Happy New Year! I hope you had a great evening, whether you decided to celebrate or not. If you’ve been on social media over the last few days, you will have seen an abundance of 2017 round-ups, highlights and #2017bestnine. We all love bit of self-reflection don’t we? Some of us will gush about buying a house, having babies or getting married. Others will reflect on their own personal journey, the people they’ve met and the things they’re grateful for. Either way, it’s a great thing to do, to keep yourself in check (and of course set some new goals for the coming year, if that’s your bag!)

It’s easy to forget that we all portray our best moments on social media, rather than the good, the bad and the ugly (even if we don’t mean to.) We shouldn’t compare our own reality to the highlight reel of our peers.  There will be some years that are naturally quieter and that doesn’t mean it’s been a bad time, or we haven’t achieved anything; we can’t always have huge, exciting milestones every year, after all.

Here are my top moments from the year that was 2017!

2017 Highlights

Travelling to Iceland.  Both myself and Ashley turned 30 this year and we celebrated by doing something we’ve wanted to do for some time, but as parents of a young child, never thought we would, with a long weekend in Iceland. It was truly out of this world (seriously, it felt like another planet at times), dreamy and lovely to spend some time just the two of us (and then bring B to bed with us as soon as we got home, four nights later!)

Christmas. I realise Christmas happens every year, but this year just felt truly magical. B is nearly six now and totally gets it. It was so beautiful to see him completely immerse himself in the festivities and count down the days until Santa arrived. We had a perfect few lazy days at home before the big day to get him excited too!

Career changes. At the start of 2017, I was three months into a new job role and now as we start 2018, I’m three months away from a completely different career path and starting my own business. I thought I’d be in that job for a while, however sometimes things change unexpectedly; but I believe that everything happens for a reason and I’m excited for the journey ahead!

Friendships. I feel like my circle of friends has got stronger and smaller with my closest pals and expanded in others; I have a whole new set of people in my life with the school mums, reconnected with old friends and made other friends along the way too.

Days Trips. We’ve had some great days out as a family and I’ve had lovely Mummy Dates with my boy, including an unexpectedly warm trip to Brighton in February, visiting the farm with friends, a day out at Legoland, ice skating, queuing up at the Lego Store & indulging at M&M World and seeing the animals at Port Lympne Safari Park. I’m very much a homebody, but days out near or far from home make a welcome change!

Bruno Mars. I was extremely lucky when Ashley surprised me with VIP tickets to see Bruno Mars at The O2 in April. It was hands down the best show I’ve ever been to. If you ever get the chance to see Bruno Mars live, you must go!

B completed his first year of school. He’s come on leaps and bounds in just a year and the fact he can just read now still blows my bloody mind. (And it also makes it really difficult to communicate by spelling words out to your husband that you don’t want your child to hear!)

So, here we are. 2018; I can still remember celebrating the turn of the millennium and it doesn’t feel that long ago, if I’m honest! Is this what my dad means when he says he still feels 21?!

Bring on the next 12 months!