Favourite Lost Characters

So for the past year me and Jess have been watching Lost – I know we’re very late to the party but when we were seventeen we randomly got really into the show despite the fact this would’ve been 2014 and the show had finished in 2010. We watched until the end of Season 4 and then just stopped for some reason. We kept saying we would pick it back up but then didn’t.

Last year I put my foot down and told Jess we needed to watch the last two seasons because we’d made it this far without the ending being spoilt for us which was pretty good going. Jess was happy to watch Lost but wanted us to restart from the beginning as it had ten years since we last watched the show, something I didn’t really want to do but eventually agreed. This ended up being the right choice as we’d forgotten loads and it was fun piecing together things we did remember.

On Sunday 14^th April 2024 we finally watched the Season 6 finale and finished the show after a whole year of rewatching. I wanted to write a Lost themed post to commemorate the occasion. I was originally going to post my thoughts on the show but I’m not sure I’ve got those in order yet, I’d like to watch some videos and see some more theories before I go into that.

So instead I’m going to write a post of my ten favourite characters from Lost – which will potentially be difficult because there were so many great characters but I’m going to give it a go!

Heads up – this post will contain spoilers!

Claire

I really liked Claire the first time around but for some reason Jess wasn’t keen – as adults she said she didn’t dislike her. I don’t even know why I liked Claire so much. I liked seeing her relationship with Charlie develop and I thought her backstory was interesting – as an adult her backstory is so frustrating! It was also interesting having such a heavily pregnant woman on the island and how that played out.

Seeing feral Claire when the Oceanic 6 returned to the island was really interesting as well and I’m glad she trusted Kate and went with her on the plane. It frustrates me no end that we don’t know if she reunited with her Mum and Aaron but I’m glad she got off the island in the end.


Kate

I’m not gonna lie I hated Kate the first time I watched this show. Every time she was on screen I was instantly irritated and I hated that she was a main character. Watching as an adult though I felt completely different towards her and I actually agreed with a lot of the points that she made whereas before I disagreed with everything!

Her backstory is really sad as well but I loved that she still remained kind-hearted on the island whilst also getting involved with the heavy lifting. Kate was a great character and it’s such a shame I didn’t like her as a teen!


Desmond

I don’t think I remembered much about Desmond before the rewatch but I ended up loving his character this time around. I found his backstory to be a little bit boring at times but I still loved his character. He really went through Hell being on the island by himself, finally making it home and reuniting with Penny only to end up back on the island. But at least he got a happy ending (well, hopefully anyway!)


Hurley

I related a lot to Hurley particularly in the sense that he’s not very good at lying and that he desperately wants to help but is often overlooked. Ultimately though he remained kind-hearted despite the fact that he also went through Hell – I can’t believe they killed off Libby just because they didn’t know what to do with her. And then also killing off Charlie who has Hurley’s best friend on the island? Totally not cool.

I really loved Hurley’s backstory and I loved that he had the ability to talk to dead people. He might be one of my favourite characters of all time and I just loved anytime he had a main story. He was great at building up morale on the island like when he made the golf course, when he managed to get that car working and even managed to get Sawyer to be nice for a full day! Hurley was incredible, I absolutely loved him.


Ana-Lucia

I know that Ana-Lucia wasn’t a fan favourite and she was quite unpopular but I actually loved her. It probably helps that I love the actress Michelle Rodriguez. Obviously Ana-Lucia wasn’t perfect and she made some bad decisions but I loved her. Her backstory was another good one and I wish she could’ve stayed around for a bit longer although in some ways I think it made sense that she met her demise that way. I’m glad she did pop up a couple more times as well. I really loved her!


John Locke

Watching Lost for the first time and having that plot twist that John used to be in a wheelchair was incredible. John’s backstory is probably the most infuriating for me, his Dad was the real villain of the series and my heart actually broke for him. What chance did he stand?

I feel like despite everything John was a genuinely good person who always tried to do the best but unfortunately he was easy to manipulate which ultimately led to his decline in character. But I still liked him and found him really interesting. I also feel like his iconic phrases stuck with me the most like ‘don’t tell me what I can’t do’ and ‘I wish you had believed me’.

Fair play to Terry O’Quinn because his acting in the final seasons as the man in black were incredible, I’m glad that he stayed in the show as a different character. I also loved him in the flash sideways, John Locke as a substitute teacher with Ben as his friend was not something I knew I needed but I loved it.


Sun

Reading that Yunjin Kim was initially not keen on portraying Sun because she seemed too stereotypical and submissive was interesting and I’m glad that they didn’t keep Sun that way. I also really loved Jin and their relationship although I’m very glad that Jin did eventually loosen up! Her ending absolutely destroyed me and I was so angry. I waited so long for Sun and Jin to be reunited and for what? AND FOR WHAT?

Sun was another one whose backstory I loved and again the plot twist of her being able to understand English was incredible. I’m so sad that Jin never met their daughter and that she has to now grow up without her parents, I can’t believe the writers did me dirty like that.


Charlie

Upon rewatching this there were a lot of things that Charlie did that I really didn’t agree with but it doesn’t affect my love for his character. Again, Charlie isn’t perfect but he is an amazing character. As with most of the characters listed he has a really frustrating backstory, I actually hate his brother Liam so much. I found his death to be irritating because I didn’t really see the point. My friend Janie pointed out that it was good they committed to him dying instead of writing their way out of it but I also feel like the way he died didn’t make much sense. One could argue he thought it was the only way Claire and Aaron would end up on the helicopter so he decided to sacrifice himself but it makes no sense that the helicopter would only arrive if Charlie died. He could’ve come out, locked the door behind him and told Desmond that it wasn’t Penny’s boat. I just wish it had been written better so that there was literally no way out for Charlie. I think they wanted him to look noble but ultimately it was just a bit stupid.

Anyway, I loved Charlie and I wish he had been in the series for longer. Again though I’m glad he appeared to Hurley and in the flash sideways as well. Another one of my absolute favourite characters.


Rose

I loved Rose’s no nonsense attitude and her storyline was one of my favourites. Her absolute faith that Bernard was alive and I’m so glad that we got to see them reunite. After season four I kept saying to Jess “we’d better see what happened to Rose and Bernard, I’ll be so mad if they just skim over them as if they didn’t matter” and was so pleased when they did crop back up. I thought their ending was satisfying and I’m glad that Rose got to live out her life in peace (mostly) with Bernard.


Sawyer

Sawyer’s character was absolutely insufferable at times but ultimately I ended up really loving him. I loved his storyline with Juliet in Season Five and I thought her reason for wanting to detonate the bomb was ridiculous. I loved that he went from the guy that nobody trusted to someone who was dependable. His friendship with Hurley and Jin was one of my favourites in the show. His backstory was also incredibly tragic which makes me forgive a lot of his more insufferable moments – when he pretended to have Shannon’s inhalers to kiss Kate was such a ballache but it was still early days I suppose.


BONUS: Ben

I’ve included Ben because when he was first introduced I hated him and for his first couple of seasons it was so annoying that other characters had every opportunity to kill him but never took them. However in the final seasons I ended up really liking him and was hoping he wouldn’t die. I loved seeing the flip of him having all the power and knowledge to him being powerless and not knowing what was going on. I’ve read that Ben wasn’t meant to be a regular character but they were so impressed with Michael Emerson that they fleshed out his role and I’m so glad that they did, Michael Emerson was actually incredible as Ben, I couldn’t find a single fault in his performance.


Other honourable mentions go to Danielle, Sayid, Jin and Bernard. But there we have it, my top ten favourite characters from Lost! Feel free to let me know your favourites in the comments.

Favourite Memories of 2023

I love New Year – reflecting on the year you’ve had, looking forward to the next one. New Year is full of exciting possibilities, I love it. As is tradition on this page I wanted to write a list of my favourite memories, in no particular order. Strap yourself in for a long post – here we go!

Theatre trips

At any given time I have a theatre trip to look forward to and 2023 was a great year for theatre. I will try and list the shows I saw in no particular order:
– The Mind Mangler
– Dick Whittington (Birmingham Panto)
– Sleeping Beauty ballet
– Swan Lake ballet
– The Mirror Crack’d
– Titanic: The Musical
– Mother Goose
– The King and I
– Six
– My Fair Lady
– Bonnie & Clyde
– Sunshine on Leith
– Spongebob the Musical
– Winnie the Pooh x2
– Sweeney Todd
– The Book of Mormon x2
– Newsies
– Heathers
– Ocean at the End of the Lane
– Into the Woods x2
– Do You Believe in Ghosts?
– Grease
– The Pillowman
– Little Shop of Horrors
– Leave it to the Maid
– The Wizard of Oz
– The Woman in Black
– Death Note
– Peter Pan Goes Wrong x2
– Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
– School of Rock
– The Nutcracker ballet
– Treasure Island (Telford panto)
– Snow White (Wolverhampton panto)
– Jack and the Beanstalk (Birmingham panto)
– Jack and the Beanstalk (Shrewsbury panto)

I’m struggling to pick one overall favourite this year. I did really enjoy getting to see some of the original Mischief cast in ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’ – and dragging Jess to stage door to meet some of them! It’s one of my favourite Mischief shows, I will never get bored of it.

I also loved ‘My Fair Lady’ because when Mum told me she’d bought the ticket I just didn’t think it would be my cup of tea and I ended up thinking it was amazing. Mum also got me a ticket for ‘The Pillowman’ and despite all the controversy I saw with two reviewers arguing about it on Twitter I thought it was really good, I was never a big fan of Lily Allen to be honest but I thought she was good in this and in ‘2:22’.

Here’s to more theatre shows in 2024!


Tattoos

I love getting more tattoos – I wanted to get some on my legs as me and the girls were going on a sunny holiday (more about that later!) this year and my legs would be out so I wanted some tattoos there. I would’ve got more if I’d been able to afford it but the big trip sucked up the majority of my savings so I only got two this year but I loved them both.

One was a premade piece that my favourite tattoo artist had advertised on her insta and the other was specifically designed for me. The Pusheen plaster tattoo is so cute but I love my little Reptar heart. ‘Rugrats in Paris’ is my ultimate comfort movie and I’m so pleased with how the tattoo turned out.

I’ve already had another done in 2024 and I’m booked in for yet another so 2024 will hopefully be another year of getting great tattoos!


Lizzo Concert

I don’t seem to go to many concerts anymore (something I’m keen to change in 2024) but my first one of 2023 was Lizzo. Me and the girls haven’t been to many concerts as a four so when we all agreed we wouldn’t mind seeing Lizzo we decided to get tickets. Becca was on holiday for the Birmingham date so we went a bit further and saw her in Manchester.

Despite all the controversy with Lizzo earlier in the year of 2023 I can’t deny that she put on a good show. I love Lizzo’s songs, they’re all such a good vibe and it was a very girly pop concert. Me and the girls had pre-drinks and then danced the night away at the concert. It’s a shame we were so far back but it was still a really good night!


The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan

Okay, I have a story to tell. Three years ago (back in 2021) Jess very kindly drove us both to London because I managed to get free tickets to see my favourite show ‘The Goes Wrong Show’ recorded live. However when we got there they prioritised groups of four so despite being like third in the queue we were told we weren’t being let in and we had to start the three hour drive back to Telford. We went to London, stood still for a couple of hours and then drove home.

I did cry a little in the car on the way back (to which Jess decided to play WAP at full volume to cheer me up) but the one bright side was that we were promised a free ticket to use on a different show and it would be a priority ticket so we couldn’t be turned away. I waited patiently for the code to come through… For ages. I sent a polite email asking for the code but after a YEAR the emails began to get less polite.

It got to a point where I didn’t think I’d ever get the code but if I had to email about it for the rest of my life then I would because I wasn’t going to let it go. And against all odds, after a year of angrily emailing, I was finally sent the code along with an apology email. The voucher had an expiry date for a years’ time so me and Jess agreed that even if we had to use the voucher on something we didn’t really care about we had to go and see something.

I kept checking the website and coming up with nothing until eventually, with only a few months on the voucher left, I spotted ‘The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan’. I hadn’t seen it before so I didn’t know what it would be like but I figured a panel show might be good as we might know one of the celebrity guests which would be cool. I messaged Jess and she was down so off we went.

Our trip did not get off to the best start, due to issues with trains we arrived in London with only an hour before we were due to be at the TV studio so we had to dump our bags at the hotel and head straight there without time to grab lunch or a drink. We were hoping to grab something to eat in the queue but there was nowhere nearby to grab something quick. We headed inside feeling starving hungry but I was just glad we’d made it and we hadn’t been turned away.

I got a bit irritated inside because we were kept waiting forever (we could’ve had time to grab something to eat!) but finally Mo himself came out and introduced the guests. Me and Jess had been talking about our dream celebrity choices but neither of us had mentioned a particular celeb who ended up being announced – at the mention of the name my mouth fell open and Jess immediately whipped round to me because we both loved this person. We only got bloody Will Poulter!

Watching the show being recorded was an amazing experience, we were there forever on an empty stomach but it was still so fun. We were then included in quite a few audience shots, so much so that an acquaintance from work approached me at the printer because she’d recognised me in the crowd whilst she was watching! I’d love to watch another TV show being recorded one day, it was so much fun getting to see the behind the scenes and then comparing it to the version we saw on TV!


Hanging out with Jess

Now that I’ve got my own place and Jess only works five minutes up the road she’s popped over a lot this year and I’ve enjoyed every second of it. We’ve played a ton of video games (we’re experts at Overcooked 2 now), finally nearly caught up with Lost (which to be honest I’ll be disappointed about because I’m enjoying it so much), sang a lot of karaoke and watched a fair few movies. I’m looking forward to carrying on this year and seeing what other games we play! Although we have promised ourselves we’ll also get back into going to the gym – but there’ll still be time for more TV shows and games!


TWICE Concert

When I was in my main K-Pop era I always despaired that no K-Pop groups came to Europe and then whenever any did it was mostly boy groups. I didn’t manage to get tickets for Black Pink in 2022 which I was gutted about so I was determined to see TWICE last year. With O2 priority it was so much easier, I had fought for hours for the Black Pink tickets and got nothing whereas with TWICE I picked the cheapest tickets and had checked out within minutes. It was so easy!

The only downside was that with the cheapest ticket (which was still over £70!) I was at the very back of the arena. Like the literal back row of the very back section. Luckily the people near me (especially one girl next to me) were enthusiastic throughout the concert so it still ended up being a good time.

My favourite thing about K-Pop concerts is that they don’t bother with support acts so you get more time seeing the actual artist you care about and it meant all nine of the girls could have a solo song. I loved getting to see ‘Pop’ by Nayeon live. My other favourites were ‘The Feels’ and ‘Dance the Night Away’. They also played loads of encore songs, it was such a good concert and if they return to the UK I will definitely be going again.


Emo Night

Despite clubbing being the number one thing I missed during lockdown (other than theatre of course) I think I only went clubbing once in 2023 and it was to an emo night in Wolverhampton. I ended up having such a good time though, I’ve been on at Jess to go back so hopefully we’ll go again this year. Me and Sorcha were going to go but the railroad flooded so we didn’t in the end but I want to go back. I miss my emo days and it was fun to relive them with a night out!


Ashnikko Signing

Earlier in 2023 I was scrolling through Instagram when I saw on Ashnikko’s account that she was doing some signings and not only that but one was going to be in Birmingham! I immediately looked into it then pre-ordered me and Jess an album to secure our spots. I messaged Jess to let her know to book the day off and soon the day had come around and we set off for Birmingham.

We’d been to signings in the hmv bullring before but this was a different hmv this time and the experience was so much nicer. When we met All Time Low and Bring Me the Horizon in the bullring hmv we were ushered through the queue so quickly that I felt like I barely got to see them let alone say anything to any of them so even though I had their signatures and I’d been right in front of them it didn’t feel like I’d actually met them.

This time we queued for like two hours but I was happy with that because it meant once it was our turn we actually got to speak to Ashnikko instead of being yelled at to keep moving. We decided to go up together and she thanked us for supporting her music, we told her we loved the new album and that we were looking forward to her concert later in the year. We also got to have our picture taken with her and altogether it meant I actually felt like I’d met her afterwards – and I’m pretty sure she had another signing in a different part of the country in the evening before having to fly back to LA the next day but we still weren’t rushed at any point. That’s what all signings should be like! I didn’t mind waiting the extra time if it meant I actually got a decent experience out of it!


Dublin Day Trip

My last major flight before 2023 had been back in 2020 when I returned from Orlando and it was not a good flight, it was very turbulent and since lockdown occurred straight after it skyrocketed my fear of flying. To the point where I was dreading setting off on our big trip this year because the thought of the ten hour flight horrified me. I confided in a colleague at work who suggested I do a smaller trip to somewhere in Europe ahead of the big trip to get myself back into flying again.

I couldn’t find any decent deals and told Jess all about it so she when she found a decent deal for a daytrip to Dublin I agreed to go. We flew with Ryanair which meant we were split up on the flight which was terrifying for me but the flights went okay. To be fair, with Dublin, the plane takes off and then ten minutes later it’s time to prepare for landing so there wasn’t much time to panic too much.

I had a good day exploring Dublin with Jess but as we got to the airport for the flight home (we were both dead on our feet from such an early start) the panic about the flight home started to kick in again. My flight confidence was at zero and I spent the whole time watching the clouds, hoping they’d buggar off so we didn’t have to fly through them and then spent the flight home praying there wouldn’t be any turbulence.

I’m glad we went because I had a good time seeing Dublin again and it took away some of my fear of flying later that year – not completely of course but it definitely helped.


Ashnikko Concert

Me and Jess were excited to finally be seeing Ashnikko together and we were even more thrilled when she announced VIP packages. We don’t have the energy to queue all day anymore so we just wanted early entry but obviously the VIP package came with a lot of other bonuses.

Unfortunately closer to the time the meet and greet portion of the VIP upgrade was cancelled, we were told we could keep the other perks or request a full refund. We decided to keep the other perks and received a partial refund. It was a shame but me and Jess were still happy to keep it due to the early entry.

On the night there were about five people in front of us in the VIP queue despite us showing up about 20 minutes before doors opened so once we’d dumped our coats in the cloakroom and gone into the main room there was plenty of space at the barricade which we were THRILLED about. It was a long wait until Ashnikko came on but absolutely worth it for our spots.

The concert was such a good vibe to be honest, I thought we’d have to fight to keep our spot at the barricade but everyone actually behaved themselves for once and we were all just there to have a good time. I was a bit disappointed when me and Jess originally read the set list because I’d really wanted to see ‘Moonlight Magic’ live and ‘Want it All’ had been growing on me. Jess had wanted to see ‘Miss Nectarine’. However, Ashnikko still put on an amazing show and the songs that were on the set list were bangers. My only disappointment was that ‘Halloweenie 5’ had been on the other set lists but it got cut at our show, I assume for time? Not the end of the world but I love that song and had been pleased it was on the set list only to be confused that she’d gone straight from the Halloweenie medley into ‘Possession of a Weapon’ then spotted a security guard with a set list which said ‘might skip’ next to Halloweenie 5! Never mind.

If Ashnikko comes back I will absolutely be seeing her again but nothing will top this concert, getting to be at barricade!


America Trip

This is obviously my top memory for the entire year. At the end of September me and the girls went to America, first in LA and then Vegas then back to LA for our flight home. We had the most absolutely amazing time. We figured out before we went it would be the longest amount of time we’d ever spent together without a break and we made jokes about how it would make or break us but luckily I’m pleased to say there weren’t any major fallouts! And that’s impressive considering we also had to share beds the entire trip.

My highlights are definitely Disney, the Grand Canyon and the Pirate Dinner Adventure. I feel like every day of the trip was so iconic in its own way and we made so many funny memories – that first night in the Cheesecake Factory when we were trying to fight the jetlag will be burned into my brain forever.

Due to my fear of flying some nights I’d lie awake and I remember thinking ‘I just won’t be able to go, I can’t get on the plane’ – but thanks to the encouragement from my friends I did get on the plane and I’m so glad that I did because it was probably the best trip I’ve ever been on. America is fun because there’s no language barrier but the culture also feels very different from the UK.

I could write pages and pages about mine and the girls’ trip to America to be honest because I had so much fun but I might save more of my memories for other blog posts! Hopefully one day we’ll go back to America but I don’t think it will be as iconic as this trip as there was a little bit of everything and I loved every second of it – except for the fact my feet hurt like a bitch after our first full day at Disney!


The Used Concert

My final concert of the year took me back to Birmingham with my siblings Lee and Kelly to see ‘The Used’. I’d seen ‘The Used’ twice previously, my favourite being with Jess in a tiny venue where we were so close to the front of the stage that Bert kept pointing at Jess when she didn’t know lyrics and shaking his head.

Seeing them again was amazing and it also got me to listen to one of their support acts ‘Honey Revenge’ who I’m hoping will come back to the UK soon. We met Devin by the merch stand, she was really sweet and has an amazing voice.

This concert made me wanna get more back into my emo phase which I feel like I’ve done so far this year!


There we have it, my favourite memories of 2023! Let me know some of your highlights from last year.

My 2023 Recap

So I wrote a 2022 recap last year and wanted to do another one for 2023. I love New Year, looking back at everything I’ve done over the year and what I’m planning to do in the new one. So here we go, following the same format as last year!


Favourite Movies
1. M3GAN
2. Five Nights at Freddy’s
3. Missing

I’ve written a post rating all the movies I’ve watched this year so I won’t delve into this too much but I loved ‘M3GAN’ so much – I love when a horror movie realises the plot they have is a bit silly and they lean into it rather than trying to force it to be serious. M3GAN is a perfect movie to me and I can’t wait for the sequel.

I’d been looking forward to ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s for literal years and I’m so glad it was finally released and with such an amazing cast. I can’t wait to see where they go with it, I’d love for us to have a whole bunch of FNAF movies exploring lots of different areas. Some more flashbacks into the pizzeria when it was at its peak would be good as well as looking at what happens next.

I knew I’d love ‘Missing’ because I’d loved the film ‘Searching’. I like a film that’s told like that, like via the internet. I hope they continue to make them, both films had such amazing twists and turns and I love watching them.

If I had to shout-out to a film that wasn’t released this year but that I finally watched this year I would give it to ‘Halloween’ because I ended up liking it far more than I thought I would.

Favourite Songs

1. Cheerleader – Ashnikko
2. THE CONTORTIONIST – Melanie Martinez
3. I’m So Hot – Chrissy Chlapecka

To be honest I could’ve included the majority of Ashnikko’s ‘Weedkiller’ album and also ‘Halloweenie 5: Moss King’ but if I had to narrow it down to just one Ashnikko song it would absolutely be ‘Cheerleader’. I’ve been obsessed with that song since its release and I still love it. Getting to see her perform that live in December was one of my highlights of the year.

At first I wasn’t mad keen on Melanie’s ‘Portals’ album but certain songs have grown on me, ‘The Contortionist’ being my absolute favourite although ‘Evil’ and ‘Void’ are close contenders. Me and Jess are waiting for her to announce her Europe ‘Trilogy Tour’ dates, we absolutely have to get tickets. I can’t wait!

Chrissy Chlapecka is a TikTok user who has started releasing songs this year and ‘I’m So Hot’ was my top song on Spotify this year. It’s an absolute girl banger and her other songs are just as good – at the minute ‘Head Bitch’ is probably my close contender. She’s going to release more songs in the New Year and I’m so excited to see what she comes out with next.

My favourite song from this year that wasn’t released this year is probably ‘Hip to be Scared’ by Ice Nine Kills. Ice Nine Kills are my sibling’s favourite band and I’ve finally started listening to them this year and fallen in love with them.

Favourite Theatre Shows

1. My Fair Lady
2. Peter Pan Goes Wrong
3. Winnie the Pooh

In Christmas 2022 my Mum kindly bought me and my brother’s ex-girlfriend a ticket to see ‘My Fair Lady’ and the three of us set off to watch it in Birmingham. I won’t lie, I wasn’t sure it would be my thing at all but I ended up loving every second of it. It takes my absolute top spot of the year because I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

I absolutely love anything ‘Mischief Theatre’ do so when I saw ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’ was touring again I bought me and my Mum a ticket – I’ve taken Mum to a few Mischief shows and whilst she enjoys them I don’t think she loves them the way I do but she did really enjoy this one, she said she preferred it to ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’. So much so that she’s bought me and my nephew a ticket to see it again in 2024 which I’m so excited about – it’ll be his first time watching it and we really hope he’ll like it.

Me and Jess saw ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’ again in London because some of the original cast were announced for the show so I wanted to watch it with them in it and Jess ended up enjoying it as much as I did. It’s potentially my favourite ‘Mischief’ show, it’s just so funny!

I’d seen some TikTok’s of the ‘Winnie the Pooh’ show on Broadway and hoped and prayed it would make it’s way to the UK so I was ecstatic when it was announced it was opening in the West End. I was also excited to see that Jake Bazel would be at some performances, I’d seen TikTok’s of him and thought he was perfect at portraying Winnie. The show was amazing, I ended up going to see it a second time and buying a meet and greet ticket so I could get my picture taken at the end which was really cute.

My honourable mention has to go to ‘Book of Mormon’ – I saw the show back in 2022 and thought it was okay. For some reason at the start of the year Jess suddenly got really into the soundtrack so when we went to London for something else we had to take the opportunity to watch ‘Book of Mormon’ and Jess’ excitement and love for the show absolutely rubbed off on me. I’d enjoyed it so much that when I returned to London a few months later I watched it again. And now me, Jess and Hirst have tickets to watch it in Birmingham in 2024 whilst it’s touring which is exciting! Hopefully Hirst enjoys it too.

Favourite TV Shows

1. Modern Family
2. Lost
3. Alice in Borderland

For anyone who doesn’t know I pretty much have ‘Family Guy’ on a constant loop in my house, I like having some background noise at all times and I’ve seen every episode so ‘Family Guy’ is pretty much perfect to just play as background noise. However I wondered whether I should switch to something else and I used to really enjoy ‘Modern Family’ so I swapped to that – but because it had been so long since I’d watched it I didn’t really like having it as background noise and soon I was binge-watching the show.

I couldn’t believe Season 11 wasn’t on Disney+ so I asked for the final season on DVD for Christmas only for Disney+ to now announce they were adding it! Never mind, I’ll still enjoy watching the box set and finally seeing how it ends although I know I’ll find it mildly disappointing. Season 10 was disappointing with a lot of character development becoming undone but whatever, I’m sure Season 11 will still be enjoyable!

Whilst I’ve added Lost to the list I need to add that this is officially A LOST SPOILER FREE ZONE. Me and Jess began the show when we were in our late teens but for some reason only watched until Season 4. We kept meaning to return to the show and this year we decided to do just that. I wanted to start from Season 5 but Jess insisted we needed to rewatch the earlier seasons so we knew what was going on, something I wasn’t keen on but this ended up being the exact right decision. I’ve had so much fun rewatching it and the two of us piecing together everything that we remembered.

We’ve taken it a couple of episodes at a time; recently we’ve gotten so sucked into the story that we’re watching 4 or 5 in a row because there are so many cliff-hangers. We’re in the middle of season 4 and neither of us has seen any spoilers for how it ends or anything which considering how long ago it did end is nothing short of a miracle. Whilst I’ll be disappointed when it ends because I’ve enjoyed watching it so much I will be grateful to see what happens!

Finally season 2 of ‘Alice in Borderland’ was released at the end of 2022 so I’m counting it in my 2023 watch list, I think I finished watching it in 2023 anyway. I absolutely loved this season, the games seemed much harder this time and I really enjoyed it. The ending was slightly annoying, hopefully they’re setting up a season 3 instead of just ending it like that because otherwise that would just be annoying because why even show the joker card? I don’t know!

I don’t really have a shout-out for any other show because I’ve been slacking on my TV show watching this year. I did start watching ‘Only Murders in the Building’ which I enjoyed and will hopefully watch more of in the New Year.

Favourite Memories

Obviously top of my favourite memories is my amazing trip to LA and Vegas with my three besties – it was our first out of continent trip as all four of us and it didn’t disappoint. I thought nothing could top my big trip to Asia but this may have taken the top spot because I had such a good time. At the absolutely top of fun things we did was our two days at Disneyland but I also had such a great day on my birthday. I love going on holiday with my girls and as our first proper post-COVID holiday we did quite well!

The next favourite would probably be meeting Ashnikko with Jess. I spotted the meet and greet on Instagram and immediately secured our spots before messaging Jess and asking her to get the day off work. We had to wait a long time in the queue but it was worth it – in previous signings at hmv I found we were rushed through so quickly that I felt like I barely got to glance at the band we were supposedly meeting. This time we actually got to talk to her and even though we didn’t say much I do feel like I actually met her – and there was time to get a photo with her which was nice!

It’s really hard to narrow down a third memory because I’ve had such a good year but if I had to pick I would say my Christmas day out with Mum – we went to Chatsworth House, something she wasn’t keen on the idea of at first but we made the drive there and she agreed it was absolutely worth it. It was beautiful and it was nice to have a whole day out with my Mum.



Favourite Video Games

1. Overcooked 2
2. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
3. Crash Bandicoot

I haven’t been as on top of my video games as I have been in the previous years – I spent most of the year either playing games with Jess or watching Jess play games. I’m going to change that in the New Year as I have a lot of games in my ‘to play’ pile and I’ve already started ‘Life is Strange 2’ which I’m enjoying so far.

At the top of the list is ‘Overcooked 2’, a game that me and Jess began at the end of 2022 and ended up playing for the majority of the year. Once we completed the main game I bought and downloaded all the expansion packs and we steadily worked our way through the game. I’m fairly confident that we’re now experts at this game. Some of the levels nearly drove us insane and I thought we’d never complete them (the Carnival of Chaos expansion nearly killed me) but we completed all of them.

‘Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons’ was another good game that we played, I’ve been struggling to find decent two player games for the Switch that are reasonably priced but I spotted this one and we decided to give it a go. It said it recommended playing it as one player first and controlling both brothers but I had fun playing it with Jess. We’re waiting for ‘Bread and Fred’ to be released on Switch, can they announce a date already please?

One of the few new games I played on my own this year is ‘Crash Bandicoot’, I didn’t finish it but that’s mainly because I got stuck on one level and it frustrated the hell out of me but I did finally complete it. I’ll have to go back to this in the New Year but I do prefer a story based game rather than getting stuck on a level for ages and ages.


Proudest Achievement

Last year I had an obvious one because I’d bought my first flat – this year I haven’t done any of the usual achievements like getting a new job or anything so it’s a bit more difficult. However, I’m proud I got on the long-haul flight to America. My last flight before COVID was very turbulent and it really plummeted my flying confidence. After we booked the flights I spent the majority of the year trying to get a control on my fear of flying which was difficult – most nights I’d lie awake and feel the anxiety running through me and think ‘I won’t be able to do this, I’m going to have to watch my friends go and have a good time without me’.

Was I perfect at the airport and on the plane? No but I still did it, mostly thanks to the help of my very patient friends, especially Hirst who spent a lot of time distracting me to keep me calm. And it was absolutely worth it for such an amazing holiday. I’m proud of myself for being absolutely terrified but doing it anyway.


Items Ticked Off Bucket List

I can now tick off number 16 which is ‘go on an out of continent trip with Jess, Hirst and Becca’. I can also tick off number 30 which is ‘be in the audience for a TV show’ as me and Jess went to London to watch ‘The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan’ being recorded live. We made it into quite a few of the audience shots, so many in fact that a woman at work that I don’t talk too much recognised me in the crowd and asked me about it at work!

So only the two but at least I managed a couple!


What I’m Looking Forward to in 2024

I have quite a few shows already booked for 2024 – I’ll be kicking it off by rewatching the Birmingham Panto (a long story but a massive shout-out to Birmingham Hippodrome for being such good eggs), swiftly followed by ‘The Wizard of Oz’ in Liverpool courtesy of my lovely Mum. I’m looking forward to seeing the Stranger Things show and also ‘Mean Girls: The Musical’. There’s a lot to look forward to in theatre this year!

I also have a few concerts booked, my first one is Bring Me the Horizon with my sibling Lee. I don’t go to as many concerts as I used to so I’ve tried to book a few more for 2024 including Poppy and Five Finger Death Punch (mainly because Ice Nine Kills are supporting but I’m still looking forward to seeing them!). Hopefully Melanie Martinez will announce her European trilogy tour dates soon!

Other than that me and the girls are talking about having a little European break this year as the big holiday sucked up so much of our money this year but we still want to have a little holiday.


There we have it – my 2023 recap! Let me know any of your favourite things from this year.

Rating Every Movie I’ve Watched This Year

This year I decided to keep a list of things I’ve watched this year including films, stage shows and TV shows and keeping a rating system. Therefore I wanted to rate every film I’ve seen this year, including films that didn’t come out this year, hopefully in the order that I watched them! Here goes nothing.

M3GAN (Gerard Johnstone, 2023)

Rating: 9/10

I literally loved this film, M3GAN singing halfway through and then the ‘Titanium’ singing were so iconic. I’m so glad that M3GAN didn’t take itself too seriously and it produced such an amazing film. I can’t wait for the sequel to see where they go with this, I think it could be a really good franchise.


Knock at the Cabin (M. Night Shyamalan, 2023)

Rating: 4/10

The acting was absolutely incredible but I just felt like the plot didn’t really go anywhere. Spoiler alert but I would’ve preferred if the strangers had been lying the whole time or if they’d used the original ending from the book. It wasn’t very impactful and it all just felt a bit pointless to me. Not one that I’d return to.


Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Joel Crawford, 2023)

Rating: 7/10

I’m not gonna lie I wasn’t expecting much from this film but I actually ended up really enjoying it. Lots of great fairytale references and the story was actually really interesting, easy to follow even though I hadn’t seen any of the other ‘Puss in Boots’ films. Loved Florence Pugh as Goldilocks and the message at the end was great.


Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Rating: 6/10

This was okay, a typical Marvel movie. I’m glad that Kathryn Newton was cast as Cassie, I think she’s a fantastic actress and it’s great to see her getting big roles. This was okay as a one-off watch but it’s not one that I’d be in a rush to see again.


What’s Love Got to Do with It? (Shekhar Kapur, 2023)

Rating: 3/10

Some parts of this were funny, I liked Emma Thompson. It was a bit predictable though and my biggest issue is that the main character, Zoe, spends the whole film getting mad at everyone around her for insisting that she needs a man to be complete and then it ends with her getting together with a man? Nothing ground-breaking and not one I would return to.


Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Amongst Thieves (John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein, 2023)

Rating: 8/10

I was always going to be a bit biased about this film because I love anything with Chris Pine in but actually I did find this enjoyable. To be fair I loved the entire cast and the whole fantasy element, the scene with the talking corpses was funny as were a lot of other moments. I would absolutely watch this one again.


The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Aaron Harvoth & Michael Jelenic, 2023)

Rating: 8/10

I really enjoyed this, there were lots of fun references. I’m not 100% sure about Chris Pratt as Mario but this was counteracted by casting Jack Black as Bowser which was literally a perfect decision. I’d enjoy another movie with more of the characters like Wario, Waluigi, Birdo etc. but this was a good origin movie.



Oh Belinda (Deniz Yorulmazer, 2023)

Rating: 4/10

I spotted this on Netflix and the premise looked interesting so I decided to give it a watch. It was so confusing and I’m not really sure what the point of it was? What does she do with her life now she’s back? Was she meant to have learnt something? I read it’s to represent that every time an actor plays a role it leaves a mark on them but it was just a shampoo commercial, was it that deep? Not one I would recommend or watch again.


Missing (Nicholas D. Johnson & Will Merrick, 2023)

Rating: 10/10

I actually loved this film so much that I watched it twice this year, once at the cinema and then again on the plane on the way to LA. I loved ‘Searching’ so I was pretty sure I would enjoy this too and I was right. Such an interesting journey with twists and turns every step of the way, I figured out some things but not everything. I loved June as the main character, Storm Reid is incredible.


The Little Mermaid (Rob Marshall, 2023)

Rating: 9/10

I’m a bit sick of the Disney remakes of their old animated movies but this one was pretty enjoyable. Halle as Ariel was amazing, she has such a beautiful voice, and Melissa McCarthy was also incredible as Ursula. This is another one that I would definitely watch again.


The Boogeyman (Rob Savage, 2023)

Rating: 5/10

This film was okay, some of the moments in it were quite spooky but they ended up showing the actual Boogeyman too much and it ruined the effect. It was all a bit predictable and cliché, nothing to write home about. I also thought the ending was pretty stupid which kind of ruined the film overall. It’s a shame because the opening sequence with the baby thinking her Dad is in the room with her was quite spooky but after that it went downhill.


No Hard Feelings (Gene Stupnitsky, 2023)

Rating: 8/10

This isn’t normally my type of humour but I actually really enjoyed ‘No Hard Feelings’. I loved seeing Jennifer Lawrence on the big screen again, she was incredible. I liked the ending and there were some enjoyable scenes.


Insidious: The Red Door (Patrick Wilson, 2023)

Rating: 7/10

It was okay, a good way to end the series (assuming this was the final instalment). I couldn’t really remember the previous movies so I was glad that Josh and Dalton couldn’t either and they had to piece it together as well. I loved Chris’ character. The creepiest part about this movie was Becca showing me her new phone case before the movie which is the ‘Saturn Devouring his Son’ painting and then the bloody painting appeared in the film. What were the chances?


Outlaw King (David Mackenzie, 2018)

Rating: 6/10

I definitely enjoyed this more because of the casting, Florence Pugh and Chris Pine in the same film is always going to be a yes. I did end up finding the story quite interesting but it was definitely made more enjoyable because those two were in it.


Barbie (Greta Gerwig, 2023)

Rating: 9/10

I absolutely loved this and getting to watch it at the cinema was so much fun because it felt more like an event than a movie with everyone getting dressed up. I also loved all the Barbie/Oppenheimer memes, what a time to be alive. I wasn’t sure about Ryan Gosling as Ken when he was first announced but he turned out to be the perfect choice, his delivery of ‘SUBLIME’ was so fucking funny. I loved this film so much.


Elemental (Peter Sohn, 2023)

Rating: 7/10

This was cute but not really anything to cry about. I loved the world-building in this, that was quite interesting. It’s not a film I could watch again and again but it was enjoyable at the time.


The Truman Show (Peter Weir, 1998)

Rating: 8/10

I’d wanted to watch this one for a while so when I spotted it on Netflix I decided to give it a watch. It was really interesting, I loved the storyline and Jim Carrey was incredible. It’d be really cool if they remade this one day and gave it more of a horror film vibe.


A Good Person (Zach Braff, 2023)

Rating: 8/10

I’d seen clips of this film on TikTok so when I spotted this on the in-flight entertainment on the way to LA I decided to give it a watch. Florence Pugh was excellent as always. It was just quite sad.


Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)

Rating: 9/10

I’m a bit late to the party to be rating this film but I finally got round to watching it this year. I’m not normally a fan of the old/classic horror films but I actually quite liked this one. Laurie kind of did my head in by making stupid decisions over and over again but I liked the aesthetic of the film and it was pretty enjoyable. I also don’t normally like slasher films but I enjoyed this one.


Five Nights at Freddy’s (Emma Tammi, 2023)

Rating: 8/10

I have been looking forward to this film for literal years, I was so excited when the trailers finally started being released. I was on the fence about whether to give this a 7 or an 8 but I rewatched it and also having read more about it I’m going to give it an 8. I loved the little references and easter eggs throughout – my favourite bit is when Springtrap is revealed, it was so creepy watching him walk out. The casting in this was also perfect like Josh Hutcherson and Matthew Lillard? Amazing. I kind of wish they’d stuck to a horror vibe throughout, it definitely seemed to lose its flow in the middle but I suppose they couldn’t have the animatronics doing creepy things whilst Mike was unaware for five nights. I can’t wait to see where they go with this, I am so excited for the next movie.


The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (Lasse Hallström & Joe Johnston, 2018)

Rating: 7/10

We’re entering the new Christmas films I watched this year. I decided to watch this one in November because it didn’t look overly Christmassy. Parts of it were really good – I hated the way they portrayed the rat king, it made me feel queasy. The plot twist was also pretty predictable. It was an okay movie but not one I’d watch every year.


Jingle All The Way (Brian Levant, 1996)

Rating: 7/10

This film stressed me out to the absolute max and is the perfect movie example of a Disney Dad. He does nothing for his kid all year, promises to get the one toy he wants for Christmas, realises his wife asked him to get it WEEKS AGO and he literally couldn’t even do that. And he wasn’t the only useless man in this movie by any means. However, I did really like the ending so that kind of made up for the rest of the movie.


Miracle on 34^th Street (Les Mayfield, 1994)

Rating: 9/10

This was such a cute Christmas movie, my favourite part is when the little deaf girl meets Santa, I was sobbing. I can’t believe it took me so long to finally watch this film, it will definitely be added to my yearly rotation.


The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Francis Lawrence, 2023)

Rating: 9/10

Really enjoyed watching this, I’d been looking forward to it – those first screenshots from the movie had me worried but it ended up being really good. I loved the world building and seeing more History of the Hunger Games. My only criticism would be that is slightly too long. Rachel Zegler was amazing in this.


And that’s all the movies I watched this year – if there are any you think I should watch then let me know!

Five Favourite Memories from LA

Well, it’s happened – I’ve finally been on a proper holiday again so I finally have things to write about. Last month me and the girls went on a big holiday to the USA where we went to LA and Vegas. I thought I’d focus on my favourite memories from LA first because this is where we started our trip and we also spent more time there than at Vegas – so here goes nothing!

Disneyland

Disneyland California is technically not in Los Angeles, it’s in Anaheim – our original plan had been to uber to and from LA and Disney each day until we realised this would cost us a fortune and was also just a plain stupid idea so we booked a new hotel for three nights in Anaheim. Our new hotel was a 20 minute straight forward walk away from the parks so on our first full day of the trip we set off for a full on day at Disneyland.

I was genuinely so impressed with the Disneyland parks, the girls had sent me lists of rides they wanted to go on and characters they wanted to meet and whenever they spoke about it I was careful to manage their expectations but actually we did pretty much everything we wanted to and met way more characters than I thought.

We spent the first day in the traditional Disney Park with the castle because California Adventure was closing early that day for their Oogie Boogie Bash. My favourite ride was ‘Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Rail’ which I’d seen being built in the Orlando Park so was keen to ride as soon as I possibly could – and it didn’t disappoint, I thought it was awesome although the ‘Winnie the Pooh ride’ comes a close second. My favourite character meet was Winnie the Pooh although I have met him a few times so my favourite new character meet was probably Mulan because we were absolutely buzzing when we queued to meet the princesses and she was in the first room.

Other characters we met included Tinkerbell, Jessie, Mirabel, Ariel, Snow White and Mickey Mouse. Hirst approached the Evil Queen twice but didn’t technically meet her! Some of the rides had long wait times but I didn’t find any of them stupidly long and like I said, we rode pretty much everything. By 2PM though my legs and feet were starting to hurt and by the end of a long day my feet were covered in blisters – my tights also gave up and burst open right on my thigh! Definitely take comfy clothing and shoes.

Our next full day was spent at the California Adventure park and that was just as good, I had so much fun riding the Spider-Man ride with the girls – I’d rode it in Paris and was so excited to go on it with all of them so that was probably my favourite ride, either that or the Monsters Inc one which I thought would be in the Florida park but it wasn’t so I was glad to ride it in California!

Hirst made the most of the character meets in Avengers Campus and my favourite one was probably Loki because we were worried we wouldn’t see him and when Jess discovered he was doing a meet and greet she rang Hirst and she, myself and Becca sprinted through the park to meet him which was 100% worth it. Dr Strange comes a very close second though because he did a coin trick with us which was a lot of fun. We also met Sam Wilson and Captain America, and in Pixar Pier we also met Bo Peep.

It took all day and three failed attempts but Becca also got to meet Lightning McQueen – we’d met Mator earlier in the day but every time we went to meet Lightning McQueen he was just leaving. We also saw Mrs Incredible strut past us, Jess got a funny video of her walking past and it pans to me and I’m just in awe.

Overall Disneyland was the best possible start to our trip and I was genuinely so happy with how much we managed to get done. All the staff were so kind – we’d all got ‘1^st visit’ badges and I also got a birthday badge because it was my birthday on the Saturday so I got to extend my birthday by an extra two days! It made for some good character meets and loads of the staff wished me happy birthday. I would love to go back one day because I just had the best time.

Pirate Dinner Adventure

Another memory that technically wasn’t from LA (Anaheim) but I had to include this. I’d originally wanted to spend my actual birthday at Disney but unfortunately my birthday was on a Saturday this year and it made far more sense to visit Disney on a week day when the park would be a bit quieter so I had to pick something else to do. We spent the day on an unexpected trip to Knott’s Berry Farm and then went to the Pirate Dinner Adventure in the evening which we’d booked a while ago.

I think the girls were less enthusiastic than me about going but we ended up having a really good time. We were asked if we wanted to buy any pirate merch beforehand and when we said no the woman said “Are you sure? You’re split into teams and it gets quite competitive.” We assumed we wouldn’t get competitive but we were very quickly proved wrong once the show started.

We were put into the purple team and we were soon screaming and cheering for our team, me, Becca and Hirst even got volunteered to participate in a flag game which was funny because we were racing against children. Each time is assigned their own pirate and we got assigned the ‘idiot pirate’ which Hirst was disappointed about at first but by the end we loved our idiot pirate and cheered for him at every opportunity.

I genuinely had the most fun and I’m so glad I spent my birthday there!


Five Nights at Freddy’s

This one’s a bit random because it’s technically not just one memory but a couple. I would’ve put ‘Universal Horror Nights’ as one of my favourite memories but I actually found the majority of that very disappointing – however I was very excited when I saw the Five Nights at Freddy’s animatronics were on display in the LA park.

For those unaware I’m a big Five Nights at Freddy’s fan and have been looking forward to the film coming out for absolute years (I am planning to post a review at some point) so I really wanted to see the animatronics in person, I can’t believe my luck that I planned a trip to LA and they were on display. I made sure we did the Blumhouse Horror thing and to be fair getting to see all the Megan’s dancing was also pretty fun and then afterwards we got to get our picture taken with Megan which was cool. But getting to see the FNaF animatronics in person and getting my picture taken with them was my highlight.

I’d seen on Facebook they’d made the exterior of the Freddy’s Pizzeria and it was in LA, I’d shown Jess and said I wouldn’t mind going but we didn’t know what it was or where to find it. On our final night in LA before we went to Vegas Jess was leading us to the Saddle Ranch for dinner (which was probably my favourite meal in America) and we were walking up the biggest hill of my life. I was complaining until I saw the Freddy Fazbear sign in the distance – we’d found the pizzeria by accident! I began racing up the hill before I remembered I was fat and I couldn’t move like that but I was so excited to see it in person and get my picture taken with it. I can’t believe we found it by accident, that’s so cool! I was so lucky to come to LA this year and see these things.


Beach Day

In the past when me and the girls have been on holiday we are pretty much always on the go, from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed. This year we decided to give ourselves a bit of a break and we planned a beach day which turned out to be a good idea. Sitting and relaxing next to the sea in the sun was bliss which is interesting because we’ve never really been ‘lounge by the pool’ kind of people on holiday but one day of sitting and chilling after some intense days of sight-seeing was definitely needed.

Everyone got at least a little bit sunshine, Hirst especially who burnt the entire back of her body. But it was still nice to be sat on the beach soaking up the sun rather than being stuck at work back in the UK!


Icons of Darkness Museum

The Icons of Darkness Museum was located on the Walk of Fame and it hadn’t been on our itinerary but it looked cool so we decided to give it a go. Hirst was reluctant but we were advised that although there jump scares there weren’t live actors jumping out at you so she decided to give it a go.

It’s a guided tour and he knew so much about the items inside the museum, and I just found it really interesting. I’m glad we gave ourselves time to have a look around places that we came across, it definitely worked out for us on this occasion.


There we have it, my five favourite places we visited in LA! Have you been to LA before and if so, what was your highlight? Let me know in the comments!

Busy Theatre Weekend 8th September – 10th September 2023

Okay I’ve not written much lately on here because I have completely lacked inspiration. My old posts seemed to be about travelling abroad, something I’ve not done much of lately or K-Pop, something I’m not overly invested in anymore. I also used to write book reviews but again, I don’t really do that anymore. I’m going to try to get back into this because I do love my little blog and I thought what better thing to return with than my recent extremely busy weekend?

Earlier this year I managed to secure myself a ticket to see TWICE on Friday 8^th September in the O2 pre-sale. I was really pleased because although I literally mentioned earlier than I’m not as into K-Pop anymore I was always more of a girl group girlie and I was so annoyed that boy groups kept announcing Europe concerts but girl groups didn’t really – I’d seen Dreamcatcher which was awesome and I saw f(x) and IOI at K-Con Paris and EXID at that Korean London event but that was it, nothing major like the BTS concerts I went to.

I’d also unfortunately missed out on the Black Pink tickets, I tried for HOURS to get anything, just a SCRAP but they all sold out. So I was really pleased with the O2 pre-sale because I literally went in, picked my ticket and checked out within ten minutes. And I absolutely love TWICE, they’re one of my favourite girl groups, I do still keep up with their releases so I was looking forward to seeing them!

Because I’d had to take the day off work I thought it’d make sense to also watch a West End matinee during the daytime – everyone knows I’m a big theatre fan so how could I not? But when I had a look I was really surprised to see pretty much only one show has a Friday matinee and that was ‘The Book of Mormon’. Now don’t get me wrong, I love ‘The Book of Mormon’ but I’d only seen it in May with my best friend Jess so it felt a bit soon to be watching it again and I was surprised there weren’t many shows with a Friday matinee – it’s the start of the weekend, I thought it’d make sense to have one because people probably often travel to London for long weekends?

So I decided not to bother – until the night before I was due to travel when I checked the site, found a reasonably priced ticket for ‘The Book of Mormon’ and decided to book it. I couldn’t go to London and not see a West End show, I just couldn’t do it!

Since it was September I was hoping for the weather to start cooling down as we transition into Autumn but no, the UK had a sudden heatwave that was unbearable in London. I wore my cutest summer dress and was still sweating. I got to London at about 12PM and set off for Leicester Square to store my suitcase whilst I watched the show.

When I used to store my case I did it inside London Euston and found the prices to be stupid but when me and Jess went to London earlier this year she showed me that loads of places offer bag storage for much more reasonable rates. For £6 I stored my suitcase in a shop literally a minute’s walk from the theatre – it wasn’t the most secure because I took the suitcase into the basement myself and did think anyone could just help themselves but it was cheaper than storing it in Euston and would be easier after the show too!

After a quick lunch in Maccies I headed to the Prince of Wales Theatre for the 2:30PM showing of ‘The Book of Mormon’. My ticket had been about £37 and to be fair the theatre is so good I feel like you wouldn’t get a bad view anywhere. I was in row C of the Circle two seats away from the aisle and I felt like I had a decent view.

This is one of those shows that I think I like more now because Jess ended up getting really into the soundtrack so we went to see it together and her enjoyment rubbed off on me. I had enjoyed seeing it on tour but I didn’t love it, now I think it’s making its way up to one of my favourite shows. Not top five but definitely top ten. The cast were incredible and I really enjoyed the performance – it was interesting getting to see it so soon after seeing it in May to see the differences. For example when we last saw it Jed Berry was on as Elder McKinley and this time he was in the show but not as Elder McKinley.

I had imagined the show would finish at about 4:20/4:30PM and that I’d have plenty of time to head to my hotel as I was imagining that TWICE wouldn’t go on stage until like 9PM but luckily I’d googled and it advised me that TWICE had gone on at 7:45PM the previous night and then the show didn’t finish until 5PM. My hotel was 40 minutes away from the theatre and a further 40 minutes to the O2 for the concert. Rushing around combined with the heat was not fun but soon I checked into my hotel.

I’d stayed there a few years ago when I went to RTX and it hadn’t changed much although last time I’d had a double room whereas this time I had a single room on the ground floor – any other time of year that would be fine but I didn’t feel comfortable keeping the window open and there was no fan or air conditioning so the room was extremely warm. I tried to cool down then got myself ready before setting off to the O2.

I got there quicker than I thought I would and made my way into the arena. There was a queue for merchandise outside and I figured there would probably be more for sale inside and I was worried there’d be a long queue for security. There wasn’t and I headed up the escalators and to the merch stand only to discover the light sticks were completely sold out – they’d been the only thing I wanted so I was really miffed.

When I’d bought my ticket I didn’t want to spend a stupid amount because I have a trip to America coming up that I really need to save for so I decided my budget was £80 – the cheapest tickets were just over £70 so I bought one of those. This put me literally in the very back row at the very back of the O2. But to be honest I was just grateful to be inside, it was funny being at the VERY back though, I’ve been far but never that far!

The girl next to me turned to me and apologised in advance for her screaming, I reassured her it was a concert and I was totally expecting screaming. When the lights went down I did think ‘oh god’ when she started doing that obnoxious scream you hear in TikTok videos but to be fair she only did this at the very start and then a couple of times during the show, other than that she was clearly just excited and she was a good vibe.

TWICE were absolutely amazing, the set list was as follows:
– Set Me Free (English ver.)
– I Can’t Stop Me
– Go Hard
– More & More
– Moonlight Sunrise
– Brave
– Try (Dahyun solo – ColbieCaillat cover)
– Done for Me (Tzuyu solo – Charlie Puth cover)
– New Rules (Sana solo – DuaLipa cover)
– Move (Momo solo – Beyoncé cover)
– 7 Rings (Mina solo – Ariana Grande cover)
– Feel Special
– Cry For Me
– FANCY
– The Feels
– My Guitar (Chaeyoung solo)
– Killin’ Me Good (Jihyo solo)
– Can’t Stop the Feeling (Jeongyeon solo – Justin Timberlake cover)
– POP! (Nayeon solo)
– Queen of Hearts
– Yes or Yes/What is Love/Cheer Up/Likey/Knock Knock/Scientist/Heart Shaker
– Alcohol-Free
– Dance the Night Away
– Talk that Talk
– When We Were Kids
– Crazy Stupid Love
– TT
– Hare Hare
– Espresso

The show actually began at 7:30 so I was glad I got there early and they performed until 10PM! You really do get your money’s worth at K-Pop concerts to be fair like look at how long that set list is! I’m so glad I saw that tweet beforehand about everyone barking at Dahyun otherwise that would’ve really thrown me off. I had such a good time, my favourite songs to see live were ‘The Feels’, ‘POP!’ and ‘Dance the Night Away’. It was also so cool that they had a live band so it sounded even more amazing.

Leaving the concert was a bit of a nightmare as it was so humid and there was a crowd getting into the station but to be fair once I was on the tube it wasn’t that busy and I didn’t have to change – so it was a long journey back but not a difficult one! I was hungry by that point as I’d hastily scoffed a sausage roll on the way to the concert but unfortunately all of the food places nearby were closing except for a food shop with fatphobic aisles – I bought two chocolate milks and a packet of cookies and had to call it a day.

I showered and got into bed where I promptly laid awake all night because it was too hot to function. I’m also used to sleeping in a double bed and in the heat this bed felt even tinier than usual – I do sleep in a single bed when I look after my brother and find that okay so maybe this one was just tiny! Eventually my alarm went off and I quickly packed up to head back home.

I had to head home earlier than usual because I’d bought theatre tickets with my good friend Becca. I made it home by about 1PM and I had big plans but I ended up napping on the sofa because I was so tired from the broken night’s sleep the night before. I don’t know how anyone can enjoy the heat, I was lying there just absolutely baking and nothing I did could cool me down.

I met Becca on the train and we headed to Wolverhampton. After grabbing dinner we went to the Wolverhampton Grand for the 7:30PM performance of ‘The Woman in Black’, a show I’d seen four times previously but Becca hadn’t seen. It’s just begun its UK tour and considering the show is now closed in the West End I would take the opportunity to see it if you can!

This is one of my absolute favourite plays, I love horror theatre and I just love the way ‘The Woman in Black’ is done. There are only three actors (including the Woman in Black herself) and it’s done in quite a simple but effective way. Becca, in typical fashion, guessed the plot twist during the interval. I’m still really annoyed I never got to experience that properly. Before I became a horror fan a girl I followed on Tumblr went to see the stage show and she was talking about it on her asks and revealed the plot twist so I never got to experience it properly. That’s why I’m always excited to see it with other people and how they react. I really enjoyed the show again and I’m so glad we went to see it.

We headed home, on the train Jess sent me a video of lightning she could see from her bedroom window which did send me into panic mode as I hate thunder storms and I had to walk home once off the train! However I didn’t see any and made it back in one piece.

Once home instead of going straight to bed like I should’ve done I decided I needed some ‘me time’ and stayed up until past midnight before heading to bed. This was a mistake because I had to be up early again the next day to head back to London.

I met Jess at the train station because she was running late as usual and we set off for London Euston, it felt like it didn’t take long until we were there. We decided to head to Camden Market because there was a shop we wanted to visit and we figured there’d be plenty of places to get some food. We headed up the stairs into the food market and were instantly enticed by the first Thai stall who offered us a free sample. We ordered a chicken chow mein each and a side of spring rolls to share which was absolutely lovely but way too much in the end!

We had a look around some of the stalls and then headed to the Bandai Namco shop to look at the gacha machines – we got some tokens and had a look around and to be honest I was really disappointed. In Japan we’d found loads of interesting gacha machines that were reasonably priced, these were quite expensive and they were mostly just tat. We put in two tokens for an Animal Crossing bauble thing each, I’m not even really sure what it was and Jess pointed out afterwards we’d basically spent £4 each on it which was a lot for what it was and Jess wasn’t even happy with the one she got. I had one token left but none of the machines accepted one token so now I have a souvenir token. It was a bit of a let-down but it killed a bit of time before the show.

Me and Jess managed to get tickets to see ‘Death Note’ on its final day in London (although there are rumours it’s going to stick around which I hope are true!). I got really into the ‘Death Note’ anime as a late teen, it was probably the first anime (other than ‘K-On’) that really sucked me in. I’d seen photos and videos of the stage show from Japan and had always hoped it would make its way over to the UK one day. We had tried for tickets at the Palladium but weren’t lucky enough to get some so I was thrilled when we got some for the Lyric Theatre.

Our tickets were in the front row of the top circle, I will say that the view was okay but the seats were so uncomfortable. I figured I was too fat for them but even Jess said she found them tight – luckily the seats next to us remained empty but because of the arm rest we weren’t able to spread out and I did find it quite uncomfortable, especially given how hot it was.

That didn’t change the fact that I absolutely loved the performance. The plot is simplified compared to the anime which makes sense because we would literally be there all day if they included everything from the anime. I was a bit disappointed in the ending because it felt a bit sudden but I think given they couldn’t go into the actual ending from the anime it was the best way to end the stage production. It was also quite satisfying (spoiler alert) to see Light do everything perfectly and still lose in the end.

My favourite songs were ‘Where is the Justice’ and ‘They’re Only Human’ with my favourite character being Ryuk, he was portrayed perfectly. Everything about the show was amazing, I’m so glad that we managed to get tickets for it.

After that it was so hot that we decided to get an earlier train home rather than hanging round in London. It was cooler back home, not cold but definitely not as hot as it had been in London. After such a busy weekend I should have had an early night but instead me and Jess went and picked up some dessert then she came back to mine to do YouTube quizzes until past 11PM and then by the time I’d showered and got ready for bed it was past midnight. I didn’t even bother setting my alarm for 6:30AM, just set it for 7AM and skipped breakfast.

So there we have it, that was my busy weekend! Did anyone else do anything nice over the hot weekend or have you seen the shows I went to see? Let me know!

Disney Parks Tag

So in December I went on a long awaited trip to Disneyland Paris and now it’s looking likely that me and the girls will be going to Disneyland LA in October… So to channel my excitement I’ve decided to do this tag!


1. Which Disney Parks have you visited?

I’ve managed to tick Florida, Japan, France & Hong Kong off my list so I only have Los Angeles and Shanghai left. I’d like to return to the Tokyo Park though and do Disney Sea as we only did the one Disneyland Park.

2. What is your earliest Disney Park memory?

I didn’t visit any Disney parks until I was nineteen when I went with my three best friends to Disneyland Paris. My main memory from the day was spotting anything vaguely cute or Disney themed and insisting that we needed to take a selfie in front of it. I’d been wanting to visit any Disney park for years but no one in my family is particularly a big Disney fan and I guess me and my friends assumed we’d never be able to afford it but we went for France to go to a concert and decided to have a day at Disneyland whilst we were there. And it was amazing!


3. Which is your favourite park?

I absolutely loved the Tokyo park, I won’t lie – me and the girls didn’t really research theme parks at the time so I do have a few regrets and if I could visit any for free I’d pick the Tokyo one to have another go at it. It was still a really cute day though, my highlight being the electric parade in the evening. It had been a boiling hot day when we went and when the sun set the temperature was perfect and in the Tokyo Park everyone sat on the floor for the parade which was a bonus as my legs were aching. The parade went on for ages and it was absolutely amazing, definitely the highlight of my trip.


4. Which on-site hotels have you stayed at?

I stayed at All Star Sports in Orlando – I was originally booked into All Star Music but ended up staying in All Star Sports. I actually really liked it, the food court was nice and I thought the theming was cool. Then in Paris I stayed at the Hotel Cheyenne which was a Toy Story themed hotel and I thought that was super cool. The Chuck Wagons buffet was really nice.

5. What is your favourite Disney photo?

The photo posted earlier of me, Becca and Jess in the Tokyo park! The lady who took the photo took us away from where everyone else was posing and got an amazing angle, she really did us well.


6. Which is your favourite castle?

I like the one in Paris because you can go inside it and the dragon under the castle is such a cool detail!

7. What is your favourite land/area?

I like Fantasyland, I like the classic rides like Peter Pan, Dumbo etc. But I do also quite like Tomorrowland.


8. What is your all-time favourite ride?

I’ll have to pick different rides for different parks. In the Paris park my favourite was Phantom Manor, I loved the whole lore about the ride and it was my ‘ugh I’m sick of people now, I need to go sit in the dark for a bit’ ride (although the Ratatouille ride does come a very close second!). I’m not sure of my favourite in Orlando because I can’t really think of an Orlando exclusive ride that I went on! I did enjoy the Buzzlight Year Space Blaster ride although that is also available in Paris!

For Tokyo it has to be ‘Pooh’s Honey Hunt’, I like the ‘Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh’ ride but the trackless Pooh ride exclusive to Tokyo was amazing. My favourite ride for Hong Kong, and probably overall, was Mystic Manor. That’s a trackless ride and its Hong Kong’s version of Haunted Mansion but due to their cultural beliefs around ghosts etc. they’ve made it about an eccentric explorer and his pet monkey Albert and the adventures of inanimate objects coming to life. I absolutely love that ride!


9. What do you think is the most underrated ride?

I’m not sure if it’s underrated but I love the Flying Carpets over Agrabah ride in the Paris park, I found it was less jerky than Dumbo and it fit me and the girls when we visited Disneyland Paris years ago which Dumbo can’t.


10. What do you think is the most overrated ride?

Peter Pan’s Flight – I did like it in Orlando but God it didn’t deserve the queues it generated. I managed to queue early in Paris and the Paris one was a horrific, jerky nightmare that I only went on once because I realised midway through that I hated it. At least the Orlando one had been fun, the Paris one was awful!



11. What is your favourite show/parade?

The electric parade in Tokyo will always take the top spot in terms of parades for me, even the parades in Orlando were nowhere near their level. In terms of shows I loved the Lion King show in the Paris Park, particularly the acrobats showing Scar and Simba’s fight.


12. Do you enjoy meeting characters?

I love meeting characters however when I’m alone I only really like meeting the ones who can’t talk. With my friends I’d happily meet any of them as the attention isn’t only on me so I’m not scrambling to find things to talk about. The only thing I don’t like about meeting the characters who can’t talk is that I never understand what they’re trying to communicate to me – I remember doing so well when I met Pluto until he asked if I’d made my Mickey ears myself and then I had no clue. And the time Buzz asked me to push the button on his chest I was just like ‘why is this man thumping his chest’ haha. But I do love meeting the characters!


13. What characters have you met, and who was your favourite?

The first character I ever met was Mickey Mouse with the girls. Since then I’ve also met Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger, Jack and Sally, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Bo Peep, Pluto, Goofy, Minnie Mouse, Chip and Dale, Edna… I think that’s all of them? I’d like to meet one of the princesses one day but not by myself! My favourite was probably Buzz because he danced with me but I do always like meeting Winnie!


14. What is your favourite restaurant?

I loved Downton Restaurant in the Marvel hotel in Paris. It was a buffet with so many amazing choices and I thought the theming was cool. The best part was probably the little Marvel themed desserts though, they were so cute!


15. Do you have any Disney traditions?

I don’t think so… Me and the girls started a tradition that we always ride a carrousel if there’s one available and I do always ride it but I’m not sure it’s a Disney tradition as we also rode one by the Eiffel Tower once!


16. What is your most fond Disney park memory?

I have so many that it’s hard to narrow down. I’ve already mentioned it but sitting and watching the parade in Tokyo with my friends at the end of a long day was so nice. Me and Becca getting a wave off Peter Pan and then hi-fiving was funny. I also liked when Buzz danced with me in Orlando after I told him he was my favourite character. My most recent fond Disney memory was racing into the park on the first day of my Paris trip and then tearing up once I saw Main Street all decorated for Christmas. I’d waited so long for the trip and it had finally got ahead, I was over the moon.


17. What is your favourite thing you’ve bought in the parks?

I bought a mini, very fluffy Winnie the Pooh plushie from the Tokyo park which I absolutely love. I’m glad I spent the extra for the fluffy version, I love him!


18. Describe your dream Disney holiday?

I’d love to go to Orlando with the girls and just get to spend time going round the parks. I’m not sure if that’ll ever happen because we prefer to do a Disney day and then sight-seeing for the rest of our trip rather than just Disney but hey, I can dream!

There we have it, the Disney Parks Tag! Let me know your answers in the comments and if you have any recommendations of things we can’t miss when we go to the California Park please let me know!

My 2022 Recap

I wanted to do a little recap of my 2022 – I used to write a list of my favourite K-Pop songs and my favourite movies but I wanted to narrow it down today and just pick my top three from particular categories… So here goes nothing!

Favourite Movies
1. Orphan: First Kill
2. Matilda: The Musical
3. Fall

I had been looking forward to finally watching the Orphan prequel for absolutely ages – I’d been a bit worried they’d ruin it but I actually really enjoyed it. Sure it wasn’t perfect, there were some plot holes between the original and the prequel but sometimes you have to suspend your belief when it comes to movies. Particularly if they’ve taken years to finally release another movie. I liked that they still included a little plot twist as that was definitely what made the first film so amazing.

Matilda: The Musical also really impressed me – I loved the stage show so I was looking forward to the film version but was always worried it’d be a bit cheesy but I actually thought it was perfect. The casting in the movie was absolutely perfect, particularly Lashana Lynch as Miss Honey. I can’t wait for it to finally be released on Netflix in the UK because it was such a good movie.

And then I’ve included Fall because I thought it was interesting – on the surface a movie about two girls trapped at the top of a cell phone tower shouldn’t be that good but I actually really liked it even though my palms were sweating throughout the entire movie. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and I just really enjoyed it, it impressed me more than I thought it would!

I wanted to give an honourable mention to a film I watched in 2022 that wasn’t released in 2022 but the majority of films I watched last year were released last year! So I’m giving my honourable mention to a Christmas movie – Klaus. Jess picked this film to watch at our Christmas movie meet up day and to be honest it wasn’t a film I’d ever been keen on watching and when it started I was thinking ‘oh wow, this isn’t very Christmassy!’ But I ended up really enjoying it, it’s a film I wouldn’t mind watching again this Christmas to be honest so fair play to Jess for picking a good movie!

Favourite Songs
1. The Foundations of Decay – My Chemical Romance
2.Pink Whitney – Scene Queen
3. LIMBO – Nature

Now according to my Spotify Wrapped my top five songs were Halloweenie 4 by Ashnikko (two years in a bloody row, I am avoiding that song like the plague this year), Blackout from In the Heights (don’t ask), The Foundations of Decay by My Chemical Romance, The Party Isn’t Over by JT Music and Candy Store from Heathers. But of my new releases the top three are probably accurate.

Any new My Chemical Romance song was always going to make the top of the list let’s be honest. I’m really hoping we get that full length album this year because I had this song on repeat a lot last year and I need some more MCR music to listen to!

Pink Whitney and LIMBO were latecomers last year but if LIMBO had been released earlier in the year I know it would’ve made my top five – the choreography for that song absolutely sold it for me and now I love the song, definitely one of Nature’s best releases. And Pink Whitney slipped it in literally at the very end of the year for me, it was the first song I listened to by myself on New Year’s Day and I just love that song.

An honourable mention to a song I discovered in 2022 that wasn’t released in 2022 has to go to Until I Found You by Stephen Sanchez. One of those songs that I discovered on TikTok that did actually hold up when I listened to it in full. I love that song so much, I can’t believe it was released in 2021 it sounds like it was released years ago but it’s so good!

Favourite Theatre Shows
1. My Neighbour Totoro
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Back to the Future

I touched on this in my favourite memories of 2022 post but my favourite show throughout the year was Beauty and the Beast – I just thought it was spectacular, I loved the dancing, the cast, the costumes, the set… Everything was amazing. But then me and Jess went to see My Neighbour Totoro at the end of October and that stole the top spot for me. That’s my favourite Studio Ghibli film and I really enjoyed seeing it on stage. Everything about it was amazing.

I’d been considering seeing Back to the Future and mentioned it to Jess who also expressed interest and then surprised me with the ticket for my birthday. I’m so glad she did because I absolutely loved it – I haven’t seen the movie and decided not to before watching the stage show and I ended up really enjoying it. It gets a ten out of ten for me!

My honourable mention goes to a show I’ve seen many times – The Play That Goes Wrong simply because the original cast were in it again last year and getting the opportunity to see that was bucket list worthy to be honest, I enjoyed every second of it, particularly getting to meet the cast afterwards! It was one of my favourite nights of 2022.

Favourite TV Shows
1. Stranger Things
2. The Umbrella Academy
3. Hawkeye

So two of these shows didn’t release last year but I don’t actually watch that many shows so I thought I’d just include any I watched in 2022! Stranger Things was a good one for me, I watched the first two episodes literally years ago and then as more seasons got released I felt the pressure to catch up and that put me off watching the show. But I picked it back up last year and soon I’d finished three seasons which I really enjoyed. I need to watch season four which I’ve been putting off because of how long the finale is and also the long wait for the final season!

The Umbrella Academy is one of my favourite TV shows and I was looking forward to season three and getting to see all about the Sparrow Academy. I won’t lie to you though season three did disappoint me – parts of it were really good, I love how they handled Viktor’s transition and I was glad to see he was still close to Alison despite this. However I feel like the Sparrow Academy weren’t the threat they were advertised to be and I’m getting a bit tired of the whole ‘the world is ending but we’re going to sulk and fight with each other until the final minute when we decide to work together’ formula that they’ve had for every season so far. Hopefully the final season will be different but considering they all seemed to go their separate ways at the end of season three I doubt it which is a bit disappointing.

I’ve included Hawkeye simply because I originally wasn’t going to watch it so only did when I realised Florence Pugh was in it. Then it turned out to actually have a pretty good cast and when I watched I ended up enjoying it far more than I thought I would. I still think my favourite marvel show was WandaVision but I did like this more than I thought I would. Speaking of Hawkeye I hope Jeremy Renner recovers quickly!


Favourite Memories

This is difficult because 2022 was such a good year but my top spot goes to both of the My Chemical Romance concerts I attended. I had fun in my good view seat on the Thursday but then also had fun on the Sunday being at the back with Jess. I really, really hope that they announce another world tour soon because I’d love to see them again – I had so much fun!

Next is probably my birthday, I had such a fun, retro day and it was nice to just spend some chill time with my friends. An escape room, bowling, a movie, we did it all and I had so much fun!

Finally buying my flat – although I’m constantly stressed about money and bills these days it’s 100% worth it to have my own space again. I can’t explain how nice it is to have a safe space that’s only for me and only people that I allow are able to enter that space. I noticed when living my step-mum and Dad that after living with someone emotionally abusive for so long that I just really struggle to live with other people so I’m glad to have my own space again. And now that I own it I can stay as long as I want!


Favourite Video Games
1. The Quarry
2. Stray
3. Little Hope

I was SO excited to play The Quarry. I’d loved Until Dawn but had watched a full play through of it and read up on it because I didn’t own a PlayStation at the time so figured I wouldn’t get to play it but then last year I did buy a PS4. I loved getting to play it for myself but I knew every decision I needed to make to keep the characters alive which ruined the experience a bit. So I was excited to play The Quarry and to go in blind this time.

I ended up really enjoying it, I loved the characters. I’ve researched some of the decision making afterwards and I don’t think it’s as clear as Until Dawn but maybe that’s because it’s not been out as long. The only thing I didn’t like was the podcast at the end going through the evidence, I found the two of them so annoying and much preferred the police interviews from Until Dawn.

Stray was another amazing game – my favourite type of game is decision based but I do quite like puzzle platformers as well and I loved being able to play as a cat. The story and the world it was based in was also so interesting that I ended up really enjoying it, I’d already been looking forward to it but it exceeded my expectations.

Although Little Hope wasn’t released last year I did play it in 2022 and I really enjoyed it, far more than Man of Medan. Will Poulter being in it was definitely a bonus and I just loved the entire story. I won’t say too much because I don’t wanna spoil it for my friend Jess who I want to watch play it but I really enjoyed it! My only annoyance was that I found with this one and Man of Medan the decisions I made didn’t necessarily match up on the wheel thing – as an example I told Angela about the gun, who then told John but then later in the game John got mad that he didn’t know about the gun even though he’d been told chapters ago about it? It was really weird and a bit of a let-down – luckily House of Ashes seemed to work a bit better in that respect so I have higher hopes for The Devil in Me.


Proudest Achievement

I’m going to end up repeating myself but I am pleased that I managed to buy my own flat. I am proud of how I saved up the money and did the research into mortgages – I only put down a 5% deposit and I dunno, I just feel like I worked my ass off and it paid off. I do also acknowledge how lucky I was to be able to save this money so quickly, living with my Dad and Step-Mum absolutely helped, if I’d still been renting it wouldn’t have been possible.

My saving absolutely paid off because I’m in a flat that I love in an area that I love and as I said previously, I can stay for as long as I want – which will be a while because moving is an absolute ballache and I couldn’t believe how much solicitors fees were! But I’m in and that’s the main thing.


Items Ticked Off Bucket List

I actually didn’t tick anything off last year! It’s doing my head in that there are so many easy ones on there that I haven’t been able to do. One of them is literally ‘order room service’ but no matter what hotel I go to they don’t offer room service. My biggest annoyance was the hotel that used to offer room service but ‘due to COVID’ weren’t offering it anymore – how did that make sense? Knocking on my door and leaving a plate outside of it wasn’t going to increase the risk of catching COVID? Surely it was safer to eat alone in my room? Whatever.

This year will hopefully be the year for ticking off a few more things including going on an out of continent trip with all my friends and finally throwing a pizza like a bloody Frisbee.

What I’m Looking Forward to in 2023

At the minute I have a lot of theatre visits booked so I’m really looking forward to all of those. My first trip will be to see ‘The Mind Mangler’ in Birmingham and I think starting the year with a bit of Mischief Theatre is ideal to be honest. I’m also looking forward to finally getting to see ‘Winnie the Pooh’ on stage, I’ve been waiting ages for the UK announcement and now I have my ticket to see it in London!

Me and the girls are finally discussing going on holiday properly again this year, we haven’t been abroad since our city break to Brussels back in 2019. At the minute we’re hoping to go to America but we’ll see, I’ll get more excited about that when it’s officially booked!

Finally, a bit lame, but I’m looking forward to continuing to settle down in my new home and making more memories there. I’ve loved watching it slowly come together and now I’ve spent a birthday and Christmas there it definitely feels like home. It helps that I’ve had my friends over several times and we’ve had a lot of laughs there. I’m hoping to make even more memories this year!


There we have it, my 2022 recap. Let me know any of your favourite things from last year.

New Year’s Resolutions 2023

It’s that time of year again where I look forward to all the things I’m going to do to better myself in 2023 – you know, for the first month before I slip back into my old habits! I do try to set realistic resolutions for myself though so let’s take a look at last years and see if I managed them.

2022 Resolution 1 – Save Up Money

I don’t have any money anymore but that’s because I bought myself my own flat which was the point of the resolution so I did manage this! I’m really proud of myself for what I achieved this year and now I have a home of my own to show for my hard work.

2022 Resolution 2 – Spend Less Time on Laptop

I’m not really sure on this one as I have played my consoles a fair amount this year but I did have a Sims phase earlier this year. I’ve also been out a fair amount… I don’t know to be honest! We’ll say I’ve done it just so I can feel better about myself.

2022 Resolution 3 – Practice Make-Up

Unfortunately I didn’t really do this one – I felt a bit self-conscious doing this in front of my Dad and Step-Mum so maybe it’s something I can work on in 2023? I do really want to find my own style so I need to get cracking with this!

2022 Resolution 4 – Eat Healthier

Not really – my step-mum made me dinner when I lived with her but I always felt weird making food in front of her and my Dad so I didn’t make myself packed lunches very often. That’s something I need to get back into in 2023!

2022 Resolution 5 – Get Back into Writing

As usual… The less said about this the better.

Anyway, onto my brand new resolutions for 2023!

Watch More Movies

This may seem like a weird one but I mean new releases at the cinema – I have a Cineworld card and I feel like I didn’t use it that much this year. There were some movies that I wanted to see but I just couldn’t be bothered to go to the cinema. So this year I’m going to make it a goal to go to the cinema more and see all the movies that I want to see!


Exercise More

Now that I’ve moved into a new flat I actually live closer to the gym and swimming pool so I have less of an excuse now not to exercise more – what I used to hate when I had a gym membership was that it would take me 40+ minutes to walk to the gym, I’d spend an hour in the gym and then it would take me ages to get home. It would take up my entire evening whereas now it’s only a short walk away it would only take up a small portion of my evening.

I did go swimming a few times last year but as I got busier towards the end of the year it fell away – next year I need to up my exercise!


Practice Make-Up

I am going to make this another resolution because I do really need to do this! I want to find my own make-up style so I will practice a bit more this year now that I live alone again.


Accessorise More

A few years ago I realised every outfit I owned was work appropriate and I do think I’ve improved my wardrobe so that not everything I wear is suitable for work and I have some nice ‘out of work’ clothes. But I feel like I could look even better if I added accessories – I just don’t think about it! I’m going to try harder to add more accessories this year I think.


Look into New Jobs

This year I had one job interview that I did well at but unfortunately lost out because someone already in the team got the job as they had that extra edge. Then I applied for another job but lost out at the last minute because I don’t have a drivers licence.

I have been looking for a new job this year but only half-heartedly really. I’m going to try harder to look for a new job in the New Year. It’s not that I dislike my job but I worry that I’ve got a bit comfy and I’m feeling a bit ‘stuck’. So I’m going to have another look this year for something new!

Five feels like a good number so I’ll stick with five New Year’s resolutions. Let me know yours!

My Favourite Memories from 2022

2022 has been a crazy year. The COVID restrictions finally dropped enough that we were able to feel a bit more back to normal this year. Looking back I’ve actually had a really good year so I wanted to share some of my favourite memories with you!

Little Mix Concert

In 2020 I managed to get concert tickets for Little Mix – I got them as a gift for Becca & Hirst for Becca’s birthday. We were meant to go in 2021 but this ended up getting pushed back to April 2022 which I was gutted about at the time because it felt like whenever there was something fun in sight it got pushed back even further. But luckily it all went ahead as planned this year and we finally got to see Little Mix.

Little Mix were one of those groups that I always low-key loved but never fully appreciated and now that I finally do fully appreciate them they’ve gone on hiatus. I’m hoping it is just a hiatus and that they do come back one day instead of doing that annoying thing where groups announce a hiatus and then just… Never do anything together ever again.

The concert was so much fun – the set list wasn’t perfect, I feel like some songs could’ve been removed (Reggaeton Lento, Between Us, Heartbreak Anthem to name a few) and replaced with some better ones (Rendezvous, Trash, No) but a lot of the songs they played were still really lit and it was such a fun night. I’m so glad they played ‘Salute’ and we got some girl power before their hiatus. I am going to miss them so much!


Tattoo’s

After not having any new tattoos for a while I decided that although this was the year for saving it was also the year for getting more tattoos. The first one I got was a classic Winnie-the-Pooh one because I just absolutely love him. While that was healing I did get a bit fed up of being in pain and watching it go all flaky so I thought to myself ‘this will be the last tattoo I get’ but I was obviously lying to myself.

Me and my sibling decided to also get matching tattoos on our ankles, we weren’t really fussed what but we’d been talking about it for ages and decided to finally book them. We both got a games controller and they got ‘P1’ on theirs and mine said ‘P2’. When we were kids I used to come over every Friday and we’d play on the PlayStation together and since they were the older sibling they were always player one and I was player two with the crap controller.

Then the usual tattoo studio I go to announced they were doing a Halloween ‘get what you get’. I decided to go for it and hoped and prayed I’d get a cute design. I ended up getting two ghosts each wearing a witch’s hat on my first roll and decided to stick with them as they’re quite cute and I had been worried about getting a not cute design. The artist told me all the designs were fairly cute but I saw on their Facebook one person got a tooth so I’m not entirely sure I believe her! But I’m pleased with how they turned out.

I followed this girl on Instagram who did tattoos and I always thought hers were really cute so decided to book with her. She’s based in Manchester but I thought it would be worth the journey so off I went and got these amazing My Chemical Romance candy hearts. I’d wanted a My Chemical Romance tattoo as a teenager then the moment I was old enough I was like ‘phew, thank God I didn’t get one’ and then after seeing them live again this year I realised my love for them is eternal so why not get it tattooed? Although ‘Famous Last Words’ probably isn’t my favourite song it is the song that means the most to me and has got me through some low points in my life which is why I picked that for the lyrics. It’s probably my favourite tattoo ever, I’m so glad I made the trip!

The artist was Roxy Ryder @roxyrydertattoo on instagram, check out her stuff – she’s so talented!

Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea

After two years of not really being able to treat my Mum on Mother’s Day I asked if she wanted me to book us an afternoon tea this year and she said she would like that. We went to a local hotel and it was really lovely. Last year she’d wanted an afternoon tea so I’d made her one from scratch and whilst it was very nice it was also nice to not have to spend a whole day in the kitchen trying to throw everything together. I do like an afternoon tea!


Eurovision at Becca’s

This year me, Jess and Hirst finally got the ultimate invitation we’d been waiting for – we were invited to Becca’s to watch Eurovision with her and her family. Becca is the biggest Eurovision fan I know and every year talks about how we should go to hers to watch it but we never officially got the invite until this year.

It was so much fun, they’d printed out scoring cards and we would discuss each performance at the end of it. Becca’s family had also decorated their living room so it was Eurovision themed. I was hoping that Spain would win and it got very exciting when the UK actually got points this year. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Ukraine’s song but if we can bring them any joy at all after such a difficult and devastating year then I think they deserve it.

I’m really hoping me and the girls get to go to Eurovision live one day – everyone keep their fingers crossed!


Theatre

I’m going to try my best to keep a list of all the shows I’ve seen this year. I’ll do my best not to forget any. This year, in no particular order, I watched:
– The Snowman (twice)
– The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
– Bedknobs and Broomsticks
– The Play What I Wrote
– Beauty and the Beast
– Cluedo
– Kinky Boots
– Bonnie & Clyde
– Mamma Mia
– The Play That Goes Wrong (twice)
– Magic Goes Wrong
– Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
– Waitress
– We Will Rock You
– Book of Mormon
– An Inspector Calls
– Sister Act
– Ghost: The Musical
– The Hunchback of Notre Dame
– My Neighbour Totoro
– Heather’s: The Musical
– Peter Pan
– Back to the Future
– Aladdin panto
– Beauty and the Beast panto
– Snow White panto

Beauty and the Beast had the top spot for most of the year as I saw it in March with my Mum after she very kindly bought me a ticket for Christmas. However I think My Neighbour Totoro has snuck in and taken the top spot for me this year. It was absolutely magical getting to see that show come to life on stage, I absolutely loved it. Totoro himself was so impressive let alone the set, the singing, the acting, just everything about that show was incredible.

However the one I probably had the most fun at was Magic Goes Wrong – I was meant to go with Becca and Jess but unfortunately Becca was ill on the day so couldn’t come. I’d been wanting to take Jess to see it as when we’ve seen magic acts in the past she’s good at guessing how the tricks are done and there were a few I wanted her to keep an eye on. Particularly the water trick which involves two volunteers from the audience and typically I ended up being one of the ‘volunteers’.

A different woman was picked before me but declined three times and to be honest it was a bit awkward to watch so by the time I was picked I figured ‘eh, why not, I’ve seen the show twice so I know what I’m in for’. I was very nervy at the start when Sophasticato was talking to the other volunteer (just awkwardly played with my necklace whilst I shook like a leaf) but once the trick got started I was having so much fun I kind of forgot about it and I was too busy being asked to do this, that and whatever else that there wasn’t really time to be nervous. In the end I was actually quite glad I was picked because after seeing the show twice I got the opportunity to see my favourite portion of the show up close which was pretty cool – and now I can technically say that I’ve performed at the Birmingham Hippodrome!


My Chemical Romance Concerts

It happened! It finally happened! After years and years of waiting my favourite band reunited, announced a tour right before a bloody pandemic, released a new song and then finally began their tour two years later so I was finally able to see them again for the first time since I was fourteen. I managed to get me and my sibling a ticket for the Sunday show when the tickets were first released and then the following year my sibling announced they were also going to the Thursday show as their friend had a spare ticket. I’d wanted to see them more than once but decided I should wait to go with my sibling but since they were going to the Thursday show I decided to go as well – they were standing with their friend and I booked a more expensive ticket in the ‘gold’ section.

Unfortunately it got pushed back to a difficult date for my sibling and they couldn’t come to the Sunday show as their friend was getting married the next day and they were a bridesmaid. So I invited Jess as she was most likely to enjoy that type of music and also because she has every Sunday & Monday off so I knew she wouldn’t need to book any A/L.

Me and my sibling still say we got to see MCR ‘together’ on the Thursday as we stayed in the same hotel, and travelled to and from the concert together – I did also see them in the standing area which was pretty funny, we took photos of each other.

The show was absolutely amazing – there were some perks to sitting in the gold section including our own less-crowded bar and toilets, and also the amazing view but the downside was that the audience in this section wereso dead like not even singing along. Apart from the lady behind me who was also there alone, who introduced herself and got so drunk that she was literally screaming the lyrics to every song – and fair play to her, she was fun to be around! MCR played ‘It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Death Wish’ for the first time in years and us screaming the lyrics in each other’s faces was honestly a highlight of the night for me. She said she was going to add me on Instagram but hasn’t yet – I await the day, she was so cool!

They played a ton of bangers – my highlights include hearing the G note from ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ and then nothing else because the cheering was so loud, crying during ‘Famous Last Words’ and then Gerard immediately telling a story about his cat bringing them dead rats straight afterwards, hearing ‘Death Wish’ live, Gerard coming out in that crazy outfit so I didn’t even recognise him at first…

The literal only downside to the show is that I, and most people, thought it was over so I went to the loo and while I was washing my hands I was like “Wait… They’re playing another song?” Raced back out and they were doing ‘Vampire Money’ which I’d missed half of! They literally played four encore songs when I was only expecting two or three, I was shook. Luckily I’d seen them play that song back in 2011 and they also played it again when I returned on Sunday so I have seen it performed in full.

Me and Jess returned on Sunday and unfortunately I’d had really bad toothache the day before so I’d barely slept the night before the final concert. Luckily the toothache had dulled enough that it didn’t bother me at the concert but I did have to take a nap in the hotel beforehand. At least Jess is a sleepy girl too so she didn’t have any problem with that.

We were sat further back this time but I didn’t care, I still had the best time. The show genuinely could’ve gone on for hours and hours and I wouldn’t have cared. At most concerts I go to I eventually get too hot, thirsty and just generally fed up of standing so I’m ready for it to end but every so often I go to a concert where I could go all night and both My Chemical Romance shows were such shows. I hope they announce more UK shows because I am desperate to see them again – I’d like a proper UK tour instead of the random stadiums they chose, I’d definitely go to more than one date again as it was great leaving on the Thursday and knowing I only had to wait a couple more days to do it all over again.

This was probably my highlight for 2022, I got to feel like a teenager again and I had the absolute best time without caring what anyone thought. Love that for me.


Mum’s Birthday Party

I had been trying to persuade my Mum for ages that she should have a 60^th Birthday Party because I love parties now and I hadn’t been able to appreciate her 50^th one – I was still a teen at the time who wasn’t really into partying. Mum was reluctant at first because she didn’t want to organise a party but I promised I would do all the organising as I love that kind of thing and finally she agreed.

Strictly speaking I didn’t do 100% of the organising but I did the majority of it and the party went ahead on Friday 13^th May, one day after Mum’s actual 60^th birthday and it was a success if I do say so myself. Me and the girls made a lot of song requests that night that got played and it was just a really good night. I do love a party!


Hirst’s Birthday Party

Speaking of birthday parties Hirst also threw one which was also a lot of fun. It was a costume party and I do love an excuse to dress up although I did nearly tear my hair out trying to find a costume. The only theme for the party was ‘characters/fancy dress’ so I kept googling ‘plus size characters’ and found all the options so frustrating. Bloody ‘Mermaid Man’ from Spongebob was recommended at one point.

I really wanted to go as Sylvie from ‘Loki’ but the only decent outfit I could find would’ve cost me £192 and also Hirst, the birthday girl, was already going as Loki. In the end I managed to find a plus size costume for Sailor Moon and although it wasn’t perfect I think it looked pretty good and in the end I was happy with my outfit.

The night was really good, as I said I do love a party – it’s an opportunity to get drunk and dance to cheesy songs instead of charts music which I often don’t know so I prefer parties to clubbing. It was a lot of fun!


Meeting the Mischief Cast

I wrote a longer post earlier this year about getting to see ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ with the original cast and getting the opportunity to do stage door. As I said in that post I have always wanted to but never quite had the nerve. I’m really shy and awkward so I was worried I’d end up embarrassing myself or something but after this show I figured it might be my one opportunity so I decided to go for it.

I’m really glad I did because they were all so nice. I’m not great at taking selfies and I was shaking so much that I was worried they’d all come out blurry but luckily they all came out okay! I was too nervous to chat to them but did have a conversation with Nancy because she’d called me on stage at the start of the show so I had a good starting point – she was so lovely.

I’d love the opportunity to meet Bryony and Chris one day as well (and also some of the cast from Mischief Movie Night), maybe if they’re in another show I’ll feel more confident to do stage door again next time but I’m not sure my nerves could stand it a second time! We’ll see.


Camping

This year was meant to be mine and the girl’s ‘boring’ year but we still wanted to have some kind of holiday so instead of doing one of our city breaks we decided to go camping. I’d never really been keen on the idea of camping but we’d been thinking about going for literal years so we decided to give it a go.

The Friday we set off was literally one of the hottest days of the bloody year – we visited Tamworth Castle and then made our way to the camping grounds which was in a small forest area so luckily we had some shade whilst pitching the tent. Just as well because although Hirst had been fairly confident she could get the tent up quickly it took over an hour and I don’t think we did it correctly.

The next day the weather flipped and it rained literally all day. This sucked enough as it was as it meant we cooked a soggy full English in the rain then spent the majority of the day sheltering in the tent but it was made worse when we discovered the bloody tent was leaking – it had soaked poor Hirst’s sleeping bag and I discovered it had also soaked my pillow. We had dinner in McDonald’s to warm ourselves up, went back to the campsite where luckily we were able to have an actual hot shower and then went back to our soggy tent for the night.

Sunday was a bit brighter and we had a nicer day before heading home on Monday. Overall although I had some fun whilst we were away I don’t think camping is for me. Everything took forever, like cooking breakfast and then washing up, getting ready etc. would take literally all morning and I didn’t like coming home and having all my clothes, my hair etc. reeking of campfire smoke. I also woke up on the first morning to discover the airbed had deflated and there was a tree root digging into my side.

I also wasn’t keen on sleeping in the tent – I thought being in a dark forest would scare me and I’d wake up to noises outside but it didn’t really bother me. What bothered me was that when I wanted the loo in the middle of the night the only thing that stopped me was that I’d have to worm my way out of my cosy sleeping bag and then wake everyone up to climb over Becca to escape the tent.

Going forward, it’s a glamping pod for me I think!


Hirst’s Birthday

As well as a birthday party we also had a fun day on Hirst’s actual birthday. We picked her up first thing in the morning, took her out for breakfast and then headed to the safari park. We’d promised to take her to the safari park as one of her birthday gifts years ago so we finally fulfilled our promise. We don’t go to safari parks enough but I loved it because it combined two things that I love – sitting and looking at stuff.

We then raced back to Hirst’s, had a quick Maccies then got ready and went out in Birmingham. We went to Tonight Josephine first which was a bar I’d wanted to visit for a long time. It was smaller than I was expecting but it was still fun, there was a Drag Queen who did bingo so we stayed for that before heading to Karaoke Box. I do love a bit of karaoke!

Overall I had a really good time and I hope Hirst had a good birthday as well – it was her first one out of lockdown so we had to make the most of it!


Buying my own flat

This is a big one for me. At the very start of this year I gave up my rented flat to move in with my Dad so I could save up some money to buy my own place. I learnt a lot in my rented flat and wanted to get somewhere permanent that was more suited to what I wanted. I saved and saved and found the perfect place in June. I put an offer in which was accepted, the process began and I received my keys the final Friday in August. One day I may write a blog post about buying your own place but I am relieved it’s done. I have bills, a mortgage to pay now etc. but I absolutely love living alone and wouldn’t change it. It’s nice to know I can settle down because I’ll be there a long time.

It’s also nice to be able to do what I want with the place, like I spent the Queen’s funeral bank holiday painting my bedroom pink. I don’t have enough money to do everything I want at the minute but I’ll get there eventually. I need to save up to get rid of the carpet out of the bathroom – it’s just wrong!

But yeah, I’m really happy to be in my own place. During the year whenever I got home from weekend’s away etc I was always quite sad to be back but now I love going back to my little flat and getting some chill time alone.


Step-Mum’s Surprise Birthday Meal

She won’t be thrilled that I’ve told you all this but my step-mum turned 60 this year so my Dad and sister organised a surprise birthday meal for her. Paula, my step-mum, thought just her and my Dad were going out for dinner as she thought her daughters were meeting to play video games and she thought I was going clubbing but no, we surprised her at the restaurant!

It was a really nice meal and we played some games after eating so all in all it was a good night. I hope she enjoyed it as much as I did!


My Birthday

Speaking of birthdays I also really enjoyed my own birthday. I decided to have a bit of a retro day so me and the girls went to Resort World in Birmingham where we did an escape room (Aladdin themed), went bowling, had dinner and then watched a movie in the evening (Don’t Worry Darling). It was fun getting to combine so many things I enjoy and I had a really good time. One of the highlights was the TGI Friday’s staff giving me a balloon hat and singing happy birthday to me. I’m not sure how I’ll top it next year but I really enjoyed it!


Disneyland Paris

I was meant to go to Disneyland Paris back in November 2020 which then became December 2021 which again became December 2022 and this was the year it finally went ahead! I’d only been to Disneyland Paris for a day trip before so I was really looking forward to spending a bit more time there. I was also looking forward to seeing it all festive, I’ve been to a couple of the parks around the world during Halloween before but never during the Christmas period so I was really excited!

I had the absolute best time. It was very cold and my feet were aching by the end of the week but I still had an amazing time. My favourite ride was Phantom Manor, favourite show was the Lion King one and my favourite experience was probably meeting Goofy and Pluto together. I do love getting a Disney fix in the parks so I’ll need to return one day!

I also caught the Eurostar for the first time which I actually loved, I would pick that over flying any day of the week even if it means spending more time in London before and after the trip. It was just so convenient and I paid £7.50 each way to upgrade to Standard Premier which was amazing and I would absolutely do again.


Scene Queen Concert

Okay technically Scene Queen wasn’t headlining but I did go mainly to see her. I can understand why some people might find her songs a bit cringe but I will say that she put on an absolutely amazing show, definitely one of the best concerts I’ve been to. I absolutely love her song ‘Pink Panther’ which she played, she also did a couple of covers and then ended with two renditions of ‘Pink Rover’ which was amazing.

Given the opportunity I would absolutely see her again, I thought she was just incredible live. Hopefully she’ll headline her own shows here soon!


Anastacia Concert

For Christmas 2021 I got my Mum a concert ticket to see Anastacia in her ‘I’m Outta Lockdown’ tour. As a kid my Mum had like four CD’s she would play on rotation in the car, one was ‘Songs About Jane’ by Marron 5 and the rest were Anastacia CD’s so Anastacia was pretty much my childhood. And I do love her, she has an amazing voice! My Mum saw her live a couple of times when I was a kid but I never saw her and it was nice for us to go together after belting her songs in the car for years.

Anastacia was another great performer. I thought Symphony Hall might be a weird place for a concert but it was actually really cool. She played pretty much everything I was hoping she would. I’d love the opportunity to see her live again one day, she was incredible!


The Polar Express

In 2021 Becca suggested we go on the local Polar Express but we thought it was only for children so we didn’t book tickets. This year I wanted to give it a go so I messaged the company first to check if adults could go without children and they confirmed you could so we booked four tickets (well I actually originally booked eight tickets but whatever) and we went the final weekend in November.

I thought it was really cute! So magical and sweet. We each got a golden ticket and a little bell from Santa after he boarded the train. I wouldn’t mind doing it again next year to be honest because I had such a nice time. It was a great way to kick off the festive season!


There we have it, my top memories from 2022! I had so many that some didn’t make the list but I had such a good year. Let me know your favourites from this year!