2016: A Recap Of Travel, Life and Blog


Grand Canyon Portrait

I had to sign something today and it dawned on me that it’s the last time I will ever write the date as 2016. I always get sentimental about writing the date for the last time, ever since I learned how to write when I was little.
In a bid farewell to 2016 I thought I would write a recap and summary of my year in travel, personal life and blog. It's a year that will mark history but for me personally it has been a truly amazing year. Why you say? Well let me fill you in.

Travel

I started off the year the best way, with a visit to the gorgeous Barcelona in January. You can see everything I got up to (including my first ever vlog!) here.




I finally managed to visit the USA, something that has been on my list for many years. I had one hell of a road trip and made memories that I will hold for a life time. You can see what I got up to in LA, and check out the breathtaking sights of the Grand Canyon, you can even watch a 360 degrees video of the incredible Antelope Canyon below (rotate and move your phone to see it in 360).



I will also be sharing my photo diary from San Francisco and some stunning nature photos on the blog in the very near future.

I went back to Lithuania for the first time in 8 years and finally got to explore the capital city of the country that I’m originally from. I also got to take the boy with me and he fell in love with the place! Again a guide and travel diary to Vilnius and Palanga the seaside town will be coming to the blog.

Trakai Castle  Lithuania

One sunny and rather hot summer evening me and my bestie Kate drank wine and booked a getaway to Croatia on a whim. We met bears, picked pomegranates for the first time and experienced the sea playing music for us. You can watch our little adventure in the video below and I’ll be uploading a full post about Zadar in the next couple of weeks.



I flew home to Ireland (or Northern Ireland) to be specific to vist my beloved little family a few times this year and every visit across the water is always precious and just lovely.


Portrush harbour Northern Ireland


I even managed to squeeze in a couple of gorgeous English weekend getaway adventures! I spent my birthday and the beautiful Ox Pasture Hall and waved summer goodbye at the evergreen nature gem that is The Grainary Farm.


The Grainary Farm
The Grainary Farm

You’d think after all these holidays I would be happy to just sit back and enjoy a quiet 2017, but alas that is not the case. I live in a constant state of wanderlust and I’m hoping that 2017 will allow me to have plenty of adventures. We have already booked a weekend trip to Gdansk in Poland in January and will be celebrating my birthday in Iceland this year! I'm hoping to get more adventures booked in as the year goes on.

Personal Life

In 2016 I have started a new job (again in video production) which I’m still really enjoying so that’s a good thing in itself and I hope it continues well into 2017 and beyond.

I have passed my driving test! I’ve never shared this on the blog but I can honestly say that it was the hardest thing that I’ve ever done in my life. Since I started school I’ve always been good at exams, I’ve been good at education, I’ve been good at job interviews and so to fail at something (unfortunately more than once) really took its toll on me. To the point that my anxiety on the test would get so bad that I couldn’t even think or see straight. The waiting times in Leeds are about 3-4 months long at the minute so this meant that the whole experience was dragged out for way longer than I wanted. I was so close to giving up so many times. The boy wouldn’t let me and I’m so glad for his extra push. I actually discovered a hypnosis video on youtube which really helped me to make my driving test anxiety much better and earlier in the year I finally passed. Hoorray! Also moral of this story? If something is really hard, don’t give up because you got this, even if it takes time you got this!

Blogging

Sunnydeii has turned 2 and I feel that my sunny little corner of the internet has really evolved this year. I’ve become and Indigo Herbs ambassador and have created some tasty healthy recipes (healthy no bake chocolate torte anyone?!).


Vegan flourless chocolate torte recipe

Collaborated with some wonderful brands for some fashion posts which I’m very proud of! My favourites are here, here and here.

Fashion Blogger in San Fran Cisco

Attended lots of amazing restaurant and bar launches.

Hedonist Project Leeds

Most importantly spent time with some mega babes that I can now call real life friends (as opposed to online friends).
I can honestly say that it has been the best thing coming out of me starting a blog. I’ve met so many awesome fellow blogger ladies and feel so lucky to call them my friends. My faves are India and Corinne who I speak to daily about absolutely everything and anything and have been having regular drink and cheese dates with since December last year.

Leeds lifestyle bloggers
Leeds Lifestyle and Travel Bloggers

Hayley and Sharon who are both hilarious and every time we all get together we have a fab time. Also my fab little squad which consists of Ally, Lucinda, Laura, Ellenor and Lauren.
I’ve loved getting to know these girls who are all so different and awesome in their own way.

Leeds Lifestyle and fashion bloggers selfie
Leeds Lifestyle Bloggers

I started my own youtube channel! I work in video production by day but I'm so used to being behind the camera it took quite a lot of guts for me to get in front of it. I have shared some of my travel adventures and even hosted twitter question and answer video with Corinne which you can see below. I'm planning to do more fun travel videos in 2017 so please subscribe.



I’ve grown my social media following, although I have to be honest the growth hasn’t been as quick as I would have liked, I’m really hoping to get to know and engage with more people in 2017!

Sunnydei in 2017

You can expect more travel posts, more holistic living and food posts and hopefully some more fashion posts.
I would like to say THANK YOU to every single one of you who has stopped by my blog, left a comment, a tweet, shared it with a friend or simply enjoyed any of my posts. You guys make my days! Blogging is a lot of hard work and it’s so rewarding to know that someone out there has read my content and enjoyed it. I would like to wish you a wonderful, adventure filled happy New Year and see you in 2017!


Leeds Lifestyle and Travel Blogger jumping

Until next time,
You can also find me in all of these places!
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10 comments

  1. Such a fabulous post Dei. Big love xxx

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  2. Fab post Dei! Here's to a fab 2017 xx

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  3. A fab year - let's make the next one even better! Love your travel vids gal.
    Love Lucinda xx

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  4. It looks like you've had a pretty fabulous year, here to 2017 being bigger and better!

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  5. Lovely post :) Thank you for the shout out you gorgeous human being :)


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