In the last couple years I’ve done a recap of the previous year and I usually love reflecting on the past year. I had been thinking quite pessimistically about the past year but it has brought so much including getting pregnant with our little baby <3
I thought I’d have a look at 2019 and what I got up to and wow we did a lot! We started off the year with afternoon tea and then a tasty meal at The Hinds Head with family and then bottomless brunch with friends. I went to the US with work in Feb – Houston and then Buffalo – and then in March went back with Tim to Florida for a week holiday. I ventured to Copenhagen with friends for a long weekend and discovered all the colourful houses and streets – gorgeous! I set myself the goal of getting a new job in a month and did it! Before starting the new job, Tim and I went for a mini road trip in Ireland and caught up with lots of family. We then went to Malta for a long weekend to celebrate a friends 30thand had such a great time! We went out for more tasty meals with friends and then in December went to Australia for the most epic 3 week holiday! It was definitely a year full of travels and tasty meals and times with friends and family.
It seems like a life time ago now! 2020 had been a year we’ll all remember for sure and mainly because of the C word! Lockdown, staying at home and working from home and lots and lots of zoom calls with friends and family.
January:
Started off the year catching up with friends having super tasty meals out (hello Purnells!) and also went to an Art Night at a pub in Brum. I started running again and enjoyed going to the gym. I started a cake club up at work (at the time had no clue that my lemon cake would be the last cake of cake club due to COVID!). We also went to a Jonas Brothers concert which ended up being our last concert of 2020. Little did we know!
February:
Had our first and last trip abroad of 2020 to Ireland for a friend’s wedding. It ended up being our last proper party of 2020 with lots of friends followed by a couple days in Dublin where we went to see Riverdance and had a night out in Temple Bar. I remember us all talking about the COVID outbreak in Wuhan and thinking there’s no chance that will come over to us!
Tim surprised me with a weekend away in Langford Fivehead and we visited Cheddar Gorge. It was so nice being able to get away for some 5* luxury especially the month before the first lockdown.
Finally I gave the blog a refresh and moved across to WordPress – haven’t looked back since!
March:
We managed to get down to London and went to see the Lion King with my grandparents. I remember at this stage starting to carry around hand gel and making sure we all did our hands after being on the bus. Crazy what you remember… This was the last time I saw my grandparents this year before they went over to spend lockdown in Ireland.
Tim and I enjoyed our last bottomless brunch at Siamais. It was a Thai inspired brunch and was so tasty. It ended up being our last meal out before lockdown 1.0.
We celebrated an early mother’s day and then lockdown started along with working from home.
April:
Lockdown continued and we discovered lockdown snack/ treat deliveries – Café Cannoli, Bad Brownies and Brownie Boss were some of our favs.
We cooked a lot and did lots of home workouts as the gyms were still closed.
I started painting lots and sent out paintings to friends and family.
We joined in on the zoom quizzes – a particular favourite of my family was bingo.
May:
More of the above!
We enjoyed the glorious weather in the UK and spent our lunches and evenings in the garden <3
We started going for long walks after work to keep moving around us. We got to the point where we were going out every day to enjoy the fresh air and sun – a bit different to lockdown 2!
June:
We ordered a fancy meal at Simpsons for Tim’s 30th to have at home which was delish! We ate it in the garden and was a lovely reminder of what it was like to enjoy a fancy meal.
We were finally able to meet up with my parents and brother for a socially distanced picnic for my Dad’s birthday – it was the most amazing treat!
I celebrated my 30th and received lots of tasty treats in the post from friends including Clapham Cakes and a Candle Making Class (Earl of East). We also ordered in some patisserie from Simpsons and X.O Patisserie as a yummy treat.
July:
We discovered Jane’s Patisseries NYC cookies recipe and froze a huge batch. These came in handy as tasty puddings every now and again. If you haven’t tried them yet get on it!
I caught up with some friend’s in London for a meal at Meghans and celebrated a friend’s 30th followed by chilling on Clapham Common. It was so nice to see them after so long! I also managed to see my nanny for the first time since November. She normally splits her time between Florida and London and managed to get back in May. She won’t be going back to the US now until COVID is under control.
We made the most of being able to see friends and went to an outdoor BBQ for a friend’s 30th.
July was such a great month for finally seeing friends and family and enjoying outdoor BBQs.
August:
August was the month we found out I was pregnant! Such an amazing surprise!
We enjoyed a tasty afternoon tea in a quiet London. We were the only ones in the restaurant which was just crazy!
We had a weekend away in Oxford and stayed in a quaint little Airbnb. This was when I started losing my appetite and went off veg.
I really started to struggle with being nauseous all the time and hated going off food.
September:
I was still really struggling with first trimester at this point. I had also lost so much of my motivation and get up and go. I hadn’t exercised in a couple months because of feeling sick all the time and couldn’t wait to feel like myself again.
I managed to get away with the girls for a long weekend in the Cotswolds. It was perfect and really helped keep my mind off my first trimester symptoms. Although we had to take a fair few breaks on our walks when I was feeling nauseous!
I read my fav book of the year – Read Where the Crawdads Sing.
Tim and I got away down to Devon for a staycation via Longleat. It was the perfect week away and I finally started getting my appetite back! I even managed my first proper meals since the beginning of August and soaked up our time by the sea.
We got back to the gym and I finally had the energy to start exercising again.
We started house hunting and put an offer in on a house!
October:
While we could we carried on going to the gym and I really enjoyed swimming.
I finally had my appetite back and was not feeling nauseous so much – such a relief!
We told our family and friends we were expecting baby Bradley! A glimmer of hope in an otherwise crazy year.
November:
Lockdown 2 hit! This time round the weather was not so nice, the days were darker and motivation was definitely lacking.
I had a day back in the office – my first time since March 13th!
We started using our National Trust memberships and explored local NT places for walks. It was a good way for us to get our exercise in and make sure we were actually leaving the house!
Finally got around to sorting out some old pics and did some scrap booking.
December:
I started trying to do a few more at home workouts. Bump was finally getting quite big so I tried to keep moving. I tried to do a bit of yoga/ pilates and did a few Bumps and Burpee workouts. Tbh my main exercise has been walking as I’ve been getting knackered so easily.
I finally got back into painting after about 6 months off!
We experienced a different kind of Christmas to what we were used to. With the original government guidance we had hoped to spend Christmas Day with my family and then go to Tim’s parents on Boxing Day but that didn’t happen. London went into tier 4 so we managed a quick drive down to drop off pressies before they went up and ended up spending Christmas with Tim’s parents instead.
What a crazy year it’s been – definitely not what we’d expected at all. We had been hoping to get away on a few more trips this year before we ‘settled down’ to try for a family. I found a list the other day with all the places we were planning on going – a South of France 2 week roadtrip ending in Monaco to celebrate our 30ths, we also wanted to do some long weekends away to Barcelona and Amsterdam, and finally visit the German Christmas Markets in Germany! Finally we wanted to get away to the US either to California or go down to Miami and The Keys. Obviously none of that happened and will have to be enjoyed another day!
Tim and I love our travelling and visiting new places. We’ve always seen work as a way to pay for our travels/ holidays and allow us to enjoy experiences/ tasty meals out and about with friends and family. So this year we have been able to save and we’re in the process of moving homes. It is taking forever! We had our offer accepted on a house back in September and we still don’t have an idea of a date of when we’ll move. Here’s hoping as soon as possible! I want to be moved in so we can get the house sorted and ready for baby’s arrival… I have my fingers crossed for the end of the month!
So that’s been my year! It’s been nice to go through and it’s made me feel very grateful for all the lovely things we did manage to do. I had wanted to skip this recap as I’d been feeling a little pessimistic about 2020 but doing this has made me realise there was a lot to be grateful and happy about. I mean it’s obviously a highlight real but that’s what I’ve needed. There’s been a lot of crap this past year and difficult for many reasons but it has definitely put a lot into perspective what matters the most.
Here’s to 2021 and that it brings us all much more joy than 2020!
Until next time,
Cathers xx
