2015, A Year In Review

Happy 2016 Everyone!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and a safe and happy New Year! For us, 2015 blew by so quick. It was one of the hardest years of our lives thus far. We never dreamed our lives could change so quickly and so dramatically in a matter of a few months. I think it's safe to say we both are SO glad 2015 has left us, and we're happy to bring in a new year with a fresh outlook. Here's a recap of our year.

We started out the New Year with some of our close friends at their house, and us girls had such a blast having a mini photo shoot! Photos by Britney Merriam Photography

Before I get going on the rest of the year's happenings, lets take a quick step back to November 2014. We had been living in South Carolina for about 4 years, and we decided "What the heck", and put our name on a list to be moved within my husband's job to a country overseas. We honestly never thought we would get the opportunity, because the chances were slim.

We decided after the holidays we we're going to start sightseeing more in our local area just in case we were going to have to move in a few months. So flash forward back to January 2015, we went to Botany Bay & Edisto Beach on Edisto Island, SC. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we were wearing shorts and t-shirts! It definitely topped our list as one of our most favorite spots in the state.

Also in January, we adventured to the Morris Island Lighthouse off the coast of Folly Beach. We tried oysters for the first time at the Folly Beach Crab Shack!

In February, I got the chance to participate in my friend Britney's bridal photoshoot out at the Old Sheldon Church Ruins in Yemassee. It was just three of us girls, and we had such a wonderful day exploring and taking some gorgeous photos in fancy wedding dresses.

Top two Photo's by Britney Merriam Photography

February was a very difficult and exciting month for us. We found out we were moving to the UK, but along with the excitement of moving and living life overseas came the daunting task of selling our house, cars, and anything we absolutely didn't need in the matter of a few months time. The hardest thing either of us has had to do, was say goodbye to our first house together. We had so many fond memories in that house. I still get upset thinking about how much I miss living there sometimes.

For my birthday in March, we went out to Wadmalaw Island and toured the Charleston Tea Plantation. We also made a stop to Irvin House Vineyards for a wine tasting, and to Firefly Distillery for a tasting as well. It was such a nice day out!

Flash Forward to April, when my husband broke his arm in a dune buggy/go kart three months prior to us moving the UK, and while we were visiting family five states away from home! Talk about the worst stress I think I've ever been through in my life, having your father in law show up at your parents house telling you "we have to go to the hospital, he broke his arm." Then I started worrying if we were still moving, if we would be delayed, where the heck we were going to live because our house was under contract. It was a crazy mess of a month! 

Anyways back to the story. he hit a tree stump and it flipped and landed on his arm. The bone was shattered completely in half, and he had a butterfly piece of the bone all the way up to the top of his shoulder. Initially they told him he didn't need surgery. FALSE. He should have had surgery the first day or two after he broke it because it never would have grown back correctly. Fast forward two weeks, a long drive home and many consultations later with a few doctors and a surgeon. Surprise, he needed surgery. Everything ended up great in the end, he has a plate that runs the entire length of his arm with screws to hold it in place. He has almost made a full recovery eight months later.

In May, my husbands side of the family came down to visit us in South Carolina. We had such an amazing week with them, and were so sad to see them go! Some things we did with them included blueberry picking, seeing Boone Hall Plantation, visiting downtown Charleston, swimming in the pool, and going to Folly Beach a few times.

We also moved to a nice hotel to stay at for the remaining time before we moved officially to the UK. I never thought I'd like living in a hotel, but it actually wasn't too bad! We really enjoyed our time. They had a pool, free breakfast every morning that was delicious, and also free dinners a few times a week as well.

I can't leave out my favorite time of the late spring/early summer. Wisteria!  

June began the month of craziness. We made a last trip to visit some dear friends of ours in North Carolina, and stopped through the mountains for a wedding in Linville. It was so incredibly gorgeous out there, and it was so peaceful and relaxed being in the mountains. I think my favorite part was hiking up Linville Falls. It's a big waterfall that opens up into a gorge in the mountains, amazing! Such great views and you could not beat the nice weather. We also stopped at Daveste Vineyards for a tasting on the way back to South Carolina.

Off to the UK we went! It was a disaster getting here, but we finally made it all four of us in one piece! No lost luggage, animals made it safe and sound and had wonderful care the whole time. We were so thankful to finally arrive!

Our first little day trip was to a small town called Ely. We toured its huge, gorgeous cathedral and even got to climb the octagonal tower. The views were gorgeous! We also ate at our favorite tea room to date, Peacocks!

At the beginning of July we finally settled into a cute little two story house. We also took a few day trips that we really enjoyed to Cambridge and Bury St. Edmunds.

In August we finally made it to London! We had such an awesome day and we ended up walking about 8 miles while we were there.

Most of August for us was spent getting settled into our new home once our stuff finally arrived at the end of July. I was so excited to get to reunite with two of my good friends from childhood! We had such a wonderful time catching up together, and laughing at all of our old stories from our youth. It really helped me feel a little bit more settled here, and feel like home really isn't so far away.
Another day trip we took was to Hunstanton Beach to see the cliffs.

We also celebrated our first wedding anniversary at the end of August as well! It was a busy month full of traveling! The places we chose to go for our anniversary were Letchworth Garden City and Hitchin Lavender. The fields of Lavender smelled AMAZING! Walking through the fields was lovely, and it makes you want to just spend the day there, maybe take a blissful nap, ZZzzzz....

September was a low key month after we were so busy in August. We also found a great farm shop and café in such a cute, sleepy town. Also, a friend and I went to Sandringham to visit the Queen's winter home, and to go apple picking. The apples we got were delicious! I ended up making a ton of different concoctions with the huge bag I brought home.

The most exciting thing we did in the month of September and is topping our list of favorite things we have done since we have moved: we went to Edinburgh, Scotland! It was incredible!! We had an amazing time, and we enjoyed getting some time just the two of us. Maybe this year or next year we will go back and visit the highlands, and Isle of Skye. Scotland is just beautiful and we can't wait to go back!

Also in October, I got the chance to take a quick trip to Heidelberg, Germany! It was my first time visiting the country and it did not fail to impress! I also ate the best schnitzel EVER.

One of the best things we got to experience this past year was seeing the Chiefs play in London at Wembley Stadium. We both had never been to a professional football game before, so it was a real treat! We also got to go with one of my childhood friends and her husband which made it all the more fun!

There is just so many great places we have been this past year, I can't leave any out! We had an awesome day at Norwich Castle. It felt like you were really there in the Medieval time period!

Our last weekend trip of the year was to Bath and the Cotswolds. It was the most freezing trip! I think it rained the entire weekend we were there. We went for the Bath Christmas Market, which ended up being terrible. The streets were so crowded it was hard to walk, we had our dog Lexi with us and we couldn't do much of anything in the city besides walk around. Bath itself is beautiful, and it is probably a much better city to visit when it's warm outside and we can enjoy it.

The Cotswold towns were my favorite part of the trip because we were able to drive between a few of them on our way back home. Castle Combe and Bibury were our two all time favorite small towns (for now). They were so picturesque and the pictures we took definitely do not do them justice! I can't wait to go back and explore more of the towns we missed along the way back.

The holiday season was hard for us this year. Our uncle passed away a few days before Thanksgiving and it hit us harder than we thought it would. Many phone calls and texts to family and we felt much better after a few days. You never know how precious life is until you lose someone unexpectedly. So hug and kiss those you love everyday and tell them how much they mean to you, you never know when that day can come, and poof. They are gone.
On a happier note, we also went on a few Christmas adventures during the holidays. One day we went to the Elveden Estate to meet reindeer. I think this was my favorite highlight of the holiday season!

 Lastly, we went to the Lavenham Christmas Fayre. Our friends met us for the night and we enjoyed walking around the town and looking at all the buildings. After Christmas we went back to walk around the town during the day and saw where they filmed the Godrick's Hollow scene in Harry Potter.

Overall, 2015 was a challenging but great year all at the same time. We are so thankful for all the opportunities we have gotten this year, but we are also thankful 2016 is here and we have a fresh start and put 2015 behind us! This year we did not set any specific "resolutions". Instead, we decided it was best for us to be thankful for the opportunities we get to enjoy while living here, be more positive and embrace that this is how it is going to be for awhile.
I hope all of you have had a fabulous start to the year. Here's to having a positive, adventurous and fruitful 2016!
-A