Onward and upwards to 2015!
2015 is fast approaching, and I know that I am not the only one to have marveled at how quickly this year has gone! Months seem to have been as brief as minutes and events such as birthdays, starting at new schools and universities, holidays and now Christmas all seem to have blown past in a tornado of celebration and excitement. The fact Christmas is nearly over when yesterday seems like December the 1st is scary enough. I am not quite mentally prepared to face a brand new year in a mere 10 days.
However, in my case, 2014 has passed by so quickly because so many exciting things have happened. I have been luckier than I ever could have dreamed this year, more so in the last five months, and I am truly thankful to whoever is up there helping me to gain the opportunities and successes that I have. As we prepare to depart from 2014 and enter into a brand new year, I felt there was no better time than now to write about my year- what I am happy to have achieved, what I am happy to be leaving behind and, best of all, what I am looking forward to in the new year! So grab some festive treats, get yourself comfy and read on...
2014- The highlights.
By the time 2014 rolled around, I had been 18 for just two months so, as you can probably imagine, the first few months of 2014 are a bit of a blur! However, I know there were a lot of night's out with my boyfriend's friends, who I had never really met before, and so I remember I had been quite nervous about making a good impression! However, I had some of the best night's I have ever had with them all, and some of them are my best memories from 2014!
Further into 2014, I started to work on my fitness and health as I was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable about the way I looked. As a girl who despises most forms of exercise, I was a bit wary of starting to go on bike ride's with my boyfriend- especially when I hadn't ridden a bike in 6 years! The first ride made me a bit anxious but like people say, you never forget how to ride a bike! After this I went on several bike rides and luckily 2014 was a brilliant year weather wise (for England anyway!) so there was always lots of great photo opportunities!
Leaving secondary school was a huge positive in my year. Unsure about university, I didn't really know where my life was headed, but all I can say is that I couldn't wait to get out of school and away from idiotic rules about jewellery and nail varnish (my two favourite things) and away from nasty, vindictive and judgemental classmates. The last day was fun however, as we transformed the school into Disneyland and dressed as some of Disney's well loved characters.
All too quickly summer rolled around, and as I had left school for good, we were given an extended summer- nearly 4 months long! House parties, bike rides, BBQ's, picnics, baking, beach days, meeting the cast of Hollyoaks, my school Leaver's Ball, seeing Eminem live, spending the day with WYA and getting to host my own radio show as part of a media project, getting my exam results and getting into my first choice university, my holiday to Amsterdam and of course celebrating 4 years with my wonderful boyfriend. It was possibly the busiest summer I have ever had, and if I were to write in depth about it all, you'd soon lose interest! I've selected my favourite photos from each event to share with you instead, because so much went on!
I also started my blog on the 31st July 2014. There is no picture for this but obviously this was a huge part of my year. I have had so many opportunities and doors opened to me thanks to my blog, have tweeted with "celebrities" such as Katie Hopkins and Mummy Felstead regarding my writing and have also become an in house member of Go Think Big, who have provided me with all of my oppotunities to date!
However, in my case, 2014 has passed by so quickly because so many exciting things have happened. I have been luckier than I ever could have dreamed this year, more so in the last five months, and I am truly thankful to whoever is up there helping me to gain the opportunities and successes that I have. As we prepare to depart from 2014 and enter into a brand new year, I felt there was no better time than now to write about my year- what I am happy to have achieved, what I am happy to be leaving behind and, best of all, what I am looking forward to in the new year! So grab some festive treats, get yourself comfy and read on...
2014- The highlights.
By the time 2014 rolled around, I had been 18 for just two months so, as you can probably imagine, the first few months of 2014 are a bit of a blur! However, I know there were a lot of night's out with my boyfriend's friends, who I had never really met before, and so I remember I had been quite nervous about making a good impression! However, I had some of the best night's I have ever had with them all, and some of them are my best memories from 2014!
Further into 2014, I started to work on my fitness and health as I was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable about the way I looked. As a girl who despises most forms of exercise, I was a bit wary of starting to go on bike ride's with my boyfriend- especially when I hadn't ridden a bike in 6 years! The first ride made me a bit anxious but like people say, you never forget how to ride a bike! After this I went on several bike rides and luckily 2014 was a brilliant year weather wise (for England anyway!) so there was always lots of great photo opportunities!
Leaving secondary school was a huge positive in my year. Unsure about university, I didn't really know where my life was headed, but all I can say is that I couldn't wait to get out of school and away from idiotic rules about jewellery and nail varnish (my two favourite things) and away from nasty, vindictive and judgemental classmates. The last day was fun however, as we transformed the school into Disneyland and dressed as some of Disney's well loved characters.
All too quickly summer rolled around, and as I had left school for good, we were given an extended summer- nearly 4 months long! House parties, bike rides, BBQ's, picnics, baking, beach days, meeting the cast of Hollyoaks, my school Leaver's Ball, seeing Eminem live, spending the day with WYA and getting to host my own radio show as part of a media project, getting my exam results and getting into my first choice university, my holiday to Amsterdam and of course celebrating 4 years with my wonderful boyfriend. It was possibly the busiest summer I have ever had, and if I were to write in depth about it all, you'd soon lose interest! I've selected my favourite photos from each event to share with you instead, because so much went on!
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| Meeting Joe from Hollyoaks! |
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| Meeting Robbie and Dennis from Hollyoaks! |
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| The Leavers Ball with my boyfriend, Alex. |
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| Joining a friend on a media project with WYA and hosting our own show together- this is what lead to my permanent show now! |
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| Celebrating my great exam results, and getting into my first choice uni- can't believe I managed to do it! |
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| Spending a week in Amsterdam- by far my favourite city! |
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| Celebrating 4 amazing years with Alex- was definitely not always easy, but always been worth it! |
I also started my blog on the 31st July 2014. There is no picture for this but obviously this was a huge part of my year. I have had so many opportunities and doors opened to me thanks to my blog, have tweeted with "celebrities" such as Katie Hopkins and Mummy Felstead regarding my writing and have also become an in house member of Go Think Big, who have provided me with all of my oppotunities to date!
...and that was just my summer! I then went on to start at a brand new college where I knew absolutely nobody to start a brand new subject I had never studied before! Very, very daunting but thankfully I made lovely friends straight away and we have been joint at the hip since September! Poppy, thank you for making the first move and inviting me into your group of friends. Abby, thank you for providing me with laughs at your shocking antics every day. Ben and Ricarda, thank you for making me cry every day at the sweetness of your relationship. All of you have been great, and I couldn't ask for better friends to have been accepted by!
Thing's quietened down a little, but my blog began to grow steadily, and the media days I went to became more and more exciting!
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| Meeting Mandem on the Wall at Carat Media! |
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| Meeting Q Magazine's Art Director! |
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| Meeting Radio One DJ Gemma Cairney! |
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| Spending an evening at Channel 4! |
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| Meeting Kenny Campbell, editor of the Metro. |
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| And interned at Closer Magazine! |
The start of November saw me celebrating my 19th birthday! The day was spent having lunch at a fancy cafe that specializes in chocolate based dishes, followed by an evening in London at the Bubba Gump restaurant with Alex, strawberries, champagne and a Tiffany's bracelet!
Further into November, I met my heroin, novelist Jacqueline Wilson for the third time and left her a letter...to which I got a reply via email!
I also became a blogger for Girls Talk London, and have had two pieces published by them in the last two months!
Towards the end of November I got the train to London at 6am...why? To do possibly my most exciting media event of the year: Train to be a TV Presenter! The day was amazing, I met some really amazing young people who aspire to work in the media just like me, as well as a presenter from SBTV and an former BBC journalist! To have my own show reel and to be able to say I have been trained to be a TV presenter by professionals is a really great feeling and I am really proud of myself!
Then December rolled around. Sadly, I broke away from my radio show Midweek Mayhem...but I couldn't be sad about it for very long as I moved on to become a presenter on my own radio show!
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| Friday's with Florence Grace will begin in January 2015! |
I have also been asked to be a presenter at a concert held by the station I host a radio show on, Blink FM Live 2, so that will help me put my presenter training into practice!
My final achievement of the year, and perhaps the one I am most proud of, is becoming a columnist for Vale Life magazine, a magazine distributed around Aylesbury and surrounding areas. I have only been blogging for 4 and a half months, and my writing has only been read for that amount of time, and now it will be read by an even broader audience. I couldn't be happier to have become a columnist 4 and a half months into writing. It blows my mind how fortunate I am!
After a lengthy post, I can safely conclude that my blog has been the main highlight of this year. Starting it has been the best thing I have ever done. More opportunities have thrown themselves at me than I could ever have imagined and I have met some wonderful people- including Apryl, Katy and Hollie!
Roll on 2015 I say! If it goes anything like this year has done, I will be ecstatic. Now, I know how tedious this post may have been to read- it wasn't about me being "big headed", and I hope that actually, I can inspire some of you. I'm just a normal girl from a normal town and I am trying to make something of myself- it is possible, and you can do it too! However, I'm not the only person who has had a good year. I asked some of my readers for their highlights;
Amy- My trip to Bulgaria!
Apryl- Returning back to Wales!
Cat- NEW YORK!!!!!!!!!!
Clo- 2014 was a brilliant year but my two main highlights were seeing Asking Alexandria for the second time and getting myself a job!
2014- The not so good times...
2014 may seem like it was all happy and fun for me- and for the most part, it was! But that wasn't always the case. I did encounter quite a lot of unpleasant people in 2014 and found myself the victim of a lot online criticism and general nastiness.
I also had a pretty miserable time at school and ended up distancing myself from a lot of people. Most of my friends were not from my school and I didn't like my school generally. My last year of school seemed to drag and I was over the moon when it was time to leave.
I've battled with weight issues all year long which hasn't been fun at all, as well as dealing with quite severe eczema problems and now other infections too- I seem to be on tablets or rubbing in cream 24/7!
2015- The resolutions!
2014 has been great, and I'm hoping 2015 will be just as great- if not better! To accomplish this, I have a lot of exciting resolutions!
- Reach 100,000 views on my blog by January 31st 2015.
- Reach 1000 followers on my blog by January 31st 2015 (This is my biggest battle- I have a lot of regular readers but they don't follow me! *hint hint*)
- Meet some of the lovely bloggers that I have met online in person. The blogging community is so wonderful and so friendly, I would love to get to know more!
- Use my eczema cream as regularly as I am supposed to so that it disappears for as long as possible!
- Lose 1 stone and hopefully this shall lead to me dropping a dress size.
- Don't trust everyone 100%. Not everyone is as genuine or as lovely as I would like them to be, and this often results in me getting hurt a lot. I need to stop being so naive and recognize the fake people more quickly.
- Leave college with a "merit".
- Start saving to move out...
- Get more work experience, or even a job, within the media industry.
- Say "yes" to as much as I can!
You guys had some great resolutions too, as well as some really exciting things to look forward to:
Amy- To do what makes me happy. In 2015, I'm most looking forward to working a season in Bulgaria.
Apryl- My resolution is to make the most of everyday. I'm looking forward to hopefully getting to meet you and going back to Wales!
Clo- I have no New Year resolution but I am most looking forward to going to Download festival in the summer!
Clo- I have no New Year resolution but I am most looking forward to going to Download festival in the summer!
Well, as we bring 2014 to a close, I for one can say it's been a great year- I hope it has been for you too! If it hasn't though, don't worry. 2015 is the start of a new year, the first page of a new book- a blank slate. Whichever cliche you want to use, remember that 2015 is a new start. Happy New Year everyone, make it the best you can!
Love from,
Florence Grace
Special thanks for making 2014 so amazing goes to GoThinkBig, Blink FM and Wycombe Youth Action, Charlie Trott, Eve-Yasmin, Aaron Roach-Bridgeman, Dekan Apajee, Youth Media Agency, Hollie Garner, Apryl Morrison, Katy Gilroy, Bundle Mag, Girls Talk London, Vanessa Sanyauke, Blogging Gals, Bobbie Gordon, Poppy Wootton, Abby Baker, Ricarda Casey, Ben Wybrow, Lbloggers Chat, Jane Felstead, my parents and of course my other half, Alex Healey. You've all been amazing. Thank you.
Special thanks for making 2014 so amazing goes to GoThinkBig, Blink FM and Wycombe Youth Action, Charlie Trott, Eve-Yasmin, Aaron Roach-Bridgeman, Dekan Apajee, Youth Media Agency, Hollie Garner, Apryl Morrison, Katy Gilroy, Bundle Mag, Girls Talk London, Vanessa Sanyauke, Blogging Gals, Bobbie Gordon, Poppy Wootton, Abby Baker, Ricarda Casey, Ben Wybrow, Lbloggers Chat, Jane Felstead, my parents and of course my other half, Alex Healey. You've all been amazing. Thank you.
What has been your highlight of 2014? What are your resolutions for 2015? What are you looking forward to? Leave a comment below!
All photo's my own.
All photo's my own.
What a beautiful and inspiring post! Fantastic read and just so exciting for you! Next year will be even more special! I must start thinking about my own resolutions and my highlights of 2014! I remember reading a post by you before i even knew you from twitter and i was totally blown away by it so just had to follow you then! I knew then that you had something special about you and i am so happy for you Flo! xxxx
ReplyDeleteHollie, your comments regarding my writing never fail to make me overly happy! I'm so glad you enjoyed the post! This is all so sweet of you to say, thank you so much Hollie! My number one reader for sure! xxxx
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