GOOD BYE 2019!

Hello blog! Long time no see 🙂 It’s New Years eve, the end of 2019 and the end of a decade so I thought I’d do a little recap of what I’ve been up to since the summer. I wrote a post about the first half of the year here, so I thought it would be a good time to bring us up to date.

July started with a trip to the Goodwood Festival of speed with my friend Charlie from Modish Male. We had such a fun day getting our hair cut, pretending to know about Motors and having a few pints in the sunshine.

I was still finishing up the Directing job I’d been doing in Cardiff, so I had a week or so up there in the edit. At the end of the month I went on holiday with my partner to Lanzarote for the first time. Inspired by the Carter family on YouTube haha, I am easily influenced when it comes to holidays. I loved Lanzarote and will definitely be going back. Here’s what I wore on holiday and I also vlogged the hotel and exploring the island.

At the end of the month Vauxhall kindly loaned me a car so I made the most of it by selling at the car boot sale. You can read my car boot sale selling tips here! 

August began with some fun trips, the first being to Wilderness Festival with Nyetimber, which essentially involved drinking sparkling wine on a double decker bus all day, before having to run across fields to make the train home! It was such a fun day. Then I went down to Brighton for the weekend for Brighton Pride and to see Kylie perform her concert. It was so good! I did a mini vlog on my IGTV:

I then went away to China for a couple of weeks. I was doing some Producer/Director work out there but I also had some down time with all the travel involved so of course I had to vlog! Seeing the Panda’s was a highlight. I’d been pretty anxious about going because social media there basically doesn’t work so I had schedule my content and figure out how to post to Instagram to keep things rolling with Mr Carrington.

When I returned to London I spent a couple of weeks at home, vlogged the best picnic spots in London and before I knew it September had arrived.

I was invited by Blogosphere Magazine to speak on a panel about creating award winning content at Borderless Live. It was my first time speaking on a panel and despite being a little bit nervous I really enjoyed it. I also met Sandy Makes Sense who I’d been watching on YouTube which was fab!

At the end of the month I did a casting for a US TV show over Skype who had seen my videos on YouTube. This is something a couple of years ago I would have absolutely no way have done. I’m guessing I didn’t get it because the phone hans’t rung haha, but I’m pleased I gave it a shot and I felt pretty relaxed doing it over Skype because it just felt like I was filming a video.

I took my parents on a break to Venice which was lovely, spending some quality time with them and my partner, and I got up early one day to get some shots for IG. Here’s my run down of the best Instagram spots in Venice.

I was also invited by Kia to Berlin for the launch of their new car. Also on the trip was John from The Everyday Man and Peter from The Gentleman Select who were loads of fun, and Lucy & Jordan Carter which was fab.

October started with a holiday to Ibiza, which was all very nice until one evening I was invited up on stage and I think I am still honestly traumatised by that evening. I don’t think I can ever go back! I have been trying to do some things out of my comfort zone this year and that was definitely one of them. I am not a join in, participating kind of person. Any sort of forced games fills me with dread so being dragged up for a ‘best man’ competition was 30 minutes of total and utter hell for me. Shudder!

Another thing out of my comfort zone I’ve been pushing myself with is driving. Some of you will know that driving makes me anxious. I was invited by Bentley to the launch of their new fragrance, and on arriving at the show room in Berkeley square I was handed the keys and told that I’d be the one behind the wheel to drive out of London to the location where the event was being held. Gulp. I managed to get it there and back in one piece and actually really enjoyed it. I’ve now got my car in mind if ever I do get one. Imagine!!

I did another Directing job in Germany, and had a look around the town of Wiesbaden while I was there. Throughout October I did some longer weekly style vlogs which I really enjoyed and think I will bring back at some point in the new year.

November is a blur of doing various little jobs, whilst starting to prepare and shoot for Christmas with Mr Carrington. I also met up with Ryan from the Procrastinating Gent for a shoot which was fun and it was great to finally meet in person!

I had a fun day out to Folkstone with Luke where we had a melt down on the train due to work loads, met a lovely viewer at a charity shop, bought sausages and then took mulled cider around Asda haha.

One of Decembers highlights was reaching 10k on Instagram. Thank you so much if you have followed me! I’m so excited to have the swipe up feature. The rest of the month has been quite a blur to be honest. Doing the daily videos, a lot of them being collabs has been so much fun, but most days I was really confused when it came to uploads, what I had to edit, what I’d already edited etc. On one tired evening I found myself editing a video that I’d already edited a couple of weeks earlier. It was already uploaded and scheduled and I’d completely forgotten. Another evening when I felt like throwing in the towel, (or throwing the bauble wreath, out of the window more accurately) was that DIY. I still can’t look at it.

I turned down any Directing work because I knew December was going to be chaos and it’s a good job that I did. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever worked so many hours. There just always seemed to be something to do, even though I’d stared back in November. I did absolutely love it though and the comments really kept me going so thank you so much if you watched / commented or liked it was so appreciated!

The collaborations was definitely a highlight and I loved filming with my friend Sarah from the Perfume Pros, Hermione, Sandy, Kate and Luke. Each of them bought so much fun, talent and energy to the videos, and not forgetting the naughty elf that is due to be packed away into the loft very soon.

What all the pre-filming did mean, was that by the 18th I had most videos shot and ready to go, so I was able to enjoy my trip to Hamburg, Sylt and Christmas with my partner and have a bit of down time which I was so grateful for.

And now I’m back in London. I haven’t shaved for days, I’ve forgotten how to open a door and I’ve got my parents to stay for the New Year celebrations so it’s going to be a low key night in with a curry in the slow cooker.

Hope you have a lovely evening if you read this tonight and wishing you all the best for 2020.   I’m feeling really positive and optimistic about what the new year and new decade might bring and I feel very lucky that I am able to share my experiences with you too.

See you in 2020!