To say that tomorrow is the last day of 2018 is kinda strange. We always say that the years go quick, but I feel like for every year we get older, the years just go quicker.
I'm not a 'New Year, new me' kinda gal, but I do like to have goals in my head, have hopes for the year and just ride the wave until I crash off. I entered this New Years in St Albans, which was a pretty lame night if I'm honest. I had a good time with the girls, but all in all it was busy, expensive and the music was pretty rubbish. The night ended with a kebab and I wasn't even drunk.
I didn't know what to expect for this year, but I just had a feeling that it was going to be a good one - or I had hoped so anyway.
I set out to make this year a little different. I was always one of those people that said I wanted to do something, but never really did... I would hold back on what I wanted to do because I never wanted to do it alone.
I moved out at the beginning of the year, and after a really bad experience with renting from the worlds largest arsehole, I moved back in with my dad. You could say it was a pretty bad start to the year, but I was actually pretty relieved to be moving back in with my dad (not just because my landlord was a lying, shitheaded loser) but because I realised there were so many things that I could do now that I was free again.
The year before I had given my dad a skiing trip in Sweden for Christmas and my mum a trip to New York, so I already had a great couple of places set out to go this year. Not to mention it was my good friend (Steph)'s wedding this year and it meant we would be partying in Marbella for her hen do.
All in all, my year has basically been travelling, enjoying myself and topping it off at the end with a boyfriend and a new job.
Skiing in Sweden was an amazing start to the year. I had never been skiing before and I had always wanted to go; not to mention my mum's side of the family are Swedish, so it was like hitting two birds with one stone. Although it was great fun, I was left with a bruise (which I still have now - skiing was in march) the size of one side of my thigh.
Marbella was the most amazing couple of days partying with some of my closest friends. It's triggered which is no my all time favourite saying from Darren - "Dior".
New York was way different to the time I had previously been. I was staying in a hotel on Times Square and actually had money to do things. There were Broadway shows, helicopter rides, rooftop bars and all sorts! New York truly is one of my most favourite places in the world.
In the August I saw one of my closest friends get married in an absolutely beautiful ceremony in a lovely location with great food and music. It was the most perfect wedding and actually the place where I first properly saw and met my now boyfriend, who's first words to me were actually "I'm sorry about him." - Nice.
Near the end of August I found out that I had got a place running the London Marathon for the Mental Health foundation. The training started pretty much instantly and it was a pretty hard first month getting into it and despite multiple knee injuries and now what is currently a 2 week illness (and ongoing) I am still on an ok track to hopefully run the marathon in an ok time. Not only this, but I have spent the last 4 months planning for a big event that will be announced in the New Year.
I spent most of my September in South Africa doing what was probably the first grown up and most scariest thing I had ever done in my life, and that was go on a plane for over 10 hours by myself. I met the most amazing people and have experiences I will never forget. (link to post) - because I'm not going to bore you all on how amazing South Africa was on this post. It was one of the main highlights of my year; something I will never forget and will always be grateful I done. (I MISS YOU SOUTH AFRICA FRIENDS!)
A week or so after being back from South Africa, I took a bike trip to Belgium and can easily tell you that is something I wont ever be doing again. Belgium was amazing, beautiful and I definitely plan to go back there again, but maybe in my car next time...
Turkey was my first TUI event out of the country and it was the most fun and amazing experience. It was busy with work, but god do TUI know how to throw a party. With a gala night on the second and a fancy dress party on the third night, I was pretty shattered but it was SO FUN.
Thailand shortly followed - something I had wanted to do for a long time. I've spent this year looking at my life as something I want to look back on and think 'yeah, I done well' and so although I wasn't spending months travelling around, I thought I'd start off with a small action packed tour of Thailand and it was another one of those things I'm so happy I done. Time flew by and it's strange to think that only a month ago I was actually complaining about how hot and muggy it was whilst playing with elephants.
Thanks to my work, I also go the opportunity to go to Disneyland (a place I had never been before). It was incredible, magical and so much fun. I was sad that I was only there for a short space of time, but I learnt a lot and can definitely give you great selling points if you were interested in going to Disney.
Not only has this year been spent travelling, but it also has ended with something I definitely didn't think would be happening any time soon... A relationship. It's been an on going joke for some time that I'm going to die alone with my 200 cats (something which didn't sound all to bad to me) but never did I think that the loser I spent a good time at Steph's wedding staring at would end up being my boyf and he's pretty alright, if I do say so myself.
I started pole fitness in the April (still continuing now) being taught by the amazing Laura (LJM Fitness) and have seen my strength and confidence grow so much. I never thought I'd have the confidence to start doing something like this by myself, but I did and I have met some great women and have such a great time doing it - highly recommended to those of you debating it.
And finally... My job. I enjoy my job and I absolutely LOVE working for TUI, so you can imagine my happiness when I found out that I had got a job to be a Retail Communications exec - something very creative, exciting and challenging to get my teeth stuck into. I start my new role in the late January and words cannot describe how excited I am.
All in all despite all odds, 2018 was a pretty good year for me. It doesn't go without saying there have been some lows, as all years never always run smoothly; but I've worked hard, set goals and set out to achieve them. Something which I like to think I have successfully done this year.
We never know what is ahead of us, but I like to think that next year I'll continue to work hard and do all the things I want to do because this year has been a pretty alright year.
Here's to 2019!
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