Well we're now into 2014 and I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year celebrations! 2013 has been an eventful year for me, some good, some bad but it's left me with a taste of determination and high hopes for this new year that lies ahead.
By far the most special moment of 2013 for me was welcoming three new furry faces into our family. In April 2012 me and my other half accidentally fell in love with a sweet Chihuahua puppy (which we named Bella) and unexpectedly took her home the same day. Bella was a companion for Bean, the best friend I've had in my life for eight years now. Bean and Bella fell in love and on March 25th 2013 at approximately 1:30am the stork of Chihuahuas delivered us three teeny tiny bundles of pure joy. We'd only found out that Bella was pregnant four days before the puppies were born so it was quite the whirlwind and most certainly unplanned! Our family multiplied and we gained three of the most gorgeous little characters; Bumble, Bow and Boris. The plan was to keep Bow (the female pup) and sell the two boys, Bumble and Boris. When it came down to it, we couldn't let these mini Mexicans go and that's probably the best decision we've ever made in our lives.
2013 was also the year that brought about a slight career change for me. In August I left my full time job as a Retail Manager in Central London to focus on my blog full time. I've never loved doing something as much as I love this. If I didn't have fashion in my life I would feel completely without purpose and probably very empty. I'm very lucky to have such a supportive boyfriend and family who back me all the way with what I'm doing. It is tough, I won't lie, success doesn't just happen over night and I am constantly working hard to get to where I want to be. In the space of five months I have had some great opportunities, been featured in Magazines (Thanks Look Mag and British Vogue online!) and have been able to work with some really great brands but I'm not even half way to where I'm aiming yet and there's still plenty of work to do. Thanks must go to my readers/followers, without your support I wouldn't be able to be doing this as a job, so thank you very much, I honestly do appreciate all of you!
This year I turned 28. As you all probably know by now, I love food, in particular Jaffa Cakes and McDonalds. I don't smoke and I don't really drink very often either so I've always allowed myself the vice of junk food. For many years I had been warned that my super-fast metabolism will soon fade and I won't be able to eat what I want all the time, without working it off. This was the year that this happened *Sad Face*. So 2013 was the year that I said goodbye to size 8, the size I'd been for about 12 years. I'm embracing size 10 but will now make the effort to eat a little better and probably add in a bit of exercise here and there, but only once all the Christmas food has been consumed, mwhaaaa! Come to me giant tin of Roses!
London Fashion Week in September was the first Fashion Week I'd been able to go to in three years. Working full time always meant that I missed it. This year I attended shows and parties and did some street style for the first time which I loved. I finally joined 'Team Nikon' when I had a serious upgrade from my Olympus e450 to the Nikon D7100, and it's now my most cherished possession! Along with meeting up with old friends like Jai'me I made some special new ones.
Tijan and I met at LFW and soon became very good friends, she introduced me to
Annie (who lives just 10mins away from me!) and another dear friend was made. Parties and Press Days brought new friends;
Lolli,
Law,
Gemma,
Kylie,
Clare,
Kristabel,
Deigh Alex,
Leroy,
Marsha,
Kayla to name but a few. The blogger circuit can be competitive but these guys and gals are the most humble and genuine people I've met, and that's something I cherish in friendship. Here's to 2014 and loads more parties guys!
Unfortunately there's been no proposals of marriage in the last year, well other than from a drunken Spanish man on the tube, but I respectfully declined that tempting offer. As much as I joke about it being 'my turn!' I am utterly happy with our life together. We have a lovely home, five gorgeous pups and have totted up five years together, and I'm rather content with that. I think when it's time, it's time and things like this shouldn't be rushed. Congratulations to all those who got engaged, Married or are expecting babies this past year.
Sadly two angels were taken from me this year. My Grandma passed away in May and my Nanny in December. I now have no grandparents left as both Granddads passed when I was younger. I know that both my Grandma and Nanny were proud of what I was doing and this makes me even more determined to succeed!
I've now got my eyes firmly focused on 2014 and what I want to achieve, watch this space!
