Well that's a wrap on another year. Another year of pizzas and cakes, sunsets and city breaks - or so my Instagram feed would have you believe. You can follow me here for the full picture, but here are the edited highlights of my 2017 on Instagram.
January
The year began with a trip to Chiswick House on a freezing cold night to see the much talked-about Lantern Festival. The event was a bit of a mixed bag, but the lanterns themselves were beautiful:February
February's highlight was a fortnight in Agadir, on the coast of Morocco. Apart from a minor earthquake, it was a relaxing holiday in a gorgeous hotel, the highlight of which was the nightly sunset. The beach which our hotel was on faced due west, meaning fantastic sunsets every evening. I'm seriously considering booking all future holidays based on which way the hotel faces.March
Until 2017, autumn was always my favourite season, but this year the bright colours of spring won me over. This one was taken on my first proper lunch break of spring, when I wandered up to Shoreditch Park and snapped away among the daffodils. It's always a good day when I wear my Batman shoes.On a less bright note, March was also the month I got mugged, and this here is the last photo I posted from the phone I had stolen.
April
Amsterdam was the highlight of April. It's somewhere I'd wanted to go for a while, and we chose April when the flowers were at their best. This was probably my favourite snap from the holiday though - I can never resist a camper van.May
By May, I'd realised that my love-hate relationship with London was extremely complicated and had decided to move out of the city. Then, on the way back from an evening out, this stunning sunset presented itself to me, and I remembered all over again why I love London.
June
Knowing I was moving out of London really piled the pressure on to do all the things I'd wanted to do while living there. One of them was a trip to God's Own Junkyard, a neon art warehouse right out on the end of the Victoria line in Walthamstow.
July
The first weekend of July saw me combining two of my passions - big cats and photography - for a photography day at the Big Cat Sanctuary in Smarden, Kent. I'd been shooting on my camera all day, but my favourite photo was this one, taken on my phone just minutes before I left, after I'd packed my camera away.
I'm gonna cheat and throw two pictures in for July. It was a big month for me, the month I finally moved out of London and back to Tonbridge, where I now know I want to be. This photo here is one of my favourites I took this year, partly because it was completely unplanned - I was just shooting pictures of the lavender fields when this kid ran down one of the aisles and opened the umbrella.
But I've also put this picture in here because it reminds me of how I was feeling back then - free, after living in a rather repressive situation for three months, full of hope and excitement about what was next - and how I wish I could've bottled a bit of that feeling for times when I could do with reminding of it.
August
On a boat, with a dog. What could possibly go wrong? (Thankfully, the worst that happened was the sudden, torrential downpour that roared into sight as we were settling down for a picnic lunch on the river bank. Cue a mad dash for the safety of the boat).September
September's big adventure was a trip to Bulgaria. A few problems with the hotel put a minor dampener on the holiday, but the highlight was a trip to Nessebar (including seeing dolphins swimming wild in the Black Sea).
October
Just when I thought my travels for the year were done, I was invited to spend a weekend in the Lake District with some friends. I cannot believe I've never been to this part of my own country before - it really is as stunning as everyone says. Mental note to go back for longer, with a car to see more, in the very near future. In the mean time, here's the extremely impressive hot chocolate I had in Granny Dowbekin's cafe in Pooley Bridge on the last morning. Yes, those are Maltesers, and yes, that is a spoon made of chocolate.November
One of my favourite things about Christmas in London is Christmas at Kew. Every year, those wizards at Kew Gardens put on a spectacular light festival, and this year was the best yet. Each installation is synchronised and choreographed perfectly to music - see more photos here.
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