Well, I can’t believe that 2018 is coming to a close. 2018 has been such a brilliant year for me. I felt like I wanted to write and share everything with you, so I could have the memories of this year.
January
Looking back, I can’t actually believe how much happened in January. I started off the year heading to the V&A Museum to see the limited time Winnie the Pooh exhibition which was so lovely. Like I have mentioned many a time, Pooh is my favourite silly old bear.
The first blogging event of the year for me was one of the best ones. It was at the Grovenor Casino in Bournemouth. Not only was this a super fun event (which you can read about here), but it was also a time where I made some amazing friendships. At this event, I met Harrison, whom you may know, we called each other twins because we were so similar. We instantly clicked and became great friends.
January was also the month that I got my first sponsored blog post! YAY! I worked with Trint Transcription on a post all about their services. It was so exciting to finally get noticed in the PR world! I could not believe my luck! Thanks Trint for working with me! Also, to do with the blog, I went self-hosted! YAY! I have been loving how my blog looks and I’m so glad that I went through with owning my blog!
February
It was much quieter in February. I didn’t document much on my Instagram then, so nothing much was happening. I do remember I was focusing on my photography project a lot as hand in day was looming for it.
However, in February I did make my first trip to Cadbury World. I am part of a committee within girl guiding uk here on the south coast. As you can guess by the name, we plan events for the girls. One of the trips that I suggested was Cadbury World as I have never been. Yes, I don’t like chocolate, but I still wanted to experience one of the UK’s attraction. You can read about my experience here.
March
March was probably one of the best months for me. There were so many incredible things that happened.
At the beginning of the month we had the beast from the east (remember that!). It snowed! Now most of the time I would be super happy about this, but I was dreading all the snow! This is because I was due to head to LA the day after all the snow had fallen. I remembered praying to all the Gods that there was to be no snow for a couple of days until I had left the country so that I could get away, but unfortunately my prayers weren’t heard and it snowed. Like, heavily snowed. The roads on the south coast came to a stand still and it made getting to the airport next to impossible, however I managed it because….
I went to LA! I went along with my college for a trip all about film. Well, you can imagine how much I loved that. We started off the trip having a night of exploring Santa Monica. The following day it was the Warner Bros Studio Tour, followed by a day at the Oscars. Then it was two days of theme parks! One day at Universal and one day at Disney. Both were incredible days and I wish that I could do it over and over again! Our final day, we headed out to LA to see all the sights.
March was a great month for blogging events with both the Bournemouth Bloggers and the Southampton Bloggers. I got back from LA and pretty much headed right to Supermarine with the Soton Bloggers. Then headed for cocktails at the Level 8 Skybar with the Bournemouth Bloggers which were interesting… Then, a little trip to Lakaz Maman in Southampton for a glorious brunch.
April
At the very end of March and the beginning of April, I headed to Spain for Easter, with my Mum, Step-Dad and Grandma. My Grandma had never been to our house in Spain before, so it was lovely that we were able to take her. She had not been to Spain in years so it was lovely to see her so excited. It was also nice to be able to spend time with the family in a relaxing environment.
More blogging events for me in April with two theatre events. One at the Mayflower seeing Titanic the Musical and the other seeing The Importance of Being Earnest in Wimborne. I have always loved the theatre so those events have been real highlights for me this year. Continuing on with a quiz night at Ojo Rojo and Alfresco Dining at the Christchurch Harbour hotel where we had a shell of paella! I also got to experience the Real Greek’s Summer Terrace with my Bournemouth Blogger friends.
I also had my first spa experience at the Beautyh spa in the New Forest. It was so lovely and relaxing and I would love to do it all over again!
May
I started out in May at the Body Shop in Southampton seeing the new launches. I even got to take some of those products home which was wonderful! The goodie bag was incredible!
Even though I had been friends with the bloggers for a while, I feel like May was the month that really solidified the friendships for me. We actually went out as a group together without a blogging event. We all went out for some drinks for Emma’s birthday. It was also really nice spending time as a group without having the pressure of getting the shot and being on our best behaviour!
I got to go and review War Horse at the Mayflower theatre in Southampton. It was another amazing blogger moment as it was a show that I had wanted to see so badly!
In May 2018, I tried golf for the first time! I was invited down with a few local bloggers for a golf lesson at Parley Golf Course. It was such a fun experience and I loved it! I’d never played proper golf before so it was a complete new experience for me!
June
At the start of June 2018, I had my final A-Level exams. It was a pretty stressful week, but I managed to get through!
Yes, you guessed it. Another blogger event! (2018 was full of them!). The Bournemouth Bloggers and myself headed to Ginjams for LOTS of gin! I mean its always 5 o’clock somewhere!
I also experienced Brighton for the first time with Harrison for a photoshoot. It was a lovely day and I would love to go back to experience some of the Lanes.
To celebrate the end of exams and finishing college, my Mum and I went on a little holiday together. We wanted to do it on the cheap, so we decided on doing a little bit of a road trip. We started off in Brugge, Belgium (which is such a pretty city, I can defo see another trip there in the future!) then we moved onto the Netherlands to go to the theme park Efteling (highly recommend taking a visit there if you are looking for a cheap Disney alternative). Then we finally ended up in Ypres to visit all the World War I memorials. I was such a fun trip and I loved that it was just me and my Mum.
I can’t believe I can type this, but at the end of June, I saw Taylor Swift live on the Reputation Stadium Tour at Wembley Stadium. It was the BEST concert I had ever been to and one that I will never forget (thanks to the tour movie being on Netflix).
July
We started the month in the pouring rain and Hyde Park’s British Summertime Festival to see Michael Bublé. Don’t get me wrong, Bublé was AMAZING, but the experience was kinda ruined by the rain. It did not stop for the whole time, and it was kind of disappointing. I mean, I know there is nothing that you can do about the weather for an outdoor event, but I won’t be doing British Summertime again.
Musical.ly got in contact with me asking if we wanted to work together which was a pretty awesome moment. I made 8 videos for them on the platform and it was such a confidence booster on my video making.
August
In August, I started my job at Waitrose (boo!). It’s not the most ideal job (sorry Waitrose) and I don’t plan on staying there forever as its not the most fun thing in the world. But, I’m hoping that whilst I am at university I will be able to keep the job going so I don’t have to take out a ginormous student loan.
August is also the month of exam results. I finished with BBB, which thankfully was enough UCAS points for my university of choice. So you can imagine that I was over the moon!
I also managed to work with Tik-Tok (formally known as musical.ly) again which was pretty cool. I made a further 8 videos for the platform, again, another little confidence booster for the content creation.
There were also some pretty great food events in August. La Piccola for a Bottomless Prosecco Brunch and the Real Eating Company for breakfast. Delicious!
August was the start of a real friendship blooming between Emma and I. It started with some photoshoots in and around the area, and now we see each other almost every week. I can’t believe that blogging has brought my best friend into my life!
September
September, my birthday month. Honestly, this was one of the top months for 2018.
It started out visiting the new Centre Vr in Bournemouth and me trying out virtual reality for the first time. I’ve got to admit, it was pretty fun and I would love to go back and play more games once the new centre in Bournemouth is open later this month. It was such a fun evening with friends and all of our competitive sides showed!
I took my Grandma to the cinema for the first time in 40+ years to go and see Christopher Robin. It was so nice to take her. I’m still not sure what changed her mind about going to the cinema, but anyway, she came and it was a lovely experience. Plus, the film was pretty great too!
This was one of those blogger pinch me moments. I was invited down to a blogger day at Solent Forts luxury hotels. The day was incredible and we got to experience the stunning hotels and have an amazing lunch!
2018 marked me turning the grand old age of 21. I had such a great weekend. We started the weekend by going out for dinner with close family and then on my actual birthday my Mum and I headed up to London for a little bit of shopping! Then we went out for dinner at Bubba Gumps and finished off seeing Heathers: the Musical starring Carrie Hope Fletcher. It was amazing and I loved every second of it.
To finish off the birthday weekend, I headed to the Body Shop in Bournemouth for a private event with the Bournemouth Bloggers. It was such a lovely evening and I bought far too many things.
October
October I headed back to Lush Bournemouth for an event. It was so nice as Lush Bournemouth was the event that started all the events for me. It was such a nice evening filled with pampering and snow fairy!
The main event in October was me going on my solo trip to Disneyland Paris. On this trip I purchased an annual pass. Yep, that’s right, I have access to Disneyland Paris 365 days a year. Lots of people told me that having the pass was excessive, but I say that its not. The value for money is unbelievable!
November
2018 was the year that I had a fair few spa treatments and November came through with another spa treatment with Emma at the Hilton, Ageas Bowl. It was such a nice day (pretty much perfect!). It was the perfect amount of relaxation and Emma and I fooling around with the Instagram superzoom when there was a room full of people trying to relax! Lets be real, this year has taught me that when you get us two together, we can’t stop laughing, so maybe relaxing and calming public places are not for us! We then finished off the day with afternoon tea, which was BEAUTIFUL!
Once again, I headed back to Disneyland Paris, but this time, with my Mum and for the Christmas season. I haven’t seen the Christmas season at Disneyland Paris since I was a young child, so I was so excited to be going back! Mum and I managed to do the trip super cheaply and thanks to my annual pass, everything was that little bit cheaper! Yippee! It was soooooooo cold when we were over there. So cold, that it actually snowed (not quite beast from the east snow though! *thankfully!*). I had such an amazing and magical trip that I would repeat again in a heart beat!
The icing on the cake for November was being invited to Beaulieu for the launch of the Christmas trail. This was a real ‘pinch me’ moment for me. I’ve loved Beaulieu for ages. I think it is such an amazing place to visit.
December
Well, what a great end to the year. In December, I FINALLY got my UCAS application in. I sent it in to my college at the beginning and the agonising wait began for them to check it over and send it to the universities. However, throughout this agonising wait, I had some amazing things going on. Again, there were more blogging events with the Bournemouth Bloggers, visiting the new Slug and Lettuce, plus having Afternoon Tea at Haskins.
I also, got to visit the Warner Bros. Studio tour, London: The Making of Harry Potter in December. It was organised by the Events committee that I’m on in Guides and we took over 80 children up for the day. It was such a magical day and I had such fun visiting all the sets of Harry Potter, even though, Im not the biggest fan of the films myself.
Then the following day, as part of my birthday present, my Mum, my Grandma and myself, headed up to London for the Mary Poppin’s afternoon tea at the Aquashard. The views were stunning as we ate our treats. It was so worth it, and being Mary Poppins themed, it was perfect!
The next day, my application was sent off! Within 24 hours, I had heard back from all three universities. My top choice gave me an interview and the other two gave me unconditional offers (not bad eh!).
However, the fun did not stop there. It was time for the Bournemouth Bloggers Christmas Party. I had such a great night with everyone. Towards the end of the night was probably my favourite part when the two Emma’s were a little bit intoxicated. Some of the things that were said and done were hilarious.
And that’s a sum up of 2018.
So much happened in 2018. So many memories have been made and its just been a great year. Lets hope 2019 is just as good!
