Highlights of 2012

Well, the year is drawing inexorably to a close.

After a week of self indulgence and laziness I’m ready to get on with things.  In 2012 I’ve certainly learnt a lot of lessons about myself and what I can do. I’m finishing the year feeling more confident in my abilities, and keen to get myself on track and really focus on some of the projects I have going on.

To end the year on a positive note, I’ve looked back at some of this years highlights and successes. As it turns out there are more than I thought! Isn’t that always the way? That’s why I feel these posts are really valuable. For me, anyway, for you they might be horribly, horribly dull, but I hope not! It’s so easy to remember the bad or diffcult things that happened to you and forget that in between some of it was pretty amazing.

So here are my highlights of 2012, don’t forget to take some time to think of yours.

Vintage Norwich & The Vintage City Network

Working with some people I respect who run amazing sites to benefit all of us has been amazing this year. We’ve had ourselves featured in Company Magazine and Spanish Glamour and worked hard to try and build the profile of our sites and the Vintage scene in the UK.

Vintage Norwich was a year old in March and I celebrated with the Best of Vintage Norwich Awards. This year we’re planning to do them again, bigger and better, and we’re going to give readers the chance to buy tickets to come along as well. I’m incredibly enthusiatic about what an amazing place Norwich is to live and I hope to do more with it next year!

Producing Costumes for the Mill Rythe Vera Lynn Musical

I was contacted out of the blue by a holiday camp that I used to go on holiday to when I was little and asked to help them find costumes for a musical they were producing about Vera Lynn. It’s not something I’d done before, but I know how to put together a 1940s outfit, so I agreed to help. It was hard work and stressful dressing the entire cast, especially when I’d never seen them in person and didn’t know what might suit them. When I saw the photos of the costumes on stage I was really proud of what I’d managed to put together.

Vintage Style Masterclasses

At the start of the year I qualified as a Make Up Artist, not something I plan to do as a profession, but a handy string to my bow considering some of the things I like to do and write about!

In April the Historical Sauces tentatively launched our first masterclass, on eyeliner flicks and red lipstick application, and it was a roaring success. I absolutely love teaching people to do hair and make up, and the classes have turned out to be such fun, with tea cocktails and cakes to nibble. Since the first one in March we’ve launched a hair masterclass and run a 1920s make up masterclass. We already have a 1940s class lined up for January, and another hair workshop in February.

(photo Missy Vintage)

Learning to Run

Without doubt this is one of the best things that has happened to me this year. In May I returned from a damp and drizzly holiday; fat, unhappy and unfit; and signed up for a 5k run. I couldn’t even keep running for 5 minutes when I started, but in September I completed my 5k in under half an hour (just!) and raised over £300 for Cancer Research. I feel fitter, slimmer and healthier and it’s given me a whole new enthusiasm. I’ve started a new blog, Lipstick, Lettuce & Lycra, and I completed my first 10k in October, running consistently for an hour, something I never thought I’d be able to do in a million years. I’m now signed up to run a half marathon in November 2013 as well. Gulp.

Some Amazing trips

I was lucky enough this year to take some amazing trips. There were some smaller ones that I might be able to recreate, a trip to the Birmingham Christmas Market, a stay at Hintlesham Hall, seeing The Mousetrap, and the amazing Red Lion Pub.

There were also a couple that will probably turn out to be genuine once in a lifetime opportunities, like a day trip on the Orient Express (I love you Akeela!) and an amazing few days on Jura staying in the Jura Lodge, thanks to the distillery.

Some of them might have been inconveniently timed, but they were all amazing experiences and 2012 would have been a much sadder place without them.

I hope the last evening of 2012 is a wonderful one, whatever you’ve got planned, and tomorrow we can all start working on next years highlights.

What have been the Highlights of YOUR year?