It is the time where the 'year in review' posts are popping up on Facebook. I love seeing what other people have been up to! With me going away, you will hear loads about my 2016, but looking back on 2015 so far has made me realise I've done a lot this year. So this is my 2015 year in review 'minus my Christmas and start of my Colorado trip'.
Where better to start than with New Years. This was the first one I didn't spend it with my family but spent it with friends instead. Was so good! So much fun. We hung out in the bathroom for far too long and made a kinda lame but fun rave in the smallest room in the house with phone strobe lights and a huge speaker. (I had just got my Polaroid cameras. So many photos were taken - the photo chosen isn't the most flattering photo of everyone)
Not long after New Years, I got a job at Morrisons (the same Morrisons that Calvin Harris worked in when it was called Safeway)!! This job has been great for me. It has taught me how to embrace green shirts, how to do makeup in less than 5 minutes, how to handle creepy customers, and learn to deal about talking about the weather a lot. (Alllll the time). I
love new people. I love having really good conversations with people and in retail you get that. I do love my job but it's not what I want as a career but I know I see my myself doing some more retail work in the future - got to love a pay check! 
Nothing too exciting happened between New Years and Easter apart from prelims for my 3 highers and an advanced higher. There was also work, normal family stuff, and hanging about with the guy I was with at the time (he's called Maxwell. More with him in later.)
I did see Nina Nesbit, who is a British singer I love. It was a small and intimate gig that was a part of this fringe festival called the Big Burns Supper. It was lovely and when I shouted out 'can I have a selfie'... She said yes! So I ran onstage with her and got a selfie and a hug. Admittedly it was a bad quality selfie and I almost broke my ankle on the way off the stage (smooth).But it was awesome.
There is one trip that took place during Easter, which was beautiful, fabulous and brilliant (beaulousiant...?) It was time for my annual ski trip. Scripture Union Scotland run this amazing ski trip in Austria and it's been the highlight of my year for the past 3 years. It has been a spiritual game changer in my life. If you hadn't guessed by now (or known because you know me) I'm a Christian and if it wasn't for this trip I don't know how I would cope because 1- skiing is awesome 2- God is awesome and 3- if the guy in charge has a beautiful beard you can't go wrong... We stay in a gorgeous schloss (it's basically a castle) next to this Austrian lake that is only 30 minutes or so from the ski resort, where I learnt how to ski back on my first Austria trip. The weather this year wasn't the best so we had to go to a different ski resort for a couple of days, which actually was really good. I love exploring the mountains and not knowing what exactly is coming up ahead. I could talk about the Austria trip for hours. You will get a huge post after the 2016 Austria trip so I'll move on. But let me tell you one more thing - I had the best naps of my life so far on this trip (cheers Iona).
Next came exam leave. Which was hard work but fun. Though there are days you have to sit inside and like...study (ew). There are days you ask the mother of the children you often babysit if you can take the youngest to a farm park for the day because you really want to go but as a 17 year old you feel it would be inappropriate to go yourself... It wasn't long till the official last day of school came around. My school was lovely enough to decide no one was actually allowed to be on school grounds on the last day of school. So we went to the forest. It was a beautiful sunny day and it was lovely!
Then came prom. Prom is stressful. Choosing a dress was incredibly hard. I did not know what I wanted! I drove my mother crazy! But once I had tried on a cute navy dress from Monsoon I had fallen in love. Plus - shout out to my step mum for buying me the most beautiful and probably most expensive shoes I will ever own... Luckily I had two proms (Maxwell went to another school), which was great and so nice. Both proms were funny, great and were with amazing people. I will treasure the prom memories for a long time to come. (P.s. boo to the benefit makeup person who made me look like a drag queen, leaving me to redo my makeup myself when I have zero makeup skills.)
Basecamp was the next adventure. Basecamp is a Scripture Union (SU) camp (same organisation that run the Austria trip) where they train you to be a leader for them. Here you learn all there is to know about how to be a leader at a Christian camp. You do all the child protection training, learn how to lead games, bible studies, worship and how to deal with difficult situations that might arise. I was truly inspired here. My two group leaders gave me a lot of amazing advise on how to 'fan the flame within you'. This basically meant to use my happy, bouncy and friendly personality for evangelism. The most amazing moment was singing a song that my leader Ian wrote; I have a recording of it and play it whenever I need a spiritual pick up hehe. Also, can't beat a SU ceilidh. It was a brilliant trip!
Shoutout to the basecamp crew (Abigail, Andrew and Jack). What babes.
To kick off the overseas summer travels was Lourdes. This is a catholic place of pilgrimage. It is thought to be a place of healing (I am not catholic but it seems to be a big deal and I respect that). I was a part of the ‘Youth For Lourdes’ team and it was our job to help the assisted pilgrims, who are often in wheelchairs or need extra help to from place to place and we make sure they have a good time. I loved it there. Met so many amazing and inspiring people. Everyone became really good friends. Not going to lie, there were a few catholic masses I fell asleep in. We hung out in a Irish pub in the evenings till late and we were up early to serve breakfast in the morning and it was so hot during the day. Plus, Lourdes is not flat! Pushing a wheelchair up loads of hills is hard and very tiring. The photo below (top right in the collage) is actually three churches, which had been built on top of each other, on the ground of the grotto. (Mary appeared here to lady Bernadette of Lourdes I think...) but how beautiful is this place!
The three week family holiday in Florida was next. The planning for this trip has gone on for years! It was a brilliant trip with my Gran Sandra, Grandpa Don, auntie, uncle, three cousins, my two siblings, one of my dads, his girlfriend, and for a couple of days, his girlfriends parents and grandma. So there were a lot of us. It was a magical three weeks.
It is however the kind of holiday I'd only do once. It was brilliant and the trip was made brilliant by being with family and I MET WOODY! (I swear I was more excited about meeting Disney characters out of anyone and I'm the eldest out of my cousins and siblings) I feel I prefer holidays that don't feel so tourist centred. But Disney World and Universal Studios is something that you have to do once and I loved it.
Also in Florida I found out I did really well in my exams...this was brilliant.
Then came Leeds festival. Leeds festival was by far the best weekend of my life. Me and Maxwell went to Leeds festival together. Our final big couple thing before he went to university. It was brilliant. I saw Metallica, Mumford and sons, Jamie T, Neck deep and so much more. During the day there was a comedy tent that I loved. Leeds fest is crazy. One day I saw a band where a guy with a double bass crowd surfed...with his double bass...only at Leeds. It was mental. The relentless tent was mental. We had a lovely little Scottish camping ground with folk who looked after each other. The atmosphere at Leeds fest is so hard to describe, but I will be going back because it was just too good! Could not think of a better way to end the summer.
In September I had a trip to a small island called Gozo, which is just off Malta. This was with one of my dads, his wife and his wife's parents. This was a lovely trip. I always love my trips with these guys.
Photo credit - Beverley turner
During this holiday I did a load of scuba diving which was great as I haven't done much since I got my advanced padi open water qualifications and I did a lot of exploring by myself. I spent a lot of times going for long walks or just reading on the beach. It was so nice and my step mum even got me eating fancy food (it wasn't too bad but I would of preferred some of my staple meals of baked beans and Marks and Spencer's ready meals). Love these guys and loved the views Gozo had to offer on land and under the sea.
So that's all the big things that happened in 2015. There are many more moments I could talk about but it would be boring and this post would get far to large and Christmas would finally be here by the time I'd finish.
Christmas is almost here! Ahhhh.
