A look back at 2018: The Year Of Coops

With 2018, I wanted to saver all of the good moments, because I feel I had an awful lot of them and I'm grateful for every moment; I really needed it all.

After a pretty shitty year, a fantastic year, like 2018, was exactly what I needed. Although, I did manage a few positives from 2017; My mum and stepdad getting married, going to FriendsFest and turning 21. In an attempt to stay positive and continue moving forward, I wanted 2018 to be 'the year of Coops' and I feel I did well in achieving that goal. I like the yearly look back that Louise Pentland from Sprinkle of Glitter does on her blog where she gives you a breakdown on what happened in her world each month of the year. I thought I'd steal take inspiration and do my own little version of those annual posts.

January was pretty quiet in terms of doing things. We pretty much spent most of the month trying to make the most of having a dry hour in the evening so we could venture out for a walk and get some fresh air. Most of the time we'd make it half way round the block before the heavens opened and we got drenched. On the bright side, though, James and I did booked the first of our two holidays of the year. The first holiday we booked (and went on) was America. We had actually been looking into that trip for a couple of weeks prior to actually booking but never acted upon anything until January.

James and I also enjoyed these beauties shown below on New Years Day. We loved the quirky mugs that our hot chocolates were served in. We didn't even realise that the cream and flakes were included.

February was crazy busy. I passed my probation at work and was officially welcomed as a permanent member of the team. Shortly after, James and I began looking at renting together, but that took us until the end of the month to seal the deal on somewhere we both equally loved. James and I also booked the second of our two holidays to Germany in early Feb. (the good news from work, the property search and the holiday booking all happening in the space of 24 hours - it literally felt everything was all hands on deck and go, go go!)

My Gran and James both celebrated their birthdays and we made the most of all of the food to celebrate. We took my gran out for Sunday lunch, while James and I went out for three different meals to celebrate his birthday, making it a total of four meals out in one week. Sj and I caught up while having a pamper night and a Chinese.

We also had a few drops of snow fall in early February, but unfortunately the wet weather ensured the snow melted instantly. The end of the month, however, saw the snow fall and stick, which of course caused the island to come to a complete halt.

March started with snow fall but finally saw the start of warmer weather trying to make an appearance. I managed a couple of my lunchtime walks without a coat. James and I also signed our lease and moved in together in March.

After a pretty quiet month on the socialising front in January, I made a little more effort to catch up with everyone in February. Jamie also had me round one evening mid month for a catch up before his trip to Thailand.

April just about saw the Easter celebrations this year. Easter Sunday was spent making these Easter cookies which turned out so much better than we expected considering the issues we were having with our oven at the time. I pinched the recipe from Emma at Owls and Stags. James and I headed to my mums and stepdads house for dinner. Lovely start to the month. Sj came round for a catch up over Chinese food and Mario Kart. 

I caught up with Lulu over milkshakes and a walk which was also a lovely way to make the most of the sunny evenings we were having. Sending my colleague off to run the London Marathon over a carb-fest (I went for the Rosemary Chicken as I wasn't a fan of the restaurants pizza) was also a lovely evening out with my team from work.

 

Health and fitness wise, James and I started Insanity half way through April. It was a fair bit of trial and error with the whole food prepping as it's not something we've ever done quite to that scale before. We spent the first couple of weeks trying to get into a routine of cooking and eating dinner while the pans cooled down before we cooked and prepared lunch and snacks for the days ahead. With the recipes all being in American measurements, we also had to convert the measurements into ones we were familiar with. Trying to measure 3 cups of lettuce was a nightmare! Read more about our Insanity journey here.

May began with Sj's 21st. To celebrate, we went on a rib voyage around the caves on Sark Island followed by a lovely lunch in the beer garden at The Pickled Pig. James and I finished our afternoon with a little shopping spree in town followed by a quiet evening in. May saw three bank holiday (praise the Lord for Lib Day giving the dear Channel Islands an extra day of celebrations).

With holiday number 1 of the year to America only a month away by this point, James and I finalised our plans for the trip and booked a few things to do while we were in The States. For me, I was ecstatic. James wasn't feeling the excitement like I was. More to come on the holidays later on in the post.

June saw the final leg in our countdown to our first holiday of the year as well as our first holiday in America. While we didn't leave until the end of the month, it still counts. I also finished working all 7 days a week which was a relief to be able to go back to feeling like I had a weekend again. Insanity finished in plenty of time before we jetted off island; which you could say we were pretty relieved about.

I booked an afternoon off of work to get myself a little pamper mid June. I wanted to get my hair cut ready for America and I'm so glad I got chopped again because it was super hot in Miami and New York. It was nice not having to worry so much about how long it would take to dry or getting in my way at all.
 

June was the month of trying a couple of new activities. I gave Zumba a go. Wasn't a massive fan if I'm honest. Although, my mum and I tried again a few months later with a different instructor and have enjoyed it so far. The first class I tried was in a small room with a full class and the people who attended that class were all quite cliquey. I also took part in an event at the Harbour Carnival which everyone was very surprised that I actually did - its actually quite satisfying knowing that I did surprise everyone (and myself). I can safely say that now I've done it once, I have absolutely no intention of doing it ever again. Doing as well as we did once was more than enough. I'm not trying to make it sound like we were amazing at dingy paddling, but considering how poorly most teams did before us, I think we did well to come second in our heat without sinking our dingy, losing anyone or leaving any of our team behind.

July was essentially spilt equally between two different continents/time zones. James and I spent the first half of the month sunning ourselves in America, with a week in Miami followed by a week in New York, and the second half of the month crying about being back home. At least we had a British heat wave to come back to, meaning we went almost a month without a drop of rain. Don't get me wrong, I missed Oscar while we were gone, but being back made me miss every aspect from our time in The States. It was literally the best holiday I've ever been on and I cannot wait to book myself another holiday, not just back to New York, but also to other parts of America. Take a look here at what else we got up to during our time in The States.
 

 

Other happenings from July were seeing Mamma Mia Here We Go Again, followed by dinner at a nearby pub. Unpopular opinion: Mamma Mia 2 wasn't as brilliant as everyone was making it out to be. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it, because I did. I think it's because its more serious than the first movie and I was expecting the same constant upbeat singing and dancing that we got from the original movie. I was also left with many questions after the second movie. How did Donna die? What did Sophie and Sky called their child? Did they ever get married? How long did they travel for before returning to the island?

August started off not so great. Unfortunately, August was the month we said goodbye to Oscar. I know a lot of people will think of him as 'only a hamster', but as with any pet you still feel the loss. He hadn't been quite right since our return from America when he had somehow injured one of his back legs. On a brighter note, I had a day in Sark with friends, cycling around and exploring.
 

 

Before heading off to one of my weekend shifts at the gym, I enjoyed a lovely family morning swim off my family's favourite pier. I met my mum, step dad, step sisters, both brothers-in-law, my niece and nephews, my auntie and my step nan. After our very cold swim, we all sat and had an ice cream or hot drink.

To acknowledge the end of the outdoor climbing season, the club held a climbing festival where you could climb the cliff edges, and have a few drinks and a BBQ round a bonfire in the evenings. The club hired a field near where the cliffs they'd be climbing and used it as a base for the camping as well. There was also a makeshift climbing wall, a slip n slide, a slack line and a beer tent, which apparently came in handy the evening it rained.

September meant James and I were getting ready to head off to Germany for Oktoberfest. Granted, we didn't leave for this trip until the very end of the month either. We also celebrated two of James' friends getting married. The church ceremony was in a lovely church at the other end of the island followed by the reception at the most popular wedding hotel in Guernsey.

 

September also saw the start of the indoor climbing season. I didn't make it to any of the outdoor sessions as I wasn't sure where most of the places were so I was glad to see the start of the indoor season.

October began in Munich, Germany. I was pleasantly surprised by our trip to Munich. I was more excited for America, as it has been somewhere I've wanted to visit for about 7 years now. But I thoroughly enjoyed our time in Germany - it was incredibly relaxing and was just what I needed after what felt like a hectic start to the year. I wanted to pick up a bottle of wine in Austria that my mum and I named our house after. At just under EUR 3.00 per 750ml bottle, I couldn't resist picking up two (not an ad) bottles! One for James and I, and one for my mum. Considering the price, it was very nice. I'd probably pick up a few more bottles for that price in future.
 

 

 

James and I averaged at 20,000 steps a day while we were in Germany and Austria. We had a couple of days at Oktoberfest, a few days exploring Munich where we saw a lady building a sand castle (yes, you read the correctly - this lady had sand, in a big city miles and miles away from any beach or costal area...), a day in Innsbruck, Austria and an afternoon in a small Austrian town called Kufstein. Kufstein is the cutest little town I've ever seen though and I'd happily spend a long weekend there if I wanted a little escape trip away.
 

My mum, stepdad and James' sister all celebrate birthdays in October so we had a weekend full of meals out celebrating. The three of them are spread out over the space of a week so my mum and step dad normally do a joint celebration.

November was fairly quiet. 'Praise the Lord' my bank account cried! 'A well earned break!' One of my step sisters welcomed her baby girl into the world at the start of the month which was a welcomed arrival. James and I attended a couple of meat draws, one of which was very successful. I also attended my first AGM for the climbing club. It's not as serious and boring as you'd imagine; we made an evening of it where we spent half an hour sorting out the committee and the official stuff then we got drunk, ate LOTS of pizza and played games until midnight.
 

December has been lovely and festive and celebratory. I celebrated birthday in December, and obviously there's Christmas Day, all sorts of Christmas socials, New Years Eve. James and I headed to the UK for a couple of days, where we spent one day in Manchester shopping, exploring the Christmas Market and eating and drinking in Hard Rock Café and we also had a day in Liverpool where we shopped again and explored the Christmas market there before heading home. It was nice to have a couple of days away from Guernsey and get even more in the Christmas spirit.
 

 

James and I have spent most of December celebrating. We had Emma and her boyfriend round for drinks and some games before we all headed out for more drinks. The two of us met Sj for a drive around Guernsey to see all of the Christmas lights. Work Christmas parties. Family Christmas celebrations. We also celebrated our first Christmas living together. New Year's Eve was spent at home with James' friends; we drank, we ate and we played a variety of drinking games before we watched the fireworks on the TV.

I honestly feel like I've had an amazing year. 2018 really was The Year of Coops! Obviously there were a couple of negatives, but the positive far outweigh the little negatives and I've entered a new year feeling pretty good about what's to come.

Charlotte.