A Year in Review || 2015

 Well 2015, what a year you’ve been! As I sit here writing this on 31 December (can you tell that I’ve not had internet at home this week?!) as we’re whizzing up the M5 to meet Rach and Pete to start our New Years adventure in Bristol, I can’t help but think about all the fab things that have happened over the last 365 days. This time last year, in true Bayfield tradition, I threw a dinner party for the 8 of us, plus Mum, Dad, Harry and Charlie. There were many cocktails, some dubious secret Santas, tonnes of food, a Mr and Mrs quiz (which mum and dad beat everyone else on hands down) and everyone stayed up way into the small hours playing cards against humanity. Probably one of the funniest moments was Tom going into my mums room very drunk whilst she was asleep and trying to get into bed with her saying what mum assumed was “hello kitty” – which in reality was explainable as his wife is called Katie and he soon realised he’d got the wrong bed!

As for the rest of the year, it’s been fun looking back over everything that’s happened, but it does feel like a whole year has slipped by so quickly. Most of the significant events have been included on Wooden Window Sills, but I’ve tried to also throw in a few bits and pieces you may not have yet seen!

January

January

Drinking great coffee, Ben visiting us in Plymouth for the weekend, theatre trips and days out with Adams family, nights by the fire and recipe experiments- one of the quieter months of the year but a lovely one all the same.

February

February

My littlest brother Ned turned 18 and Adam and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary adventuring around North Devon, visiting the beautifully cobbled streets of Clovelly and braving all the elements in a crazy hike around the coast.

March

March

I headed down to Falmouth for the weekend mid March for some fun in one of my favourite places, made the most of the spring sunshine and right at the end of the month marked a significant blogging milestone as I set up Wooden Window Sills after months of reading other blogs and deliberating if I had the knowledge, time and imagination to start one for myself. Turns out starting a blog in 2015 was one of my biggest achievements and highlights. 

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April

The best month! We had a rather crazy April, with a visit from Sam when he ran the Plymouth half, we explored Rame Head on a very windy afternoon, spent a sunny day at Point-to-Point and Sally came to visit and indulged in my experiments with various espresso martini recipes. The significance of April also involved my 23rd birthday which I got to celebrate four times! The weekend before was with Miranda and a pampering session at Adams mums, followed by a very chilly seaswim at Burgh island. I also headed out for a lovely breakfast at the Bakehouse with Katie. My actual birthday was a lovely sunny day marred only slightly by a disastrous cycle along the canal, and made a lot better by a surprise visit from my brother Harry and plenty of crispy duck pancakes. I then also had another celebration with some of my other besties in kayaks up the river exe and a pub lunch! I told you April was a busy one, as to celebrate Adams mums birthday we also had a day out at Exeter Festival of Food and Drink.  One of my best friends Kate also started up her business – Kate Creates, which has gone from strength to strength throughout the year! Where did we find the time?! Phew, April was great!

May

May

May was a little quieter in comparison, with some lovely couple time on our own after such a busy month before. We went on quite possibly my favourite date ever in the sunshine overlooking the boats on the water and drinking a fair number of cider tasting platters and elongating the afternoon with pizza and pudding at the Stable. Spending time exploring old inner city relics, we also had the mad idea during May that we’d start to transform the garden, something we’d assumed would take a matter of weeks, and reality took far longer, only being beaten by the poor weather at the end of the summer. There will be a full post eventually, once the final touches are finished in spring 2016. 

June

June

June was another busy one, celebrating my first anniversary in my job with a beehive cake I’d been dying to make, another amazing weekend in Cornwall with plenty of time in the sea, eating great food and wandering the gardens at Potager with Nat, watching Sally win a water polo tournament and a fun night watching The Cat Empire at a festival on the beach. Then right at the end of June I went on such an incredible trip with my brother Ned and my grandparents to learn about my family heritage in Poland. I’m still yet to sort out all the photos so I’m sure you’ll see more once I’ve got my act together!

July

July 

We were still busy transforming the garden during July (I’ll let you in on a spoiler, we didn’t really get it mostly done until September!) but I also managed to squeeze in a weekend in yurts with fellow geographers from my course and a great day out meeting other bloggers and getting our craft on in Bristol upcycling shutters at my first ever blogger meetup! I also took part in another perfect strangers project and got an amazing parcel in the post from Amie!

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August

The summer was a funny one again this year weather wise, August I felt was very hit and miss! However, although we didn’t do the typical summer holiday, instead waiting for the Autumn. I did have some fun bits to look forward to, with Katie’s hen party in Berkhamsted being a highlight, an afternoon tea with some fab Cornish bloggers in Truro, and, of course, starting the Bake Off Bake Along 2015, baking a whole assortment of delicious treats which continued each week until October – I’m already excited for 2016!

September

September

A memorable and big month for many people in my life. We celebrated my brothers graduation from Falmouth University with a First Class Honours degree in Digital Animation. The best part of which (other than celebrating Harry’s excellence obviously) was meeting Dawn French and confirming that in real life she is the perfectly hilarious babe that everyone hopes she would be. We also had a fab time celebrating the marriage of two of my best friends, Tom and Katie. However, there were also some very sad moments to September, and it does bring home that life cannot always be rose tinted and wonderful.

October

October

In October I had a real treat of an evening seeing Frances live in Bristol. Little did I realise then that she would suddenly get picked up by seemingly the entire music industry, be in the BBC Sound of 2016 list and supporting Sam Smith in his US tour. You heard it hear first, I tell ya 😉 We headed to the capital for the day for our Norfolk Road, university housemates reunion and Adam and I also took a week out and headed for some Autumn sunshine to Mallorca for some adventures around the island visiting as much of it as we could in the time that we had. Air BnB you beauty, a holiday for 2 for less than £200 each including flights, 2 rented apartments, car hire and food. Boom.

November

November

We started another new project in November, transforming our boring white bathroom into a tongue and grooved, slate tiled, oak featured beauty- fit with underfloor heating, a bluetooth ceiling speaker and twinkly LED lights under the bath. My boyfriend’s better than yours – just sayin’! Talking of Adam, it was also his birthday at the end of the month and we celebrated with a weekend away in Birmingham at the Good Food Show followed by his first ever spa day (anyone reckon that present was more to myself than him?!) On a particularly blustery Sunday, I also went on the perfect wintery walk on the beach.

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December

December marks my Dads birthday and we celebrated with the most chocolatey cake ever and a lovely meal as a family. The month, as always, whizzed by in a blur of swap boxes (the #FMSgiftexchange and the #perfectstrangers project by Oh Comely magazine), Christmas present buying, decorating and excitement. Adam’s sister, brother in law and tiny baby niece all came over from Canada and I had my first ever Christmas away from home. Around the festive period we had nights with best friends and mulled wine, family gatherings at Grandma’s, stomps on Culmstock Beacon and many, many baby cuddles.

This year was fantastic and spectacular in so many ways, whilst also being uncomplicated, content and transitional in many others. Nothing particularly major happened to either Adam or I in terms of the big stuff, yet we have been witness to so many of our friends and family  some very exciting life changes, and that in itself has been an absolute joy. Bring on 2016 and all the new challenges and wonderful moments I’m sure it will bring.