A Year In Glitter World 2013

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

They say that as you get older the years go faster. I'm finding this more and more true as this year seems to have flashed past in the blink of an eye. In 2011 I wrote THIS post called A Year In Glitter World and it has become one of my most popular articles ever. Crazy times. Since 2013 has been my biggest blog year, with 238 posts, I thought it might be nice to recap and look back over an action packed 12 months.

January began with the love of a mint and gold bag, which is an excellent way to begin a year if you ask me. Beauty reviews of soap and moisturiser maybe weren't the most thrilling, but informative none the less. I talked about how Motherhood has changed me for the better, spending quality time with Matt, having a positive attitude and wrote an extensive post about the history of my hair. From deep to shallow, it was a lovely little month.

February was the month I found my blogging grove and decided to upload more frequently, with almost twice as many posts as January. With glass jar and valentine craft DIYS, FOTD's, product reviews, beauty launches, event write ups, Darcy loves, FAQ's and hauls, February was busy! This was also the month I invented 'Motivational Monday' which ran for almost half a year- it was quite the feature.

March was a big month in my YouTube world. I attended PlayList Live in Florida and it was a triumph on many levels. Not only was it great to meet so many viewers and spend time with so many old and new friends, but I also proved to myself that I could travel without the support of my Dad or my Husband (I'd never really been away without them- I know, crazy!) and that I could handle a week of big adventures. I blogged about photography, travel minis, statement necklaces and beautiful dresses. Also, I shared with you my 'Draw My Life' video which to date has had 1, 114, 820 views, making my most popular ever! On a most sad note, my gorgeous Kitty went to heaven this month and I still miss her. Bye bye Mindy :(

April was the month I took stock and realised I needed to slow down and not stress quite so much, I'm still working on that. We did a lot of family things that month which makes me happy to remember, as well as celebrating Baby Glitter's second birthday in true pinterest style. We started to play outdoors in calmer weather, visited lambs, had family meals out and posted a baby OOTD (must bring those back in 2014). I also talked about beauty bargains, shared videos and discussed my favourite luxury lipsticks.

May was a blog month to be proud of. If variety is the spice of life, then this blog was smokin'. Yeah, I just said that. I posted DIYS, beauty reviews, goodie bag hauls, looking forward lists, motivational mondays, videos, family days out, adult (ooerr missus, nothing kinky, just sans baby) days out and curvy OOTDS. May is how I'd like my blog to always be.

June saw me slightly loose my mind and launch the 30 Day Snap where I encouragde everyone to join me in taking and posting a picture a day. In the long term I'm glad I did it but I recall it being quite a stretch to stick to it as well as normal blog posts, videos, meetings, errands and mummyhood. That month I published 53 blog posts! Eesh! As well as the big snap I had Zoe and Tyler come to stay, showed you a messy bun hair tutorial, talked about trips to the IMATS, a YouTube Party, Liverpool, OOTD's, minibreak makeup, Harry Potter, shopping with AThriftyMrs and a beach OOTD. Whilst a tad too busy, I really got a lot out of June.

July was a month for friends, and with only 22 blog posts, the time spent outside instead of on my laptop was certainly reflected. I put my vintage glasses to good use and made cocktails for drinks on the patio, we took a trip to Zoe's area (she lives about 2 hours west) which Darcy enjoyed and I took the plunge and introduced pink tips to my hair. In beauty and fashion terms, I shared a curly hair tutorial and a Curvy Summer Lookbook. Not being one for high temperatures, I didn't enjoy the heatwave that month and struggled with our baking hot house!

By August I was pretty pooped and blog posts were sparse. After an AMAZING trip to LA, The City of Angels, for Vidcon (an annual youtube convention), I shared a whole heap of photos, answered all your questions and made a little insta-collage of the event. I also shared a list of last minute things to achieve that summer and gave you a rather fabulous chair DIY. I enjoyed my trip to LA so much more than my one to Florida because I knew what to expect and was mentally prepared so spent the month in a happy haze of editing videos and wearing flipflops. August was good to me.

September celebrated my blog's fourth birthday and was month I launched Monday Insights, which I really enjoyed. I finished the Motivational Monday series with a huge collective post, shared my video of the One Direction Premiere (best night ever) and showed you Darcy's official summer pictures. I seem to remember being really impatient in September because I had bought winter boots but it was still to warm to flounce about in them haha.

October marked a big moment for Baby Glitter- her first overseas travel adventure. Me, Matt and some of our family took her on a big ol' trip to Orlando, Florida, to meet Mickey Mouse and co. SHE LOVED IT. If there is ever a time I have seen joy on her face, it was there. October was also the month I stuck a giant metal spider on my head for a halloween party, filmed my Curvy Autumn Lookbook, talked about new bedding and shared a Zara Baby haul with you.

November really was Hannah's month. With her wonderful Christmas Gift Guides, she really was the shining star of my blog and without her it would have looked very bare. I shared with you a few videos, talked about Benefit's beauty kits and launched then ignored a new Monday feature. I'll be honest, I felt a bit down in November. A couple of 'life' things weighed heavy on me and so blogging slipped down in my priorities.

And so that brings us to December. I must say, in four and a half years of blogging, this is the least I've ever talked about Christmas, which is by the way, my most favourite time of year. I have been doing Vlogmas on Sprinkle of Chatter so am pretty much channelling all my energies there and haven't had too much to say over here. Blogging goes like that sometimes.

I have been having some good thinks (is that grammatically correct? I doubt it) about what I want to do with my blog in 2014 and hope you will enjoy the direction I want it to go, it's really not too dissimilar to now, just a couple of subtle tweaks here and there. With my YouTube channels going to crazy well and keeping me so very busy, a toddler to run around after and my sanity to keep in tact, I think this blog could easily suffer. To prevent that and to keep her going (I do so love this space of the net), I hope to take on some help with it in the new year. I will be sure to select someone who is the very essence of Sprinkle of Glitter and someone whose writing style fits perfectly but this is just a heads up, there might be another on board the good ship glitter in a few months time. I hope that sits well with you!

So that's 2013 in a nutshell. Or a blog post if you're being pedantic. 

What have you achieved this year? Was it good to you? Tell me in the comments. 

Toodlepip! 

xx

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