2011: In Retrospect

There are plenty of New Years resolutions posts, blog resolution posts and reviews of 2011 floating around the various blogging platforms, and I thought it would be a nice idea to take a look back at what has happened in the life of Futures, and in my personal life, over the past year.

January

– Futures made its appearance on the World Wide Web. I posted rather infrequently at the beginning, trying to find my footing on a very crowded platform, so to speak. There are so many blogs available out there, and it was quite intimidating to enter a world I knew so little about. Luckily, I kept at it, and here we are, nearly a year later!

– I turned 21 at the end of January. I held a huge party, and a photographer friend was meant to take pictures (but unfortunately couldn’t make it) so I have little paper memories of the night. My actual memory is also a little fuzzy too – I remember dancing drunkenly (and badly) with work colleagues to Do It Like A Dude by Jessie J, getting pizza at 3am and drunkenly tweeting my friend Laura who was sitting next to me but other than that, I honestly have no clue what happened! I do know I only paid for one drink that night, though!

February

– Steve turned 24 and we had our second Valentines Day together.

– My Mum turned 51, and we had a joint meal for her and Steves birthday down our local.

– We didn’t know this at the time, but I fell pregnant with Jack in this month.

March

– Not much happened this month, I spent most of the time looking after broken hearted friends and such.

– The refit started at work.

April

– Work reopened as one of only four stores in the country of its ilk. If you ever get the chance to visit a Clinton Cards Store of The Future…do it, you’ll love the difference!

– Steve & I celebrated two years together.

– I realised I could be pregnant, and took a pregnancy test…we all know what the result was!

May

– This month was spent attending midwives and hospital appointments after a little scare about Jack. Everything turned out okay, but it was a terrifying time.

– We told our parents of their impending grandparent duties.

June

– We went on holiday to Great Yarmouth. Unfortunately, I was ill a lot of the time, due to pregnancy hormones and changes in my body, but it was nice to have some time away.

July

– We returned home to the stressful news that we had to find a new place to live. At 5 months pregnant and with very little time to find somewhere new, it was a tough time. Luckily, my parents stepped in and saved the day.

– We bought our caravan in Camber Sands with an idea to living in most of the year. However, we soon realised this wasn’t practical, and are keeping it as a holiday home.

August

– This month didn’t hold many exciting times, we just spent the majority of our time in Camber Sands.

September

– We moved back in to my parents. We’re very tight on space here, and we can’t wait for next week!

– I arranged for my maternity leave.

October

– I started my maternity leave on the 1st of October, and very quickly got bored. I spent a lot of time entering competitions during this period, and received some lovely wins!

– My Dad turned 73 and we went for a meal at a nearby pub/restaurant. We had a fantastic time, and made plans to go again – this hasn’t happened yet!

November

– Jacks due date came…and went. He just wasn’t destined to be a November baby!

– I won three amazing prizes – an annual Merlin pass, a set of cookware worth over £400 and a curry hamper that could have fed at least eight people!

– My nephew turned 18 and my niece turned 21. Although I’m only 21 myself, this made me feel incredibly old!

December

– Jack arrived (finally) on the 4th of this month, the cheeky little monster!

– I won another amazing prize – a Christmas hamper worth £125 – full of meats, fruits, vegetables and chutneys!

– We signed contracts for our new house, getting the keys in early January.

-Finally, we celebrated our first Christmas as a family. Although Jack is too young to remember anything from the day, we took plenty of pictures for our memories.

What happened to you in the past year? If you have a blog, how has it developed?

Have you any New Years or blog resolutions? Here are mine:

New Years resolution: To lose the baby weight that I accumulated over the past 9 months. I have recently bought a Wii (for the Wii Fit of course) for this purpose, and am also planning to go running and exercising with my friend Michelle.

Blog resolutions: To make this blog as best as it can be. To post as regularly as possible, but not to feel guilty if it just isn’t possible. Keep my design fresh and up to date.

I’d love to hear what your year has been like, leave links to your posts below!

xo