A few days ago, I returned home from work to see the hacked-off branches of our Christmas tree lying despondently in the driveway and felt the familiar pang of post-Christmas gloom. I guess it’s officially time to face facts: Christmas is over for yet another year. While my January diet may have started, I’m not quite ready to give up my Christmas spirit, so I thought I’d put up a rather photo-heavy post on my 2015 holiday highlights to keep the magic alive.

This year, in preparation for my big trip, I’ve vowed to participate in #NoSpendNovember to help me save some much-needed funds. This attempt to economise has meant that I’ve recently been on the look out for things to do in London that won’t break the bank. So as soon as I spotted Ann Veronica Janssens’ completely free ‘yellowbluepink’ installation on Secret London’s Facebook page, I just had to pay it a visit.

In the run up to my big trip I’m finding myself becoming more and more attached to London. While I would definitely say I’m excited to set off and see the world, I’m also beginning to realise what I’m leaving behind. In less than three months time I’ll be travelling to the other side of the world, entirely on my own; it’s something that I’ve never done before and it’s starting to feel a bit daunting. Last Saturday really hit this home for me, because it was the day my three best friends and I all reunited to celebrate our lovely Kirsten’s 22nd birthday.

I can’t quite believe we’ve slipped into October. As the weather gets colder, it seems only natural to seek warmth indoors. Curling up with a hot chocolate in front of a crackling fire might be an autumn cliché, but I’m sure most of us would agree that it is a wonderfully comforting image.

It seems like I’ve had a bit of long-overdue good luck recently, because a few weeks ago some of our family friends invited us to come with them to Wembley Stadium to watch the Ireland v Romania Rugby World Cup game. Unsurprisingly, Mum and I jumped at the opportunity to go, and last Sunday the big day finally arrived.

Last week I was lucky enough to have the chance to see Les Enfant Terribles’s most recent production at the London Waterloo Vaults, ‘Alice’s Adventures Underground’. I wasn’t going to write about this because the show has just closed, and I felt it would be a bit harsh to go on about how great it was if nobody would be able to enjoy it in the future. However, today the company sent out an email to say that the production would be back in 2016 – you can even sign up to a mailing list so you know when tickets are available – and I felt it was my duty to thoroughly recommend this experience.