Login with:

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Google

Yahoo

Aol.

Mibba

Your info will not be visible on the site. After logging in for the first time you'll be able to choose your display name.

Always In My Head: A London Calling Series

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve (Kacey Musgraves)

It’s been a year since I dove into this world. But I felt that we all deserved Annie’s Year in Review blog for 2018. Enjoy!



What Are You Doing New Year's Eve (Kacey Musgraves)
December 31, 2018

Welcome to the final show.
Hope you’re wearing your best clothes.

How is it that another year is coming to an end already?

I feel like it was just yesterday that I locked myself away in the office and wrote my Year in Review blog for 2017.

And here I am again, locked away, in a different office, writing my Year in Review blog for 2018.

And what a fucking year it was!

Harry Styles: Live on Tour technically started in 2017 but it’s was all one wild ride.
5 continents.
27 countries.
89 shows.
797,502 tickets.
$1.2 million in donations to 62 charities.
$61,697,451 in revenue, not that the star of the show was counting. (I was though.)
Roughly a billion and a half photos snapped along the way. (That’s an estimate but probably close to accurate.)

I essentially spent from September 2017 until July 2018 in a hotel room, bus, or plane. I missed nearly everyone’s birthdays. More than one wedding. The birth of a baby or two. My own bed. I missed what my everyday normal life was. But I don’t regret a single millisecond of any of it. I got to spend nearly a year traveling the globe with the love of my life watching him do what he does best. It also gave me a chance to do what I love, to grow my craft, and get opportunities I’d never imagined possible.

I’ve been going back through the billion and a half photos trying to find what I’d use for this blog and it’s involved a lot of laughter, giggles and even a few tears. I wanted to just show them all to you but there’s some special purposes for a lot of them so I have to keep them hidden. So here’s a few of my favorite gems from the year.


The crowds at the shows in 2018 were insane. The venues were bigger. The cheers louder. And seeing each of your smiling faces in the audience each night made the entire tour crew love our jobs just that much more. A few of my photos from this year were even picked up and published, which is always total fucking trip. Harry did what every loving fiancé would do and immediately ran out to the nearest drugstore to purchase up every copy. Let me tell you, he got a lot of funny looks because often times they knew he was in the magazine.


Here’s one of the photos of my goofy fucking fiancé that ended up getting published. Needless to say, the fact that Jeff and I submitted photos of Harry playing pingpong while naked didn’t go over well initially. Then he laughed it off, made fun of the black socks and went about his day.


This was a huge growth year for me. I started doing some freelance writing last year and this year I did more than I could’ve dreamed of. It made my Dad extra proud to see I was using that degree I spent all that money on. Writing professionally and being featured in a lot of place meant that I had to get in front of the camera more this year and not just because Harry was bored and stole my camera. He took himself extra serious when he was in the role of photographer, it made me curious if that’s what I acted like.

Here’s another of my headshots. Funny enough, this one was while I was waiting on set for him during a photoshoot. Harry told me that this looked like something that would be used in connection with a wedding because I was in white. Just as an FYI since I know I’ll get asked. No, we aren’t getting married tonight. No, there isn’t a wedding date for 2019 on the calendar. Yes, we’ll let you know when it happens.


Speaking of white and looking like they are getting ready for a wedding. Though admittedly I’d like to hope that someday when we get married Harry’s pants aren’t quite that…bold. His suits were pretty incredible this year. Trust me, though he may not be on social media often, you all know I am. I read what you say about his suits. You are all tame in comparison to what I say. While I love Harry and I love all of the stylists he works with I will be the first to admit I miss the black skinny jeans, tees, and manbun. He’s well aware of that and actually has the longest hair he’s had all year right this very moment. I’ve hidden the scissors, I miss the long hair and curls. I’m not sure I’ll get it to last long but I’m sure as fuck trying.


With being on the road so much and spending the bulk of the time we weren’t working in Los Angeles we saw a lot less of the normal faces that have filled my Year in Review blogs in the past and a lot more of these four smiling faces. Our road family have become so important and when we aren’t all together I miss them dearly.


After the tour ended Harry and I took off on an adventure with these two. We explored and ate our way through Italy. It was one of the best trips of my life. It was the perfect way to relax and wind down from the long tour. I mean we all know that filling myself up on carbs for a vacation instead of worry about what I’m going to look like in a swimsuit is a dream of mine


I did manage a tropical vacation with a few of my favorites. Getting Alyssa and Kim away from babies was absolutely necessary. Especially as Kim and Lyla started their new business venture together. It was a girls only trip which was something that honestly I haven’t done in what feels like a million years. Unfortunately, Lizzy came down with the flu the night before we were supposed to leave and was unable to join us on our fabulous vacation. The four of us managed to have an amazing time and sent her more photos than she could stand. We were all pretty sure she was going to hate us when we got home.


Speaking of that new business venture. It meant I got to take photos of my best friend for her to use on that website. Motherhood and Boss Babe look good on her. I am so proud of how she took this idea that came to her in her sleepless nights of being a nursing mother and turned it into this incredible empire. To say that I’m jealous of Lyla for being her sidekick in this is an understatement. Though that would require me giving up life on the road with my Love and we know that’s not happening. Kim and Lyla have been incredible and given me my own little corner of their empire. I get to talk about my favorite places to stay when I travel, gifts worth picking up and the necessities you need to live the digital nomad life that I live. If you haven’t caught my blogs on their site you have to check it out. I can’t wait to see what 2019 holds for them both.


One of the other things that they’ve allowed me to do is a lot of the photography for their website and the fourth as one of the regular models that appears on the site has been so much fun. Everything from showing off the products that they are selling, to candid photos of them to highly stylized photoshoots. Kim and Lyla are giving me a chance to stretch my legs and flex my muscles when it comes to my photography.

Okay, so I can hear my Love pacing outside the door and it’s time for me to say my goodbyes and do a dump of the last of my favorite photos. So photos first. These are a few of my favorite shots from the road of my Love.


Watching him in the studio, even if it’s for a small amount of time, is one of my favorite things. He’s in his element. His happy place. Seeing him feel so at home with a guitar, piano, notebook, or laptop while he’s working makes me feel happy. I’m going to tell you that lately, I’m the happiest version of myself because I’m watching him in his element. ;)


Being in the midwest on tour was so much fun. My family and some of my friends were able to make it to Chicago while we were there. It is so fun to see him perform through the eyes of the littles in our lives. The few occasions I’ve been able to do this are moments I treasure and will hold in the special places in my heart forever.


I love when I catch him in silly moments. Where he’s acting his age and enjoying life. Where he refuses to allow the pressure involved in what he does to get to him. He is the most fun person I know and I get so happy when I can capture that moment and share it with you.


I also really enjoy when I catch him in moments that he’s at his happiest or when I find him particularly sexy. Boxing is fucking sexy.


Would my family please make sure that my father doesn’t see this. His form is absolutely atrocious.


Personal hygiene is important.


In case you were curious, he smells amazing.


He looks like he’s sparkling. I have no idea how I caught this. I feel so lucky for this one frame.


Sometimes he pulls off the shit models do without even trying. Then I secretly hate him for it while being happy I got such a great shot.


Mitch and Harry celebrating the final stop on the tour. That cake was fucking delicious too.


I have my goals for 2019 written down. My steps to accomplish them figured out. I don’t quite know what the plan for the year is yet because my Love hasn’t quite decided what his 2019 is going to be like. The one thing I’ve learned over the years is that I don’t make solid plans because his life can change in an instant and I want to be able to go with him anywhere. My biggest goals are to keep working on my craft, to write more, and to keep a gratitude journal. Force myself to look at the little things and find something every day, no matter what happens, that I’m grateful for.


I also want to get in front of the camera more. At the end of the tour as I searched through all of the photos there were so few of me. There were nearly none of Harry and I. At some point this year I grew camera shy and only got in front of the camera if I had to for work. I need to for fun. I want more photos of Harry and I enjoying life, even if it’s just an iPhone selfie to remember the moments by. Thankfully I have a wonderful partner in life who makes sure there are photos of me, even if it’s while I’m enjoying a cocktail before a night out with friends.


Okay, he’s stopped pacing. He’s now looking over my shoulder and forcing me to include the photo of me with the mistletoe from when we decorated the house for Christmas because he loved it and after taking this photo immediately kissed me. He told me to include that he’s a great kisser. I hope you can all imagine my massive eyeroll.

Now it’s time for me to get ready for our wonderful New Year’s celebration. Where in the world are we? Well…

Have a wonderful New Year and see you in 2019!
Peace and love, Annie




Notes

I hope you all enjoyed Annie’s take on the year if for no reason other than it was a really great excuse to look at adorable pictures of Harry. I had thought about doing something similar to how I’d done last year and tell the story of what they did on New Year’s Eve but I really thought that the end being this gorgeous photo of Harry waving to an audience and just getting a small taste of Annie’s blog was just the perfect little New Year’s Eve treat.

I have no exciting plans for New Year’s myself, just a quiet night at home with my Mom watching Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen on CNN along with good food. With the year that Mom and I have had a quiet night at home sounded perfect. I’m going to switch modes and get to work on the first actual chapter of Los Angeles, When Will You Save Me? so that hopefully we can get an update to that before I go back to work on Thursday.

Whatever your plans are I hope they are fun and that you’re safe. For everyone who has already celebrated and gone to bed I hope that you have a wonderful start to 2019.

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this. Do you miss London Calling as much as I do? Maybe this year I’ll try to write a little more of that to keep my brain going even when I’ve got some writer’s block in other places. With a goal to write 300,000 words for 2019 I imagine there will be a lot of things headed our way in the new year.
Happy New Year!

xx. AM

Comments

@xXFluffy_GruXx
I'm glad you liked it. I have every intention to tell more of their story but this was just the perfect way to explain their beginning.

YASSSSS girl. Lyla and Niall are adorable!!