Mid Year Round Up 2014

In case you haven’t realised yet, I have a new layout! That I put together myself. For the first time in the history of Cocktails in Teacups I have a new colour scheme! My favourite colour is actually teal/turquoise so I decided to go with that. The drawing was done by my little sister Erin, she’s a fantastic artist but doesn’t have the time with a full time job and a toddler. She’s far too flattering when it comes to her cartoons but I promised I’d use it! I feel like it’s so much easier to navigate now and I won’t lie, I’m so proud of it!

Anyway, I almost forgot to do my Mid Year Round Up! So here it is, just a little late.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So in comparison to the first 6 months of 2013, 2014 is a huge improvement! In fact it’s possibly the first year in ages that I’d actually call “a great year” but with that comes the paranoia every month that something is going to go drastically wrong. Okay, it’s not perfect. I’m still pretty broke, single and often get shitty threats from my ex but this year, the good definitely out ways the bad! Saturday past saw a full year in my own home, and although I’ve done little to it since I moved in, it’s slowly feeling more and more like home and I can’t see myself moving for the foreseeable future. I feel safe here, the schools are good and I know my mum is just down the road. I do have no friends at all here, apart from my sister which does at time, suck. But knowing my grandparents especially are getting pleasure out of Little Miss makes that all okay. Plus our house is nice, roomy, in a good area of the town and has a lovely big back garden. I can see us making lots of good memories here.

Back in January I saw Little Miss turn two. Due to us having booked DLP the previous month she had a quiet birthday at my mums and I made her a very pretty and tasty cake. She received lots of fantastic gifts too. I also saw Frozen at the cinema and fell in love like the rest of the world, it’s still a firm favourite in our house and I bought my beautiful DSLR. In February I went to visit my best friend Bee for a few days without LM, we did another trail around Lincolnshire and had general fun and gossiping. I spent the dreaded V day with Little Miss watching Cinderella, the best Valentines Day I’ve had in years. In March it was my twenty sixth birthday and I celebrated it four times! It was also pancake day and Mothers Day. Near the end of the month, Hayley came to stay for a few days and we took Little Miss around Edinburgh. I also booked my flights to the US which is now less than a month away! As March was the best month I’d had in a long time, I was worried April would suck, but it didn’t! I started the month with Game of Thrones returning for season 4, my Dad’s birthday and another trip to Bee’s for the Easter Murder Mystery. Easter weekend was a lovely family affair too. Then I won two competitions in a row! One was for £1000 in Thomas Cook vouchers with Best British Bloggers, those babes picked my When I See My Ex Face as the winner. Then the following day I won £100 in Boohoo credit. May was an incredibly busy month, I attended three blogger events Bloggers Teaspoon, Paul Mitchell & the DYO Fabulous Jewellery Pre-Launch Party. I visited Bee’s twice, once for the Eurovision party which saw us staying up until gone 3am, getting very drunk and playing on Rock Band. Second time was for her birthday when Little Miss and I visited for three nights. We also went to the Harry Potter studios as part of her birthday we well as all nearly wetting ourselves laughing at the funniest, filthiest Murder Mystery to date! And of course, lets not forget the fact Little Miss, my mother and I went to Disneyland Paris for five days! The only word to describe it was magical! June wasn’t particularly any quieter! I went to visit Bee twice again, two weeks in a row in fact! Once for her brothers Superhero Murder Mystery which was so much fun, and the second was for our long anticipated #lincsblogmeet which ended up being a real success and I feel incredibly proud to have helped organise it! I also booked our 2015 holiday to Orlando, Florida with my Thomas Cook vouchers, to say I’m excited for this is an understatement! We ended the month on my mum’s birthday and baking her a beautiful cake.

As you can see, the first half of my year has been very busy and so much fun and July is (fingers crossed) heading the same way having already attended LFCC and fulfilled my dream to Disney Cosplay! But now I’m slightly addicted to it! I still have a lot to look forward to for the rest of the year, some festivals in my home town, my amazing holiday to the US for 10 days, The Lion King musical, Disney One Ice, possibly the winter LFCC, not to mention the possibility of Hayley, Kariss and Jess visiting and no doubt many more Murder Mysteries at Bee’s. And lets not forget about Christmas, but for the time being I plan on enjoying the summer.

As far as my blog is concerned, it has gone from strength to strength. I’m now on the approach to 1000 Bloglovin followers which if I manage to reach before I go on holiday with have an American themed giveaway for my 2nd Blog Birthday in September! I’ve attended some amazing events, worked with some wonderful brands and had some fantastic comments. I have finally felt brave enough to share outfit posts regularly which I have to admit are one of my favourite parts. My photography is improving as well as my editing skills and I’m really working hard to have content that people want to read. I’m hoping some of my readers will feel like I deserve to be nominated in the North East Blogger Awards as it would be a complete dream to be shortlisted! I’m hoping to travel log my adventures in the US as well which I’m hoping will make a good read. Having my blog is definitely feel like my true calling is writing rather than accountancy! Aside from my daughter, my blog is probably the thing I’m proud of most.

I personally feel like i’ve been on an emotional rollercoaster this year and it’s really reminded me that although I suffer from things such as anxiety and insomnia, I’m a strong and capable woman. I made it this far and I’m still alive but ultimately I know I’d be nothing without my little girl.

Here is to the next six months of 2014!