So as is tradition at this time of year I'm taking a look back at the year that was 2014. Obviously I better get the elephant in the room out of the way first which is spending the last few months off of work after pretty much having a nervous breakdown with my mood balance completely exploding (cheers work).
However I intend to remember 2014 as a good year nevertheless and, in no particular order, here's why -
Firstly was my new years' resolution to get back in contact with my school friends after I'd cut myself off from them due to my mental illness. It's been brilliant, just like old times and I have a brilliant new friend too in Barry, Luke's fiance. So thank you so much Luke, Lydia, Hilary, James and Alli for forgiving me and letting me back into your lives. We've had some awesome parties and evenings this year, here are a few highlights -
First BBQ of the year! It was a warm(ish) evening in March so BBQ we did.
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| Luke & Lydia |
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| Barry |
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| Me & Hilary |
Mexican party - eh amigos!
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| Luke's masquerade themed birthday party |
When I started this blog my mission was to prove that you can still have a life with mental illness but also to try and give an insight into what living with a mental illness is like on a day to day basis, in my case the highs and lows of Bipolar Disorder, I also wanted to try and help other people who, unlike me, have no friends or family they feel they can turn to for help when they need it. So in May I held a fundraising party for the mental health charity Rethink (see my blog post
A Big Thank You ) and with the help of my fantastic family and friend raised nearly £200 - not bad for cake and a quiz!
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| Lin, Gill, Lupita & Helen |
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| Barry, Lydia & Hilary |
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| Alli & Lydia |
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| James & Luke |
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| Helen & Me |
I was also honored to be asked to take part in The Blurt Foundation's E-book project where a group of bloggers wrote short pieces about our experiences of dealing with mental illness for an e-book (
We Wrote A Book). It's still available
here with all the proceeds going to help Blurt continue their fantastic work.
Any regular reader of my blog or follower of mine on Twitter/Instagram will know how much I love photography and this year my obsession has grown even further. I bought a digital SLR camera at the end of last year and with it I've been able to take my photos to the next level, quite frankly it was the best £260 I've ever spent! Here are some of my favourite photos I've taken this year -
My friend Gemma has moved to a gorgeous converted barn in Wilmington with her boyfriend Andy and Ellie the kitty princess. Me and Helen have been out to visit a couple of times and it's just perfect, surrounded by Sussex countryside with amazing sunsets.
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| How lovely? |
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| See what I mean about the view? |
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| I felt the world's biggest bow was appropriate that day |
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| Helen meets Ellie |
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| Gemma and Andy have also adopted a flock of chickens who are adorable and hilarious! |
This year I've been really lucky to get away to London quite a few times and have some fantastic days out. The first was an exceptionally hot March Saturday when me and Helen spent the day walking around the parks and visiting the National Gallery, it was also the first time I'd taken 'the posh camera' to London and I got some lovely shots -
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| Daffodil in Green Park |
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| Blossom |
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| I love this photo of Helen under the tree, she looks so rock n roll (in MY sunglasses I might add) |
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| A trip to London isn't complete without a cheeky squirrel |
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| The view from the National Gallery |
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| Outside the gates at Buckingham Palace |
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| In St James' Park |
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In January we had a trip to The Barbican to see Richard II starring David Tennant, most importantly me, Helen & Rach managed to take our traditional ' London Transport' photo!
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In May it was the annual Bunference where all the bunny mum's, aunties and slaves from Twitter and Facebook meet
up at the London Pet Show. Here's me and Kay in Byron having some well-earned dinner! |
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| On a trip to London for my birthday we visited Kensington Creperie, possibly one of the yummiest experiences of my life! |
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| Helen outside the V&A, she took me to see 'The Glamour Of Italian Fashion' for my birthday - she knows me too well! |
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| We like being encouraged to fondle exhibits! |
We were back up in London the week after my birthday for a trip to the zoo (Helen's ears are still recovering from my, er, appreciation of some of the cuter animals. Conveniently the next day was the Trooping Of The Colour with the traditional RAF flypast, queue more squeals of excitement from me!
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| Pre-show enjoying the sunshine |
Being a summer girl I adored the long, hot spell that we had. I took the opportunity to soak up as much vitamin D as possible! It meant that I could go out with the camera for a couple of hours after work in the evenings (which was a lifesaver when things got really stressful) and also meant the girls got lots of 'grass time'!
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| The best way to spend a boiling July lunchtime is at a country pub, right Mum & Helen? |
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Back in March me, Helen & Sophie went to a quiz evening and despite being the smallest team came joint 2nd! I put this down to my excellent knowledge of fast-food signs in the general knowledge round ........
In July I spent the day with Kay and she suprised me with a trip to the Solent Spitfire Museum in Southampton, it was such a good day and I fell I am one step closer to converting Kay to becoming a plane geek!
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| Me in 'not being seasick on a boat' shocker! |
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| About to board a Sunderland flying boat |
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| With a Spitfire! |
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| Kay & Corney make a new friend |
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| Tally Ho! |
It was a really great year for airshows, I was lucky enough to go to 3 - Farnborough, Airbourne & Shoreham. Farnborough takes the award for being the hottest airshow I've ever been to, topping 30c. It was also the first time I'd taken my SLR with the zoom lense I'd purchased especially to an airshow, and dear god I wasn't disappointed, I took my best ever airshow photos this summer with that lense!
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| A selfie under the A380 |
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| Mum sunbathing pre-flying |
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| I finally got a decent photo of a Eurofighter Typhoon |
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| The Vulcan landed right in front of us |
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| Alas Airbourne wasn't blessed with Farnborough's good weather as you can see from my rain poncho! |
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| However what it lacked in sunshine it made up for with having the last two flying Lancaster bombers in the world gracing the skies over Eastbourne 3/4 days. I'm not ashamed to say I watched them with a lump the size of a rock in my throat every time. Simply stunning, |
 
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| I also managed to get the shot of the Red Arrows I'd been trying to get for years - it's crazy how close they get! |
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| We also had a visit from this Canberra on the final day of the show, I'd forgotten how lovely they sound. |
At Shoreham this year I finally carried out my threat to dress vintage style and donned my 1940s tea dress and red lippe!
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| Me & Helen at Shoreham |
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| Blending in well with this Spitfire don't you think? |
I think my absolute aviation highlight of the year was the long-awaited flypast of Vulcan XH558 at Beachy Head. The organizers of Airbourne had been too tight to book her but an incredibly generous Eastbourne resident paid for her to come and do a flypast one Saturday afternoon in late August. The dog-walkers on the downs must have wondered what the hell was going on when they were suddenly besieged by camera-wielding geeks! She flew right along level with the top of the cliff and it was the closest I've ever been to her when she's been in flight, you can see how close she came in here and here .
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| Just wow!!!!!! |
In September I got to combine my love of motor racing and aviation on a visit to Brooklands Museum with Mum and Dad ( Read about it in more detail here) and achieved a lifetime 'bucket list' ambition to go on Concorde!
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| I'm on Concorde!!! |
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| Mum and Dad under Concorde (who knew it would make such a good shelter from the elements?) |
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| Dad on the Brooklands race track |
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| Lewis Hamilton's 2008 F1 world champion car |
Last month I finally got to see a band I've been a fan of for quite some time at Brixton Academy. The band in question is The Pretty Reckless, I've liked them since their debut album in 2010 but never had the opportunity to catch them live so when I found out they were playing I booked myself a ticket. It was the first 'proper' gig I've been to on my own (watching 30 Seconds To Mars from a park bench probably doesn't count) and miraculously my anxiety stayed away and I had a great day. I went to Camden and a museum before the show and then really enjoyed the gig. Here are a couple of photos of the gorgeous Taylor Momsen -
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| I'm really pleased with this shot, and yes it's been my most-used phone background of the last month |
This weekend just gone Helen and I took our annual trip to inspect London's Christmas lights and shop windows. We voted Fortnum & Mason as the best shop window with Stella McCartney running a close second and Old Bond Street as having the best lights -
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| I think we deserve shares in the beret industry |
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| Covent Garden's reindeer |
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| Helen in Covent Garden |
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| The Coloseum catching the sunset |
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| Oxford Street |
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| Helen making a new friend |
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| Bond Steet's amazing lights |
Of course no photographic review of the year would be complete without my girls. I've chosen these photos of them in their tiaras behaving like the princesses they are -
And now for my brief cultural review of the year in my attempt to be highbrow as a (kind of) writer. Here are my arts highlights of the year.
Favourite Exhibition - Whilst I loved the Glamour Of Italian Fashion at the V&A it's been just pipped to the post by The National Gallery's Veronese exhibition. And yes this is mostly due to the psychotic looking goat painting that it featured.
Favourite Films - There's been a few corkers this year ..
1. The Book Of Life - It tells the story of the Mexican Day Of The Dead festival, it was super colourful, full of sugar skulls and had a cute pig, what more can you ask for from a film?
2. Dallas Buyers Club - Totally deserved all the awards it and it's cast received. It made me laugh, it made me angry, it made me sad and it made me frustrated at the way people with Aids were treated in the 80s. It also reminded me that Jared Leto isn't just an awesome rockstar he's also a fantastic actor too.
3. Guardians Of The Galaxy - I love the current crop of Marvel films we've had over the last couple of years, they're comic book films for people who don't do comic book films (e.g me). It was hilarious with a genius soundtrack.
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - See above re comic book films
5. Grand Budapest Hotel - I couldn't believe there were so many Hollywood A-listers queuing up to be in this film, until I saw it and loved it's crazy off the wall humour. I've now watched other Wes Anderson films and am a fully fledged fan!
Favourite Books - Some of these may not techinically been released this year but I count them as it was this year I discovered them.
2. Erin Morgensten - The Night Circus Helen had been nagging me to try this for a couple of years and finally I got round to it. I loved it, the imagery is amazing and I wish that it was a real life circus so that I can visit the ice garden,
3. The Hunger Games Trilogy - I know I'm a few years late with this one but wow! I read these at the start of the year and have re-read them since. I'm officially hooked on the films too.
And now for my most important countdown, the songs that have rocked my world this year. Again, they may not have been released this year but they were discovered this year-
In no particular order -
1. House Of A Hill - The Pretty Reckless
2. Little Monster - Royal Blood
3. Changing - Sigma ft Paloma Faith
4. End Of The World - Deap Valley
5. Rat Race - Brody Dalle
6. Heaven Knows - The Pretty Reckless
7. Come On Over - Royal Blood
8. Heartbeats - The Knife
9. Baba O'Riley - The Who (ok this one is technically a re-discovery but it's my list so there!)
10. Louder Than Words - Pink Floyd
Love Jen
XxxX
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