A Look Back at 2018

Firstly, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I always like to take some time away from blog and social channels over the Christmas break, to reflect on the past 12 months. Each year I do a post recapping my highlights of the year (you can find my other recaps here 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014). Normally I go into detail about each month, but 2018 was a special year for me because a couple of monumental things happened to me which I want to focus on.

• I turned 30!

In April, I turned the big 30! In the lead up to the day, I felt a lot of uncertainty and pressure, which I posted about at the time. However, when it came to the day (or should I say month of celebrations), I felt good. More than good. I was excited to start a new decade of my life, and thanks to good friends, family and amazing boyfriend, I celebrated in the best way possible. Since then, not a lot has changed, other than feeling more settled and happy within myself. Maybe my thirties will be the best years of my life, as everyone keeps telling me!

• We Bought a House!

This was a pretty major milestone. The biggest of my life to date. My boyfriend and I finally bought a house, after years of saving. When I say 'house', I really mean a two bed flat, but it's OUR two bed flat, and we couldn't be more proud. Buying your first home can be a stressful, daunting, confusing time. It costs a huge amount of money, and includes a whole bunch of jargon that most of us wouldn't understand. But after months of looking, we finally found the 'one' and luckily it all came together without a hitch. Now we're in the process of decorating and continuing to buy bits and bobs, to make it truly ours. It's been an exciting few months!

• I volunteered abroad.

This was a bucket list opportunity I couldn't pass up. At the beginning of last year, I was lucky enough to join 9 other colleagues on the once of a life time trip to India, where I volunteered at a number of care homes for young children. It was hand on heart one of the best experiences of my life to date, and I'm so proud of myself for doing it. I would 100% recommend volunteering to anyone! I've since done another couple of volunteering trips, here in London, and they've been just as rewarding.

• We went to New York for Christmas!

Okay, maybe not Christmas itself, but we spent 1 glorious week at the beginning of December in the big apple! We had both been to New York once before, but when we were both just 18 and a little clueless. I had always wanted to go at Christmas time and my boyfriend was fortunate enough to win a holiday of his choosing through his job. So we decided to go for it and wow, was it the most incredible trip! New York at Christmas is everything you can imagine - ridiculously festive and absolutely magical. I will blog about our trip properly soon, as there's so much more to share, but if you follow me on Instagram, you can take a look at my New York Highlight.