goodbye, twenty thirteen

black loose peplum top dorothy perkins / lilac cardigan primark / berry snood primark / petite 'ridley' skinny jeans asos / tall black boots new look / black texture and suede bag primark

Seriously though - where has this year gone?! When I think back on 2013 I see it as being a decent year - I travelled to Rome and Vatican City in July which was absolutely incredible - I wrote all about it here. I also went to Scotland and Wales twice each, which has become a sort of standard routine in my life now. As I finished my GCSE exams in June, I had an eleven-week summer which I definitely appreciated! Although I was disappointed with my exam results, I have 11 grades to my name and I'm proud of that. Since starting sixth form I've felt myself get back on track in a way - I now enjoy my classes more after dropping Maths and Triple Science and am feeling motivated to get into university in eighteen months time. Socially, although I am still my awkward introvert self I feel much happier - I've discovered a lovely bunch of people in the past few months and completely dropped those who made a negative impact on my life.

2013 was the year that anxiety entered my life, although at the moment I'm feeling chilled and calm. Since the first (and worst) panic attack in April things have gradually got better, albeit with a few tremors along the way. I've let my blog front slip a bit, which I'm disappointed about, however this motivates me to give it my all in the new year. I won't say too much more as I have a 2013 recap series beginning in January consisting of many highlights - including life, music, beauty, fashion and nails; and I don't want to give too much away.

Things I am looking forward to in 2014:
- Visiting my favourite place on the planet and the place I consider to be my second home, Perth in Western Australia. It's my Mum's home city as well as being the home to a majority of my family members and I am on the verge of squealing in excitement. Every day that passes is a day closer to being reunited with my favourite people and that makes me insanely happy.
- Knowing that it is the last full year of secondary education. I'm in my fourteenth year of school now so I am definitely ready to ease out of the school environment and into the wider world.
- Exploring London more. One of my favourite things to do is to hop on a train and into Central London, seeing how the different boroughs are individual and exploring through various exhibitions (and lets be real, have a fab excuse to scoff down ridiculous amounts of gorgeous food). I wrote about B-Soho in my post (here) about the London Blogger Meetup in January of this year and have since returned with my Dad to fall in love with their pesto pizza. I am definitely planning to head back there sometime soon in 2014.
- Trying to get some valuable work experience on my CV.
- Get into reading more. As an A-Level English student I read a lot in classes anyway, but I'm beginning to explore more with books of my choice and the thought of that excites me a bit.
- Seeing The 1975 live in April. Need I say more?
- Seeing my goddaughter grow up into a beautiful young girl and begin school.
- Meeting more bloggers and getting my feet in the door with industry events.

I hope you all have a fab NYE (and if you're like me and are staying in tonight, enjoy your heavy dose of TV and a meal full of carbohydrates. One Tree Hill and Spaghetti Bolognese sounds ultra appetising to me...) Needless to say, I hope that wherever you may be tonight and whatever you are doing, I hope you embrace the moments you have and start 2014 on a high note. I will see you then!

Thalia
xxx

P.S - fashion galaxies xo turns 2 tomorrow. Crazyyyy stuff!

P.P.S - I, despite not being American or having American heritage (that I know of, anyway) almost know their national anthem off by heart thanks to Carly Rose Sonenclar. I loved all of her performances when she was on The X Factor USA in 2012 but this in my opinion is in another league. She's incredible and I've watched it so many times over the past few days.