It has been an amazing 2018, the highlight being my super Hubby retiring at the end of January allowing us to enjoy the year together.
When we bought this house in 1986, when we struggled to afford furniture, when we saved every penny for our wedding, when money was tight bringing up our two fabulous children, when I was diagnosed with MS, when I suffered a major injury to my left ankle in 2017, when all of these events happened I ... we ... never imagined we would both be retired in our 50s enjoying weekends away and many holidays. There's been a lot of pinching in 2018!
We have certainly enjoyed
wine, food and travel - I've chosen my favourite photos (with the link to my actual blog post in the caption) - it's hard to pick my favourite but here are my highlights of 2018!
Cuvée Reserve is my online wine forum; we have great fun sharing tasting notes, recommendations and new discoveries. Each spring we have a weekend away and this year six of us enjoyed a holiday in Burnham on Sea where we discovered a fantastic English Vineyard and enjoyed a private wine tasting in Weston Super Mare.
After missing a visit in 2017 due to my accident it was a delight to spend a week in Turkey at our favourite hotel.
In May Hubby and I visited The London Wine Fair as a blog writer I am classed as Press, something I find quite surreal. I was taken away with how big the event was, if we visit again it will be over a couple of days.
In June we celebrated our wedding anniversary with a few days in Birmingham enjoying the atmosphere of being in a pub for World Cup football game, an afternoon wine tasting and an amazing Zimmer v Williams concert.
As well as holidays abroad we also had some great England visits including discovering new vineyard, a favourite vineyard and many National Trust Houses. There is so much to discover here at home as well as new places overseas.
In August we had an amazing week touring the Champagne region of France with our friends.
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| Our champagne tasting selfies |
September saw us on a very special holiday, the first time in ten years that our son and daughter came on holiday with us - a holiday for four! We decided to go to Portugal as it was a country new to us all. Our villa was superb with it's private pool and so much space we nearly lost each other.
It was definitely a pinch me moment when I was asked to be a Round 1 judge at The People's Choice Wine Awards; I had to pinch myself even harder when I was chosen as a Supertaster to be a judge in Round 2!
October was all change as our booked Danube River cruise was cancelled due to low water levels - we rebooked for a Yuletide Cruise but decided to still go away .... a week in a caravan in Dorset..... it was fabulous, we visited so many National Trust Houses, discovered a new beer and visited one of the best English sparkling wine producers.
Our year got busier and busier with November being a month of wine tasting events, all very different ending with a wine tasting hosted by myself and Hubby.
Although not planned it being an alternative booking, our final holiday could not have been more perfect. Our first, and certainly not now our last, river cruise from Budapest to Vienna with Rivieria Travel was superb.
Hubby's first year of retirement has been amazing, not just our trips and visits but time together at home enjoying our garden. Weekends are no longer rushed and 'here we go again' is no longer a phrase in our house
I wonder what 2019 will bring; initially a few difficult weeks for our son who had a slight accident on his motorbike just before Christmas. He suffered a badly broken right wrist/arm and needed an operation to straighten and plate it and will be off work for quite a few weeks. I am waiting another operation on my ankle, this time to remove the metal plate and pins as they are causing restriction and irritation on my tendons.
Whatever the year brings I'm sure we will still be enjoying holidays, trips away, good food and superb wine ....
..... wishing everyone a Happy New Year !
A very fun filled first year of retirement for hubby.... hope 2019 is a good one for you both.
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