Goodbye 2013...

And hello 2014!

I'm normally much more organised with putting these posts together but that sentence alone probably sums up my 2013 year - unusual, a bit chaotic and mostly, disorganised. A very 'un me' year... but its done now and 2014 is a fresh start - and for that I am very grateful.

One of my favourite things about review posts is that they make you realise all the good things that happened in your year rather than focusing on the negative and although 2013 was mentally very hard for me, it was actually really busy with holidays, lots of exciting events, trips with family and friends and even a few visits to the beach (which always makes me happy). So lets go...

In January...

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It snowed...

And it snowed some more.
 

In February...

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I wrote two of my favourite posts from 2013 - Why I love this photo and Someone who loves.

Oh and I also found my Zenit B camera for a £10, I think it was the best tenner that I spent all year :)
 

In March...

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We went to Blackpool for a long weekend which was wonderful and included a visit to the zoo.

And it was my Dad's 50th birthday - we celebrated with a day on the Norfolk Broads.

Oh and I also joined Society6.


In April...

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We visited Fountains Abbey and I fell in love with abbey's all over again. Such a lovely location.

And we went to the beach twice - Sunny Hunny (or Hunstanton to everyone else...) and Hemsby! I love the Norfolk coast.

It was also my Grandad's 80th birthday and my parents left Attlebridge and moved into their new bungalow... it was a bit of a crazy month actually.
 

In May...

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Compared to April, May was pretty relaxed. We went on a few days trips and I got really excited about Spring coming to our little garden.

I also rather casually took part the Blog Every Day in May challenge organised by Elizabeth at Rosalilium - I really enjoyed it even if I didn't manage to actually blog every day.
 

In June...

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We went to Berwick for a week with my family - it was a very busy week - we went to Edinburgh, the Farne Islands, Bamburgh, Lindisfarne and St Abb's Head. It was definitely one of my favourite weeks of the year.

Oh and I documented our peonies again. I love them.


In July...

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It was Polaroid Week and I shared not one, but two posts of photos which I was really happy about.

And my Dad and I both received amazing portraits from my blog friend Megan from Studio MME.
 

In August...

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I once again took part in Susannah Conway's August Break on my blog and it was great!

I also shared some photos from August here.
 

In September...

We went to Split in Croatia and enjoyed a week in the sunshine! It was amazing and just what Thomas and I both needed :) I also took a lot of photos which I haven't finished posting yet, oops. (See disorganised above...)
 

In October...

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It was a busy month! We went to a wedding, I helped plan and host a hen party and I did a lot of crochet.

We also enjoyed a day out in York with my sister and her husband, yeay for day trips.


In November...

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We finally got our day in Haworth, hurray!

I also wrote a post about film photography that I was pretty pleased with.

And I visited one of my best friends in London for a weekend, but didn't take any photos, oops.


In December...

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We chilled out, yeay!!  In fact it was one of the nicest Decembers I can remember, we spent a week at home for Christmas celebrating with our families and then had a few days just us as well and it was perfect.

So there you go - 2013 in a nut shell. I'm feeling hopeful about this year, 2014, though 2013 took some unexpected turns for me, so I can imagine 2014 might very well do the same.

Happy New Year!!

 

p.s. You can see my previous end of year recaps here: 2009, 2010, 2011 & 2012. Time flies when you're having fun (and blogging...)

Goodbye 2012!

I love end of year recap posts. I'm still amazed that this is my 4th one on here.

Normally a year seems to fly by, but 2012 seems to have been the longest year... so much has happened but overall, I think I've come out of it happier. I've definitely come out with lots of photos, though I'm not sure I managed my 52 rolls of film target that I set last year, it's over 40 though so I'm happy with that.

In January...

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We enjoyed Winter walks around Kirkstall Abbey and I experimented with my Lomokino...

and I started my 12 for 2012 camera project with a flop.

In February...

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We saw snow on the beach where my new LC-A died and nearly broke my heart...

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We also celebrated my amazing Mum's 50th birthday and spent a family weekend in an amazing barn near The Lake District.

In March...

I planned and hosted my little sister's Hen Party...

and I took lots of pretty pictures of Spring in Leeds.

In April...

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and Ada came to visit us in Leeds.

In May...

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My little sister got married!!!! (and I got caught crying on camera, twice...)

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and even Harry got his own photoshoot too.

All wedding and Harry photos are by Daniel from Lightening Photography and used with his permission.

In June...

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I received my replacement LC-A from Lomography and I took it everywhere with me... in fact, it hasn't left my side since, I love it!

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I also took part in my first double exposure film swap, which was so fun!

In July...

I officially became an author, contributing my first handbook to Gadchick.

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swap

and I moved my blog to Wordpress and got my own dot com site! What an excited month July was! (the photo is my first layout)

In August...

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I took part in Susannah Conway's August Break again, sharing lots of photos including some from my Double Dip camera.

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and I saw the two gold painted post boxes in Leeds.

In September...

We went to Whitby for a week and it was perfect. I took a lot of photos.

In October...

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Zoe from Ladybird Likes came to visit and we went on a little photo walk around Kirkstall Abbey.

In November...

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and experimented with a 40p camera.

In December...

We took it pretty easy after a busy year and enjoyed the Christmas preparations and celebrations.

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twobooks

Oh, and... I managed to fit in another book for Gadchick just as the year ended. Yup, I wrote two books in 2012. That was pretty unexpected, but so amazing!

What a year it's been! I can't wait to see what 2013 brings.

p.s. You can see my previous end of year recaps here: 2009, 2010& 2011. Time flies when you're having fun (and blogging...)

Some of my favourite 2012 photos...

I shared some of my favourite photos from the year in yesterday's calenderbut I've taken so many that it was quite hard to narrow it down, so here are a few that didn't make the cut :)

Of course I had to include one of Harry :) such a sweet little mischievous face.

I've felt a bit stiffled with my photos lately, as its just been so dark and cold, I haven't wanted to take many, so it's nice to see that I have taken a lot that I love this year. I'm also starting to get excited about having time off during the holidays to take photos too, hurray

p.s. I took a 12:12 12/12/12 photo on Instagram, just because.