catacomb queue was a good four hours long so we immediately sacked it off and headed towards Les Invalides. The weather took a very wet turn as we walked and we were running for shelter by the time we got close by. We spent an hour or two sheltering from the rain as we explored the army museum and the main courtyard of the site. The true spectacle though is easily dome des invalids and the tomb of Napoleon I. The architecture is grand and intricate, and its vastness easily takes your breath away.
When we braved going back outside, we were shocked to find clear blue skies; as though the heavy clouds and rain had never happened. We could see the Eiffel tower peering above the buildings some distance away, so we wandered vaguely towards it, ambling down the little side streets. We stopped at a cafe on the way to indulge on croque monsieur and onion soup; a perfect set-up for an afternoon spent out in the cold, seeing the sights.
Second instalment of the trip up here v soon.
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