2012- the year that was

31st December 2012

It’s hard to sum up 2012 to be honest, what can you say about a year that has been both the best year of your life but also the worst?
In one year so much has changed for better and for worse but I think, looking back, I have come out of it a better person.

It started well, with promise. By March/April it was clear that it wasn’t going to stay that way when my Nan became ill and passed away,
that loss, it’s still crushing, she was the most amazing woman and is missed by many. I/we try not to dwell too much on the negative though, remembering instead all the positives she bought to us and how as a family we have grown closer together.
On a personal note, her passing gave me the kick up the arse needed to get myself sorted out, to commit for a final time to recovery and to get myself to the happy and healthy point that she always wanted to see me at. The passing of a friend, Lisa, in August cemented this…life IS too short and too precious to waste and it’s from this great sense of loss I emerge stronger.

On a happier note, great things have happened. There was the wedding of my dear friends Louise and James in May, the welcoming of Mae in to our family to heal the gap that Flash left. My holiday to Spain that opened up so many windows of opportunity and bought Ellie and I even closer as friends and probably more famously, the holiday to Holland with best.friend. that left me on crutches (I promise not to hold it against you Trudi!)

2012 was a great year for blogging, I have met so many wonderful girls and made new friends. The year has also shown just how great the power of internet friendship is and I probably wouldn’t have got even half as far as I have now if it wasn’t for the people who took the time to read, tweet, send love/cards/support…if you are reading this post now then this includes you and I’d like to thank you, all.

It would be too easy to write 2012 off as the worst year ever, to dwell on the negatives and dread the next 12 months. Perhaps in the past that is exactly what I would have done but now, as we are about to start 2013 I can’t help but feel excited and hopeful for the adventures that lie ahead…work (to who I owe so much), friends, holidays, health, happiness…I look forward to finally accepting myself for who I am and not a number on the scale, to accept and enjoy a healthier, curvier body and realise it doesn’t change who I am inside. To spend more time with the people who matter to me most and spend less time dwelling on those who don’t. I can’t wait to meet my cousin’s baby who is due on my Birthday, to welcome in new life. To have adventures that are both planned and unplanned and live for the moment rather than routine.

Most of all though, I hope that you…all of you reading this have a good year too. Whatever 2012 gave to you, I hope 2013 goes one better.
Live, love and enjoy, you are worth it.

It will be OUR year.
xxx

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December’s Instagrams

30th December 2012

Christmas Jumper (from one of those random cheap shops springing up everywhere)

Hood and scarf in one? Best invention ever for someone on crutches in rainy weather.

Drink of choice

Making the best of it

My mini tree

I have too much love for novelty knitted goods

Thanks santa!

Hiding out with the shoes, good on ya Mae

Crashed out after too much Turkey

Festive food haul

Braved my Bertie boots for all of two minutes on Christmas day

Not a fan of my penguin hat

Best lipbalm in the world ever

Before she tried to eat them

Full of post Christmas cold

Advent calendars (picked the scratch card one up in Holland and won five euros)

Party cat

Bed stealer

I threatened and I did it

Baby clementines from Waitrose, almost too cute to eat

How has your month looked?

xxx

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happy legs

28th December 2012

I’ve had these tights stashed away for the festive season for a couple of months now and boxing day seemed the most opportune time to bring them out (or, was the day I remembered them!) Penguins are one of my favourite animals so I feel compelled to buy pretty much anything with them on, especially when it’s a bargain price like three pounds something and I generally don’t care how stupid I look!

I paired them with my New Look skater dress and cardigan, plus those boots from Sarenza even though I didn’t leave the house due to the weather. My necklace was hidden in my Christmas stocking which my Mum still does every year, I’m not sure who loves the stocking more- me or her?! I think she’ll cry should I ever decide I don’t want one.

It was back to work yesterday and the fact it was Christmas just a few days ago feels very odd indeed. You wouldn’t have known it in the office if it hadn’t have been for the mountain of tins of biscuits and chocolate bought in by grateful patients and the mass amounts of tinsel. I’m in all day today, I’ll be hiding in a corner quietly harbouring germs and trying not to pass them on, counting down to the weekend and then the end of 2012.

Do you still get a Christmas stocking?

xxx

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The Christmas Day Dress

26th December 2012

We may only ever have a small, family Christmas but I still like an excuse to dress up and this dress sent c/o Mary Jane Fashion fit the bill perfectly. I rolled with the Baroque pattern and added some M&S lace tights and my Bertie velvet boots (for all of two minutes before pain took over) and felt unusually happy and confident all day.

It was a fairly strange Christmas for us, the fact both my Brother and Nan weren’t present really made the closeness of our family all the more appreciated. I was spoilt with amazing gifts…more than I deserve, and I appreciate them, but for me the real present was spending the day with those I am closest too and for the first time in as long as I can remember feeling content and healthy and able to eat whatever I wanted.

I hope everyone else had a lovely Christmas too, however you spent it. And the same for today…are you braving the sales? For me today will be spent in front of the TV on my iPad (gift from parents, spoilt much?) nursing a cold (judging by the photos you’d think it’d be a hangover instead) and preparing for going back to work tomorrow.

I’m counting down the days until 2013, I have a feeling it’s going to be a good year.

xxx