2016 Memories and New Year's Resolutions

Sunday, January 01, 2017


I can't believe 2017 is here! 2016 was quite a difficult and challenging year for the world, but for me personally, I felt like it was a successful and amazing year. I love documenting some of my favourite memories and achievements on Daisies and Delights for me to look back on in the future, so I thought now was a perfect opportunity to do so. If you stick around 'til the end of this post, you'll also get to hear about my New Year's Resolutions for 2017, so make sure you keep reading!


BLOGGING

I feel as though this year has definitely been a significant one for my blog, and I'm so proud of everything I accomplished in relation to it. Although I reduced my uploading frequency to once a week, I've been very proud of all the content I've created and photographs I've taken, particularly towards the latter half of the year. A lot of effort has gone into Daisies and Delights over the past 12 months and this is definitely starting to become evident, which I couldn't be more thrilled about.

2016 has been a big one for collaborating with brands on my blog, something which I'd done occasionally in the past but never thought I'd be so lucky as to be recognised by such reputable brands. I was sent some makeup and skincare products by Makeup Revolution, Freedom, Be Cosmetics, and most recently Rimmel London, all of which have been incredibly generous to me and I greatly appreciate it. I've also been sent numerous books by Pan Macmillan, including Summer Days and Summer Nights by Stephanie Perkins, What Light by Jay Asher, Heartless by Marissa Meyer and A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard.

Blogging events were also a new occurrence in 2016 and I definitely went out of my comfort zone to attend two. The first was the Seventeen Bloggers Network Event and was in London, which was an unforgettable experience where I got to meet some like-minded bloggers, listen to talks from industry professionals like Katie Snooks and Rollo Goldstaub, and try out and take home some of their newest products. More recently, I attended the Body Shop Christmas Bloggers Event which was closer to home, and I really enjoyed a festive evening of sampling their Christmas ranges, watching demonstrations and meeting some inspiring bloggers.

I ran my first proper blog giveaway in 2016, which was successful and I enjoyed every minute of, so I'll definitely be doing some more in the future. I also got the opportunity to host the #bookbloggers chat on Twitter, which is something I'd wanted to do for a long time and finally was able to. Possibly my most notable achievement was Daisies and Delights being nominated for the Johnson and Johnson Journalism Awards in the Best Emerging Blogger category, which was a surreal moment that I still can't believe. This was such an honour and I can't wait to attend the awards in January.


ACADEMIC

2016 was an important year in terms of my education, as I sat all of my GCSEs. This was definitely a very stressful period and required a lot of hard work, not just for the exams but also in coursework and revision which practically spanned the entirety of year 11. I'll be honest, there were some moments when I was stressed beyond belief and didn't think I could handle it, but I powered through and the hard work definitely paid off. I received 6A*s and 4As in my GCSEs, which I was absolutely made up with and proved that my dedication to studying was worth it.

To distract from all of the stress of exams was leaving high school, which I found quite emotional, to say the least. It was strange knowing that five years were over so quick, and before I knew it people were moving onto new experiences and different colleges. I also had prom, which was definitely a highlight of the year and I loved every minute of it. From the dress to the makeup and everything in between, it really felt special and I had an amazing time celebrating the end of exams with my friends.

In September of this year I started college, which was a new venture that I was initially quite nervous for and thought that I'd miss high school a lot. However, so far I'm absolutely loving college and feel really at home there, more than I ever thought I would. I'm currently studying for A-Levels in English Literature, English Language and Psychology, as well as carrying out an Extended Project Qualification. I love all of my subjects and I've really broadened my knowledge over the past few months. College has also enabled me to meet lots of new people and I've made some great friends, both in classes and out, that I couldn't imagine not having.


PERFORMING

With 2016 came another year of attending Lipa, and I have to say that it was possibly one of my favourites so far. We had our annual summer show to present all of our dance routines, songs and acting scenes, all of which I really enjoyed. From singing as Sandy from Grease to our beautiful lyrical dance to Incomplete by James Bay, this was definitely one of my favourite shows I've ever been in.

Also last year, we participated in two dance competitions, which was completely new for me. Competing is a completely different experience to just performing, but I enjoyed it a lot and made some amazing memories. At our first competition, we received 1st place for our contemporary group dance and 3rd place for our commercial jazz group. In the second competition, our commercial group was 1st in its category, our contemporary group was 1st in its category and received 3rd overall for the whole competition. Both of these were great opportunities and I loved every minute of competing our dances.



There are various other memories and achievements from 2016 that I could touch on, but I figured I'd move on to the part of the post that you're all highly anticipating - my New Year's Resolutions! I do one of these posts every year and find that it's great to document them so that I can check back and see what I've achieved.

I usually set various different goals for each aspect of my life, but I thought that this year I'd condense it down and instead set five main goals that I want to work on. This will make it much easier to focus on them individually and I'm therefore more likely to achieve them. Below I've listed my New Year's Resolutions, but I'm still finalising these so they might change slightly over the course of January.

1. Start exercising regularly and eating healthier - I've never been the best at being healthy or active, but I've particularly let this slack over the past few months. Whether it's the delicious brownies that they sell in college that I can't resist, or the dark nights meaning I'm more reluctant to walk home from college, I've been making excuses regularly and really need to get back on track.

2. Work harder on my blog - Blogging is definitely a huge passion of mine and so I want to continue to pour effort and hard work into it. Whether it's coming up with more creative content and photos, being prepared with posts scheduled or making better use out of my blog social media, I really want to continue improving my blog.

3. Manage my time more efficiently - Something I say quite often is that I hardly have the time for things, particularly if it's something fun or a break. I want to maintain the level of work and dedication I put into my college work, but also learn how to effectively manage my time and allow for other things aside from work. Whether that's by operating on a schedule of how I spend my time, especially on weekdays, or ensuring that I allocate set times for free time, blogging, college work etc., I'm determined to be more organised with my time in the new year.

4. Take more opportunities and get involved - I'm the type of person who likes to stay in my comfort zone and doesn't like change, but I really want to push myself to try new things and take opportunities in 2017. Whether it's getting involved in terms of blogging or even just taking the opportunity to ask my friends to hang out, I really want to work on this throughout the year.

5. Make 2017 a good year - Although it's easier said than done, I'm determined to make this year one to remember. Rather than waiting to see if 2017 will turn out good or not, I want to go out of my way to make this year an amazing one. I know we don't have control over many things and life may throw obstacles in our way, but I want to focus on the positives and take every chance to make 2017 a happy and memorable year.

I'd love to know what you're New Year's Resolutions are if you've made any and I wish you all the best for 2017. Thanks for reading this post and for the continuous support on my blog, as it means a lot to me. I'll see you again next Sunday, so goodbye for now!

Love from Daisy x

1 comment

  1. Hi Daisy, I just wanted to let you know that I've nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award. Your blog is one of my faves, so if you want to, you can check out my post over on my blog.

    Hannah | alongsidehannah.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete