Best of Blog 2017

Morning Peeps!

I’ve been following lots of bloggers who’ve done a review of last year, so I thought I’d do the same. I was curious to know my top ten and was surprised by some…so here we go!

Firstly, I only had the idea to blog in March and set up on WordPress then, but it wasn’t until May that I started properly; (almost) daily blogs, social media etc.

My year ended with 123 Followers (now 129), 4,192 views and 2,072 visitors! Just WOW! Thank you all so much for coming! 🙂

So, My top 10 are as follows:

10. Christmas Bargain Hunting: There had to be a Christmas post in here somewhere, I’ve done so many! 😉 I’m glad that people were bargain hunting and not looking to spend almost a grand (as the national average is now over £800!).

9. Speaking of Christmas, The Wisdom of Dickens came in at 9th most viewed….I’m so proud of you all! As a HUGE Dickens fan, it’s nice to know others are out there who appreciate his genius. As a fan and a teacher, I hope to inspire new fans of his work and it really is wisdom you can live by.

8. I wrote Happy Birthday Mr.B!! way back in August and it’s still getting views! Something about blogging that fascinates me is that you all seem interested in my little world and family, it’s so sweet of you! I get that people would want to read Dicken’s quotes or financial tips from someone who’s lived through debt and come out the other side…but you put us in your top 10…twice!

7. As if I hadn’t been soppy enough about Mr.B on his birthday, you all went and read Love & Marriage on our anniversary a few weeks later! It’s so lovely of you all to be interested, thank you! It’s also really weird to be in the category of ‘married long enough that people want your advice.’ We love each other, simple as.

6. One of my favourite posts to write was your number 6: GCSE Results Day! I’m so happy that one of these results posts  is in the top 10! (I also did A Level Results and University.) As a parent, I know about the emotions associated with the preparations for tests. As a teacher, you share the hope and fear with the pupils and them getting the results they need makes you so proud, it’s like watching your own children reach a milestone! Good luck to those with exams this year…as we get closer I will be offering some revision ideas.

5. Living With PCOS was possibly the hardest thing I’ve ever written. I’m quite open about it and am in a place where I accept it but I don’t usually share how I feel. It’s easy to share medical facts and laugh it off, but sharing the down days is something I steer clear of. I’d been asked more than once to write it, so I had to be honest…good, bad and indifferent. It’s very touching that so many people read it. I hope it helped.

4. On a much lighter note, Why Moana’s Mum is Awesome was 4th most viewed. Honestly, Disney raised their game with this! Best film since Brave (or Tangled if you count Brave as a Pixar film). It’s a beautiful film and it’s modern enough but not too deep with it (like Zootopia was). I don’t usually do film reviews (and this was way after it had been in cinemas) but I had to say how impressed I was with the female role models in it. Even though Moana is the only one with significant screen time, all 3 generations are inspiring (Gramma Tala, Moana herself and her mother, Sina). Well done Disney!

3. Faith, Blog and Love was a pleasure to write. You must’ve noticed by now that I do shout-outs to other blogs quite regularly, so I did this one just for faith bloggers. Firstly, I’m really impressed with them all because sharing your faith is a big thing, especially in a realm rife with trolling and hateful comments, (though I’m happy to report I’ve had none of that) so well done to them for putting themselves out there for Christ. Secondly, there are some people in the world who don’t quite get their Theology right, so I wanted to share reliable resources to make them easy for people to find. Thirdly, I just love to support fellow bloggers and am always happy to share. 🙂

2. My top 2 are both recipes! I am by no means a professional food blogger, but my Slow Cooker Gammon recipe seemed to hit the spot with Y’all! I am shocked it even got noticed with all the amazing food bloggers out there, but I do understand the lure of the slow cooker…I’m trying to learn more recipes for it because I hope to use it more. (So watch this space!)

1. We end this list as we started, with Christmas. My most viewed post of 2017 was Pear and Walnut Chutney!! I can’t really say I’m surprised because it came from the amazing Kirstie Allsopp! So as well as being yummy, it’s associated with Kirstie, Christmas, preserving/canning (which are always popular) and cheese! Why wouldn’t we love it?

So thank you all for coming to read this random collection of stuff that comes out of my head!

I wish you every success with your plans for 2018. I’ll still be here if you want to pop back for a visit. 🙂

Love and Thanks,

Anna x

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