Highlights (and lowlights) of 2014

Wow... 2014 has been a busy year. As I haven't had much time to blog during the last few months, I thought I'd round off my posts for 2014 with a 'highlights' post as so many great things have happened this year. It can be difficult to reflect on the positives when you're constantly running around trying to get things done, so this post aims to do just that!


Our wedding
I got married in 2014! After months of stress and planning, we had a beautiful wedding day. Everything went perfectly and according to my very strict plan. Lovely weather, pretty venues, amazing food, good company and fantastic wedding speeches... what more could you possibly want on your wedding day?

Honeymoon
We went to Rome, Lake Garda and Venice on our honeymoon. Neither of us had ever been to Italy before, but we'll definitely be going back! All three locations were amazing in very different ways, and you can read more about each one in my previous blog posts. Also, in case you didn't already know, Italian food is just out of this world.

New house
We became home owners in 2014! Getting married and buying a house in the same year was a challenge (logistically and financially!) but it was all worth it in the end. We've bought a lovely little house in Penarth and it's coming together nicely. Best thing about having our own house? Decorating it for Christmas!

Award nomination
I was nominated for CIPR Cymru's Outstanding Young Communicator of the Year award earlier this year. I was also up for Outstanding In-House Team and Low Budget Campaign with my colleagues. Although I didn't win my individual award, I was so thrilled to be chosen for the final three out of so many potential candidates as it showed how far I've come during the last few years. And we won silver for the team award!

Fake Christmas
Fake Christmas is a ten-year-old tradition with my university friends where we exchange presents and eat a lot of food. We now celebrate our Fake Christmas in January as it's so difficult to find a date when we're all free in December and it's also something to look forward to in the New Year. We travelled to Minehead for the 2014 edition and ate a LOT of food. I haven't got any photos from the event which is very unlike me... I must have been too busy eating!


New nephew
My sister had another beautiful baby boy in July 2014 so I now have two handsome nephews. Owen was definitely the youngest guest at our wedding!

My hen weekends
I had two hen weekends in July. The first was with a combination of various groups of friends and involved afternoon tea and Disney fancy dress! The second was with my work friends and involved Red Hot World Buffet, cocktails and Rhys Williams masks. I felt so fortunate to have two lovely occasions with some of my favourite people, particularly as many of my friends are scattered all over the UK.

Disneyland Paris
We went to Disneyland Paris earlier this month to make sure we had our Disney fix for the year. One thing is certain... the Disney parks know how to do Christmas! The decorations were beautiful and it was great to sample some different rides as well as some of our old favourites from Florida's Walt Disney World. We also enjoyed lots of great food... can you see a common theme running through my highlights?

Cricieth
We went to Cricieth (North Wales) for a long weekend in May as we needed to recharge our batteries but couldn't afford to go abroad. We had such a relaxing time with lots of scenic walks and really felt as if we'd had a good rest when we came back. Proof that you don't always have to go abroad to have a nice holiday!

Christmas 
I couldn't possibly write a highlights post without including Christmas. Christmas is without a doubt my favourite time of year and this Christmas was extra special as it was our first one as a married couple. We spent Christmas Day at my parents' house and Boxing Day at Neil's parents' house. We also enjoyed lots of Christmassy outings as well as cosy days/evenings in during December which made it extra special. We love you, Christmas!

Lowlights

I thought I'd also feature a few lowlights from this year... I like a bit of balance. However, there are only three lowlights compared to ten highlights so that's definitely a positive thing!


Goodbye, Bobby
I had to say goodbye to my precious first car in 2014. I do really like my new car and am definitely accustomed to it by now, but I'll never forget my Bobby!

My phone 
My phone has been a constant source of annoyance in 2014 (and in 2013...). I stupidly decided to sign a 24 month contract for a Blackberry Q10 back in April 2013 as it seemed like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately, I haven't had much luck with the phone since I signed the dreaded contract. I'm now desperate to upgrade to an Android phone... 99 days to go until my upgrade date!

Stressful times 
I've suffered a lot with stress in 2014 as I've been so busy and have always had something (or ten things) on my mind, in spite of all the positives. I'm hoping for a calmer mind in 2015!


What were your highlights in 2014? 

My social media objectives for 2014 - a mid year update!

You might remember that I wrote a blog post on my social media objectives for 2014 back in January. I thought I'd revisit these objectives six months on to see how I'm progressing and to make sure I'm on track. I love a bit of measuring and evaluating!


Blog objectives

• To revamp and rename my blog by April 2014. Done!
• To set up a Google Analytics account for my blog by April 2014. Done!
• To reach 100 followers on Bloglovin by the end of the year. Still a lot of work to do on this... I'm only on 28. 
• To ensure that I read other blogs and comment on them for at least half an hour every week throughout the year. I've managed to achieve this most weeks, but some weeks are too busy to fit in even half an hour!
• To take part in at least two blogger chats per month throughout the year. I started well at the beginning of the year, but haven't had time to take part in any chats for the last few months. 
• To attend at least one blogger meet-up before the end of the year. No progress on this one!

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Twitter objectives

• To reach 350 Twitter followers by the end of the year. I'm on 314... not bad!
• To ensure that I engage with at least 5 new people on Twitter every week throughout the year. I'm doing pretty well with this one. 
• To ensure that at least 40% of traffic to my blog is driven there from Twitter. I'll have more definite statistics when my Google Analytics account has been up and running for a longer period of time, but initial impressions suggest that around a third of my blog traffic comes from Twitter. 

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Pinterest objectives

• To reach 100 followers by the end of the year. I currently have 44... I must admit, I've neglected Pinterest this year! 
• To follow at least 100 new people/boards by the end of the year. I'm following 47, so still some work to do here. 
• To have at least one Pinterest 'binge' per week! I definitely haven't had time to do this very often. 
• To comment on at least 5 pins per week as well as re-pin. No time to do this either!

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Instagram objectives

• To reach 150 followers by the end of the year. I currently have 132, so doing pretty well on this one. 
• To follow 100 new people by the end of the year. I'm following 388, so I've smashed this objective!
• To make better links between Instagram and my blog by promoting at least one photo from my blog on Instagram every week. I've been doing this for every blog post which contains photos. 
• To have an Instagram 'binge' at least once per week where I like and comment on other people's photos. I'm a bit obsessed with Instagram so have been doing this much more often than once per week!

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LinkedIn objectives

• To reach 300 connections by the end of the year. At the time of writing, I'm on 299!
• To follow 10 new company pages before the end of the year. I've followed 4 company pages so far this year.  
• To join 5 new LinkedIn groups before the end of the year, and to engage with these groups as and when interesting topics arise. I haven't started on this one yet. 

Considering how busy this year has been so far, I'm pretty pleased with my progress. My Pinterest presence needs a lot of work, but I'm hoping I'll have more time to have guilt-free Pinterest binges after the wedding. Although planning a wedding should encourage a lot of Pinterest binges, I've got to the stage where looking at people's perfect weddings is stressing me out! I did enjoy looking on there for ideas right at the beginning of the planning process as I was still deciding on colours and so on, but it doesn't appeal to me at the moment. 

I'm very pleased with my progress on Instagram and it's quickly joining Twitter as my favourite social networking site. I love sharing my own photos as well as nosing at other people's. Don't we all?

Does anyone else set themselves objectives for their personal social media presence? Is it just me...?

My social media objectives for 2014

I love a good SMART objective. All objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound. If they're not SMART, they're not objectives!

I've decided to set myself a few objectives for my social networking sites this year as it's useful to have some goals to measure yourself against to make sure you're making progress and achieving everything you set out to achieve. I work in communications so I've been busy setting objectives and writing a strategy for my professional social media sites, so I thought it would be beneficial to set some for my personal sites too. I'm a self confessed social media addict and I'm keen to achieve more on my social networking sites this year than I ever have before.

So here are my personal social media objectives for 2014!

My blog 

• To revamp and rename my blog by April 2014. Although I like the way blog looks at the moment, it could look a lot more professional. I also really like the name of my blog, but unfortunately the littlemissbusy.blogspot.co.uk URL isn't available and I want the name to match the URL. 
• To set up a Google Analytics account for my blog by April 2014. I use Google Analytics for work and absolutely love it, but it's always been set up for me by web developers so I need to figure out how to set an account up myself for my own blog. Can anyone link me to any blog posts on how to do this?
• To reach 100 followers on Bloglovin by the end of the year. I will (hopefully) achieve this by publicising my Bloglovin presence a lot more and taking part in more blogger chats. 
• To ensure that I read other blogs and comment on them for at least half an hour every week throughout the year. I'm very busy at the moment with wedding planning so I think this is a realistic time commitment to set for this objective. Achieving this objective will also help me to achieve the second objective!
• To take part in at least two blogger chats per month throughout the year. Blogger chats are a great way to engage with other bloggers and to find new blogs to read. They're also very helpful as you often find out that other bloggers have exactly the same insecurities about their blog as you have. 
• To attend at least one blogger meet-up before the end of the year. I'm very scared about this one, but I'm determined to step out of my comfort zone and just do it!

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Twitter

• To reach 350 Twitter followers by the end of the year. I currently have 255 so this is a realistic objective. I will achieve this milestone by taking part in more blogger chats as I've mentioned above and tweeting more about current affairs which are of interest to me, using the relevant hashtags for increased exposure.
• To ensure that I engage with at least 5 new people on Twitter every week throughout the year. These could be fellow bloggers, authors, retailers and so on. 
• To ensure that at least 40% of traffic to my blog is driven there from Twitter. Twitter is the biggest promotional tool I have for my blog at the moment and I'm hoping this will continue throughout 2014.
   

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Pinterest

• To reach 100 followers by the end of the year. Achieving the set objectives below will help me to achieve this milestone. 
• To follow at least 100 new people/boards by the end of the year.
• To have at least one Pinterest 'binge' per week! I absolutely adore Pinterest but I do sometimes forget to visit the site for weeks at a time if I'm particularly busy. 
• To comment on at least 5 pins per week as well as re-pin. I re-pin loads of pins on Pinterest but never take the time to comment, which means I'm not making the most of my engagement opportunities.
   

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Instagram

• To reach 150 followers by the end of the year. I currently only have 30 followers as I've only had an Instagram account for two months, but I think it has huge potential for me so I think this is a realistic objective. 
• To follow 100 new people by the end of the year. I currently follow 115 people, most of which are bloggers or Disney people.
• To make better links between Instagram and my blog by promoting at least one photo from my blog on Instagram every week. I love a bit of social media integration. 
• To have an Instagram 'binge' at least once per week where I like and comment on other people's photos. Again, I can't expect people to engage with my photos if I'm not reciprocating. It's all about two-way communication. I do have difficulty with Instagram as I have a Blackberry which means that I don't have the official Instagram app. The Blackberry version is called 'Blackgram' (I know, awful name) and is very glitchy, to put it nicely!

Follow me on Instagram 

LinkedIn

• To reach 300 connections by the end of the year. I currently have 240 connections and this number tends to creep up quite slowly, so this is a realistic objective. 
• To follow 10 new company pages before the end of the year. There are lots of relevant company pages on LinkedIn with interesting content, both from a professional and a personal perspective. 
• To join 5 new LinkedIn groups before the end of the year, and to engage with these groups as and when interesting topics arise. This will be a great way of engaging with like-minded people and picking up tips on various topics which interest me. 

I'll write a 'Halfway through the year' post in June to let you know how I'm getting on these objectives. I'm now off to read and comment on some blogs... I'm going to start as I mean to go on! 

Happy New Year... exciting times ahead!

Happy new year, everyone! What did everyone get up to on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day? I thought I'd say hello to the new year by listing a few things I'm looking forward to in 2014...

1. Wedding
2014 is the year of our wedding! The church and reception venue are all booked and Save the Date cards have been sent out, but I'm looking forward to sorting out all the finer details before the big day in August. I haven't had too many 'bridezilla' moments yet... watch this space.

2. New house
I'm looking forward to becoming a home owner this year as Neil and I will hopefully have our own house within the next few months. We'll be moving in together after the wedding and I can't wait to choose furniture, curtains, utensils, rugs and so on... Pinterest will come in very useful for the next year or so!

3. Honeymoon
I'm so excited about having a long relaxing holiday in September after the wedding. We're hoping to start booking flights and so on in the next few weeks and will probably be visiting two or three Italian cities. Italian food is amazing... I can't wait!

4. McBusted
I'm off to see McBusted in May! Neil bought me tickets for Christmas after I moaned for weeks about not being able to afford to get any. I've already seen McFly 8 times but have never seen Busted, so I'm in for a treat.

5. Hen weekend
I'm also very excited about my hen weekend which will be taking place in July. I'll be having one hen weekend with university friends, school friends and friends based in Cardiff, then another hen do with my friends from work. They will both undoubtedly be Disney-themed and full of food!

6. Six Nations
I always look forward to the Six Nations, and this year Neil has bought tickets to two of the Welsh games in the Millennium Stadium. We're off to the first game and the last game, and I'm hoping for another championship win for Wales. Fingers crossed!

7. Russell Howard
Neil very generously bought tickets for us to see Russell Howard in February (he's a keeper!). Russell Howard is one of my favourite comedians and he's always been hilarious when I've seen him in the past, so I'm very excited about this little outing.

8. Fake Christmas 
I'll be celebrating Fake Christmas with my university friends this month. We've decided we prefer to celebrate Fake Christmas in January as it expands the Christmas period even further. I'm excited about Kirsty's amazing Christmas dinner, more presents and traditional Fake Christmas games such as 'rate the boys'!

9. Mini break
Neil and I are hoping to have a little mini holiday in the next few months just to get away for a few days. Some possible options are Snowdonia, Dublin, London and Disneyland Paris. Any other recommendations for a relaxing little break?

10. Christmas 2014
Christmas 2014 will be our first Christmas as a married couple! 356 days to go :)