10 Things 1 life ⎜2016 Edition

Last year I made the same blog post so this is going to be my yearly round up of my life, this time from 2016. I think I can safely say that this was a very unstable life for me, nothing went like I planned and I even had to cancel some things because of my health.
But besides the downsides of 2016 there was also room for some amazing things. So lets take a look.

In May of 2016 SFE managed to create an amazing event again. It was held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands which is only a two hour drive from my place. Though I tend to go to most bigger events you might ask why this one was so special compared to the others. Well let me tell you, the whole experience was super. I shared a hostel room with 5 other lovely people, we laughed from the moment we woke up till we went to bed. Talked for many hours about the event and things we like but also shared tips and tricks. I did the hairstyles of two of my dear friends and it was loved by the special guests. It was so nice to do other peoples hair for ones instead of my own hair every single time hihi. But besides the awesome experience of the hostel I also got picked by Kimura U as best dressed at the Tea Party. I still can't believe it even though it is almost a year ago, I felt so honoured!
This event created a special bond between me and my friends and I'm really grateful for that.

April of 2016 was the month where we went to Disneyland Paris with the whole family. It was the first time for my husband but the third time for me and it was exactly how I remembered it from 12 years ago if not longer.. Man, I'm getting old! But being there with the whole family sure is the best thing in the world. I had such a wonderful time. We are planning to make a second family trip in 2018 for the communion of my niece so I'm already looking forward to it. 

Besides traveling we also worked a bit inside our house in our free time. One of the bedrooms is going to be a lolita dressing/guest room. It is still a work in progress as I'm typing this post but I do think it will be finished in no time! Only one more cabinet that needs to be painted and then it is time for decorating! New filming background for 2017 and big room for my lolita closet check! 

In june I managed to graduate from school! I am now officially a Nursing assistant at an Elderly home in my town. Though I'm still going to school to get an official degree instead of a certificate but things are going real smoothly. If everything goes like planned I will be finished with great results in Februari 2017! I'm already looking forward to it.

This might be an ugly duck in the pond but I do wanted to include this part for my round up too. Since it effected my life in every way possible. On the 3th of march 2016 it was our 10th anniversary being a couple and instead of going to Ireland to celebrate it we had to celebrate our anniversary in a hospital room where I was recovering from an emergency operation. To be honest I'm still really sad that we needed to cancel just a couple of days before we would actually leave to Ireland but on the other side I don't know what I would do if things went wrong in Ireland. At the 1st of march I got diagnosed with a chronical illness. I went from doctor to doctor and I'm currently seeing a Professor for the second surgery.  At this moment I'm home from work till I got my second surgery in Februari because of the side effects of my medication and the illness. But besides the huge change in our life I managed to make a video about it as well to share my side of this story. This is not a happy moment but it is super important for me.

It wouldn't be me if it waren't for the dream dresses that I managed to find in the past 12 months. This years addition consists out of the Melty Cream Doughnut and the Träumerei of bright stars. They are both so gorgeous and I can't believe that they are in my closet. Besides adding these two beauties to my closet I also managed to complete my goals list of 2016 which consisted out of adding 1 coat, make a taobao order, add cut-sews and add an Innocent World dress. I'm so happy to say that I did all these things and much more. My style is growing from only sweet to a mix of sweet and classic with some darker dresses here and there too. Looking forward how this wil evolve in 2017.

2016 was definitely a year of traveling, not that we didn't travel much before but not that much traveling by plane. I mean two flight trips this year and a weekend in Amsterdam. That's insane! 2016 must have thought go big or go home. 

On my trip to Berlin I met up with my dearest friend from America Vanilla Bear. She extended her trip while I made our holiday a couple of days longer in order to meet each other. It sure was such a wonderful time, we spend 3 days together and I miss her a lot. As well al some of my other friends that I met around the world.

Berlin was such lovely experience, vegen foods everywhere, hearing German language everyday and seeing so many great people at the event which was at the end of our vacation.

Berlin and Urban Fairytale go hand in hand this year. Not only for a nice event but because I met some awesome people that weekend. Some of them have become really close friends and I'm so thankful for that. Though we live so far from each other it is like we where never apart when we see each other.

I also wanted to point out that I feel so welcome in different communities. Here in Belgium we don't have a community anymore cause we tend to hang out with our own crew instead of meeting each other on a regular basis. But I'm attending meetings in The Netherlands and Germany for quite some time now and I always feel so welcome when I'm there. It still feels weird to me not having a community that meets up every now and then but knowing that I have some amazing friends in different countries is just precious.

Last but not least is my trip to Olso, Norway to visit my best friend Kyra! We see each other every year either here in Belgium or in Norway but this year was special. I was able to celebrate my birthday with her! Even though I was super ill on the last two days it was a holiday to remember. We had delicious vegan meals thanks to the Vegan Vikings week, did some cultural things and it began to snow on the evening of my birthday dinner. Can this get any better? I didn't think so.

2016 was a year of ups and downs but it sure was a year to remember. 

See you in 2017 guys!! 

Lots of love, 

Poppy xx