If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll know that every year in December, I round-up what I’ve done that year.
It started as a way to recap all the amazing trips I’d been on during the previous 12 months, like in 2016 when I gushed about my solo trip to Iceland, my Bali backpacking trip or my road trip in Australia. And then in 2017 when it was my Trek America trip across the Deep South USA, exploring cities like Barcelona and New York, and island-hopping in Greece. In 2018, although I still did a lot of travel, I started including the big life moments, like my thirtieth birthday, getting engaged in Italy and then announcing my pregnancy. It was a big year for personal stuff! 2019 was the new mum year, so although we visited the Cotswolds and had our first holiday to Seville, there wasn’t much going on. Oh except buying our first house. But y’know, travel was minimal.
But in 2020, I figured it would go back to having a bit more adventure.
Let’s just pause here so we can all have a laugh at that.
I thought that we’d book a family holiday or two now that we’d experienced what family travel was like. I thought I’d be going to Glastonbury after I miraculously got tickets for the big 50th year celebrations. I thought I might have a few lovely press trips after building some good travel contacts.
I did not expect… well… 2020. None of us did.
It’s been a funny old year, to put it lightly, but it’s still been a year of my life I want to document. So many people are throwing out 2020 and starting afresh in 2021 but I’ve actually not had too bad a year all things considered! I mean it’s been tough – lockdown with no garden and no childcare was hideous – but I got off pretty lightly.
So I still wanted to continue my tradition of reviewing and reflecting on the year that’s passed. Even if it looks a little different this year.
2020: A Year in Review
My Baby Turned 1
To think we started the year with such a lovely celebration! Indiana turned one and we celebrated with a little party at our house. Our house is way too small for a party so it was a bit cramped, but it was lovely. Indi was spoiled and I felt quite emotional at surviving my first year of motherhood.
Jamie Oliver Cookery School
One of the last blog things I did before the world went mad was a Vietnamese Street Food cookery course at the Jamie Oliver Cookery School. It was part of an ongoing collab I had with Virgin Experience Days and was so nice to have a day off and cook up some delicious food with Josh.
Lockdown Hell
Aaaaaaaaaaaand chaos. I don’t need to recap this too much, you know the score. The coronavirus pandemic hit, the country shut down, we started working from home indefinitely. And what was toughest about that first lockdown is that no childcare was allowed. I tell ya, working whilst you have a 14 month old knocking about is hard work. I think both mine and Josh’s mental health suffered in March-May this year and I felt so bad for Indi who had just learned to walk and yet couldn’t go anywhere. We survived though. (Here’s a good summary of my lockdown.)
Pivoting my Content
What does a travel blogger do when they can’t travel, huh? Well to be honest, I had been thinking about broadening my blog for years. I started writing about lifestyle/personal topics a few years ago and since I had Indi my travels have been few and far between, so I was already diversifying my content. But when lockdown hit, I just decided to have complete freedom and post what I wanted. My Instagram stopped being travel-focused and was now showcasing my house, my baking attempts, my family.
This is literally the exact opposite of what blogging experts tell you to do to get ahead. You’re meant to niche down as much as possible. But my blog is not my job and I instagram for fun, so I decided to stop giving myself a hard time and do what I wanted.
I also worked on my little spin-offs – Oh Hey MK, my instagram account showcasing what sunny Milton Keynes has to offer, and The Millennial Mama Club, my newsletter and Instagram account all about the highs and lows of modern motherhood.
A Summer of Family Days Out
This year has kind of been carved up into sections based on lockdown restrictions, and we had this wonderful couple of months, right in the middle, when we were actually able to do fun things. To an extent of course and all socially distanced.
Well, we made the most of it with a few family days out. We took Indi to Whipsnade Zoo with a couple of friends, as well as to Gullivers Land, a kids theme park in MK. I visited my grandparents in Whitstable and found some new parks and outside spaces a bit closer to home. We went to see the cute sunflower fields in Milton Keynes.
All of this sounds crazy now that I’m writing this from tier 4 lockdown, but at the time we were loving post-lockdown-one life. Eat Out To Help Out and all that LOL. What a joke in retrospect, ay? A few lovely memories in this shitshow of a year at least!
Our Adventure in Wales
We had a lovely family getaway to South Wales during this time too. We stayed in a lovely Airbnb in Talley where farm animals came up to the window and we had gorgeous views of the fields. We did a day trip to colourful Tenby, a really charming seaside town. And we hiked up a mountain in the Brecon Beacons, with a toddler in tow no less! (Josh did all the work there I have to say.)
It was a wonderful reminder of how much I love to explore new places and I started planning different places we could explore, both in the UK and a bit further afield once things return to normal. (Of course we were heading for lockdown 2 at the time but I was woefully optimistic.)
We Kept it Local
I think a good thing about this year is that I made the most of my local area. I think we all did really. I mean, we didn’t have a choice. But it means I’ve found so many nice new walks. I explored The Patch MK both when they had a sunflower field and a pumpkin patch. I’ve supported local businesses as much as I can, by ordering takeaway and going to food trucks when safe to do so. We must have fully funded the coffee van that came around every Wednesday. And I went to a couple of the Vintage Open-Air Cinema events in my area (Hocus Pocus at Halloween and Polar Express at Christmas).
I knew I loved Milton Keynes, I mean, I chose to live and raise my family here. But it was nice to reaffirm that it really is a lovely place to live, even in a lockdown.
I Got Promoted at Work!
I didn’t really mention this anywhere because it feels a bit braggy in a time when a lot of people have lost work. But I was the only person in my department who wasn’t put on furlough this year and I worked my arse off to cover 7 people’s jobs. And I’m really happy that I saw a good return on that hard work and was promoted to Head Of my department. (If you read my manifestation post, this was the last thing I was manifesting in 2020!)
I’m really happy with it and grateful to have made progress in my career in such a tricky time.
I Started “Doing The Work” *eye roll*
Lol. What am I like. So cringe. But yeah, I did a lot of inner work this year. Most of it was part of a course I took with To Be Magnetic, a brand all about neural manifestation. It sounds very spiritual and woo but it’s actually more like therapy! You deal with “blocks” in your life by going back and looking at your childhood and why you are the way you are. It’s deep stuff and I don’t know, I just feel better in myself?
I also did Sophie Cliff’s Find Your Thing workshop as I was looking for a bit of purpose and it’s what made me embrace my Millennial Mama outlet. But mainly it made me realise what my values are in life, and I want to use that information to drive any decisions I make in my life going forwards.
I feel like the time we’ve had to stop and think has made us all do some kind of introspective work this year. All I know is I feel pretty content right now and I think this stuff helped.
I Made My House a Home
So one of my goals for 2020 was to make my house feel more like home. We moved into our house in Autumn last year and so I decided that this year I wanted to decorate (you have to wait 6 months with newbuilds).
I’ve not done everything I wanted to, I mean there have been other things going on of course, but I’ve made a good start. I started by painting our kitchen navy and adding some new cupboard handles (still need to do some tiling), and I painted Indi’s room with a lilac half-wall scalloped effect and I love it!
Our house is still a bit cluttered, I probs need to Marie Kondo the shit out of it, but so far, it’s feeling more like our cosy little nest.
Launched My Etsy Shop!
Ok, I’ve mentioned The Millennial Mama Club thing I started in 2020, but my goal for it was always to design and sell products. That’s just something I’ve always wanted to do, and although I’ve attempted it a few times in the past, I really want to stick at it! So I gave my Etsy shop a makeover and launched my first item as part of TMMC, an enamel pin.
Next on my list for 2021 is to explore other pins, mugs and maybe clothing, but it’s a project I’m learning a lot from.
A Much-Needed Spa Break
After the whirlwind of a year that is 2020, I kicked off December with a wonderful trip to Whittlebury Park Spa. It’s fairly local and they invited me to experience a spa stay, which included treatments and use of all spa facilities, lunch and dinner, and an overnight stay. It was really needed after the crazy 2020 emotional rollercoaster, and I thoroughly enjoyed it (blog post coming soon)!
Embracing Christmas 2020
Fun fact: I started writing this blog post when we were in tier 2 and have finished it in tier 4. So when I wrote that heading, I was thinking we would really make the most of Christmas, spend time with our families, etc. And now things are looking a little bleaker with a quiet Christmas at home just the three of us.
It’s fine, I’m adjusting to it, it will still be lovely. But if you’re in the same boat, you’ll agree it’s tainted the end of the year a little. I’m planning on a Christmas Eve of showing Indi the lights in the local village, giving her a Christmas Eve Box of goodies and settling down together with a Christmas film and a cheese board.
Christmas Day will look a little different and I now have to cook a turkey roast, but I’ve bought some toddler-friendly board games and we’ll play Christmas records all day and drink Buck’s Fizz so I’m sure it will be fun nonetheless.
So yeah, 2020 didn’t really go the way we thought, all the way to the end! But I think overall it’s been pretty good to me. Of course it’s been devastating for so many people and I don’t want to take away from that. The issues we find ourselves in as a planet are serious. But I’ve learned a lot from the crazy year. I watched my baby become a toddler. My relationship was tested by lockdown and came out stronger. I progressed in my career. I decided on what was important to me in my life. I can’t complain.
I guess now all we can do is see what 2021 has in store for us. I’m sure it will start with more of the same – national lockdown, incompetent politicians, a few twists and turns, but I really hope I can write my end of 2021 round-up with a few more adventures!
Only time will tell.
Head on over to my Instagram for regular updates on my Christmas fun, millennial motherhood and life in general.