The year that was: 2017

What happened:
I can't believe that's another year that's flown by, and that we're already in the second week of 2018... eek! I better share some of my highlights from 2017 before it's too late!

I celebrated my birthday in Belgium (Brussels and Bruges), our anniversary in Bellagio, my best friend's wedding in Lake Como, then headed to Cuba later in the year for some winter sunshine. (Posts coming soon, I promise!)

Theatre/concert-wise, I saw Aladdin on the West End, finally watched Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, went to see The Addams Family in Wimbledon, enjoyed Hans Zimmer Live at Wembley, experienced my first opera, Turandot, at the Royal Opera House, and got to see my favourite band, The Killers, perform at Brixton Academy.

I did a few touristy things in London - including the Star Wars Identities exhibition, the Breaking Bad pop-up, and ZSL Zoo Nights - mooched around York, and also took day trips to Yorkshire Wildlife Park and Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

We've had friends and family visit us throughout the year in London - including hosting my parents for our very first London Christmas - and also made trips to Yorkshire and Kent to visit our respective families. One of those trips was to welcome our new nephew to the world (yey!), though another was to visit my mum who was hospitalised for quite a few weeks (boo).

Finally, Kept went to #4 in the UK, #12 in the US, #5 in Canada and #7 in Australia in the Kindle (free) best sellers chart, and #1 in quite a few sub-genres. I also finished writing the first draft of book 6. Hurrah!

What I ate:
Lots! I ate out quite a bit, cooked lots of awesome new dishes at home (quite a few courtesy of Jamie Oliver's 5 Ingredients book), and enjoyed the BEST Christmas dinner. Special mentions restaurant-wise go to Dip & Flip for an awesome burger with gravy, Drakes Fisheries for proper fish and chips, Cafe Fleur for the best brunch, The Old Chocolate House for divine hot chocolate and waffles, Trattoria dei Bracconieri for beautiful pasta with a beautiful view, London Shell Co for a yummy seafood canal cruise, Hawskmoor for an awesome Sunday roast, Made in Italy for tasty pizza, and Habana 61 for incredible Cuban food.

What I watched:
In 2017 I went to the cinema a whopping 42 times (Cineworld Unlimited card FTW); my favourite films seen at the cinema were: Hidden Figures, Beauty and the Beast, Baywatch, and Spider-Man: Homecoming. One of my resolutions was to tick off as many as the Top 50 IMDB films... I managed 19, so that's 31 that need watching in 2018 (plus all the new ones that have now made it into the Top 50).

TV-wise I watched plenty of TV series - some amazing, some not-so-amazing - but the ones I highly recommend are: Strike, 13 Reasons Why, The People V. O.J. Simpson, Better Call Saul, Big Little Lies, Billions, House of Cards, Game of Thrones, How to Get Away with Murder and Stranger Things.

What I read:
I read 179 books this year, abandoned reading 30 books, and listened to four audiobooks. I've shared my full reading list here, and my favourite reads of the year here. I didn't manage to stick to my resolution of not buying any new books... but at least I used the library lots as well!

Hope 2017 was a good one for you. Let me know what your highlights were. x