My 2017 Roundup Post

Happy New Year Everyone,

May 2018 be a year full of laughter, love and blessings for you all,

May it also be the year Instagram finally fix the algorithm and put the feeds back into chronological order.

I wanted to do a little post on my roundup of 2017. The highlights, the memories, the best bits and the lessons, so I thought I would put this little one together to have something to look back on and see how I changed throughout the year.

So, let's jump straight into it,

JANUARY

I started my year by going to see Dreamgirls in the theatre with some friends, I would recommend, it was such a good show and we all left there belting out songs imagining we were Beyonce. I attended the Go Glam Gala with Tanya and Cat, and honestly I dressed up, drank cocktails and danced the whole night away, even when we thought there was a bomb scare! I also went for afternoon tea with Azin, that was given to us by the parents from our old class as a leaving gift.

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FEBRUARY

February saw me go on a few dates, it also saw me having day dates with Tiffany, and going for long walks around some of the more quieter areas in London. I spent some time with Hafizah and the kids, including getting to know Sofia better. I also had a Galentines date with Tanya at Big Easy Prosecco Brunch, I would like to take the time to apologise for my burp at the end Tanya, still so sorry! LOL

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MARCH

March saw me finally decide to take some time to better myself, to focus on my own self love, to write more, to listen to more music and to discover what I wanted and how I could get it. I set standards for myself and stuck to them. I explored museums in London with Caitlin, and we walked around and pretended to be tourists in the city. I dealt with my anxiety head on and used methods to control it better.

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APRIL

April was a busy month for me, me and my sisters went to Majorca for 5 days to celebrate Sylvia's birthday, we stayed in Alcudia, in such a lovely hotel, right on the beach front, we ate loads, drank more, explored the area and made full use of the spa everyday, we even got to have a day at the beach with just enough sun. When I returned I took a 3 day trip to the Lake District with Tiffany, we stayed in a little lodge in the middle of nowhere, it was the furthest north I had ever been. It was absolutely beautiful, we explored, went on boats, did face masks, ate scones to our hearts content, played monopoly, took photo after photo, had amazing dinners.. one in a converted stable and one on a picnic blanket right by the lake, looked for waterfalls and rediscovered ourselves. I also attended Leah's christening, and was so lovely to catch up with old friends.

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MAY

May was another busy month and with more travelling, This time we celebrated Monica's birthday, me and my sisters went off to Rome for 3 days. It was one of the nicest breaks we had, we ate far too much and drank even more. We stayed in a guesthouse and honestly had the best time. We explored one of my favourite cities and all the tourist spots, we saw the Trevi again and ate more gelato and pizza then I thought was possible. I went to a JP Cooper gig with Tiffany and had one of the best times ever. Monica also moved back home which meant less travelling up and down for me.

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JUNE

June brought me some disappointments like the first interview I had been on in 2 years and I didn't get the job, and also the ending of Pretty Little Liars (Will I EVER get over that?!) but it also bought me lots of positives, I ran the colour run with some friends, and I did it to raise money for the victims of the Manchester bombing. I continued to do my walks with Tiffany and Emma around London. I attended the Quiz opening in Stratford with Cat. I also spent some time with Lil in the Portuguese cafe, and then the heatwave struck us in London and I went swimming in the local lido with Emma and Carolyn.

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JULY

July was yet another busy month, I had lots of parties due to work finishing for the summer, I had some sleepovers at Joanna's house, I went to parties at Emma's house, and then we had the summer work do. I also went to some leaving do's which consisted of God's own Junkyard. I spent time with Cat and her family having BBQ's and I attended the immersive night in with Cat, where I caught up with an old friend Leila and met some new friends too. I also ran my first 5K with Cat, I ran for Shelter UK.

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AUGUST

August was a good month, I had my birthday and celebrated by going on a pub crawl in Albufeira, I went back home to Portugal with my sisters to celebrate my birthday and we stayed there for 2 weeks, in between the pool days and the beach days, we managed to fit in some exploring days and also an aqua park day. I loved the holiday, I relaxed and had the most fun. I also started getting to know Michael and we had our first date, which was Wagamamas, followed by our second date of the Cinema.

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SEPTEMBER

September was actually a quite month, work started back up and I always find that this month tends to drag on a little because of it, I went for a couple of dinners with some friends from work, I did a restaurant review of Cigala with Cat which was a highlight for me and you can find my post on it here. I started Bullet journaling and found a love for it. I also carried on seeing Michael and he asked me to be his girlfriend.

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OCTOBER

October saw me conquer my fear as I went to fright night at Thorpe park and I went on 3 out of 5 big rides, I couldn't do Stealth and Saw but I was so proud of myself for the other 3 and I thoroughly enjoyed all the mazes too, although the queues can put you off! I also did a couple of bowling nights with Michael and lots of game nights with my friends and with his. Cards against humanity is the game to play guys!! Towards the end of October, me and Michael went to Majorca for a little break, I was a little worried about a holiday with him so soon but it was one of the best and also his first one in quite a while. We enjoyed the spa, and the pool daily and we stayed in a beachfront hotel so spent lots of time there as well as the bar. I got very drunk on one of the nights, and lets just say I like to take down the paintings in hotels and steal kids sand buckets.

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NOVEMBER

November was probably the quietest month of the year that I had, I went to the Potter Shop with Alma and the kids to show them around. I did some bowling with some work friends, I attended a charity event with Michael and his family and I did some make up days with Emma.

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DECEMBER

My year finished with such a busy period I don't feel like I fully got to enjoy this year's festivities, we put the tree up together and Michael helped, and then the party season started which felt like a non stop GOGO period of time. We had a snow day and me and Michael built forts, drank hot chocolate and played outside having snowball fights. Michael's mum bought us a wreath making workshop, and me and Michael fully enjoyed making our first one together, we learnt that as a team we work pretty well. I then celebrated Cats birthday by going to winter wonderland with Michael, Cat and her boyfriend John, my sister Monica and her boyfriend David (Who also happens to be Cat's brother). We drank mulled wine and prosecco, they went on rides and we all tried to win lots of prizes for each other. Michael bought me a skin care facial for Christmas with Tranquilstate and it was amazing, keep an eye out on the blog for that review going up soon. We also went to Manchester to watch our boys Man United play a game against Southampton and even though the score was a draw, the experience was unreal, I loved every second. I stayed with Cat at a friends house while she looked after their dog Coco and we did some bullet journalling. I had Christmas day and eve with my family and we all exchanged gifts. We also had a games night round Cat's with everyone and I feel EVERYONE should have the game "Speak Out". Me and Michael had an ice skating double date with Megan and Joe and we rang in the new year with a game party round mine on new years eve with the game "Ring of Fire" and then a new years eve party at Megan and Joe's too. December has been one hell of a busy MONTH. Can i relax now?

2017 has been such an amazing year, I've made so many memories, and I feel like I haven't slowed down, I travelled more and went on 5 holidays, celebrated so many birthdays in style and this just makes me more excited for what 2018 is going to bring, I have a feeling it's going to be an adventure. Sorry that this post seems so rambly, a lot happened and trying to remember it all and write it down has made me ramble more.

Have you done a roundup post? I would love to read them!

Ana

.xo