Today marks the last day of the last decade and until I really thought about, I didn’t quite understand the big deal. The fact is, as we enter 2020 and a new decade begins, it’s kind of like the biggest end to a chapter we’ve had (as half adults at least) and that’s a lot to think about – God, I’m excited.
On New Years Eve, 10 years ago I was 18. Whilst some things haven’t changed, I’m a completely different person and have spent the last ten years doing incredible things, making a lot of mistakes, meeting the best people and letting go of the worst. As I write this at 27, in my own living room, with the love of my life next to me, I know the next ten years will be the best yet but they will be alien to the previous ten.
2010 was probably the year it all really began, I finally felt like maybe I was fitting in. I went to my first festival in Reading, I was infatuated with lots of different boys, I lived at house parties and we threw a couple of our own. I lived in a bubble with my then, best friends and didn’t really know any better. Life was a blur and from the 100’s diaries I kept at the time, I know I wasn’t happy, although, you probably wouldn’t have known a thing.
2011 I finished school and went on my first girls holiday to Kavos. Some might have said at the time that life then changed, and it did. I started thinking for myself, being selfish, I fell in love (or so I thought) and spent a summer in Wales. In September 2011, I moved to Nottingham to spend the next 3 years at Uni and met my bestest friends, I broke up with my then boyfriend and spent the next year in a whirlwind of firsts.
2012 – The end of first year at university and the last year was maybe one of the best. A different kind of best but wouldn’t change it for the world. I learned a lot about people and being on my own and can’t begin to compare it to any other time of my life. That summer, I went to Benicassim festival with my new best friends and returned to Nottingham for my second year.
2013 was the biggest year and one of the best. I went on sports tour, spent 28 hours on a coach full of drunk people, I had my eyebrows shaven off and made a lot of hilarious mistakes (maybe not so hilarious looking back) In 2013, we made new friends and began to let go of some from first year. I spent my summer travelling Europe with my best friend – the biggest experience, a first and could not have asked for a better summer. I learned a lot about the world, became independent on another level, visited bucket list places and had the most incredible time (I also lost my freshers weight which basically consisted of Domino’s pizza and 3am fry ups so that’s a bonus)
2014 was our final year in Nottingham and by this point, my best friends had become family. We were 21 and felt like we’d lived a lifetime. Fresher’s feeling forever ago. We said goodbye to the most incredible chapter and I graduated with a 2:1. We went to Malta, I started blogging, I got a job waitressing to fund my future travels and loved it all. Life had basically only just begun.
2015 – The year that everything changed. I left my waitressing job to spend a few months in Croatia with one of my best friends, which was the most incredible experience. I didn’t have a lot of money and yet, we lived our best life. I saw every inch of a country and fell in love with travel all over again. I got the best tan of my life (I’ll have that back plz) and will never forget it (Croatia, not the tan..) When I got home, I got the best job in Marketing and continue to grow there, basically part of the furniture. I was out in a club back home in October when I met Charlie (despite having known him since 2009) we exchanged numbers and haven’t looked back since. The fact that this was 4 years ago blows my mind.
2016 – Life changed at home in 2016 and it was difficult, but after years and years of expecting it to happen again, I was slightly blind to it and was thankfully wrapped up in my own bubble with Charlie before he went travelling for the summer. I visited him in Thailand for 10 days and lived the best life. I knew then, that that was the end of life as we knew it and I was incredibly lucky to have spent that time with him. (I did come back with blood poisoning and almost lost my leg but that’s a story for another day…) With Charlie still away, I kept myself busy with friends and went back to Italy in September and finally saw Verona – a bucket list moment.
2017 – Much to the dismay of my bank balance which still hasn’t fully recovered, I went on 3 holidays in 2017. Me and Charlie celebrated our first year anniversary at the end of 2016 and went to Tenerife in June. My best friend and I spent August bank holiday in Prague and I ended the year with my best school friends, closer than ever, in Greece.
2018 – I don’t remember 2018 being all that cheerful if I’m completely honest, I had a lot going on at home and struggled with the battle of not wanting to be there but feeling like I suddenly had to look after everyone. It was a difficult year, with some obviously beaut memories but perhaps all a bit of a blur. Charlie and I did make it our mission to spend a few days away and went to Budapest which I’m forever thankful for and was our first city break.
2019 – It has been an incredible year. We haven’t been on holiday but we did move in together which I honestly would never have thought would be on the cards for us this year. It has changed us and we’ve grown a lot. We got extremely lucky, we’ve been through a number of firsts, some good and some sad and we’re ending the decade, maybe not with lot of money or too many plans for 2020 as yet but feeling so at home and in love which at the end of the day, is all that matters, isn’t it?
Excited for the next ten.
lovelove,
thehouseonthegreen 