2025 Roundup – Personal Post

I can’t remember the last time I wrote a blog post because I just actually fancied it? I keep reading about how blogs are going to make a comeback, but for me, they never died but everything I write always has to have some kind of bigger purpose, so this one is just for me. Well, you and me! I don’t feel like I share as much anymore, and as someone who grew up chronically online, I don’t love it. So if you can be bothered to read it, here is my 2025 roundup with some thoughts, feelings and fun facts that I probably didn’t share publicly because I was too in my head.

January

January was really surprising. Out of what felt like nowhere (I did not reach out to anyone), I was invited to tons of Sheffield venues to review them. Sometimes with the entire family, which was seriously generous. We had such an amazing time at Gameshow Allstars, like seriously, we’ve all told everyone we know about it. Ate amazing food at Oisoi, Sheffield Korean BBQ food at Shuyo, we joked we were playing tourist in our own city, and it was exciting.

I stick to certain places when reviewing food because I feel bad when I post about being in a flare-up afterwards. I’ve had to say several times, it’s not them, it’s me. I am the problem!

I also got diagnosed with Lipoedema but didn’t share until later in the year, and now I need glasses, which I’m only mentioning so I can share this cute photo of me.

February

In February, I finally manned up and went ahead with our Paris trip for our 10-year anniversary that was actually booked years beforehand, and I honestly loved it so much. But anxiety is very real with health conditions, and it can stop us from doing a lot. Paris was absolutely unreal, everything from the Eurostar to the hotel. I was fully ready to get the whole Paris syndrome, where you’re really disappointed, but we found it all magical and really great accessibility-wise, but I have tonnes of posts on that.

Afterwards, I was really unwell with my first bile dumping episode. I wish there was a nicer word for it, but it is what it is. Towards the end of February, we headed out for a family night at bingo, and just beforehand is when my brother and SIL came over to tell us they were expecting a baby! So we quickly stopped on the way to buy a balloon and a card to surprise them, and I’ve got a photo hiding behind a car so they don’t see us, which still makes me laugh.

March

March was not as fun. My mum had a knee injury (a meniscus tear, we think), which made the entire house inaccessible. It’s one thing to have chronic pain and be too achy to move about your house, but an actual injury where you can’t sit up and down or get anywhere, nightmare. I spent the month arguing with doctors trying to get her help. I even had to do a formal complaint because they were that awful, and ended up speaking to the most god-like doctor we’ve ever come across. There is no record of this call on her NHS account because we’d have loved to track him down and join his local surgery. To this day, we do not know if it’s a shared delusion that we made up, but we’re ever so grateful for that one doctor.

I shared this online, and within seconds, people were giving extremely practical and helpful advice that instantly made life easier for my mum, and again, we’re very grateful to those people. Within the hour, my brother had come round and was helping to install a second bannister on the stairs. In the new house (spoiler if you’ve not seen!), we’ve immediately installed a second handrail on the stairs, which makes them so much better to get up and down.

It did make us start to look at the old house very differently. Living across three floors as a disabled person with older parents is not very practical. It’s not like I’m going to swap rooms and live two floors up either with my broken body.

I’ve stopped sharing my mum online as much because of a few nasty comments. It’s one thing to say bad things about me, I choose this life of posting online, but when you talk about someone’s mum, well, it’s a bit much, isn’t it?

April

The not-fun continued into most of April, and we couldn’t really leave the house or leave my mum alone at all because she was in so much pain and struggling so much. So on Sundays, when my dad wasn’t working, we headed out for date days. For some reason, I never posted them. I don’t know myself. But we headed to different Asian food places in Sheffield like Sakushi, Roku and one of our favourites, Zaap. It was really nice to explore different places, and we even headed shopping to an international food store called Ozmen.

We also invited my friend and her wonderful son to review Cha Ting with us, which instantly became a favourite for all of us, and we both took our families back there not long after.

We also found a little local wild garden to snap fancy photos in that was five minutes away from the old house, so that was fun and really easy.

May

We really got into date days, so we carried them on with reviewing Sheffield Cocktail Week. Alfie had always said about visiting the church we could see from the old office window, so off we went exploring and discovered Wentworth House for the first time. Now we live around the corner from it! Looking back, there were lots of signs leading here, and I love noticing them now. We loved it so much that we managed to convince mum to visit with us later that month, as she was finally feeling a bit better to venture out.

DIY GG was in full force, decorating my nephew’s nursery. Some things are worth the feeling of a broken back for a few days. I’m so grateful to this job, and specifically this blog, for allowing me to work with such amazing brands that I can share with my family. Being able to set my brother and SIL up with their nursery thanks to Bedkingdom, my job feels very special.

May also had an exciting day of events with the Superdrug Meadowhall reopening and then my first Sociability Community Day. It was tiring, but I met so many amazing people that day who have actually become friends too. Plus, I was reunited with Jennie (Wheelie Good Life), whom I hadn’t seen since her engagement party two years before that. We’ve always been in touch, though, and I was even her agent for a while! I guess looking back at this now, seeing her that day also set off another chain of events, didn’t it?

June

GG the explorer for June, July, and a bit into August. Alfie and I had been planning a road trip to Wales for his birthday, as he actually passed his driving test in November 2024, but again, for some reason, I didn’t share. It’s just been implied, I guess. But the weather kept turning really awful, and I wanted a little bit of sun, so we waited, and as soon as the weather changed, we booked overnight.

It was another incredible trip. Wales is so beautiful, and our entire plan worked out amazingly. We explored castles, waterfalls and just had the most beautiful trip that ended with a trip to the hotel’s spa. I mean, how perfect is that?

Mid-month, we headed to another Sociability Community Day, where Jennie really hard-pitched about how I should join the company. Beforehand, it was just casual comments in passing that I had brushed off because I didn’t need more work and didn’t want it, or so I thought…

In June, we also decided that going away to a hot country that we’d never been to before on a family holiday was probably a really bad idea with my mum’s knee still not being back to her usual. We were meant to be going to Portugal and didn’t book insurance in time, a proper rookie mistake, don’t do it. So we transferred the flights, and once again, I manned up and decided to spontaneously book something.

I actually really don’t like travelling despite how much I did in 2025. It causes my anxiety to really go off, and I feel really unwell beforehand, and then when I’m there, I have a great time. I wish I could get over the massive anxiety part.

We decided on Palma because Jet2 don’t fly to many places in Spain, and I wanted to be able to speak Spanish. I also hate flying and won’t do anything over three hours because I just wouldn’t be able to enjoy a holiday with how much pain I’d be in afterwards.

After we booked, I was actually invited on my first press trip with Limitless Travel, group holidays for disabled people, which was a huge moment for me and felt extremely validating as a disabled content creator. It was a dream cruise on the Arvia, which was at the top of my list to try, and going to Barcelona, somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit. So I was having meetings and arranging the cruise for two weeks after we got back, replying to emails whilst quite literally in a pool in Palma.

We ended up being in Palma during a heatwave, which meant the second we stepped out of our room, we were dripping in sweat. With my lipoedema, my legs swelled to at least four times the size, so we spent the majority of the time in the spa area, which was half inside and pure bliss. I was having a massive bile acid flare-up, so I was on a low-FODMAP diet, which thankfully, staying at our first inclusive hotel meant I could easily eat low-FODMAP things and had access to lots of peppermint tea. I even went in the sea for the first time as an adult, and we just had a very lovely and relaxing time. Another amazing trip.

July

We had 17 days between Palma and the cruise to prep, get lots of baby content filmed, live, and calm my stomach down for a two-week trip. We popped to Mamas & Papas to film, and I was able to get my SIL’s dream pram that she was looking at from Ickle Bubba. It was a lot of fun actually filming with them too. Sometimes my brother has been directing behind the scenes, but this time he was actually in it. They’ve been so grateful and even had a gift ready for me when we went to theirs to film, which was so lovely.

During this time, I also had a meeting with Sociability, starting as their new Business Development Officer when I got back in August. It appeared to be a year of saying yes to everything!

Honestly, even arriving at the cruise terminal, I still couldn’t believe I was going on a two-week cruise around the Mediterranean. I had always shared my travels as an ambulatory wheelchair user, and hundreds of people have told me I’ve encouraged them to travel and even go on cruises, but I never expected this. So it was a very big moment.

We knew we didn’t have to spend all the time with the group, as Limitless Travel explained it is a group holiday, but they’re more there for if and when you do want company. We ended up getting on so well, and we’ve really made friends for life. The group chat is still going to this day. Diane, a customer of Limitless, really made our holiday. We’ve even gone on to make a video and blog on travelling with oxygen to help others, as it’s quite difficult to find the information you need. It was an extremely special time with really incredible people.

August

We were still on the cruise a few days into August, and then as soon as we were back, it was quite a wild month. Operation: get ready for baby. More DIY GG decorating my brother and SIL’s house.

Then I officially started my new role at Sociability and instantly loved it. After working for myself since I was 19, I really didn’t know what I would think about being part of a proper team or having an actual boss, but I’m really enjoying it.

I’d also agreed to go see Mariah for my friend Ryan. Personally, I hate concerts. They’re extremely loud, and I’ve never enjoyed them, but now and again, I’m a really good friend and I’m forced to go. I spent the entire journey down to Sandringham House looking for a bathroom on the motorway. Anxiety on long car rides is not fun with BAM (bile acid malabsorption). Overall, it was difficult access-wise but manageable. The day after, we stopped off at a small town, Stamford, on the way back just to explore, which was really fun and spontaneous.

During these months, I’ve always been having a little look at houses, but I finally saw one that really wowed me. We live with my parents by choice, which is an extremely privileged thing to be able to say. We could afford to live separately, but we’re choosing not to. Every house I saw just would never give us the same privacy as we had living across three floors, and moving somewhere else with three floors wouldn’t make sense accessibility-wise. So when I saw this house with a double garage that we could easily convert into an accessible bedroom and wet room, that was it.

As you can probably tell, with the amount of travelling, moving home wasn’t planned at all. I saw the house, and that was that. I arranged a viewing which originally only Alfie and I were going to look at, to see if it was worth us all going. You might remember we tried to move in 2019, but for various reasons, it wasn’t right, and we did view a few more properties at that time that were drastically smaller than their photos.

To our surprise, both my mum and dad decided to come with us, and instantly everyone fell in love. My parents have never wanted to move before. They’d spent a lot of time and money on our old house, and it was beautiful, but it no longer worked for our accessibility needs, and everyone knew it.

We felt at home instantly, and we said on the spot that we wanted it. Obviously, it takes time to do a formal offer and get everything in place, and if it wasn’t for a bank holiday, I’d have been even quicker, but I got things sorted within days. There was no way I was letting this house get away.

August was a very exciting month, as you can imagine. I also did my first Sociability Community Day as a member of the team, and we headed out to celebrate my mum’s birthday.

On the last day of the month, we went back to the new house with my brother, SIL, and Ryan to show them, and I really wish I had taken a photo of them all sitting in the garden like we already lived there.

September

As you can imagine, September was a lot of decluttering, skip runs, and charity shop runs. We also did fun things like more baby content, visited Dunston Hall, which is so lovely, and celebrated my SIL’s 30th.

I never showed you the voucher booklet we got her, but basically, I bought it on Etsy and then filled it with gift vouchers from all her favourite places and places where she could treat herself. It was such a great gift, if I do say so myself.

Whilst my SIL was in hospital for my nephew’s arrival, Alfie and I headed to their house to deep clean, and even my dad ended up coming over to help out too. As you have probably noticed, I am very excited to be an auntie, and my nephew is everything. The rest of September is mostly just photos of him, to the point where I made a joking September highlight just of him.

We also headed to meet my very good friend Debz from Wannabe Princess, as she’s now living nearby. I hadn’t seen her in years, so it was lovely to catch up.

It was then time for my first trip to London in my wheelchair, which I had avoided for seven years before this, but it was the Sociability birthday party and I wanted to meet the team in person. We ended up having a really great time. Accessibility-wise, everything was fine with trains, and London wasn’t as scary as I thought it’d be. We stayed overnight and the next day headed to the Natural History Museum before heading home.

October

In October, my parents decided to book a holiday back to their usual spot, so they were comfortable and confident with my mum’s knee that they’d manage. Last year, when they went away, we decluttered the entire house, but because we had already done that the month before for moving, we just hung out with my nephew a lot and got out of the house a lot. Walks and pub lunches, it was such nice weather in early October.

At the end of October, I decided to say yes again and went on my first ever solo trip. Solo travel, solo staying in a hotel, another big moment for me. I went on the team weekend away with Sociability to Bristol. Now usually, the team weekend away is a complete surprise, and we’re not told where we’re going until we get to the train station. But because it was my first time, the owner of Sociability let me know where we were going ahead of time, which was a bit better for my anxiety.

We ended up having a great time, and obviously, working for a disability tech company where there are multiple disabled people, including the owner, means you don’t have to worry about accessibility for a change. I was really proud of myself for being brave and saying yes to going.

November

November was a bit frustrating, as we could be moving at any point. Anyone who’s dealt with solicitors and moving house will know the majority of them are flipping infuriating. Without silly and beyond-unnecessary delays, we would have been able to move at least three weeks sooner.

We were actually really great at decluttering and packing. It wasn’t as stressful as I thought it would be at all. Even the actual moving day wasn’t that bad, despite not knowing for definite that we were moving until 4 pm the day before.

Trying to get the cats into carriers wasn’t fun at all. Coco went extremely feral on us, but then within five minutes at the new house, she loved it and was the most confident. Talk about a drama queen.

We had talked so much about plans and strategies to make the move less stressful, and honestly, we all did an amazing job. Within a few days, we were all completely unpacked, odd jobs that needed to be done immediately were done, and it was just operational forever home. We all settled in really quickly, and my brother, SIL, and nephew came to visit that first weekend, and it has been pure bliss.

I wasn’t expecting to leave my fancy new house, but work events called, so off to Birmingham for two events in one day representing Sociability. We headed to an event with Purple Goat and Lloyds during the daytime, and then to an awards show with one of our investors for the evening. It was a really fun day, and I met a lot of really exciting people, but we did come back home at 6 am the next morning because we woke up and were so excited to get back to our new house.

When we got back we headed into town to film content for The Moor Sheffield at the Christmas Markets which I always love to visit.

At the end of November, we were meant to be going to Liverpool for a family Christmas party with my dad’s side of the family, but mum, Alfie, and I weren’t feeling well at all. So instead, we headed up later on Sunday for another meal they were having, and my brother and SIL decided to join and surprise them all with my nephew. Everyone swarmed them and was so excited. It was such a lovely way to finish the month.

December

To mine and everyone else’s surprise, in December we headed back to London for the Sociability Christmas party. By this point, I’m not too scared of trains anymore, but as we live ever so slightly closer to Doncaster train station, we thought we’d try that instead of Sheffield and its LNER trains to London, which were much nicer.

I ended up on my first Tube in my wheelchair, not because I wanted to, but because Jennie made me. I am grateful though, as it’s another thing ticked off, which actually wasn’t that scary. Plus, we made a video where lots of people have said I’ve encouraged them to give it a go too.

Mum booked me and her a spa day at Ye Olde Bell for a late birthday present, and it remains my favourite spa in Yorkshire. We haven’t been on a spa day in a while now, so it was very much needed.

The rest of December included a family trip to Guyshi, visiting the Christmas markets for the second time, visiting Barnsley Christmas markets (I really love their city centre, it’s so flat and accessible), spending time with my nephew, a Christmas visit to Buzz Bingo, and finally, the most exciting part, hosting for Christmas.

With the extra space at our new house, it meant that having my brother, SIL, and nephew over for a few days was really lovely and ended up being my favourite Christmas yet. We played games, did some painting, had a special Christmas Day breakfast delivery from Bake Bake Bake, and got all the cuddles on demand. Even my friend Ryan joined us in the evening, and we did the most hilarious family Secret Santa ever.

Between Christmas and New Year, Alfie and I babysat my nephew for the first time, and it was a very interesting time. My nephew cried for the longest time I’ve ever witnessed, and I was sweating, but after what felt like forever, we were snuggling or playing.

For New Year’s, we like to head out a day early to beat the crowds and go to our usual spot, Napoleon’s Casino Sheffield. But unfortunately, now that there’s a baby in the family, we need to find a new spot. For the actual NYE, we hosted again, and Ryan came here for more games, a film, and we made gammon stuffing sandwiches whilst just relaxing at home. It was lovely.

If you’ve been here through any part of this year, quietly or loudly, thank you. This blog started as a place to share life as it happened, and maybe this is me finding my way back to that again!

Here’s to whatever comes next, without overthinking it too much.