Goodbye 2016 – Hello 2017, What do you have in store for me?!

2016 has been a mixed year for me! I will start with a little bit about my personal life and then change to blogging.

I lost my grandpa earlier in the year and that has been really hard. It actually happened a few days before I went to the States, which made it all even more complicated. I really miss him. Grandma has been really struggling ever since. She now lives in an elderly home, but that was a long and exhausting process.

Traveling to the States really helped me, letting go for a while. Of course I had my sad moments, but I think everyone has that.

My two weeks in New York, Dallas and Chicago have been amazing. I have seen so many things, finally met my second momma Wendy and enjoyed some shopping. If you want to read more about this highlight of my year, check out my Highlights of 2016 blog post Highlights of 2016.

I also finished my second year of teaching and am now half way through the third year, that’s crazy. I’m still very much enjoying my job and I actually started training students from the university of education. I have one of them coming every Wednesday to watch and teach and then he will be teaching three weeks straight after the holidays. It’s a great experience so far and you can definitely expect a blog post about it soon.

In May I got voted into the committee of my choir, dealing with the website, facebook and other media. It’s a lot of work, but I really enjoy it. Singing is a big part of my life and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. We had a lot of concerts this year and have already been preparing for next year, when we’ll sing MESSIAH by Handel. I even got asked to help out in another choir, which is fab.

Then I also did CHESS The Musical, another highlight of my year! Plus of course my travels to London, which actually leads me over to blogging.

In October I went to London to the Fabulous Night In event with Lindsey Kelk, Giovanna Fletcher and Mhairi McFarlane. Lindsey Kelk is so awesome and it was fantastic to meet her. Gi is the loveliest person, so nice! And I loved hearing more about Mhairi McFarlane’s books, but they are still waiting for me in my bookshelf. There I also met lovely Kelly, Amy and Derna, some of my blogging friends. Speaking of meeting my blogger and author friends. Of course I met Aven Ellis in Dallas and in New York I met up with Hilary Grossman and Meredith Schorr. In summer I went to Munich and finally met the lovely Alba from Alba in Bookland.

Sadly, I wasn’t able to see my bestie Mary this year, but she asked me to be one of her bridesmaids, which just makes me so so happy! LOVE YOU SO MUCH LOVE, thanks for everything!!!

Last year I read 133 books and the year before 144, this year I have only managed 90. I’m not disappointed, because it’s actually clear why. I have been busier than the years before. First of all with my committee work, rehearsals for CHESS and the choir, my occupation with the uni students and just life. I still managed to post a lot of reviews on my blog and never really fell into a reading slump, I just had less time. Another reason was also starting a YouTube channel, which I really enjoy. I have stopped filming videos at the moment though. First of all I didn’t like posting a Favourites video every month and sometimes thinking about content. I prefer just doing something, when an idea comes up. I love creating my travel vlogs and I will keep on posting these. Then there was also the fact that my colleagues, parents and children at school are able to see them. I even got some weird comments from a parent once. I now put most of my videos on private, so you can still see them, if you have the link. I will try to film more again, but only when I feel like it.

I’m really happy with my blog. I have change the name this year to “Simona’s Corner of Dreams” from being called “Sky’s Book Corner”, especially because I don’t only blog about books, but also Lifestyle, Travel and other things. Moreover, the name Sky is an old nickname, no one uses anymore. I’m still mainly a book blog with lots of reviews, Q&As, guest post and spotlights. I post two lifestyle posts a week though, which gives it a great change.

So let’s see what 2017 has in store for me! Definitely lots of books and blogging, but also work, singing and traveling.

I’m going to America again, still planning where exactly, but I can't wait.

If you want to read more about my personal and my blogging goals, check this space for a blog post soon.