Monday 1 January 2018

2017 - A Reflection and Roundup of The Year

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR! How fast did 2017 go?! Ever since I started my blog in 2014, I've always done a round up and reflection post each new years, and after a bit of a debate with myself, I've decided to do one for 2017 too. I hadn't really thought of writing one for the last year as it was just so mixed and I wasn't sure if there was that much worthy of being written about, until I had a relaxing bubble bath one day and just felt the urge to get blogging. All important decisions are made in the bath and shower aren't they? Anyway long story short, this is a bit of a reflection post on the past 12 months as it would be weird to not do one, and it's basically just a load of things I think are worth mentioning for each month. Some exciting, and some not so much.

January

This was actually a pretty good start to the year, with mine and Georges birthday both in this month. My birthday ended up being quite mixed, it started off a little sad but got better as the day went on and to say how much I had been dreading it, it really wasn't too bad. I'm just not much of a fan of my birthday so every year I always get a bit wobbly about it. At the moment I'm not feeling too bad about it next week, certainly not as bad as last year anyway, and I'm trying to think more positively about it all. Last year we went to Pizza Hut which is always great isn't it? and had the best cookie dough, and then a few weeks later, we celebrated Georges birthday. We had a delicious meal at Eds Diner, the best pancakes in the world, and then the day after we went to London for the night. We were lucky enough to get tickets for Rachel Tuckers last show in Wicked and it was just incredible, the best way to end the month, and a night I'll never forget.
wicked

February

A pretty quiet month and the only thing I can think that is worth mentioning really is Valentines. We didn't stray away too much from our usual date nights, a trip to the cinema and a meal but it was lovely. We went to see Fifty Shades Darker which I'd waited for 2 years for and ate a load of nachos.
cinema

March

Things started to go a bit downhill from March onwards as that was when I started to get a bit ill and it sort of flared up every few months afterwards. I'm not really sure how to explain but basically being a woman is hard sometimes and my body has not been too kind to me over the last 12 months or so. I'm still sort of trying to deal with it all but I'm hoping I'm not going to have the same thing again throughout 2018. Anyway, I got through it, but one good thing that did happen in March was that George got a nice pay rise and a bonus so we could start thinking of a weekend breaks and really start planning for the future.
prosecco

April

We have a tradition now at the start of April each year we'll go to Bradfield which isn't too far away from us, for a little day out. It's one of Georges favourites places and I grow to love it more and more each time we go, and I'm already looking forward to going back this year. We had a nice meal in one of the local pubs including a huge apple crumble and then did a lot of walking in the sunshine, where I saw 14 dogs which was pretty nice. It's somewhere we want to go back to a lot more this year, hopefully starting in a few weeks for Georges birthday.
bradfield

May

We made another trip to London in May, this time for 2 nights and it was so, so needed. After not being well and my anxiety being all over the place, I needed a break and where else than London? It really is my happy place so those few days were perfect. We ate so much food, visited Borough Market, Oxford Street, Hyde Park and so much more and I even got invited to review The Potato Project which was quite a big deal for me. Potatoes are basically my life so it was a perfect collaboration for me. May also saw me collaborate with Bakerdays which were a brand I had wanted to work with for a long time! I spoke to George and together we decided on getting a cake personalised for his brothers as theirs was the closest birthday to the time and I'm so happy with how it turned out.
borough market
bakerdays

June 

Nothing really happened in June, at all, apart from online shopping and adding some new prints to the bedroom wall, that's literally about it! The bedroom was one room in this flat that I really struggled to make homely and 'us', that was until I decided on a photo wall and in the summer of 2017, I added so many more prints and photos to that, so now it is so different to how it started, but I love it. It has just completely changed up the room and even though it might still not be exactly how I would like it, that one wall has made me feel so much better about it.
gallery wall

July

July saw me and George celebrate 6 years together! I honestly find it so hard to believe we're closer to 10 years now than 1, but as cheesy as it is, each year I just fall more and more in love with him. He looked after me so much in 2017 and did just about everything when I was having a down week or not feeling great, and never complained. Like with valentines, we kept our anniversary pretty chill, and went for a meal at Bella Italia and then to the cinema, and we also ordered a load of Cadbury chocolate as a joint little present to one another that we fully enjoyed that night. July was also the month that I wrote a blog post I'm really proud of, my renting tips, experience and pros and cons. I decided on that post on a bit of a whim but it turned out really well and I think I gave some pretty good advice, it was a post I could have really done with a few years ago when we first moved out.
anniversary

August

Personally not much happened in August but blog wise, I feel like it was a really good month. I worked with quite a few brands and got to write some really interesting posts. I got sent my first ever bottle of perfume to review which was so exciting and also quite a lot of chocolate which was nice!
ghost dream perfume

September

 We had a little impromptu day out in Leeds in September and I'm already looking forward to going back again at some point. Apart from a few weekend breaks each year, we don't often get to go and explore somewhere new but as Leeds isn't too far from us and we had the money, we just decided last minute to go shopping. We spoilt ourselves in the Lindt store, I picked up a few pamper bits and again, I saw quite a few dogs so it ended up being a brilliant day! As it's quite closeby on the train, it's somewhere I think we definitely need to make an effort to go back to more.
lindt store

October

This was another good blog month and I actually got to come up with quite a few new baking recipes which is always fun! I worked with Guittard and Cake Angels on a few blog posts so I ended up making chocolate covered brownies, a chocolate sprinkle cake and halloween cupcakes, all of which were delicious and it was just a really great opportunity. I love baking anyway but October was the month I really started to get back into it and make some new things.
brownies

November

 Finally my Christmas Gift Guides went live in November after literally months of work on them. I started working on them really early in 2017 and luckily managed to get quite a few brands involved but when they finally got published, a huge weight was off my shoulders. I think I put myself under quite a bit of pressure with them last year but they had a good response and I think each of them had some fab gifts. November was also the month I finally got to see Paddington 2 in the cinema which is my film of the year, and we also had a last minute trip to London. As George was needed there for work one day, we decided to make a weekend of it and I ended up having a day to myself shopping which was Lush. I feel so at home there and I don't think I'll ever forget how comfortable I felt walking around by myself compared to how I feel here, it was the perfect little trip.
covent garden

December 

The start of December was a little strange as I actually had the flat to myself for about 4 days. George went away with work to Krakow (so jealous!) so I had a lot of time to blog, get sorted for Christmas and really just enjoy my own company. It was weird and given that we'd not been apart for that long in years, I missed him like mad but I think if anything we only appreciate each other even more now, and also he now knows where everything is for when we one day go back together (it's been on my travel bucketlist for ages). Aswell as getting excited for Christmas throughout December, this was also the month we went and got married! We booked it months before but kept it a secret until afterwards, and I still find it hard to believe it's finally happened. It was everything we wanted and now I'm officially Mrs Timms which is so strange but amazing. It was the most amazing way to end the year.
christmas wedding
So overall as mixed as the year was, I think it ended in a pretty good way! After being engaged for a few years, it sometimes felt like we were never going to end up married as there was always something stopping us but in 2017 things just fell into place and I couldn't be happier about it. It really was the best day of my life and was certainly the highlight of 2017. Hopefully 2018 will only see even bigger and better things.

How was your 2017? Have you made any plans for 2018?

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