2018 Best Bits

Last year I wrote a post called "2017 best bits" and it was one of my favourite posts of last year - instead of going through my goals for the year, I looked back on my best bits of the year, from the big (getting engaged! Buying a house! Finishing my marketing degree!), to the smaller (crying while watching Joshua Radin perform in Berlin).

While this year hasn't involved a house purchase, engagement or qualification, there are still so many things I want to look back on and remember from 2018.

So here are my highlights from the year...

Promotion

I don't talk lots about my job here, but in July I was promoted and I'm really enjoying the challenges of my new-ish role! I've learned so much this year and have done so many things that I wouldn't have imagined I'd have been doing 12 months ago!

Two half marathons 

I've had a tough time with running and injuries over the last 18 months - I was disappointed with my Manchester Half Marathon time last year after struggling with injuries, and I was still suffering at this year's Great Manchester Run Half Marathon (plus it was absolutely baking hot so even if I had been fully fit a good time would have been out of the window!).

But over the summer I cautiously trained for my 7th half marathon, and along with hours of strengthening exercises and many trips to the physio, I felt okay for my third Manchester Half Marathon in October.

I wasn't sure what to expect and was trying to manage my expectations after injuries, but after 3 miles I realised if I kept up my pacing and ran negative splits I could hopefully, maybe manage another sub 2 hour.

The last mile felt 5 miles, but I crossed the finish line with another just-ducking-under-2-hours with a 1:59:41 finish time. I was absolutely over the moon. 

CIM results and graduation

At the end of last year I handed in my last piece of coursework for my Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma in Professional Marketing. I had a nervous wait until February when I started to convince myself I'd failed. My last module was by far my hardest but it turned out I passed with merit and got my best grade of all my modules!

It was so great last month to go down to London for my graduation ceremony with my parents and Phil and walk across the stage after all the hard work!

Wedding planning

Did I mention we're getting married?

It's crazy that last Christmas we weren't even engaged and by next year we'll have been married for 8 months!

We've done so much wedding planning this year! I absolutely hated wedding planning at first (okay, for like, the first 6 months) and just found the whole thing completely stressful, but eventually everything started to fall into place, we got over our decision fatigue and now I'm so excited!

We booked our venue in February, then I found my dress in May, we've booked pretty much everything now, including our honeymoon to Canada next September!, had a wonderful day with my bridesmaids picking their dress earlier in the month, plus had a few sneak peeks at our day with an overnight stay at our venue when it was one year to go, and a pre-wedding photoshoot with our amazing photographer!

It's all getting very real and very exciting!

Reading every day

I hit my Goodreads reading goal of 40 books for the year in July, and had hit double that by November. At the time of writing I've read 95 books this year - more than I read in 2017 and 2016 put together!

I have read a book every day this year - some days that's been one page, other days a whole book. I've read before work, on the way to work, on my lunch break, drying my hair, in supermarket queues, waiting for the bus - I've had a book with me at pretty much all times this year!

I'm going to write another post on the best books I read in 2018, but I've read some absolutely amazing books and I can't wait to see what I read in 2019!

House changes

I don't share a lot about our house because I think I'm always waiting for a room to be "finished" even though I know a room is never finished!

We started 2018 with bare walls in our living room and on the stairs and landing after spending 2 days between Christmas and New Year stripping off all the old textured wallpaper, and now we have a lovely fresh off-white across the rooms and a bright mustard feature wall in the living room that I love.

We also spent weeks in dust and dirt as we had new flooring put down in our living room, and had a week without a kitchen with a toaster and a microwave in the front room while we had our new kitchen fitted!

Our main living room is almost finished (we've bought a dining table, new chairs and a sofa - due in 6 weeks - this week!) and then on a whim in August we decided to paint our front room dark blue which I absolutely love (and I'll never get the paint off my slippers!).

There's a lot more I want to do on the house next year so we'll see!

parkrun

I ran 43 parkruns in 2018, and volunteered twice, which means I only missed 7 parkruns over the year.

I've done 8 new-to-me parkruns this year too, and ran at 12 different parks.

I finally received my 100 parkruns tshirt and I ran my 150th parkrun in September. I'm looking forward to my 200th parkrun in 2019!

Relearning old skills

I started the year having not been behind the wheel properly for 7 years, but after a refresher driving lesson at the start of the year I've felt so much more confident and it's been great to be able to drive again!

I've also picked up the piano again, something I did not expect at the start of the year! I bought myself the La La Land piano book and I'm learning Mia and Sebastian's theme and it's been so fun to have a hobby without goals I'm working towards - it's just fun.

Hamilton + Bruges Birthday

Apart from my wedding, I had never been as excited for ANYTHING as I was to see Hamilton. After 14 months of waiting (we will have waited less time from booking our wedding until our wedding day) it was honestly the best thing I've ever seen in my life. I cried so much.

I am now even more obsessed with Hamilton (no, I didn't think it was possible either!) and I cannot wait to see it again!

Days out and trips

I've had so many good trips and days out this year! 

In April we went to see Jaws in Concert with a live orchestra, which was my present to Phil for Christmas last year and we saw The Killers in July which was absolutely incredible.

In June I took my first trip to Center Parcs with Phil's family which was so much fun.

But the highlight has to be doing The Crystal Maze for Phil's Dad's 60th in June. It was honestly one of the best things I've ever done in my last - I cannot recommend it more.

Self care

One of my goals for 2018 was to find what works for my anxiety, and I've done some really positive work this year. I completed 32 days of yoga in January and after rereading that blog post last week I signed up next January's 30 days too!

I've also really cut down on my social media usage this year. I was finding that Instagram and Facebook just weren't making me feel good! I deleted all social media apps off my phone in May and now only use them in browser (so sorry anyone who has ever tagged me in an Instagram story or sent me an Instagram message - I can't see them in Safari!), and more recently I've just been logged out of them and only check my notifications every few days. I almost never scroll through and I don't feel like I'm missing anything! It's made a huge difference in me not comparing myself to other people constantly.

Finally, I've just completed a year of HappyFeed. It's a super simple app, but it's been brilliant for me this year. Every day you put into it 3 happy things about that day. That's it. Some days are easy, some are MUCH harder. And then through the year you can look back, or shake it for a random day. I think I've only missed 5 days this year (and I am so mad about those 5 days!) and I'm looking forward to carrying on with it in 2019.

I've had a great 2018 and I am so (SO SO SO SO) excited for 2019!

Have an amazing new year and I'll see you in 2019!

Charlotte x