The year that was: 2019

What happened:
The biggest event of my year had to be what happened at the end of the year - I got engaged! After 8.5 years together, Olly proposed on our last day in New York City, which was magical. The proposal took place in the Hallett Nature Sanctuary in Central Park with a beautiful yellow diamond engagement ring from Tiffany & Co.

New York wasn't the only trip we took in 2019. We also went to Iceland, Dublin and Bulgaria (posts coming soon for NYC). It was amazing to see the Northern Lights in Iceland - and Iceland, in general, as it's such a dramatically wild country - but my favourite trip had to be our week in New York City. Take me back already!

Theatre-wise I saw: The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, Six the Musical, Waitress, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Age 13 3/4 The Musical, Big, Only Fools and Horses, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and Moulin Rouge. Moulin Rouge was easily my favourite - it was incredible to see a show on Broadway (look at that staging!) - but I really enjoyed Six the Musical and Only Fools and Horses on the West End.

Concert/show-wise: Fleetwood Mac supported by The Pretenders, Bon Jovi supported by the Manic Street Preachers, and Eagles supported by Sheryl Crow. Plus, in December, we saw The Nightmare Before Christmas in Concert with Danny Elfman, Catherine O'Hara, Ken Page and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (fab), and the Christmas Spectacular starring the Radio City Rockettes (super twee but good holiday fun - the Rockettes are amazingly talented).

We made it to Good Grief, Charlie Brown!, the Van Gogh and Britain exhibition, Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams (such beautiful clothes), the Olafur Eliasson exhibition and the Tutankhamun exhibition. We also did some London(ish) touristy stuff, including visiting Leighton House, Eltham Palace, Apsley House, the Charles Dickens Museum, Kensington Palace,  London Zoo, Chartwell, Kenwood House, the Science Museum and the Warner Bros Studio Tour London.

As always, we've had friends and family visit us in London - this year we hosted my parents at home in Wandsworth at Christmas - and we made trips to Yorkshire and Kent to visit our respective families. Finally, I left my job in the City at the end of the year to head back to Sky as a senior writer - 2020 is going to be an exciting year!

What I ate:
Special mentions restaurant-wise in London go to Patty and Bun, Lucky Chip and Bar Boulud for awesome burgers, Smokehouse and Blacklock (always) for Sunday roasts, Mexican Fried Chicken, Guasacaca, Strozzapreti and Yum Bun for tasty street food, Santo Remidio for Mexican, and Ottolenghi's for Middle Eastern food.

Iceland mentions go out to Icelandic Street Food, BURRO Tapas + Steaks, Saegreifinn, Matarkjallarinn, Lava (pictured above) and DEIG (buffins and salted caramel doughnuts FTW). Shout-outs in Dublin to Tang for Middle Eastern food and The Bakehouse for brunch. MEAT in Sofia has awesome sandwiches and burgers. 

In New York: Shopsin's, Katz's Delicatessen, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que and Ellen's Stardust Diner for BBQ/deli sandwiches/American fare, Casa Enrique for Michelin starred Mexican food, Cull & Pistol for seafood, Xi'an Famous Foods for epic noodles (pictured above), Veselka for Ukrainian and H&H Bagels for bagels (obviously).

What I watched:
This year we made it to the cinema 42 times. My favourite films were Green Book and Knives Out. I also really enjoyed Captain Marvel, Fighting with my Family, Avengers: Endgame, Rocketman, Apollo 11 and Hustlers. TV highlights: The Good Place, Fleabag, Chernobyl, The Chef Show, Parks and Recreation and The Politician.

What I read:
In 2019 I read 126 books, listened to six audiobooks, and abandoned reading 30 books. My favourite books of the year can be found here; my full reading list here.

What an epic year! Hope you also had an awesome year. What was your highlight? x