2015 – the year of the house & the holidays! (My year in review)

Wowee – just putting the pictures together for this post has reminded me what an AMAZING year 2015 has been. The previous year had been a bit of a bumpy ride, I moved home, changed job, my plans fell through and I felt unsettled throughout the year. However, in 2015 that all came to end as we settled down and bought our first home, right by the sea – It was a dream come true. Our weekends changed from drinking, pubs and parties to DIY, visits to B&Q and exploring our new area and I love that. Living outside of the city is so peaceful, I have really enjoyed the calmer pace of life.

We have also packed in the holidays this year, we’ve been super lucky to have some amazing experiences mixed with some terrifying memories when we got caught up in the Paris Terror attacks. Either way, this year has been a time for making memories I will never forget.

Here is my year in review….

January & February – WE BOUGHT OUR HOUSE! After viewing our house and then missing out on it when another offer was put in, I was pretty gutted. However, one random lunch time our estate agent called to say the sale had fallen through and the house was back on the market. We drove straight over, had a quick whizz around the house and within a couple of hours had put our offer in. The next couple of months were spent nervously waiting for all the paperwork and surveys to go through and in February – we finally moved in! I was one of the proudest moments of my life, I love being a home-owner! Robbie has had a new lease of life and enjoys all the extra space and walks along the seafront.

March -& April: We travelled to Jordan and Israel for the first of our holidays of the year. In Jordan we explored the sights of Amman, floated in the Dead Sea, rode camels across the desert and slept under the stars in Wadi Rum. In Israel we sang ‘Little Donkey’ in Bethlehem, walked the stages of the cross in Jeruselum and ate more falafel than I care to think about! It was a really interesting, historical holiday and floating in the dead sea was definitely one of the strangest experiences ever!

May – May was a quiet month, the sun was beginning to shine to I started to work on our garden, learning to garden from absolute basics as I usually kill pot plants! I even managed to grow and eat my own crop of strawberries and later on in the year grew sunflowers taller than me (which the dog ate – don’t ask!)

June – In June we travelled over to Bordeaux to visit my Aunty and Uncle who live about an hour from the city. We hired a car and enjoyed exploring the local area, eating copious delicious French pastries along the way.

July & August – The Summer was blog event season! Some of my favourite events were the Posh Totty Summer party, Clinique Face Forward (where I finally learnt to contour!) and the Body Shop PR team came on a road trip to Brighton to hold an event in Brighton Marina. I also pushed myself out of my comfort zone and attended the #5SensesofTurkey Thomas Cook event in London. I didn’t know anyone going and felt so nervous, but I had a lovely time and finally met some bloggers that I’d been chatting to online for months/years! I also won 2 flights to Turkey which was so unexpected! I was so pleased I pushed myself to go.

At home we also continued doing up our new house and worked on our living room. We painted our walls grey and white and then ripped up the carpet and got the original floorboards (which are over 100 years old) sanded back. They aren’t perfect but I like to think the imperfections tell a story of the house.

September & October – I used the flights I’d won at the blog event and we travelled to Akyaka in Turkey were we just fell in love with the place! I was stunningly beautiful! We had a lazy week laying in the sun, eating delicious food like freshly caught fish, fruit and vegetables and went on a few boat trips. It was just perfect.

We also travelled to Spain on a group holiday with 4 other friends. We rented a villa and had a different holiday, full of fun, cocktails and party games. I had a really lovely time but realised I prefer the more relaxing style of holiday these days.

November –  November was the month I turned 30! Vee surprised me with a trip to Paris to celebrate, however unfortunately we arrived on the day of the terror attacks and had a very different weekend to that planned as it was one of the most terrifying experiences I’ve ever had. Luckily we were not harmed and managed to see some of the city, we are already looking to go back and visit all the sights we missed out on and see Paris properly next year.

After the disaster of my birthday, my friends back in Brighton celebrated with me in style as we took to Brighton for an Italian meal, followed by drinks and dancing. I stayed out until 3am for the first time in YEARS and paid for it the next day. Turns out, hangovers at 30 are pretty painful.

December  – December started with a bang as we went to see Madonna at the O2 as my 30th birthday present, we had VIP seats and had an amazing view!

We then took to the Nile for Christmas – travelling across Egypt by boat, taking in sights like The Pyramids, Valley of the Kings and Abu Simbel, to name a few. We spent Christmas Day in Aswan, waking up to this beautiful view across the nile from our cabin. It was the first time I’ve been abroad for Christmas and certainly was a unique experience. I am going to be writing about our holiday to Egypt and sharing some pictures soon, so keep an eye out for that!

So, that was my year! It’s been a good one and although I’ve painted quite a rosy picture there have been our share of sadness and stress too, with friendships breaking down, work dramas and other things but I wanted to write this post just to remember the happy times.  Next year is going to be quieter, we don’t actually have any holidays booked (shock, horror), this year is going to be all about getting our house sorted and saving a bit of money. I’m sure there will be some lovely times along the way too.

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope 2016 is awesome for you!

If you have written a ‘year round-up post’ I’d love to read it so leave your link below!