We are halfway through 2018 already, how time flies! This calls for a review of what has happened so far- didn’t realise how long this post would be so apologies, didn’t realise quite so much had happened already…
January
2018 started off with a New Year’s party at a friends house involving food, alcohol, fireworks, a quiz, cards against humanity and lots of laughs.
I went to an engagement party for two of my uni friends who live in London. It was such a great evening, they had hired a function room including a bar, music, dance floor, photo booth with props, and invited SO many people. I managed to see a lot of people I hadn’t seen for several years and some I hadn’t seen since my uni days, there were obviously some people that could not attend who were sorely missed but I had such a laugh and so many catch ups with those who managed to get there to help Nat and Sam celebrate their news. Natalie has written a post about the event on her own blog and has appeared as a guest in one of my other posts earlier on this year.
The following weekend was my little brother’s 13th birthday, cannot believe he is a teen now, still think of him as the small child excitedly running around my uni rooms, trying on everyone’s shoes and strutting his stuff in my kitchen. January also included my second trip to the Harry Potter studios, this time for the Hogwarts in the Snow event which I then wrote a post on. I finally dyed my hair red after a month or two of indecision (thank you Hannah for colouring it for me).
January also saw the ending of my relationship to Rob, but we have decided to remain friends so still see each other quite often for gaming days and cinema trips. Edit: We got back together at the end of the year after never actually seeming separated; going on holidays, seeing each other and messaging almost constantly, celebrating birthdays and things together and him supporting and helping me through all the crap that happened, so we decided to give it another try ^_^
February
February highlights seem to revolve around food; me, my mum, step dad and brother finally found a date we were all free to enjoy the afternoon tea my auntie had bought us for Christmas, it was delicious and was lovely to have a family day just relaxing and eating. I celebrated pancake day too which I love and as I wasn’t celebrating valentine’s this year I had more money to spend on pancake mix, brown sugar, lemon juice, ice cream and other treats-mmmmm.
After buying Netflix as a Christmas present to myself I had started watching a few bits and bobs but decided I wanted to binge a series so thought I’d watch Big Bang Theory after only seeing random episodes when they were on at other peoples houses, sadly Netflix don’t have all the series so I’ve only seen up to when Sheldon proposes to Amy (sorry if you’ve not got that far). Managed to do all 10 series within a few weeks but now I want to know what happens next…
I went home to watch my old musical theatre groups production of Sister Act The Musical, was so much fun, a fab production and was great to see some of the people I used to share the stage with, but was kind of bitter sweet as it reminded me how much I used to love performing and how much I now miss being on stage.
I actually don’t remember anything really bad happening February so yaaay ^_^
March
So. Much. Snow! So pretty, but sooo cold, luckily I hadn’t put away my hat, scarf and gloves yet, managed to photograph some of the most perfect snowflakes I’ve ever seen too!
Mother’s day and another excuse to go back home for a couple of days. Managed to spoil my mummy a little, not as much as she deserves because she deserves everything but it was nice to see her light up with how much me and my brother had got her. My friend Beth came to visit me in Cheltenham, we went to Hollywood bowl but no free lanes so played in the arcade bit instead, went for food in Frankie and Benny’s then went to mine for snacks as couldn’t decide what to watch in the cinema, recorded a couple of songs, and Beth started me watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (which I have now completed).
Couple of downers this month (evens out from Feb I suppose), one of my work friends moved house as well as jobs so I returned the furniture she had lent me as she now had the space but I’ve not seen her since… Also started a four week sign off from work due to stress, panic attacks, anxiety and depression which is always fun, but I asked for help and got it. I am now on medication and have been given lots of useful tips to try and help my situation, I have support from friends, family, and my employers, many of whom want me to talk about things with them so I don’t keep everything bottled up.
If you suffer from any kind of mental health issue please just ask for help, you’d be amazed at how much is out there, even just online.
April
April wasn’t the best of months, there was a few highlights, obviously Easter so lots of chocolate to eat, saw my family and enjoyed a lovely church service. I helped out with a friends baby shower which looked amazing thanks to everyone helping out and was a lovely afternoon. I also went from a red to a black Cineworld card so get more discounts now- woop woop.
BUT the bad stuff… I had been putting together a lot of travel plans, been organising budgets, destinations, things to do etc and it ALL fell through so I went into a bit more of a slump as my career, house move and other plans fell through around the same time too.
The biggest thing that happened in April (all year in fact) was that my Grandpa passed away after fighting cancer and spending the previous few days in hospital, I thought he was on the mend and then got the call from my mum telling me he had gone. I hadn’t seen him for a few months before he died so I think it hit me even harder than it usually would have, I thought he was on the mend so was waiting for him to come home rather than going into the hospital, the last time I saw him properly was probably his 80th in September. Losing the head of our close family and all the emotions that have manifested because of it has massively impacted us. We had the funeral just before I came back to work and a memorial service the week after I came back so it was an interesting return to work… The only silver lining about this was that I was able to go home and spend time with my family and catch up with a few friends without having to worry about making it back to Cheltenham for work as was already signed off, my uncle also flew back from New Zealand so was nice to have almost everyone together even if it was for such a heart-breaking reason.
May
May was my entertainment month looking back at it, I watched several films including of course Avengers Infinity War which I went to see twice.
My birthday was 14th May so took the week off work, went to London for a few days, saw my family, celebrated one of my other friends birthdays with another meal out and a few cheeky beverages in the pub when I got back and had another visit from Beth the following weekend 🙂 (will be writing a post all about it soon).
One of my friends (the one whose baby shower we threw) and my step sister Katie both had their babies this month so have had lots of baby cwtches (welsh word for hug) and my other step sister Megan is due in June.
May wasn’t actually too bad a month, there were lots of highs to counteract the lows and annoying moments (good job really otherwise after April I don’t think I could cope with much more).
June
June was another entertainment based month, got into Sense8 after a recommendation from Summer and completed both series within a few days. Had a film day with two of my friends the following weekend where we watched the sense8 finale episode and the Princess Bride, ordered pizza and ate lots of snacks.
I went home to watch one of my former theatre groups performance of Blackadder Goes Forth at Monmouth Savoy theatre which was amazing! So funny, fab comic timing, simple set and very poignant ending. Loved it! Also managed to catch up with a few people after the show too, mostly Jane, Graham and Thom who I went for drinks in Wetherspoons with and chatted about all I’d missed.
As you’ll probably know the UK has been experiencing a heat wave which feels like it must be the longest we’ve ever had the way people are going on about it, but I don’t blame them as I don’t do well in too much heat either, have suffered with heat exhaustion already and have been having trouble sleeping but I don’t want to complain because everywhere looks so pretty in the sun and I will hopefully get the opportunity to photograph the beauty at some point.
Negative things this month were my inability to sleep, getting ill, the constant sweat and not enough summery clothes but that’s just first world problems.
July
LOTS of things happened this month…
July 1st- I went to the Duck races in Eastington with Summer and her family to help out on the stalls and donate some money to the cause, it was BOILING hot the entire day, luckily I had coated myself in sun cream before I headed out otherwise I’d have been very crispy, had a really fun day with so many things going on, they do several events every year so may be helping out with the other events now too 🙂
My other step sister who was due in June had her baby July 1st instead, all 3 mothers and babies are doing really well and all babies are super cute!!!
July 6th-8th I went to see a couple of my BFF’s in Coventry to watch one of them in their choir concert which was awesome! The Concert had a film theme and the second half was all James Bond songs, the first half opened with ‘Greatest Show’ from The Greatest Showman, Abbie sang ‘This is Me’, there were many iconic movie songs but also a few I had never heard of, the concert was to raise money for Huntington’s Disease Association and as always the Firebird Singers have been able to raise a large amount for them. So I helped raise money for people with this horrendous disease, got to listen to some amazing songs and saw two of my besties- it was the best weekend I have had for a while- we also went for curry with the choir after the show and had a BBQ the next day, where I made a new BFF in Arianna who is the cutest, craziest little gangster you will ever meet, she gave me an awesome ‘manicure’ with her new marvel stickers and had me playing spies around the house for ages. It was amazing to see Antony, Abbie and her family again after so long, was sad to leave (lots of tears were shed) but know I shall see them again soon.
July 10th was my first anniversary of blogging (can’t believe I’ve been posting for 12 whole months!) and I am already planning a make over, restructuring and have lots of new ideas for the future.
Was part of a showcase with my old youth theatre group in Monmouth to save money after a fire in their space burned a LOT of costumes, scripts and other show things. I got to be back on stage, even had a couple of solos, had a mini reunion and I got to go back home for a couple of weekends so saw some of my family again too.
I went to see Incredibles 2 and Mamma Mia 2-reviews in my summer films post– both were fab in my opinion and will probably see them both again while they’re still in the cinemas.
Also started the process of getting a flat in Gloucester, put money down for admin/referencing charges and started the paperwork so will hopefully be moving in next month if all goes well 🙂
July wasn’t too bad. Had a few days off work ill which sucks but actually had lots of fun things happening too so not bad overall.
Until next time, TTFN.
How has 2018 treated you so far? What major events have happened for you? What are your goals for the next half? Let me know in the comments.
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