16 HIGHLIGHTS OF 2016

Hello, Hello and Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a truly wonderful evening spent with your loved ones, a bottle of Prosecco and a heck load of sparkles and dancing!
I spent the first day of the new year, with my bottom glued to the sofa and a Jack Daniels induced headache, however I did see in 2017 with a Nandos delivery and tonnes of cuddles with my lovely George, so it's not all bad. 

I thought my first post of the new year ought to be a little look over the past 12 months, I've selected 16 highlights from 2016 and collated them all together in this rather HEFTY blog post, I urge you to go and grab yourself a cuppa as this is really rather long indeed. 
I wanted this post to be a somewhat photo heavy blogpost, a post full of snaps that you may not have ever seen before.
Photos that have sat in my camera roll for almost a year now gathering dust, I wanted to include you in my memories and have something lovely to look back on in years to come myself. 

2016 brought with it awful news by the dozen and it's definitely a year we will all remember for all the wrong reasons. However, when I look closely, 2016 has probably been the best, most successful, hardest, challenging yet totally fun year of my life and I have the below 16 reasons, in no particular order to thank. 
So lets go shall we!

NUMBER 1.

So first up we have all the amazing projects I've worked on throughout 2016.
Theres been a lot of them I must admit but they've each been oh so incredible to work on.
Whether that be the odd Instagram post in order to inspire your next purchase, an outfit post with tonnes of "how to not give a damn" style-spo, or larger campaigns such as that time I was in the Gap store window, the face of Daisy Jewellery or collab-ing with my Gee as the new faces of Boutique Goldsmiths. It's been truly mind blowing and I am totally humbled and completely grateful for each and every incredible opportunity that comes my way. 

NUMBER 2.

Towards the end of this year I some how won two highly prestigious awards... It was a real pinch me moment indeed, both of which I never in a million years saw myself ever winning. It was a truly incredible feeling to have been acknowledged in that way, by two incredible publications and of course by you guys for voting. 
I honestly don't know how we got here, it's that whole "riding a wave" and "winging it" that I'm always yabbering on about, but hey I work hard, and I am so proud of it. For those who didn't know I won the InStyle Project 13 Award for Best Fashion Blog and the Cosmopolitan Best Fashion Influencer award... Bonkers ey!?

NUMBER 3.

Now we have the totally out of this world fact that I get to travel with my job... Now that is something I never thought would ever happen but something that happened quite a bit during 2016. 
I visited Paris, Berlin and Barcelona at the beginning of the year before heading to Southern Spain with New Look to take part in their Style On Tour campaign. 
At the end of summer I visited Rome for the first time on an incredible press trip away with some awesome girls, before then heading to Paris again with French beauty brand Darphin, it's really been totally awesome and I cannot wait to share my 2017 travels with you. 
I have four trips planned already for early next year and you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be divulging you in all the deets ASAP. 

NUMBER 4.

As I'm growing up, I'm realising, as many of us do, how friendships come and go. 
This year has seen both of those, I've truly realised who is worth keeping close and who it's best to let go of.
Leaving London has proven a lot about those dearest to me, those who I can call up and know nothing has changed, whilst starting over in Manchester has brought with it incredible friendships that I never imagined possible.
And my oldest pal Lennie, although we've barely seen each other this year, those weekly, almost daily text messages are what friendship is all about. 
Girl Power and Girl Bossin' has never rang truer than it has this 2016 and you girlies know exactly who you are.

NUMBER 5.

Speaking of friendships, I couldn't possibly summarise 2016 without mentioning Sophie Traynor. 
After emailing me early this year, I jumped at the chance to shoot with somebody new, to have a new set of eyes on my work and to essentially up the PBM game.
And she did just that.

Sophie, without crying about you, you're a fecking legend and you have truly changed my outlook on blogging.

Working with Sophie to create awesome imagery to share with you lot on here has been a complete and utter delight and I'm SO buzzing to now be able to call her one of my best friends. 
She's truly upped my blogging game and working with her is such a dream, here are just a handful of my favourite shoots we've worked on together this year, I can't tell you how excited I am to head into 2017 with her by my side! 

NUMBER 6.

July this year saw the moment I got to watch my incredible sister graduate with a First Class Honorary degree in Fashion Buying & Merchandising and I cannot tell you how proud I was, and continue to be of her today. 

Faye is the most special person in my life and to see her absolutely killing it fills me with all kinds of joy!
She's the sassiest little so-and-so I've ever come across but she has both the brains and the beauty to go along with it so we'll let her off just this once.

She's now kicking ass at ASOS on the footwear buying team (did someone say dream job alert) and although I don't get to see her as often as I'd like to, I can't tell you how proud I am of her.

Congratulations Faye, you utter legend you! 

p.s if you're not already make sure you check Faye out on Instagram, you will not regret it!

NUMBER 7.

After months of planning, George and I finally stepped off the plane in Santorini in August this year, ready for a week of relaxation in the sun. 
This was a trip we were both desperate for after a super busy few months and having neither of us taken a week off work in some time. 

It was the most idyllic trip of my entire life and one I will always remember. Not only is Santorini truly, breathtakingly beautiful and not only was I in such a beautiful place with the love of my life, but to have a week away detached from my phone was really something else. I completely switched off, deleted my emails from my phone and more importantly left my phone at home each day. 
That week away from everything to just do us, was exactly what we needed to come back to work feeling inspired and it taught me an awful lot about myself and this crazy world. 

Treating myself to the occassional week off isn't something I should be ashamed of. It's completely okay to admit that you no longer have anything to talk about and all your creativity has been zapped from within you. Sometimes all it takes is a bit of sunshine and being away from the world to really make you realise, exactly what it is you should be doing.

It truly was a trip of a lifetime and if you fancy reading more, you can check out this post here for a full review of the island.

NUMBER 8.

Now technically, we moved into our flat in November 2015, so this didn't exactly happen in 2016.
However, we took it from just a flat, an empty shell, albeit with exposed brick, high ceilings and original beams, into a home throughout 2016. 

Our gorgeous little flat in Manchester has got to be my favourite place in the world. 
It's where I feel at my happiest and I can truly say that our flat is SO close to being my perfect home. George and I spent a lot of our time earlier in the year buying, DIY-ing and creating the home we now completely adore... And I must say, I'm still adding to it now and finding myself falling in love with the place all over again.

A New Years resolution of mine is to take more photographs, I know bonkers right, how can anyone take any more photographs!? But I mean actual photographs that have been composed and then shot on a DSLR rather than my poxy iPhone, so I promise when I get this up and running I'll be sharing lots more from our gorgeous Mancunian home. Even looking at these snaps now, I can see that so much has changed within our home, so I promise I'll be getting snap happy very soon indeed.

Our home is 100% the thing that makes me the most proud in the world and is without a doubt up there in my top 5 fave things about 2016.

NUMBER 9.

Now I must warn you, here's where things get a little soppy and a VERY proud girlfriend rears her mushy head...
I'm going to talk about my wonderful George and all his incredible successes of 2016.
I've honestly never, ever met somebody who has an idea one day, goes to sleep, wakes up and sets that idea in motion! JUST LIKE THAT!
His get-up-and-go attitude inspires me every single day and I can honestly say that he executes every little idea he has PERFECTLY!

This year was an incredible year for him indeed!
Whether that was with the release of Terry & George Feeding Friends, their debut cook book, which got them tonnes of national press from the likes of The Telegraph and Radio 2, with Christopher Bailey of Burberry being so impressed he offered to host their launch party at their Regent Street Store... Hello Fancy. 

And of course more recently the totally awesome new bar George and his brother Jimmy opened here in Manchester.
Jimmy's is going from strength-to-strength and when I think of all the blood sweat and tears that went into that place I am proud by the bucket load.
Jimmy's is without a doubt the coolest thing to happen to Manchester in some time, with everything from the decor to the music completely spot-on.
George, you're ace!

NUMBER 10.

Number 10 was a goal that I set myself at the beginning of summer and something I never thought I'd ever bloody hit.
I finally achieved 100k followers on Instagram on the eve of Halloween, surrounded by all my favourite people and where George pulled out these awesome balloons from our utility cupboard (a place he knows I very rarely go in to LOL) 
I really can't thank you all enough for sharing my journey with me, for liking, commenting and LOLing along with me, you really, truly are the best.

NUMBER 11.

I think you all know by now that I am a sucker for watching live music and attending music festivals. It's what makes me truly happy and where I feel most at home.
This year I attended SO many awesome music festivals with George by my side and I am oh so grateful to have had a summer full of music. 
First up we headed to Isle of Wight festival with Hello Operator, one of the bands George manages (I told you he does everything) and that really set the president for the rest of the festivals that summer. It was one of the best festivals I've ever been to and I had oh so much fun with the lads and their awesome bunch of girlfriends, plus the weather was bloody wonderful too, so we really did luck out with that one.
Following IOW we then went on to Y Not festival, finishing the summer with Leeds Fest. 
I've not been back to Leeds Fest in oh so long, so it was so much fun to be back, with the band again to see how things had changed. 
In truth, it hadn't changed all that much and typically the weather remained AWFUL! However, by this point we'd met some amazing people during the festival circuit, people from the likes of Jack Daniels and This Feeling, to bands and their pals, so the rain didn't ruin it for us this time!

Here's to 2017 and another summer of music ey!?

NUMBER 12.

2016 saw me FINALLY set up my own YouTube channel, something I'd been thinking about since the following year. 
After sitting on a NYC Vlog for four months, I finally hit publish and now, almost a year on I am loving sharing each and every moment with you all.
There's just something oh so rewarding with YouTube and I really feel like I've found a great passion for video editing and video content creating. I'm absolutely loving it and truly loving all of your incredibly supportive comments and feedback, the YouTube community is like nothing else. 

NUMBER 13.

Tied up nicely with starting a channel, I also signed with Gleam Futures this year, a management that I have always truly admired for their roster of quite frankly incredible talent! To me, Gleam is the creme de la creme of "influencer" (grgggh that work) management and to have officially signed with them late in 2016 was probably the most proud I have ever, ever been!

Read more about it here.

NUMBER 14.

Throughout 2016 I was SO lucky to have finally met a number of you. Whether that was in the streets, at music festivals or at meet-ups, it was SO SO awesome to finally meet some of you that have always been oh-so supportive. 
Whether it wasn't actually a face-to-face meeting and whether we just chatted over Twitter, Snapchatted one another or commented over on Instagram, I value each and every one of you and as I keep bloody saying, I can't thank you all enough!
I truly hope that 2017 brings with it more of you and I meeting IRL thats for sure. 

NUMBER 15.

Now without sounding like a massive diva, 2016 was an expensive one!
It was the year I treated myself and I am not ashamed to say it was a highlight of 2016 for me. 

I've always been interested in luxury goods, heck, I'm a fashion graduate, so I've always been up-to-date with the latest designers, catwalk shows and pieces that are within the luxury market. 
2016 was the year that I was finally able to dabble into that market and it was an extremely proud moment for me indeed. 
We all know luxury products aren't the be all and end all, but having a nice bag on my arm or the Acne Jacket that I've wanted since I was 14 on my back, makes me feel good and as we all work so hard, I think it's SO important to treat ourselves every once in a while. 

NUMBER 16.

And finally number 16 has to be George in general!
My wonderful boyfriend, my best friend on the planet, my everything.

The last few months of 2016 were hard on us but my year wouldn't have been the way it was without him by my side. 
As soppy as it is, George is my rock, he inspires me each and every day, supports me, picks me up and gives me a good kick up the bum when I need it. 
I wouldn't have had the courage to do half of the things I did this year without him, wouldn't have had half of the content for Instagram without him taking it and I wouldn't have had the smile on my face without him creating it. 

He's the funniest, strangest little soul I've ever met but he's incredible in every single way.
Thank you George, for everything this year and here's to another weird and wonderful year together.

YOU MADE IT TO THE END!!!
Phew, now I warned you that was long, but my goodness what a year it's been, 16 amazing highlights with several more in the background of them all. 
I think it's so important to shout about things that have made us proud and in turn happy. We're always so quick to focus on the negatives that we forget to celebrate the positives and that is exactly the reason for this post. 
I have a number of resolutions this year that include being more confident, allowing myself to shine and just generally loving myself that little bit more, starting today! or yesterday on 1st Jan, but sitting in the same place, infront of the television in your sweat pants doesn't really consitute loving yourself a bit more does it?

So there we go. 16 highlights from me, so I'd love to hear just one 2016 highlight from you. Let's share the lurrrrrrrve for reals.

Happy New Year everyone and here's to an awesomely weird, bad-ass and totally sassy 2017.

x M