A Look Back at 2019

Every year I like to share a recap of how the year has gone for me and my family. What I've achieved, what's been enjoyable and perhaps what's been difficult. As the end of the year approaches, it's a great time to reflect. And I love re-reading my posts from previous years too.

• Last year was pretty monumental - I turned 30 and we bought our first home. I also volunteered with a charity abroad for the first time and spent time in New York at Christmas (a bucket list dream for me).
• In 2017, I was lucky enough to enjoy an incredible press trip in the South of France and embarked on a two week road trip around Scotland - my favourite holiday to date.
• In 2016, I met the beautiful Alexa Chung and the very funny Jimmy Doherty. And I attended my first London Fashion week. It was a year of fantastic blog events.
• In 2015, we spent the beginning of the year saying goodbye to Australia and embarking on two months of travel around Japan and China. We then spent the remainder of the year moving to London and beginning a new life for ourselves here.
• And 2014 is still perhaps the bravest year for me. I left my rural life in Gloucestershire for the city of Melbourne, to join Stew on a year long trip that saw us move to Sydney and travel the East Coast of Australia.

But that's enough of what's gone by.

How did 2019 fair?

• Decorating Our First Home

Well, as you can see from the collage of photos above, our year mainly consisted of us decorating our new home. Towards the end of 2018, we bought a two bed flat in London, and then spent the best part of 8 months, decorating it. It seems our fireplace and bedroom have been some of my most like photos on Instagram - so expect more homewares in 2020.

• Pregnancy

Aside from our house, we shared a small life update back in June... that I was 3 months pregnant! Our little bundle of joy is due on Christmas Eve. I'm writing this post on maternity leave, counting down the days until we meet our little one (we've kept the gender a surprise).

And yes, we've done the classic - buy a house, start a family. Our pregnancy was a bit of a surprise, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm so excited to start the next chapter of our lives.

• Wonderful Trips

In between what was potentially the busiest start of any year for us, I was able to enjoy some wonderful travels with friends, Stew and meet lots of lovely influencers through more press trips.

Namely, this year I was lucky enough to join a fantastic group of people on a trip of a lifetime to Mauritius! I had never been anywhere so exotic before. It was honestly paradise, and I'm still pinching myself that I was invited.

I also ticked off Lisbon and Mykonos off my bucket list, re-visited Amsterdam, and spent an incredible 10 days driving all over Austria with Stew (which I still need to share).

Our 2019

Of course my year wasn't all fun and games. With my pregnancy has come a rollercoaster of emotions and I've suffered with some of my worst anxiety. I touch on this in a couple of posts if you'd like to read. But on the whole, I feel very fortunate to live the life that we do. And as I said above, we're so excited to see how our lives will change forever in 2020!

How was 2019 for you?