2013 you have most definitely been an interesting one. I’ve seen quite a lot of things this year, some beautiful & some not so kind. I can certainly say (as cliché as it may sound) one helluva rollercoaster.
January is always a tough one for me, I work every hour god sends and work full weekends to keep on top of the travelling wanderlusters. It is always our busiest time of the year for holiday bookings and this year was no exception. January feels a lifetime ago now that this year is nearly over & done with. Nothing exciting ever happens except for our annual meal out for my Mama’s birthday which was always a lovely affair. This year was no exception & we enjoyed a meal at our favourite pub www.thefoxandhoundswalton.com where the food is always delicious. If you are in the area I highly recommend it, so much so, we have asked them to do the catering for our impending wedding day! We also booked our wedding day with the Church & we couldn’t have been happier that everything was set in stone for what will be our most magical day.
February is again, a very slow month for us. I still end up working weekends. Whilst February is the month of love, James & I are never ones for celebrating Valentines Day (We are Vday Scrooges!) we actually went all out & I created a steak dinner with a baked cake delight for pudding. He did the obligatory flowers & prosecco which certainly did not disappoint.
March I lived for my week off in March. End. March sadly saw my Grandads first illness and was in hospital for a week or so. I’d never seen my Grandad ill so it was really hard to take it in, luckily he was home but there was a huge difference in him. I only hoped that he would get back to himself very soon.
April marked mine & my other halves 6 year anniversary. We enjoyed two outings of the restaurant variety, we did lunch & cocktails at the ever wonderful www.santangelo.co.uk which is one of our regular haunts for great nights out with friends & family and secondly we visited our local Thai restaurant www.thai-jantra.co.uk. They do an amazing offer where you can enjoy a 3 course meal with a glass of wine Singha Beer. I also was priviledged enough to stay on board the www.ncl.co.uk/ships/norwegian-breakaway which was NCL’s largest vessel to date because I was an A top performing travel agent. It was a beautiful fete of maritime history, eighteen floors of wonderment. From spas to broadway shows, a high ropes course to a VIP Cabana deck… It really had it all. An experience I will never forget.
May was typically a lovely month. I love the weather change & the longer days starting. One of my best friends & bridesmaid celebrates her birthday along with my gorgeous niece, Fearne Scarlett who enjoyed her 1st birthday. Of course she was spoilt to the brim with gifts and a wonderful party with marquee in tact. James went on his cousins stag do to Lake Windermere, which quite frankly sounded like carnage. I can only hope that James has a lovely stag do in May 2014 with plenty of fun and frolics.
June marked a whole 365 days till James & I get wed. We are both so excited! We also managed to get a little break in the sunshine. We visited Tunisia and we stayed at the Sentido Rosa Beach which was lovely. The food was amazing! I’m not sure if Tunisia will be top of my list to visit again soon but it was definitely a welcome break! Whilst on holiday I received the news that I had got the job to transfer within our business to a shop closer to home. This meant I wouldn’t have to travel 2 hours a day and rush to get the bus home every night. Things were starting to look up.
July was a busy month with James cousin Alex & his blushing bride to be, Abi very nearly married it was an exciting time for all. The day was positively beautiful, I drew a lot of inspiration from the day too. They had an amazing papakata tent in the paddock of their pretty farm. They had the most wonderful food, the drinks flowed day & night and they had a fantastic band www.dominichalpin.com play us into (albeit the warmest!) night. Another amazing bit of news was that Bridie had got engaged to Jonney, one of James’ close friends. July was a good month & it really was a ”LOVE” fest.
August always marks one of my favourite months, that being because the most awesome, most fabulous, most crazy weekend of the year commences. Leeds Fest! This year was AMAZING. I got to see my most FAVORITE band of all time play, haimtheband.com and it was so good. So much so, when we got back their tickets went on sale for their European tour & my amazing fiancé managed to get us two tickets to their gig in November back in Leeds. Overall August was pretty fantastic.
September is always a huge comedown from what was an amazing Summer & this year was no exception. You realise it’s going to be a long slog till you can enjoy those endless nights, BBQ’s and beers for another year or so. Nothing exciting really happens this month. I’m always a bit lovedrunk from the amazing Summer we’ve had.
October is always a good once! Especially because it’s my birthday <3 This year was brilliant as we had finally booked to go away to the lakes like we have always said year after year. But not before we enjoyed 2 glorious nights away with my beautiful family at The Fat Lamb, Ravenstonedaleit is the most tranquil place you could ever go. We enjoyed a few days out visiting the local area and ventured to the southern lakes before James & I headed there for our one night of luxury at The Boundary, Lake Windermere, this stylish B&B boasts cricket themed rooms and it was decadently understated with its roll top bath in the attic room. We most definitely enjoyed our autumn stay here! To close October was my last happy memory of the family altogether because November was about to take a nasty/sticky turn 🙁
November started off as a normal month, but then it suddenly got very weird. Our shop had organised a Santas Suitcase for a local childrens hospice, Martin House (please check them out as they do the most AMAZING work!) and we had been invited to talk about it at the local radio station Tempo FM. After the little interview I did (on my own!) they invited me back for ”radio training” Of course I was shocked but also felt really happy that they had seen potential in me. So I’ve been a few times, playing with the equipment & making my own ”fake slot”. But sadly, I had to cut it short as my family were calling. My Grandad was taken in to hospital seriously ill the same day we were all (ironically) celebrating my Great Grandads 90th birthday. He has been in ever since. He has severe pancreatitis and York Hospital are doing a great job of keeping him stable. It has been a whirlwind of emotions. One minute we are laughing all around his bedside to the moments we genuinely thought we were saying goodbye before his major op. If November has taught me anything, the most valuable lesson of all is that family is everything & you should never take moments for granted. James has been my rock through all of this and I love him with every inch of my being.
and finally I’m brought to December , the last & final month is what has been a turbulent year. I purcahsed my beautiful wedding shoes & I am dying to wear them so I must resist the urge till our big day! We also managed to blag a little night away with my concessions at The Met Hotel, Leeds the night we went to see Haim who were again just mind blowing. We spent the next day shopping for rings which to cut a long story short, turned into a nightmare of a day but led us to a bespoke jeweller www.iainhenderson.co.uk who is making our perfect wedding bands. This year I finally managed to get Christmas off and so did James but really, Christmas has felt more like a burden this year. James & I spent it apart whilst I spent plenty of hours at the hospital with my Grandad trying to make the day a little easier and a bit more festive whilst he spent it in hospital. Every day is a small step to his recovery & we hope and pray everyday for him to be home with us sooner.
So in short, after a very long winded blog account of my year my head has been all over the shop & I hope that 2014 brings us more joy. I hope my Grandad is much better to enjoy a dance with his adoring Granddaughter on her special day & that the road to our big day is smooth.
One last thing…. 2014, please be kind!
