Goodbye, 2018; Hello, 2019!

I'm not exactly sure where 2018 went, but it has been another roller-coaster of a year in which I have been unable to get caught up on most aspects of life. It has been a year of putting in long hours at work, which is something that I did not plan to do again this year, but it started at the end of last year and then carried on for the majority of this year. The one decent aspect about this year is that there has been a sense of stability for me in some aspects, although the workload has been continuously hectic. I am looking forward to seeing what 2019 brings, though I do hope 2019 is stable and relaxed year with new opportunities to travel and to look after myself, which I've been neglecting. I often end up looking after others and putting myself last, which doesn't do me any good at all. Despite that, I did manage to do quite a bit of things this year. Anyway, I will cut to some of the more memorable moments of 2018 now.

January: This month started with a continuation of December's workload where I was putting in long hours and working two jobs. The other job was carried on from my previous employer who won a project and then did not have the resources to complete the project after my contract ended; I agreed to help them out and did so until the middle of April. I enjoyed the project and it was for a huge brand. 

I did manage to take an evening off to spend Twelfth Night and Farewell Party at the Geffrye Museum. The Geffrye Museum is a museum dedicated to the British home and how it has changed throughout the centuries. The museum closed for renovations in January and is to remained closed for at least a couple of years, so the annual Twelfth Night celebrations were also a Farewell Party. I could not stay for too long, but the celebrations had a great community feeling, and I enjoyed the carol-singing and entertainment.

One of the most delicious and unique treats that I ate this year was a "wheelcake", which is inspired from Taiwan. "Wheelcake Island" is the name of the street food vendor that sells them, and they set up shop at Brick Lane Market, although at the time of writing this, they are now located in Spitalfields Market. I attempted to buy from them three additional times, but they were either shut or I failed to locate them in Spitalfields, and it's now the end of the year and I've not been able to get back. The "wheelcake" is similar to a waffle or pancake and filled with a choice of traditional bean filling, matcha, custard, or custard with chocolate (which is the one I tried). 

One of January's events that I had been most looking forward to since the middle of previous year was the return of London Lumiere, a four-day light art installation show that was held across multiple locations in London during the darkest month. It was last hosted a couple of years ago, and I loved it. This year's installations were spread out over a larger area of the city to reduce the over-crowding that the previous event suffered, and there were a few gems, but I felt that the previous Lumiere was better. The highlights were the projections onto Westminster Abbey, which was shown the previous year, the rose window powered by energy from cycling, a giant globe at Oxford Circus, an immersive blue fog at King's Cross Granary Square, and glowing portals at Jermyn Street.

Also, Canary Wharf's Winter Lights also took place again, and this is now an annual staple (similar to London Lumiere but on a smaller scale and limited to Canary Wharf) that appears to have replaced the Ice Sculpting Festival that they used to host. Overall, a nice selection of work could be seen, but not all of the installations could be displayed on some days due to the windy weather. I loved the interactive glowing blocks and the sphere. 

February: February was another busy month for me, and I spent the majority of my time working. The weather was unusually cold, so I did not mind staying in and working hard. This year, Pancake Day and Valentine's Day were on consecutive days. As I am currently not working on Brick Lane or in any place where I could watch a pancake race, I had a quiet Pancake Day lunch not far from the new office in Chiswick in an American bakery/restaurant known as Outsider Tart.

At the weekend, I enjoyed Valentine's Day Enchanted Rose Afternoon tea at Kona Taj 51 Buckingham Gate. Kona Taj 51 has been on my radar for themed afternoon teas, so I had to give the venue a try for their Valentine's Day afternoon tea. The highlight for me were the heart-shaped rose and almond-flavoured scones. They are the best scones that I have had, and thinking about them makes my mouth water. I would love to have them again.

March: "The Beast from the East" arrived at the end of February and continued in early March with snowfall and freezing temperatures, which brought more travel chaos for the first half of the month. I looked forward to a trip to Disneyland Paris in the middle of the month, and by then, the weather wasn't too dreary or cold. This year marked the 25th anniversary of Disneyland Paris, and a special "Star Wars" event was held until the end of the month at Disneyland Paris. I am a huge fan of "Star Wars", so visiting while the special "Star Wars" events were taking place was awesome.

This was my third visit to Disneyland Paris. I went on the rides, watched the illuminations/fireworks and the parade, had meals at some nice places, and went to the Buffalo Bills dinner entertainment. I spent just over two days here,  and I cannot believe just how busy Disneyland Paris has become since my last visit ten years ago, and that visit was in high season in summer.

April: April was yet another busy month with work, so I did not get to do many social events, but I did get to attend Secret Cinema "Blade Runner". Secret Cinema is immersive cinema; the audience become a part of the film and are given an identity following the theme of the film to participate in different activities before sitting down to watch the film itself. Inside the secret location near Bermondsy, the city was reconstructed with street food vendors, a nightclub, and offices. Other actors and actresses make it come to life. Oh, and it actually rained inside the building in the busy "street" set in the metropolis created to look like it was out of the film. It was great!

Toward the end of April, the weather finally improved, and one of the best days for the weather was the day that I visited Fes-tea-val for National Tea Day at Chiswick House. I discovered historic teaware from other parts of the world and walked around the food market. I actually bought so much from the food market that I struggled to get it back home, though getting to Chiswick isn't an easy journey for me. I had won a prize but sadly did not realise that I'd won the raffle until I had already left.

The last event of April was a christening, and the weather turned chilly again. After the christening at the church in Bournemouth, all of us went out for lunch at Neo's Restaurant in Bournemouth. We had some really cool cocktails served in glasses shaped like pineapples. After lunch, we went back to the house to have cake and chat.

May: The month kicked off with a beautiful and warm Bank Holiday. I finally got to tick an item off my bucket list, and that item was to see a bluebell forest. I have seen photographs, but I had actually never seen a bluebell forest in real life. I was very impressed, and the bluebell forests at Ashridge Estate in Hertfordshire were so beautiful that my photographs cannot do them justice. After talking a couple of walks recommended by the National Trust as the best trails to see the bluebells, I stopped at Berkhamstead Castle a few miles away from the Ashridge Estate and had lunch along the canal. Berkhamstead is a beautiful village, and I'd love to go back to visit it.

Additional time this month was spent with friends and family who came to visit, to attend a birthday party, and included another visit to Bournemouth. While in Bournemouth, I wanted to go to Corfe Castle as I have never been there despite driving past it a few times and spending a good deal of my time in Bournemouth at university. We all ended up going to the village of Corfe Castle and visited Corfe Castle Model Village, which was followed by warm tea at the National Trust tearoom. I also had a quick tour around the castle at Corfe Castle on my own.

At the end of the month, everyone was talking about the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. To celebrate, I enjoyed Royal Wedding Afternoon Tea at The Royal Horseguards. The pastries did look stunning and were served well, but this was not the best afternoon tea experience that I've had. The service was incredibly slow, and the food wasn't great.

This month also provided me with the best dessert that I had this year. I found it at Alto by San Carlo at Selfridges. This rooftop Italian restaurant is decorated with vines of flowers across the ceiling, giving it a summery feel. The pistachio tart was delicious; I am not in this part of London often but did attempt to return one time when I was in the area, only to be turned away because they did not have space. I really want to go back and eat this again!

June: June is my birthday month, and this year was an important birthday. I had a couple of big holiday plans but fell short of booking them as I needed to watch my spending until May because of last year's renovations. I'd booked the time off but had to cancel due to work, and the most that I could take off was a long weekend. 

I had never been to Milan before, but it has been on my bucket list; I booked a short trip to Milan (Birthday Trip to Milan). Milan is a working city, but the people were friendly and I enjoyed good gelato and good food, and the city offered a small selection of attractions made this achievable in a long weekend. I got to see Milan Duomo, which is the largest cathedral in Europe and third largest cathedral in the world. I also got to see the famous Da Vinci painting "The Last Supper". My favourite day there was on my birthday. After an early morning start, I got back to the hotel and enjoyed Prosecco and birthday cake with the balcony opened. Shortly after I'd returned to the hotel, a singer started to sing outside on the street right below my hotel window. He was singing/playing old jazz, which is one of my favourite types of music, and he was fantastic.

The last full day was spent on a day trip to Lake Como where we had a short time to spend in Como before going on a boat ride from Como to Bellagio to see the famous villas owned by celebrities and used in films. Unfortunately, this wasn't the best trip because the tour company's audio and transport equipment did not work, so we did not get much out of it. The weather that day had also changed and was rainy and colder. Besides the boat trip, which took a long while, we spent a little bit of time exploring as much of Bellagio as we could. This is a nice village on the lakeside, and a series of steps can be climbed to an upper road with tourist shops along it. It was a picturesque place.

July: The highlight of my year was July. After a hard-working June, my working hours became a little bit more manageable. Also, from the end of June and throughout July, the weather was wonderful; it was hot and sunny. At the beginning of the month, I had a last-minute Fourth of July BBQ (which doubled as birthday and engagement parties) that a few friends came to. The weather was perfect for it.

In the middle of the month, the annual MINI event in Poole, "Quay For My Car" (MINIs in Poole Quay), took place. I met up with friends and saw classic and new MINI cars. This event used to take place in three months over summer, but it now only takes place in one month and always happens on a Friday early evening.

My friends from America had also come to visit and were staying in Manchester. The next morning, I went to Manchester for the weekend and then spent a day in London with them. It was a whirlwind trip, and I have not managed to post about everything we got up to. The first stop was that we had Brunch at The Alchemist in Manchester, and then we had fun looking at Manchester's street art before visiting Manchester's Cat Cafe. We toured BBC Media City the following day.

At the end of July, I had a long weekend in Norfolk. I had been to the city of Norwich twice before, but this trip allowed me to see Norfolk, and I was able to spend nearly three days in the area. I originally visited to see the charity sculpture trail GoGoHares! Hop Around Norwich and Norfolk, but I also had some time for sight-seeing. I visited Baconsthorpe Castle, Caister Castle and Caister Castle Car Collection. I hope that I am able to get back to see more of the area and have equally excellent weather for it in 2019.

The last amazing attraction that I saw at the end of the month was Hell-Fire Caves. These man-made caves have a wealth of history and many stories surrounding the Hell-Fire Club, and I loved the tour. I had no idea that something like this existed. I have recommended this place to a few people as it's really neat and someplace I had not heard of before.

August: Unfortunately, the wonderful weather did not stick around for August. Near the middle of the month, I had a long weekend in Bristol for the bloke's birthday and expected to see Gromit Unleashed 2.0, the newest charity sculpture trail, and the Bristol Balloon Festival. Despite a promising start very early on the first morning (we arrived the night before), the weather was dismal and the Balloon Festival was cancelled. I had lived in the area for a few years and had never been to the Balloon Festival, so it is still on my list. I was really disappointed. 

I went to two more charity sculpture trails in August. The second one was Hoodwinked!, which featured many large-scale robins dressed as Robin Hood in Nottingham. I also went to see Minerva's Owls of Bath at the end of the month for a day, but I only ended up seeing very few and the weather was not kind. Overall, I found August to be a very disappointing month.

September: I guess that the first day in September felt like it needed to make up for the wash-out August, so we had a day of unexpected heatwave. This was spent (caught off-guard) on Bournemouth's Beach with thousands of other people and family to watch the Bournemouth Air Show. This year marked 100 years of the RAF (Royal Air Force), so this aspect was brought into the display.

Autumn this year was all about weddings. I had three weddings to attend, and all three were within six weeks of each other. Two of the weddings took place in September. The first wedding was the wedding of my good friends Andrew, who I have known for years, and Agnes. Agnes' and Andrew's Wedding took place at the Wokefield Estate near Reading, and I stayed overnight at the venue to help them celebrate into the early hours.

The second wedding was held in rural Kent at the end of the month, and we had surprise sunny weather. It was to celebrate Mini and Chris, a really lovely couple that I've only got to know in the past few years and hope to spend more time with.

October: The final wedding was held at the end of October for my cousin Elizabeth and her fiance Brian in America, so my October focused on a nearly-two week visit to Ohio. I have been hoping to return to Ohio for autumn for nearly fifteen years and nearly went last year but did not get to due to my work situation. Autumn is my favourite season, and I love the colourful autumns in Ohio where a couple of weeks of warm weather (Indian Summer) can be enjoyed before the cold weather sets in. Unfortunately, Ohio's weather has been odd this year and the leaves were not changed when I arrived in the middle of the month, and after the first few days, the weather was not great. 

I've always wanted to go to the Circleville Pumpkin Show, so I planned to go to Ohio in the middle of the month so that I could go when it was on. I really enjoyed trying the pumpkin-flavoured foods and exploring the pumpkins. I really wanted to watch the parades and stay later, but we did not get to and it ended up being a very rushed trip, so I want to go back again and see it properly.

I also met up with friends. I went with friends to "Wine Your Way Out" wine-tasting in a corn maze, followed by a hay ride around the corn field. I also went to Utica to the Velvet Ice Cream Factory with my mother and then out to eat with her father and step-mother (my grandparents), and her sister and brother-in-law (my aunt and uncle). 

The highlight was the trip to Hocking Hills state park where part of my cousin's wedding celebrations were due to take place. We arrived early and had fun walking on three of the trails (Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls, and Ash Cave) before the weather got worse. We stayed in a lovely cabin while we attended the wedding celebreations. We saw some awesome places, and you can read all about the visit by reading this post, where I have included everything that I got up to and a wealth of knowledge; many of the hints and tips were from the bride and groom.

The month ended with the wedding of Elizabeth and Brian at the orchard with a reception at Hocking Hills, which was great fun. The sad part was having to leave and then get back to normality. Work was crazy-busy when I returned.

November: November brought me back into reality and kept me busy. I got to see the local Ruislip Bonfire Night fireworks a few days after I returned from being away. I always thought fireworks should happen in July, but I now have a fondness for seeing them light up the sky in the crisp early November evenings with the smell of firework smoke and bonfire in the air.

Armistice Day was also a big deal this year as it marked 100 years since the end of World War I, and a couple of art installations took place in London. The first one was candle-lighting at the Tower of London for the week up to the 11th of November (The Tower Remembers).

My favourite of the art installations was "Shrouds of the Somme", a large-scale art installation representing the scale of the lives lost during the battle in the trenches in France. The names of the soldiers who died and their rank, division, and home towns were all read out. It was very moving and sombre.

November is Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving fell early this year. I had an evening Thanksgiving dinner organised by the Benjamin Franklin House, and it took place in the beautiful Clothworker's Hall in the City of London. This was a traditional-style Thanksgiving dinner with complete strangers and other American expats.

At the end of the month, I went to the New Forest to the Christmas at Beaulieu event. This was the first Christmassy event that I went to this year. There were many different installations and light shows, and I enjoyed the light show on the front of the house and the Christmas tree lights, which were in time to the Christmas music being played. It was a very festive evening.

December: December was eventful for me. First of all, I took a walk around London to look at the Christmas lights and then I had drinks at Christmas Cocktails @ Miracle at Henrietta. I loved this pop-up bar with the festive drinks and festive vintage Christmas decorations, but it was always too busy to get in. I would love if they made this permanent and a larger venue; it was so popular. 

I also finally got to go to Peggy Porschen's Cakes cafe: A Christmas Visit to Peggy Porschen Bakery. I've been wanting to visit Peggy Porschen's for a long while. I visited early in the morning during the week and had a hot chocolate and a cupcake and sat outside. This cafe is picturesque, and I spent the remainder of the day looking at a few Christmas lights and displays and visited the new "Peanuts" comic strip exhibition at Somerset House (I'll be covering this next month).

Right before the holidays, I went with a couple friends to Festive Afternoon Tea at Jean-Georges, The Connaught Hotel London. We were looked after very well and enjoyed the festive afternoon tea.