Merry Christmas everybody! I hope that you had a joyful Christmas and had the chance to spend quality time with your loved ones.
My favourite days in the whole year are the ones between Christmas and New Year. I am extremely grateful that I had the chance to took those days off work for a second consecutive year because this has enabled me to take a very good rest and prepare myself (both mentally and physically) for the new year.
The period between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is my favourite one because I get to reflect on the past year and prepare myself for all that is coming in the new one. The holidays are a perfect reminder of what you need to be truly grateful for – with the busy schedules that we all have, it is easy to forget all the beautiful and valuable things in your life and focus only on the negative things that many times are in fact so little and unimportant. This is the time to make your year-end reflection and return to all the good and the bad things that shaped your year.
I have made my personal resolutions already and I plan on sharing them with you in the next blog post. Today, however, I would like to focus on my blogging year and what has happened this year on my blog.
2018 was an extremely creative year for me – I have published over 60 posts so far and I have more in the making as we speak. I have finally found my niche over on the blog and managed to organize my numerous ideas into more streamlined categories. This has led to higher stats and more followers and as a result I am feeling even more inspired to create content on a regular basis.
Out of the many posts that I published this year, however, I have a few that stand out and are my favourite. I poured my heart and soul into them – some are purely informative and share my personal opinion on beauty, fashion, and travel topics; some are my personal experiences and travels; some are my life lessons and things that I learned in the past year. Above all, these posts are a true reflection of what I want my blog to be.
I decided to separate them in the following category: personal experience, travel, beauty, fashion, and lifestyle. These are the main topics that I love to write about and each topic had a proud winner this year. See them all below!
My five key takeaways from my Bachelor’s degree
This post simply had to be on the list as it commemorates one of my biggest achievements so far. My graduation in April was indeed one of my proudest moments and the perfect ending of a four-year extensive university study. As I walked up that stage to get my diploma, I thought of all the things that I had to go through to reach that point and all the lessons that my studies gave me. It is indeed an important milestone in every person’s life especially when you loved your major so much.
You can read all about the key takeaways from my Bachelor’s degree here.
The fashion category was a difficult one because I had a few fashion posts this year that I loved very much. However, when I thought about it a bit more, I draw the conclusion that the focus must fall on the gorgeous statement skirt that I bought in the summer. It quickly became one of my favourite clothing items that I have ever owned – it is nothing like anything else in my classic neutral wardrobe and this is why I came to love it so much. It was a nice transition piece and I continued to wear it well into the warm autumn months. I even brought it with me when we visited Vienna this September.
You can read about all the ways I styled it this summer/autumn in the post here.
We were lucky enough this year to visit not one but three new capital cities. After the hustle and bustle of Budapest and Vienna, Bratislava was a breath of fresh air and the biggest surprise of our travels this year. Honestly, I was so fascinated by the charm of this city that I had to post a quick guide and our top pick of what to do and where to go when visiting Slovakia’s capital.
Since we decided not to use the public transport at all, the only option we had was to explore the city by walking. This was the best choice that we could make because in this way we stumbled upon some hidden beautiful places that are otherwise a bit off the beaten path.
You can read more about our experience in Bratislava here.
Without any doubt my biggest beauty find this year was the brand Yves Rocher! In terms of beauty products the two moisturizers from the Sensitive Vegetal line are the two skin care products that stood out this year. They have become my go-to creams day and night as they give my skin a thin coat of moisture, thus not making my skin feel oily. I can apply my regular day makeup almost right after I apply the creams in the morning, which is a great bonus when you need to hurry for your daily errands.
You can ready the full review on both creams here.
I wanted to end my list with my most favourite lifestyle blog post so far – the one in which I talk about my general take on life and how I handle stress. This year was a game-changer when it comes to my take on life. I ended some really toxic relationships and this made me realize that I need to be more careful when I choose the people around me. Your personal environment has a massive impact on who you are and how you perceive your life and every difficulty that comes your way. If you are surrounded by negative and toxic people, you will always see only the negative aspects of the world. If, on the other hand, your environment includes positive people who always search for the good even in the worst of situations, the bubble of negativity won’t be sustained for long.
You can read the full post here.
2018 was really a good year for me and I cannot wait to share my personal milestones with you in the next blog post! 🙂
Have you started making your year-end resolutions? What is your biggest achievement this year? Let me know in the comments.
Love,
Chrisy