2021 Roundup

Welcome to my yearly roundup post where I share with you the highlights and lowlights from my year, 2021 has been a weird year, a lot has happened and although it hasn't been my favourite year, I have had some really good memories and some big changes have happened in my life.

My 2021 Roundup

January 

As usual, January was quite nothingy for me, especially this year as we were in lockdown for the start of 2021. I have to say after 2020 and being in lockdown over the new year period, I wasn't excited for 2021 at all. By this point, we had been struggling with the pandemic for so long I just had no hope that we would come out the other side.

For some reason though, I started being quite productive (I think to distract myself from these feelings) and I started my writing dissertation and also started planning how I was going to make money with my blog. 2020 was the year my blog really "took off" so I used the new year to see how I could make the next step with it. 

In 2021, I was able to make £500 through my blog and Instagram with lots of gifted campaigns dotted about too! This has been the first year I've made any money from it so I am very pleased with that! It did take a lot of work that I haven't really been able to keep up in the later part of 2021 though.

February

After planning how I was going to make money through blogging, February was the first month I actually earned anything. It was also filled with lots of freezing cold beach walks.

She might kill me for saying this but my mum had her 50th birthday in February and it was great fun. We all made one of those lockdown happy birthday videos for her (throwback!) and it was just great to celebrate something after a gloomy start to the year.

I'm not going to lie, February was probably the worst month for my mental health as I was just so fed up with lockdown and feeling isolated. I find it important to share lows with you as well as highs so you know I'm human and I'm not just showing off the best version of myself online.

March

March for me was mainly filled with socially distanced walks with friends. At the start of the year, I would just complain so much about all of the things we couldn't do but those walks with friends were something I really appreciated and it made me focus on the things that we could do to bring us joy at that moment in time.

April

April is my bday month and I had yet another lockdown birthday and turned 22 but this one felt way less restrictive. I was able to see my boyfriend and friends and a couple of weeks after, Joe and I went for an outdoor meal to celebrate when things opened outdoor seating. Classic me to make it a whole birthday month. Stay tuned to see what I do for my 23rd birthday and if we are in lockdown again (my luck). If not, I'm going big!

Because outdoor seating started opening for restaurants and pubs and I was gagging to be anywhere but my uni bedroom, I went any time that I could for bottomless brunch or for food. But does anyone remember how freezing it was? I just remember thinking it was going to be warm and it really wasn't, I even had to wear gloves at one point.

May

So after all these months of writing my dissertation since January, I finally submitted it in May and basically finished uni. Throughout all of the other months, I was doing loads of uni work too but I didn't mention that because - boring. 

When I submitted my diss, I got the standard picture with the front page outside my uni. Only the front page - because we submitted it digitally rather than on paper, which I think is so much better anyway.

After finishing, I was invited by the National Express to go on a PR day out with them, so Joe and I went to London for the day on the coach.

We also went to a PR evening at Mbuntu's opening night in Southampton. So basically, I was feeling quite VIP in May. Uni was over, and there was a lot to look forward to re the world opening up.

June

First of all, in June, I celebrated three years with Joe. YAY! We went for a nice anniversary meal at Cote Brasserie and it was extra special because we didn't get to celebrate last year. Also, I started my graduate job halfway through June. I am now a social media and communications coordinator at the same place where I did my internship.

Because I knew I was starting soon, I tried to make the most out of my non-working days so Joe and I took a trip to Weymouth together. We both love animals so we went to the aquarium which was great fun. I also went to Ginjams in Westbourne with my friends which is a gin and cheese bar and had been on my Bournemouth bucket list for years.

One of my favourite days ever was in June, too. At our uni house, my two friends and me planned a sports day themed party at our house. It was the first party we could have at ours because of Covid and the people who didn't really like to party were away that weekend so it worked out well. It was so much fun and we did some classic games like egg and spoon race.

Another PR invite - My friend Maddie and I were able to try the lovely Greyhound Inn pub in Corfe. I can't recommend their pub garden enough, it was so stunning and there are great views of Corfe Castle.

Also in June, I spoke on the radio for the first time. I was interviewed on BBC Radio Wiltshire as someone who watches Love Island to talk about the new show starting. Big deal for me as I hate speaking on things like that.

July

July was the month I moved back home from uni which was a weird experience. It still hasn't hit me yet that uni is over for good and it's been months since finishing.

As nightclubs reopened in the UK, I was able to go to my first ever drag show, and see my fave Scottish Queen, Lawrence Chaney. I love drag so much and I hope to go to many more drag shows in the future, it was so much fun!

The day after (suffering from a hangover) I went on my first out of two student nights out in the whole of third year. I was so glad to go on a night out after months of not being able to.

This is the month Joe moved back to London for work too, so since then, we have been getting up to all sorts of fun things that I will let you know about.

August

In August, we celebrated Joe's birthday (he's a leo) and had a lovely meal in Fulham with his family. 

I also had my friend Maddie come to stay at my house so I gave her a very countryside weekend, there were chickens. We moved house last November and not many of my friends have been to my new house mainly due to covid.

After much anticipation on whether it would happen or not, my friends from uni and I went to Bournemouth 7s Festival. This is basically the event we look forward to every year and we couldn't go in 2020 so it felt even better to go this year - even if my feet did feel broken by the end of it.

September

At the beginning of September, my mum, grandma and I went to see 9 to 5 The Musical. Going to see shows is a newfound love of mine and I have really enjoyed all the ones I have been to so far and this was no exception.

In the middle of September, Joe and I went on a long weekend away to St Ive's in Cornwall. We had the best time there and this was the last of the sunny weather we had this year. Read about our St Ives trip in full here.

Towards the end of September, I visited Joe in London and we went to Spitalfields Market, where I had a pulled pork bun, and about a third of a crumble from Humble Crumble because it was so filling. After that, we went to a spontaneous comedy show at Vauxhall Comedy Club and had a really good night.

October

October was a month filled with lots of nights out and fun stuff. Firstly, I went on a trip to Incognito in Winchester. If you haven't heard about it yet, it was the best cocktail bar I've ever been to! They also have one in Kingston and the cocktails are just so cool and fancy. They are more than just cocktails and are presented with such cool effects. It is better if you just see for yourself on my Instagram reel here.

I also took my friends from home on a night out in Bournemouth. We went to DYMK which is the gay club in Bournemouth as I had such a great time there seeing Lawrence Chaney earlier in the year.

November

I haven't stopped going on about this, and I'm not sure when I will but I graduated from uni in November, and this was probably the best day of the whole year. It just made all of the days of hard work and feeling like I couldn't do it pay off.

After graduating and celebrating with my friends, I also had a party a few days later to celebrate with my family friends at home. In true Lauren Kenny style, we had a huge brie centerpiece.

Another month, another visit to London, but this time it was to see my friends. We celebrated one of my friend's birthdays by going to Hijingo in Shoreditch, which is basically a really futuristic boozy bingo. I am yet to win anything at a boozy bingo - I'm starting to think it's a fix.

Towards the end of November, I just started getting into Christmas activities early, like Christmas shopping and going to the markets for mulled wine.

December

To kick off December, I was invited to a PR meal at Pizza Venti in Salisbury where we tried their amazing Christmas menu. The pizza was to die for!!

I also went to my first book club meeting. I have been a part of the book club since September but there were various reasons why I couldn't attend the previous ones. It was really great to meet some new people in my home city.

As I said, I also try to share the low moments as well as the highlights, and in December, I spent a lot of time feeling really anxious. I have spent a lot of time trying to improve my mental health and going out of my comfort zone, but what I was hearing in the news about the new waves of Coronavirus made me really worried because of how much I struggled in the previous lockdown.

At this time of year, we usually go to the Dortmund Christmas markets but this year we went to the Birmingham one instead.

All in all, the year has been filled with highs and lows just like any other year. Has it been the best year of my life? Has it been the worst? Not really. A lot has happened that I'm grateful for and that's why I really like writing these posts. At first I thought this year had been a bit rubbish with Covid, but looking back through the year, I have some really fun memories and lifelong achievements that I am proud of.

What are some of the highlights of your year?