Festive season and New Years reflections

Wow I haven’t blogged for ages but it has been the most wonderful time of year so I have had an excuse I suppose – basically I have been out out a lot! So as I sit here in bed with yet another hangover from the season that depicts you must be jolly, I thought it was time to jot down some thoughts! 

In recent months I’ve been totally whoa is me! Boo to being single and all that, moaning that it’s been the worst year etc but it really hasn’t been! Yes 2016 has had highs and lows, yes some of my friends have had the most terrible time recently and it’s made me so worried about my parents getting old and people not being here anymore but it’s actually been a bloody fun year! I’ve learnt a lot and been fortunate to go on some amazing adventures with some of my favourite people! So whilst looking for 9 photos to reflect my year & all the good bits in it I couldn’t found 9 but at least 18 fun amazing times I had this year. Let me tell you about some of them:

Theatre trips in London: Phantom of the opera (for the hundredth time) Kinky boots, Charlie & the chocolate factory and even horrible histories with my niece – all amazing 

Family days: Cinema trips, visit to the zoo, legoland, shriek adventure, theatre, the races & even bowling! I avoided my neices and nephew for a bit as they were really irritating me recently (they are the most hyper children ever) but this festive season I have seen them nearly everyday and we have had so much fun yet a lot  of “Santa won’t come, I won’t give you a Christmas present and a tad bit of bribery” but it was fun! I do love them very very much! 

Friendsaveries: 25 years of being friends with my besties from school, having a mini reunion with our group from school and being friends with my friend Zara for 10 years – all fun days! I am very very fortunate to have amazing friends even though I moan about them – I know we are stuck with each other and will grow old smoking fags and drinking hard liquor! Haha! 

Travel adventures: family holiday to fueteventura, Budapest for SJ’s hen, loads of fun times in London being a tourist, St Petersburg – Russia with Cindy, Oxford for Hodgies 40th, Copenhagen with my mum and Amsterdam for Zara’s birthday! I had a blast, saw places I had on my bucket list and put more red spots on my big map in my kitchen! Now where to go next year!? I live to travel and I have told everyone I am buying flooring next year for my house and being uber sensible and paying my credit card off! No one believes me and gives me till February before I book a holiday! To be fair I have adventures planned already in Cambridge (birthday), Birmingham (seeing take that – whoop) and Southampton (seeing Robbie Williams – I love him! I need to find a guy just like him) but that isn’t on a plane so doesn’t count! Although I don’t even believe I will make a year without going on an international adventure! Why would you not explore the world? There is so much to see! 

So in reflection yes I’m still single but I dated some nice guys, I had a fun summer season, you don’t need a boy to have fun, adventures or because your friends are coupled up, you just need to make the most out of your life and your situation! I have done so much this year -more than I can remember probably but from going to see the rugby in a box, going to Royal Ascot for the hundreth time or just going for dinner with friends or seeing a movie at the cinema it has all made this year have some amazing memories! 

Next to decide on goals for 2017 & how it can be a fab year, maybe the year I might find love or just decide it’s going to be me and Henry the cat forever! Stay tuned; goals and resolutions post to be posted asap! Have you reflected on your 2016 yet? Are you raring to go for 2017 & like me have you learnt from 2016? It’s good to have a think at this time of the year right? I feel much better when you think about it more literally rather than being melodramatic about the bad times! Happy new year! 

Have you ever been to Amsterdam?

Last weekend 10 of us went to Amsterdam for a friends birthday! It was so fun! We fitted in culture, mooching, food, partying, smoking and whatever else the 10 individuals wanted to do! Oh and we saw the ladies of the night in their windows too! €50 a shag apparently – that’s pretty cheap right? Anyway let’s break the weekend down:

Day 1 – mooching, good food and culture

We got up at the crack of dawn to get our flight. We were waiting around for ages for one person, so that was annoying but the 45 min flight was pretty cool! 45 mins – you can’t even get to work in that sometimes!!! Anyway we dropped our bags at the hotel and went for a walk in vodelpark! It’s this big park like Hyde park in London or Central Park in New York! It looked so pretty in Autumn! We went to one of the resturants in the park to refuel and have a beverage to say cheers to the break and Za’s birthday! As you might know I’m gluten free so going anywhere is always a little more restricted, however Amsterdam is hands down one of the best cities for having gluten free options on their menus, for their waiting staff being clued up on what it is and the different levels you can be and just for being so helpful with what they offer and what the chef can do! I had a gluten free open sandwich! They had gf bread – it was good too!

Afterwards we mooched to Anne Frank’s house, took a lot of selfies with bikes and canals and the girls had Dutch apple pie! It looked bloody good!

We then queued for 2 hours in the cold to get into Anne Frank’s House! After 3pm you can queue for a min of 1.5 hours to get in before this is pre booking and we didn’t pre book! We played games of top 3 movies and top songs to get us through! We all shared stories of how we all knew the birthday girl – so it wasn’t too bad – cold but ok! Anne Frank’s as you can imagine was so insightful and interesting but clearly very sad!

Afterwards we needed to get warm and eat and drink more! We decided to mooch to the palace, red light district and find somewhere to eat! We found a lush place by the palace square and had amazing food again! Literally the waiter was so good in advising gluten free food and even made a special sauce for me!

We then looked at the girls in the red light district and looked around for what bars were around and coffee shops! As we had been up since 4am and it was now 11pm we opted to go back to the hotel for drinks and see if some of our friends who couldn’t get the day off had arrived! They had, so we had some drinks, they went off to explore and we listened to stories from one of the group and chilled!

Day 2 -food, bikes and partying

So a few of us got up and found brekkie in this fabulous place called Eds – again gluten free options, really accommodating and lush! The group then splits and a few of us go to hire bikes and do the Amsterdam thing! OMG I haven’t been on a bike for donkeys years & yes I fell off into some roadworks! The other girls were great – we went to vondlepark again and rode around it, taking selfies, doing videos and looking like pros until we got a bit lost! Anyway afterwards the last guest arrived and we weren’t to the I Amsterdam sign! Packed full of people we got all the photos we needed and then we headed to the floating flower market! Well it wasn’t floating and it wasn’t that great so we went for food and drinks again! Then it was time to go home and put the glad rags on for the birthday dinner and drinks!

All assembled we had some drinks then headed to the best steak place ever and then found this cool bar/club called Smokey! Cool vibes, all ages, great new and old hip hop RNB tunes – everyone loved it! We stayed till 5! Well me and a couple of others did! We got to bed at 6.30! Ouch! Who says the oldest at 36 can’t stay out late!

Day 3 – Thank goodness day 3 was just brekkie and airport! All 10 were quiet on the flight home! Moral of the post if you haven’t been to Dam – go! Everyone loved it’s, couples, singles, boys and girls! My friend had a fab birthday and tried everything she wanted to in Dam! 

Friendship

This year has seen some milestones in the old friendship stakes – my best friends and I have been friends for 25 years after meeting at senior school on day one (damn that gives away my age) and a friend who I met at a job in my 20’s – we celebrated this weekend being friends for 10 years! My most recent close friend I have known for 6 years! I would say I have about 10 very close friends and several others I couldn’t live without, but I just might not see/talk to all the time! 

I’ve always been a loyal friend, I sometimes think this is why I never found anyone for the long term because I always put my friends first. I would go out on a weekend with them and they all found guys early in their 20’s – so we would all just go out and have fun! They never hooked me up with there partners guy friends (selfish) and they just always really thought of me being the dependable friend, the helpful friend who when they all got married – I was there as the doting bridesmaid and don’t get me wrong I didn’t mind, I pride myself on being helpful etc. But maybe it was quite one sided looking back! I know if I got married, they would never be as good as I was as a bridesmaid mainly because their life’s are full of kids, husbands and higher ranking positions these days but I just think they wouldn’t help the stressful, but lovely time and I don’t know if I would choose them to be my bridesmaids and I’d cop out and just have my nieces instead! That would be the friendship over then! Haha! 

Anyway yesterday my friend and I celebrated with a shopping trip and whilst having some drinks she asked the question of what was my favourite time over the last 10 years and you know we literally named every day as a fun day even the boring work days where we would just go to Starbucks to cheer ourselves up! We literally have had a blast over the last 10 years and I wouldn’t change a thing! It’s sad that the next 10 years could bring heart ache as our parents get older and some of my friends have already gone through this or are going through it right now, but we (the single ones) still have our adventures to come & I’m sure in the next 10 years we will definitely have kids, someone will get married, we will go on adventures abroad (we already have Amsterdam to look forward to in November) and whatever is thrown at us we will tackle it together like we have in the last whatever years! 

My best friends will always be there, I don’t always think they know me as well as my newer friends these days, but if I reached out to them more instead of just saying I’m fine all the time, they would be there for me, but then if we have been friends for this long, shouldn’t they know if something is wrong, shouldn’t they make an effort to actually check you are ok or see the signs on social? – I would, but who knows that is what makes friends different, this is why I have different pockets of friends and why they are all unique! Regardless, I am very lucky to have each and every one of them and I will always continue to be there for them! Maybe this is why I got friend zoned this weekend too! Maybe he heard what a great friend I am and decided the relationship wasn’t for him! I’m kidding, there was more to it, but hey who wants to ever be friendzoned when you like a boy! Story of my life – maybe that’s my next blog. To be continued….