The last day of the year!
It’s definitely a day to reflect, the 31st December. This year has been unreal, in so many ways – looking back at some of my favourite photos has been a little bit emosh, because in some ways I feel like this year has flown by and I never really stopped to take it all in. I guess there’s still time, right?!
As always, I wanted to look back on the year and share with you a few top moments!
My year in highlights…
01. We eloped! Yeah, so I’ve talked about this a fair bit, but on 1st June 2017, we got married on a rooftop in New York… just the two of us, surrounded by the Manhattan skyline. It was magical, and I’m going to have a hard time topping this day in 2018!
02. We visited the Grand Canyon! A short helicopter ride and a champagne picnic at the bottom were also involved, making it one of the best days of the year.
03. We opened our coffee shop, Market, after many, many months (probably even years!) of dreaming and planning. What a dream come true!
04. I upped my work game and really committed myself this year, and it’s paying off. My content seems to improve so much over the years and I’m still loving every minute, so that can only be a good thing!
05. I started living better. I stuck to routines, I went to the gym regularly, I ate better, I recognised unhealthy habits, and I worked on my mental health too. This is something I plan to stick at through 2018 too, but it was so good to see my progress come together this year.
My 2017 in numbers…
2,739,965 – the amount of likes on Instagram I got this year (thank you!)
2 – the number of new countries I visited (Mexico and Poland)
21,294 – the number of minutes of music I listened to on Spotify
42,998 – the number of Instagram followers I gained
3 – the number of potential wedding dresses I tried on
A few personal goals…
Looking back over my goals for 2017, I did really well in thinking about what I wanted from myself
01. I grew my hair! Can you believe this was one of my goals for this year? I really felt like I was stuck in a continuous cycle of cutting and growing my fringe over the last few years, and I was forever hating my hair.
I promised myself I would feel happier with myself, and I did it. I actually had it cut yesterday back to how I had it when I got married, and it feels so good!
02. We planned a wedding. I’m not sure if I really achieved this or not! While we didn’t plan the Italy wedding we were working towards, we decided to scrap the whole thing and elope – I don’t regret it at all, so I suppose that counts!
03. I bought less crap. This is a big, on-going goal for me. I wanted to buy less, and love what I had more. It’s taken me a while to get out of the bad habits I had (random ASOS orders, spur of the moment beauty purchases) but I’ve really seen a difference. Here’s hoping I can do even better in 2018.
04. I built a brand. I really wanted to have more of a brand this year, in the sense of a better design, more consistent content, and more photos of me/more personal elements. I did all of that, and more – I’ve really made it my mission to take my platforms to the next level, and I couldn’t be happier with how much I’ve achieved.
05. I travelled a lot more. I definitely did this! New Zealand (twice!), Mexico, Paris, San Francisco, LA, Las Vegas, Portland, Seattle, New York, Poland… it’s been a crazy year for travelling!
In 2017, I discovered…
01. Bleachers, a band that I absolutely could not get enough of this year!
02. The importance of mental health days – I’m a lot easier on myself these days.
03. Less is more, I’m just not about the cluttered life any longer!
04. Taking photos to keep, not just for Instagram. One of my biggest goals for 2018 is to keep a photo album of photos for ourselves – of our travels, of us, our friends, the cats!
05. Oat milk. Oat milk everything! Oat milk mochas, oat milk cream. Oat milk porridge!!!
A few smaller triumphs…
Buying a Canon 5D Mark IV, writing our own vows, dealing with losing our luggage twice (once our bag was taken from the airport, the second time the suitcases contained our wedding clothes, rings etc.), celebrating Jordan’s 30th birthday, buying my dream Prada bag, finishing my office, shooting our engagement photos in the Highlands, having the ultimate girl squad, meeting one of my favourite musicians, getting the branding done for our coffee shop, donating to a foodbank for the first time, dancing in a room with our best friends for our wedding party, staying in a Cabana on the beach in Tulum, toasting to marriage on top of the Rockefeller Center the day after our wedding…
…and a few more favourite memories!
…getting another kitten, feeling confident in photos, FaceTiming our families from Central Park to say we had eloped, visiting Las Vegas for the first time, shunning self-employment guilt, giving up on a toxic friendship, keeping our elopement plans a secret, taking more risks, signing to management, changing my name, making time to chat to my family in New Zealand more, caring less about what people think, teaching myself InDesign so I could design a book, becoming a nicer person, planning a huge blog makeover, seeing The Killers live twice, believing in myself, hiring an editor for my YouTube videos, seeing more of Amy, Liv, Suzie and all my other fave blogger gals, working with some of my favourite brands, and dancing to our first dance.
My year in music…
2017 was an awesome year for music; some of my favourite artists released new albums this year, and I managed to see a lot of my favourite bands live too – including Manchester Orchestra, who I’ve wanted to see for so long!
I have a crazy long Spotify playlist from the year here, if you fancy listening to my top songs from 2017!
What a year it’s been…
I’m really so thankful for your support this year. It has meant the world to me, a million times over. Here’s to another amazing year – I hope you guys have had a good one, and I’ll see you in 2018!
Kate xo.