Happy New Year - My Highlights of 2010!

I've been looking back through photos from 2010, and I cannot believe how fast this year has gone, it's absolutely flown by! I thought I'd mark the coming of the new year with a post looking back at my highlights of 2010...

JANUARY

Things seem to have come full circle this year, starting out with lots of snow and ending with lots of snow! This is me with some angry snowmen in Horsforth Park.

There were so many weddings this year! My friend Tilly kicked it all off in January with her beautiful winter wedding :)

FEBRUARY

I had a bit of a passion for long walks at the start of the year... There is some lovely countryside near my house in Leeds and one day I decided to go for a 10 mile round walk to a lovely farm in Yeadon - Emsley Farm.

MARCH

Me and my sisters took my mum for a fun day out in London for Mother's Day, stopping off for an afternoon tea (above) followed by sorbet (below).

APRIL

I spent most of my Easter holidays working at Hastings Castle. I loved it - soaking up the history and the sunshine!

Another highlight of April was my Research Placement at London Aquarium. I met some great people there, had a wonderful time, completed my research project, and watched and fed some pretty cool fish along the way.

Whilst on placement I stayed with my Sister Jenny in London, we got up to lots of fun things, including my very first trip to a musical in the West End. We saw Sweet Charity: it was brilliant!

MAY

I spent the majority of May doing uni work, assignments, essays and suchlike, but I found time to celebrate my birthday along with some friends with a kids-style birthday party in my garden. There were cupcakes, a BBQ, pass-the-parcel, party bags, music and lots of fun had by everyone!

JUNE

In June I went on my first holiday in years with the parentals and my older sister. We drove down to Italy and had a mini tour of all things Italia! We started off in Rome - which was absolutely amazing!

We spent a weekend in Fallerone with old friends. It made our holiday really special, they showed up the sights, took us to San Marino, which was one of the most spectacular places I have visited, and generously welcomed us into their home where they fed us some of the most amazing food I've ever eaten!

We finished off our Italian adventure in style with a trip to Venice. It was so beautiful! One of the highlights of Venice was definitely a visit to the Doge's Palace. It was an incredible building and we crossed the bridge of sighs into the dungeons. I loved exploring the old waterways where every building you look at has character and history. I'd love to go there again some day.

July

I worked in the Smugglers Caves and Hastings Castle throughout the summer. It is possibly one of the most fun jobs I will ever do. What makes it all the more enjoyable is that my colleagues are all my close friends so every day of work was made so much easier: getting paid to have fun (with a little bit of hard work thrown in too of course!)

In July I was part of the Guinness World Record for the most pirates in one place. Here's me, in my piratical garb, with the Johnny Depp look-a-like who spent his day dress as Captain Jack Sparrow entertaining the town.

AUGUST

Over the summer there were two more weddings. Here's me, my younger sister and my friend Daniella at her Hen Do garden party before her big day!

I went to stay with Jenny in London again for a long weekend and we went to Notting Hill Carnival. It was the first time I'd ever been to the carnival and it was so much fun!

Jenny at Notting Hill Carnival

SEPTEMBER

September saw the End of Season work party at the Caves which always involves a lot of fun and fancy dress. This year we had to each represent a European country - I was Espana and dressed as a flamenco dancer!

OCTOBER

I came back home from Leeds and University to take part in the Bonfire Procession in Hastings. We all dressed as pirates and marched the procession route with flaming torches singing sea shanties. Here's me and my younger sister by the bonfire on the beach.

I don't often go out for Halloween, but this year my boyfriend was DJing at a retro rockabilly night in Leeds, so I went along dressed as a 50's zombie along with my uni friend and her sister.

NOVEMBER

November was pretty much filled with assignments, essays and exams, but also a few fun lectures too. The joy of Primary Education degrees is that you can get away with doing things like this in lectures ;)

DECEMBER

We had our work Christmas party, again, with fancy dress. We all had to represent a Christmas song. I went as The Holly and The Ivy, and above is my boss as Let it Snow and my colleague as Hark the Herald Angel Sing :) We had a brilliant night, I sang a few songs with the band and danced the night away!

Christmas! I love Christmas, it's always so much fun in our house, filled with family, board games, food, laughter and lovely presents. It's always a shame that it goes too quickly!

Well, there you have it... my highlights of 2010. What were your highlights of the year??