10 Things That Were Awesome in 2014

I know, I know, I’m six days late in posting one of these round up posts, but of course I still want to do it. On the whole, I’ll look back at 2014 and know that it was a good year. Yes there were some very low points but for the first time since 2011, the good outweighed the bad, and for that.. I’m extremely thankful. So today I’m going to share my 10 favourite memories from 2014 with you all. It’s time to stop dwelling on the rubbish end to the year I had, and start celebrating the good. These are in no particular order, but obviously if I were to rank the moments my US trip & taking Little Miss to Disneyland Paris would be up at the top!

London Film and Comicon
Back in July I attended my first convention ever, the London Film and Comicon (known as LFCC from now on). I had always fancied going mainly for the cosplay, in particular, the Disney cosplay. But the draw of the celebrity talks and meets (not that I could afford any, but it was fun to take photos of them) and the stalls was also there. I went with my best friend Bee (she’s going to feature a lot in these 10 awesome things) her partner, her brother and his partner and on the Sunday we were joined by some more of our friends. It was such fun, so much so I really want to do at least one, if not two in 2015. Of course my favourite bit was dressing up as Ariel in her Kiss the Girl dress for the whole of Saturday (even though it was RIDICULOUSLY hot) but the general atmosphere was brilliant too. I also love going away with my friends when we’re minus the kids, it happens so rarely these days.

Disneyland Paris
In May I took Little Miss on her first (of many I hope) Disney holiday to Disneyland Paris with my mum. Not only was it her first Disney holiday, but it was her first time abroad and her first time on a plane. It was such a magical experience. People had warned me against taking such a young child to a Disney park but she was brilliant. She had her typical toddler moments but on the whole, she was wonderful. I think I cried more than she did, but purely because I was so overwhelmed. We did a Disney dining experience at Cafe Mickey and she met Ariel, Woody, Jessie, Pluto, Goofy, Donald & Mickey at the parks and in the hotel. She LOVED all the rides we took her on and still talks about them to this day. I still well up when I catch sight of the photos on the wall. My top moment of 2014 probably was meeting Ariel with her, the interaction was just perfect.

Getting Elsa
I take my earlier statement back. If I had to pick the best thing about 2014, it was getting Elsa. I have wanted a cat my whole life but my parents we always against big pets (cats, dogs, horses etc). Then my mum ended up adopting my sister’s cat Peggy and falling in love with her which paved the way for me once I had my own home. I have always wanted a ragdoll cat as I wanted my cat to be affectionate, which a lot of cats aren’t so when I found out Kate of Pretty Little Us was breeding her beautiful ragdoll Luna again, I knew I definitely wanted one. Kate was amazing right through the process of it all and I knew which kitten was going to be ours before collecting. LM picked her name (although she originally wanted Rapunzel and I wanted Khalessi) naming her after the Queen of Arandelle and I chose her middle name after the character in Game of Thrones. Ultimately naming her after two strong fictional women, Elsa Arya. She is absolutely beautiful, very affectionate and great with putting up with Little Miss. She was worth waiting for and completes our little family.

Lincoln Blogger Meet
Way back in March Bee & I decided we wanted to host our own blog meet. Something that did in the beginning terrify me but knowing I was doing it with the queen of organisation definitely put my mind at rest. After a lot of planning we pulled it off in June. It was such a relief to find everyone enjoyed themselves and all our hard work paid off. It’s definitely one of the things i’m proudest of in 2014, a year ago I couldn’t even imagine myself doing it.

Harry Potter Studio Tour
For Bee’s birthday in May (and right after DLP) I got to visit the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London for the first time. I was pretty disappointed in myself for leaving it so long to go but it was worth the wait. I have to admit, LM didn’t enjoy it in the slightest. We went during school holidays and it was very busy and unlike Disney, nothing appealed to her. But I managed to take some fab photos and see all I wanted to see, and of course we got to try some Butterbeer (I liked it, she didn’t). I would love to do it again sans child but I am so glad Bee invited me and I can at least say I’ve been now. How amazing is the castle of Hogwarts at the end?!

USA East Coast Travels
In August I finally used my Travel Supermarket winnings and heading across the pond to the US for 10 days of travelling around. I started in Washington DC, then travelled to New York, made a quick stop in New Jersey to go to Action Park then finally headed upstate to Niagara Falls. It was a trip of a lifetime. I managed to visit District of Colombia, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.. that’s 6 states in 10 days (one of my ambitions in life is to visit all the states in the US). I also explored the nations capital on my own, Georgetown in DC is my ultimate place to live, it was just beautiful. I hung out on Manhattan and I went to see Aladdin on Broadway. I went on a truly terrifying water slide at Action Park. I took a crazy bus trip with friends to Niagara Falls and despite it being sooo bad it was worth every penny. I ate good food, shopped until I dropped and spent time with friends I haven’t seen in years. It was amazing.

Seeing Niagara Falls
This follows on from the last one, but seeing Niagara Falls was probably one of the best moments of my life. No words can describe how beautiful the falls are and I would urge anyone to go see them once in their life. Truly one of the natural wonders of the world. The trip up was horrible, I probably wouldn’t recommend it but if it’s the only way you can see them, it’s worth doing. Just ignore everything else between New York and the falls.

Winning £1000 in Thomas Cook Vouchers
So if I wasn’t lucky enough to win one lot of £1000, in April I won another £1000 to spend on a holiday! This time there was only going to be one holiday to spend it on, a trip for LM and I to Walt Disney World in Florida. As for my US East Coast trip LM had stayed with my mum, I knew this time she’d have to come with me. The only place in the world I wanted to take her was to Disney World, so that’s what I did. I’m so scared and excited for the biggest adventure of our life, just the two of us. Thankfully Bee will be out there with her family at the same time so there will be a friendly face. We did always want to go to Florida at the same time, and by some miracle, it’s actually happening! Booking it back in June was definitely a huge highlight of 2014.

All the Dressing Up & Discovering Cosplay
There isn’t just one moment for this but lots, that make it into one of the highlights of 2014. I have taken part in six (I think) Murder Mysteries this year and cosplayed at LFCC. That’s a fair bit of dressing up for a twenty six year old! The more I do it, the more I love it. As far as Murder Mysteries go, my favourite dressing up wise was the two at the end of the year, Megan’s and Nat’s. One was Disney and one was fairytale. Murder mystery wise, my favourite was probably Bee’s which was just hilarious and filled with smut. I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in my life.

Reaching 1000 Followers on my blog.
I know at the end of the day, it’s not all about followers.. but it’s nice to know people read my wittering on. Reaching 1000 followers felt fantastic and even though I really haven’t progressed beyond that, it’s still amazes me. I also reached 1000 on Instagram the other night and I have over 2000 for some odd reason on Twitter. I have made some amazing friends through blogging and I’ve worked with some great brands, I just hope Cocktails in Teacups continues to grow in 2015. I know since moving to WordPress I’ve felt renewed inspiration and creativity, I hope you all like the changes as much as I do.

2015 really has a lot to live up to!