I kind of feel as though this blog has helped to shape me as a person a little. It has grown with me through a lot of different times, some difficult and others downright amazing. But the thing it has given me the most is a different perspective on my life. I can be very single focused at times, which means that if I'm feeling or experiencing something for a period time everything in that time gets effected by that emotions or experience.
Like the start of this year, for example, work was busy, my Big Distraction was hitting its peak and I was taking on some freelance work too. All I could think about was how much work I had to do, and how busy I was. I was definitely busy and it was hard, but life still goes on doesn't it? Well, during that time other things happened, like I got my new car, we went to York, we did a mini-break to Bournemouth and we discovered a decent local Indian takeaway (priorities). But I did not see that at the time, in fact remembering that half of these things happened didn't even happen - I just had to scroll back in my phone gallery to find out what happened during that period. A sadly true story.
I'm jumping straight in with the one which kick started the biggest life change this blog has seen me undertake. You know that I always say that I take photos to capture a moment in life that I want to remember forever? Well, this is inadvertently that. This stunning photo (or rather a different much-less-specially-selected-much-less-flattering-photo) was the catalyst to me realising that I needed to change my lifestyle. I've never really talked about my weight loss on here before, for a plethora of reasons, maybe I will one day, but for today this is the post that had biggest impact on my life so it deserves a spot in my top 10 turned 11.
Kenya was a definite experience, not one I would necessarily repeat in the same way we did the honeymoon. BUT this was my honeymoon and it holds it owns memories. It cements in my mind how much my marriage means to me and how much Mr M and I have grown together since this trip.
Ok, so there were no molten chocolate rivers, or squirrels sorting through nuts BUT there was chocolate, and a lot of it. It was the first time I was invited to something as a result of my blog and I had a complete blast.
Greece will always have a very special place in my heart, especially Lindos. I knew Mr M would love it there and after a few years of pestering him we finally booked. It was the first time that we both trusted each other with travel choices properly, something that we're taking complete advantage of now!
There is so little that I need to say about this. Food. Travel. Chocolate. Happy marriage. Monopoly. This weekend is one of the best of my entire life. I will remember it forever and I am forever grateful that this space was here for me to save it to. This one taught me how much I valued this space as a memory bank.
You remember that thing about photos that capture that moment? This is definitely that. The pup that features on this post was called Hector and is entirely responsible for what happened next.
Every time I read this post my heart starts to ache for home. It was the first time I felt comfortable enough to let people into the secret of home for me. It was also the first time I had my DSLR for a travel trip, which was a learning curve!
Paris stole my heart almost straight away, blogging definitely led me down the path of booking our first trip after getting serious wanderlust reading other bloggers post.
It is a beautiful city and you can see that here, here and here. It had a real impact on my sense of style, it made me fall more in love with baking and it gave me the opportunity to have the ultimate afternoon tea.
The pictures were pulled from Instagram, and the writing was brief but honest. This post kick started my realisation that my world wouldn't fall apart if I stepped back from blogging a little bit. It made me realise how secure I felt in my space and pushed me to feeling that in a different way. This post triggered a series of posts that have shown me how important blogging is to me and how much it has pushed me out of my comfort zone.