Big changes, small changes; life a year on

So my blog turned 1 year old yesterday - happy birthday blog! - but how much can really happen in a year? Well, actually, a lot as it turns out.

This time last year I was wondering if a career in journalism really was for me; university wasn't what I thought it'd be and my course seemed to focus on the elements I didn't enjoy so much. One year on I'm certain I've chosen the right path and am actually practicing as a freelancer as I work to build my portfolio up.

A piece of advice I'd have been glad to receive a year ago was never lose sight of your dreams. Some 52 weeks ago I never would've thought I'd be writing for an online newspaper, contributing to one of the county's leading glossy magazines and making contacts here there and everywhere. But I am. As cliche as it sounds, if you want something, go and get it. It's not going to find you.

So what else has happened in my life since I set this blog up for a university assignment? Well maybe the next biggest change that's happened is my only sister moving some 12,000 miles away to Australia. I did a post about it here. Friendships and relationships have changed - some for the better and some for the worse - but I'm surrounded by people I love and who make me laugh, so it can't be bad on that front.

I'm excited to see what the next 12 months hold for me, and I look forward to writing a similar post in another year, no doubt detailing all the mischief and misdemeanours I've been up to since this day.

Sibling

I like to think of myself as someone who isn't a great believer of cliches - especially as a journalist - but there are certainly some that do ring true.

You don't know what you've got until it's gone.

Pretty obvious, really. In this case I'm talking about my sister. Thankfully, she is alive and well, but she just so happens to be existing some ten and a half thousand miles away from me. This isn't ideal for girly shopping trips or nights in on the sofa.

When she announced she was moving to Australia to be with the love of her life, I never thought for one minute it'd be this hard without her. We both had pretty separate lives anyway, aside from sharing the common bond that is our parents, but that doesn't mean I love her any less.

Big sisters are a blessing that not every little girl is lucky enough to have. Whilst your mother teaches you the valuable lessons in life; manners, honesty, integrity, sisters teach you the things you really need to know as a girl. Your makeup, clothes, hair, how to dance, get drunk, even flirt. All of these fundamentals come from hours spent watching my older sibling do it best.

But it wasn't all adoration and niceties, she also taught me how to be tough. Let's face it, you have to be when your sister's favourite past time is to yank your feet from under you as you're carefully making your way down the stairs. Or hiding in the dark dining room and jumping out as I toddled past into the kitchen. It wasn't all fun and games.

I miss her a lot now. I miss her on nights out; the getting ready, conversing on what to wear, her nicking half of my wardrobe for so long I forgot I even owned the items. I miss her whilst I'm sat on my sofa with my duvet eating biscuits - something our mum never allowed us to do as kids, so we'd indulge in the rare luxury on the odd occasion she was out for the night. Even when I'm eating cold pizza for breakfast, or picking my nose and wiping it on a piece of kitchen roll (gross, I know!) - all things that she taught me to do.

Just as people say a father is a little girl's first love, I think as sister is very much a girl's first best friend, expect she always will be, because she's irreplaceable.