My Reflection on 2017
I'd first of all just like to start off by saying hello to all of you who have stuck it out and carried on following my blog despite my absence, it really wasn't intentional, but my third year of university started and my work load suddenly exploded, then came Christmas and hey presto, here we are in 2018! After a vote on Instagram, this will be the first post of 2018! Pretty apt I'd say. If you voted for the Lake District post then don't you worry, that post is coming next week so hang tight. But for now, lets get started!
JANUARY
2017 was pretty much all over the place for me. The year started very happily as not even a week into that January my boyfriend and I got together. It was a very special and personal time, we had a month where it was just us, we weren't 'Facebook Official' as people like to call it, it was private and we like to keep things that way when it comes to social media. But over the past year he really has been my rock.
FEBRUARY
This month my younger brother turned 20 years old which is pretty strange, my little brother is now in his twenties and is no longer little! Argh what happened there? Anyway, we went to Leeds that day to celebrate and we ate lunch at Red's! We took some photos for the family album and it was just a really chilled afternoon! Very family orientated as well which was very much needed as both my brother and I at this time were living out for university so it was nice for us all to be together again, and not scattered around!
We also went to see the Panthers, a local Ice Hockey team that actually do very well. They won the match actually, only I can't remember who they were victorious over.
This month we went to London for the weekend for Tom's friend's birthday and had possible the most amazing burger ever! We went to a few bars that night and it ended with pizza so yeah, a brilliant night! The next day we made the most of the time we had there, visiting the Science museum as well and having an epic hot chocolate before heading off home!
It was also here where we realised just how many Prets there are in the capital!
MARCH
Something my boyfriend helped me celebrate actually was my 22nd birthday back in March which was lovely, we took a walk through Bradgate Park as I lived in Leicester at the time! Then afterwards we travelled back to Nottingham where we went for dinner at Bill's. It was such a wonderful day that was shared with everyone and it made me realise how lucky I am to have everyone I love in my life!
APRIL
For my birthday, Tom, my boyfriend, bought tickets to see School of Rock at the theatre in London. Beforehand we went for dinner at a place called 'Big Easy' where they serve BBQ inspired food and a wide range of different drinks, both alcoholic and non alcoholic. We saw the show in the evening then stayed the night and travelled home the next day! To have that time together was important to us and it was nice to just have a weekend of togetherness. We're both so busy and so to have that time where the focus was just on each other was pretty special.
Also for my birthday, we went to Leeds for a night out as my brother lived there when he attended that university. Where Tom and a group of his friends came as well, including my dear friend Paige!
MAY
May was actually a pretty quiet month in terms of going away, however it was at around this time where trouble started happening in my shared uni house. I've done a separate blog post including tips on this if you're at all interested! I'll leave a link here for you if you wish to have a read. I go into more depth in that post. But anyway, it wasn't an easy ride for me personally. Mainly down to the immaturity of those I was sharing a house with.
But it wasn't a wasted experience. It was quite character building in a way. I got to a point where I just thought enough is enough and I finally put my foot down on the whole thing. It felt rather empowering actually to just wash my hands of the whole thing and leave things and also people, behind. I am much better for it, I feel happier, more positive, my outlook on university and life afterwards has changed somewhat. I am a lot more optimistic.
JUNE
June was amazing, but it was also very sad. On Saturday 17th June (also my dad's birthday) Tom and I went to see Guns N' Roses (you can read that post here). It was incredible, one of the best experiences of my life! I don't think I'll ever see anything quite like it again.
But this was also the day my dear grandma, the last of all of our grandparents, passed away. I debated going to see GNR for a while that morning, until I spoke to my mum, who said that my grandma wouldn't want me to miss out on such an experience. My grandma was a great believer in simply grabbing life by the balls and doing what you love to do. So that's what I did. I thought about her the whole time and some tears were shed...actually quite a few were shed. We stayed in London as we saw them perform at the Olympic Park Stadium, so we stayed the night and again, drove home the next day. It was a super hot day as well, the height of summer and the weather was perfect all day, as if someone was looking down on us!
JULY
July was very quiet, we went to Splendour, which is basically a family friendly music festival that takes place in Nottingham. The 2017 line up saw that of Busted, Tony Hadley and Kaiser Chiefs, who actually headlined the night. It was very good fun and I recommend it to anyone that either lives in Nottingham or lives pretty close by. However the weather wasn't so kind, in fact, it rained the whole time and it was very cold, but it didn't sop us at all from having a good time!
AUGUST
August was the month of Tom's birthday, we, together with a group of his friends, travelled to Sheffield for the Bank Holiday weekend for dinner and a good night out. We rented a small apartment in the centre of the city which was such good fun! The night out we had was eventful, but we had such a good time and no one got left behind! We also went to Chester Zoo this month and had dinner at Manchester's Hard Rock Café. The food was delicious, so I highly recommend that gaff! It was the first one I'd ever been to as well, shock horror!
SEPTEMBER
September was also fairly uneventful, aside from the odd bits and pieces that were a tad challenging, it was fairly quiet. I used this month to start preparing to go back to university. I had research done for my dissertation and I felt pretty motivated to dive straight in and get it done. It's another story now however and if you've been through university yourself, you'll know exactly what I mean by that!
October was the start of my third year. I felt pretty organised at this time, but let me tell you, you can't be a third year university student and stay that organised, no matter how hard you try. But don't get me wrong, it's not a bad way to start the university year. I had the best of intentions in October, but don't worry if you currently feel the same way, we're all in the same boat at the end of the day, so work through it, you'll be amazed what you can do under pressure ;) We also travelled to Bakewell in Derbyshire one Sunday and took a trip to York as well which was very cold, but it was also a grand day out!
NOVEMBER
November was the month Tom and I celebrated a year since our first date. We got together in January 2017, but we actually met in November 2016. In celebration of this, we travelled down to Bristol to see a woman perform called Joanne Shaw Taylor, I'll leave a link at the end of this post if you're interested in checking out her music.
After this Tom surprised me with a trip to Oxford where we stayed in a beautiful hotel, complete with swimming pool, so I was happy! It was just a lovely, romantic trip away and so thoughtful of Tom, as I've always wanted to visit Oxford! We stopped by some museums as well which was really interesting, including a chalk board upon which Einstein had written on! On the way home we stopped by at Bicester village, a shopping outlet, and it was all very festive and it made me especially happy!
We also went to the Lake District during November. It was just beautiful, most of the scenery looked fake! It was such an experience. We climbed Wansfell Pike on the first full day there.
We'd rented a lodge in the countryside where we'd simply sleep and eat. It was such a great place to stay, in an ideal location, it was comfortable an there was a Jacuzzi bathtub as well so we were sold on that and now we both really want one!
The second day we walked another route around the countryside, visited a slate mine and also had a little Robin follow us on our travels. If you follow me on Instagram you'd have seen the photo! The third day we visited Hadrian's wall and walked a long a small section of it. We would have walked further down it but I was very poorly so it wouldn't have been a wise thing to do really!
Also this month we saw Airbourne, a rock band, in Sheffield. That was a lot of fun. It was quite an intimate occasion but we had such a tremendous time. Again, I'll leave a link if you're interested in checking them out. In contrast to this band, we saw James Blunt at Nottingham Arena and it was insane! We were seated on the floor and you could stand up if you wanted to. It was such a chilled evening but the music was great and Blunt is a natural performer. If you ever get the chance to see him live, then do, you won't regret it!
In fact we saw James Blunt for my sister's 18th birthday, so that was something else that happened in 2017! How exciting! It does make me feel quite old though, especially seeing as I can remember the day she was born...
DECEMBER
December was pretty full on in terms of university work and also Christmas of course. But once it was all out of the way, Tom and I went to London for a couple of days with his parents to do some last minute Christmas shopping. We stayed in a lovely hotel yet again, with breakfast included and it was just wonderful. It was so festive!
We visited the Hyde Park Christmas Market, visited Harrods, the Lego Store and M&M World. We had a walk along Oxford Street, walked down the Mall to Buckingham Palace, ate dinner in Leicester Square and went to a quirky little pub in the centre of the city. It was just a generally relaxing time away and all four of us enjoyed it very much!
We also went to a pantomime at the Nottingham Playhouse which was very entertaining, it was Cinderella that time and it was very enjoyable, it always is as we go every single year!
So Christmas came and went and before we knew it we were bringing in the New Year. Tom and I drove to Solihull to see my half of the family, and then back up to Nottingham to bring in the New Year with friends! We played some games, had a few drinks and then just chilled out for a short while.
So that's where my 2017 ended and my 2018 started! I have so much to look forward to this year, birthday's, my graduation, a new job, learning to drive and so much more! As usual, I'll keep you updated as and when things occur as I know you all like to be kept in the loop! You'll see everything first on Instagram, either as a post or as a story! So I'll leave all my links below as well!
I hope you had a very happy New Year and all the best for 2018!
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