Goodbye 2015….Hello 2016!

This year has certainly been up and down. I’m not going to lie when I say part of me will be glad to see the back of 2015. It’s actually gone quite quick too. Or is that just me? Loosing my dog Max at the beginning of the year was one of the hardest things for me. A dog as many of you will know becomes part of the family. It was even harder that I was 9000 miles away in Australia when it happened. I also put on a lot of weight in comparison to other years. I really don’t feel happy in my body ending this year so that will definitely be my number one goal for 2016. I lost three and half stone back in 2011 and kept it off for 4 years. This past year I gained back two stone so a much needed operation transformation will be done 😉 But it really wasn’t all doom and gloom this year, as I got engaged to the beautiful man that is Andrew. He proposed as many of you will know on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I had dreamt of doing the bridge climb since I was 9 years old. Andrew is afraid of heights so when I booked the climb, Andrew had not actually booked it with me. About three weeks before we went to Sydney, he randomly said I’m going to do it with you. I was like great and never thought anything of it. He was terrified the morning of the climb but I put it down to nerves of doing the climb and not that he was nervous to get down on one knee at the top of the bridge. It was such an incredible morning in Sydney that day and he couldn’t of planned it better. I still think back to April 24th and wish we could do it all over again. This year I have also hit all my goals I set out for myself, made strong friendships with some beautiful people that will be friends for life (Jess, Dani, Pez & Dan – you guys know who you are) and FINALLY I now have the job I want. 

I made the decision to come home from Australia back in January which was an extremely tough one at that. I was in a two-way mindset, I absolutely loved the friends I had made but my heart was back in Ireland. The blog post I done on my time in Australia was so successful, it crashed my website back in May. You can read it HERE. Over 250,000 of you have read that post and it’s one of my most successful to date. The one thing I have learned from 2015 is life is SHORT. If you are not happy in your job – change it, if you are living abroad and want to move back – do it and as I turn 27 (in February) I have this feeling were I just don’t care what anyone thinks anymore. I feel great going into 2016. If you follow me for a long time, you will know I am obsessed with travelling so I have already made holiday plans for the first few months of the year, I am about to start a new job and I have made much bigger goals that I know I can achieve. 

Here is my 2015 in photos.

Max will always be in my thoughts. What a great dog he was 🙂

I got to make friends with a koala

I went to visit Kalbarri National Park in Australia. It was beautiful

This is just one of the MANY messages I was sent in 2015. I cannot thank you all enough.

Visiting Dubai. We stay at the Waldorf Astoria on the Palm. INCREDIBLE!!!!!!

One of my goals ticked off. I went to an Ice Bar in Dubai.

I was honoured when KISS Magazine said they loved my blog 😀

Cocoa Brown is one of my all time favourite brands so to see Marissa again after being in Australia was amazing. I loved my personalised tanning mitt. I haven’t used it as it’s not that often I get anything with AOIBHE on it 😉

Celebrating 3 wonderful years of The Secret Obsession Blog. I had my TSO Tea Party in the D hotel in Drogheda which was a sold out success. I was thrilled.

Visiting London with my mum to see Lord of the Dance back in June

Exploring my own city with my beautiful Aussie pal. I felt like a tourist it was amazing. Dani came to visit us and I miss her so so much.

What a sunset. On her first night we went to Skerries and this is what greeted us 😀

We also climbed the Sugarloaf when she was here

My king and queen 😉 Well so they thought for the night…

Getting to see one of my best friends Vanessa when I got back from Australia was the BEST

Andrew becoming a finalist in Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2015 for Dooskey Whiskey. He will kill me for telling you all but go FOLLOW DOOSKEY and it’s big plans for 2016. I can assure you it’s big 😉

Another one ticked off the list. We went to visit the beautiful Rottnest Island just off the coast of Perth.

Snorkelling became a past time of mine. Ohhh I miss it.

Another one off the list. Singapore was one placed we stopped on our way home. Universal was not going to be missed.

I had a big thing for sunsets in 2015. They were just too pretty not to take a 1000 photos of them.

My godchild Indie was born in July. She is a doll

This was something I had always wanted to do. The Plaza Hotel in NYC. It was such a highlight.

Ice skating in Central Park with one of my best friends at Christmas. Who wouldn’t love that?

When a friendship lasts more than 7 years, they say it will last forever. Shereen and I loving NYC.

I just love this photo. I love silhouette photos.

Another one of my favourite photos on the beach in Oz

I had wanted to visit Kylemore Abbey since I was about 7/8 after my grandad showed me a painting. I wish I could have went with him but he passed away two years later. It was really so amazing to see it in person. Definitely will be a memory for life

The day before he asked me to be the one 😉

How weird that I took a photo of this right?

He still had not proposed at this stage. If you look really closely at the photo of Andrew’s hand you will see a red ribbon. The ring was connected to the ribbon and sure I hadn’t a breeze. Just smiling away 🙂

And then he done it 20mins later. He had obviously planned the whole thing with the bridge climb company. It was such a special moment. I will never ever forget it.

And the thumbs up means I SAID YES!!! We were just so happy. I still can’t believe it.

The ring 😉

And then we left Australia to head back to HOME SWEET HOME

Which it really was

Spending Christmas with all my family was really special

Every year for the past maybe five years, I write a list of things I want to achieve or do in that year. I’m a very determined person so generally I complete them all. At the beginning of 2015 I set myself out the following:

To hit 10,000 Instagram Followers & 25,000 Facebook Followers 

To visit an ice bar 

Get a Prada handbag 

Go to see the Pinnacles in North West Australia 

To walk Sydney Harbour Bridge 

Visit Bondi beach

Visit Rottnest Island 

Go to Singapore  

Some of these may be silly to others but I achieved all of the above. My goals for the coming year are similar with a couple of very personal ones in there. 

So what do I want to achieve in the year ahead……..

Loose two stone gained in 2015 

Finish saving for our deposit on our first home 

Hit the following – 

10,000 Twitter Followers 

30,000 Instagram Followers 

40,000 Facebook Followers 

Go snowboarding as didn’t get to go in 2015 as I was in Australia 

Go to see Giants Causeway 

Start running & be able to do a 10K run 

Visit Edinburgh & Amsterdam 

Get a YSL Bag 

Buy a Polaroid camera as I have always wanted one, keep saying I’ll get it & I never do 🙂 

See the Northern Lights in Iceland

Do more hiking – climb Croagh Patrick & Carrantuohill 

Go to Vegas & the Caribbean in October 

So there you have it my review of 2015 and what I am setting myself out to achieve in 2016. There’s a lot of travelling in there so I am excited. What goals are you setting for yourself? What do you want to achieve this year? 

Let me know below 🙂 

Happy New Year to each and every one of you. Thank you so much for reading my blog and supporting me. I absolutely love blogging and I am very excited to see what 2016 brings.

Love Aoibhe xxx