Posts with the label Birthday
Showing posts with label Birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birthday. Show all posts
9 Mar 2022
Notes On My Thirtieth Birthday
Guess I can no longer refer to myself as a 'twenty-something' eh?
I always have a moment to reflect around my birthday but as this was the big Three Oh and the postpartum hormones were going strong, this was an even bigger reflection than normal. A few notes from my thirtieth birthday:
~ I feel very lucky to be able to say that I wouldn’t change anything about my twenties (aside from perhaps Covid). There were many anxieties and learning curves along the way but I wouldn’t change the opportunities, experiences and people it brought me for one second. What springs to mind when I think of the last decade: those intense but magical years at university and taking the tentative first steps into the adult world, working and falling in love in London, the privilege of travelling to some amazing places, the gorgeous years we spent in St Albans, getting-married-buying-a-house-having-a-baby, learning a lot about who I am and what makes me happy, having some all-round cracking times with family and friends, old and new.
~ I am so grateful I started my blog aged 23. Having the memories of my twenties so well documented is priceless. Whether it continues via the blog or some other format, I endeavour to do the same for my thirties.
~ I doubt I really had an idea of what I wanted from the decade ahead when I turned 20 years old at university but I’m almost certain I wasn’t expecting to meet my future husband just two and a half years later. Meeting Gary definitely changed the path I was heading down and whilst I’ll never know where I would have gone if we hadn’t gone for a drink in a crappy pub on Great Portland Street, I have no desire to know either. I’m so bloody happy we went for that drink and have spent the last seven years having a whole host of adventures together. He is, without a doubt, the best decision I could have made in my twenties.
~ Getting older is a privilege (as they say; it’s better than the alternative). It’s also exciting. Knowing yourself better and being a little wiser to the world has so many advantages. There are many good days yet to come.
~ I spent my 30th birthday surrounded by my favourite people and that is the best way to spend life.
~ Generous gifts on my 30th included a bread machine, gorgeous hand-painted bowls, book vouchers, a huge box of chocolates, pyjamas, bath goodies, nail vouchers and a Le Creuset pan. I am content with everything these things say about me.
~ The little joys are a huge part of that elusive key to happiness. It’s spouted so much that it starts to sound like a cliché but when the truth of it clicks in your brain, it feels like an epiphany. I have believed it for a long time (my very first blog post was a list of small, happy things) but it has taken a big chunk of my twenties to feel the power of it. Find the little joys in the everyday, get excited about them, take the time for them and life will be ultimately better.
~ Key things that bring me joy: my family & friends, writing, reading, baking & cooking, taking photos, documenting memories, exploring new places, being organised, cafés & pubs, baths, the seasons changing, home.
~ If something makes you happy, however big or small, for however long; throw yourself into it with no limits. If someone sneers at your thing, question why they would want to pull away something that brings you joy and what kind of person that makes them.
~ Less is more so much of the time. Trying to have too much of something or to always be after more can make you desensitised and accidentally greedy. It’s better to appreciate what you have and fully enjoy new things and experiences then being both overwhelmed and underwhelmed by too much of everything.
~ Never underestimate kindness; being kind to others and the underrated joy of being surrounded by kind people.
~ I don’t know what the next decade will bring and I’m okay with that. The open possibilities are exciting.
~ Never, ever miss the opportunity to eat something delicious. Life really is too fucking short.
~ Rounding off my twenties by having a baby feels very poignant. Starting off the new decade with a new life chapter and hoping it will be just as good as the last.
A small handful of photos from my birthday below. We had a big family meal the night before, I was treated to presents and breakfast in bed (a very delicious bacon, cream cheese & honey bagel) in the morning and then we had a tea party with my immediate family & close friends in the afternoon which was also an opportunity for everyone to meet our new baby boy. I couldn't have asked for a more lovely weekend.
18 Feb 2019
Twenty Seven
Well hello late twenties. At least, I think it’s late twenties. Twenty seven is surely no longer mid-twenties right?
I’m sat in a cafe, with one eye on my uneaten muffin and Ed Sheeran in my ears. Not literally… that would be really weird. I figure now is as good a time as any to have a little reflection on turning 27.
To tell you the truth, 27 crept up on me a bit. I have been super busy and super distracted and then suddenly, woah it’s February 2019 and apart from making a few plans for the actual day (which included seeing The Lion King at the theatre finally) I haven’t given turning 27 much thought.
And tbh, it’s not like it’s a ‘big birthday’ so it’s relatively easy to let pass without too big a fuss. But when I actually digested that I was about to turn 27 the other day, I did do a minor double take.
Mostly because, for a long time, 27 was the age I thought was a good age to have my first baby. Sure, that’s no longer the case but WOAH, I have now hit the age that my teenage-self considered mature enough and far enough away that she could say, with total confidence, that that was the age her future self would reproduce. When I mentioned this to G, he noted that whilst I might not reproduce this year, 27 will be the age I become a married (likely) homeowner (hopefully).
And this bemuses me. Somewhere along the way, I’ve taken a lil hop, skip & jump from boozy student to lost graduate to a functioning adult with a wedding mere weeks away and rightmove bookmarked on her laptop.
And yes, a part of me does feel a little bit like BUT WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN EXACTLY. Cos, well, it has gone fast. I am utterly bewildered that it has been nearly NINE years since I went to university. They say time speeds up as you get older so I can only imagine your 60s last about 30 seconds.
And yes, another part of me – briefly – thought SHOULD I HAVE DONE MORE BY NOW?! Have a missed opportunities to do things one should do in their twenties?! I don’t really know what these things are by the way, but apparently I’m worrying about them anyway. Backpacking? More clubbing? More dating? And then, lol, G pointed out that I wouldn’t enjoy backpacking (more of a suitcase gal), hate clubbing and that the dating opportunities have well and truly left the building. So I lay back down on the sofa and carried on playing with my birthday balloons (that’s not an innuendo you filthy animal).
Cos really, I’m quite content with where I am. I’m still politely surprised that my early twenties have been and gone but I am here and ready to embrace the age I get married and (fingers crossed) buy a house. It’s all very ‘grown-up’ but I think I might be one of them adult things now? Maybe.
10 Mar 2018
Singapore Diaries | My Birthday
We were staying in Little India so we got our first taste of the local area; hot, busy and colourful.
Keen to start the trip with some traditional Singapore food, we went on the hunt for kaya toast and eventually, after getting a bit lost in a shopping centre (a recurring theme of the holiday), we found Ya Kun Kaya Toast.
Kaya toast is a well-known snack in Singapore and Malaysia and it’s kinda a hard one to explain. Basically, imagine a toasted sandwich with slabs of butter, sugar and kaya (described as a coconut jam… but it doesn’t taste like coconut so that doesn’t really help. It’s a sweet jam. Let’s just leave it at that.). It’s served with two eggs in a bowl on the side and a milky coffee (drank with a spoon).
Honestly, we had no idea what was going on but it was a bit of a laugh, and I’m glad we tried it. We weren’t entirely convinced by the enormous slabs of butter but I did like the taste of the kaya. We very quickly learned that kaya toast was very popular in Singapore – the place was absolutely packed!
The metro came out into an enormous shopping centre meaning we had our second getting-lost-in-a-shopping-centre experience of the day. Honestly, it was huge (with a mini river running through it) and it took us an embarrassingly long amount of time to escape. We did eventually though and we emerged under Marina Bay Sands, the famous luxury hotel which has become a landmark of Singapore. The difference between Little India and this area surprised me a lot. I felt like I’d been transported to some futuristic city in a sci-fi film. It was extremely clean and green, with a lot of unusual and impressive architecture, most notably, the hotel, the helix bridge and the science museum. We had a little wander around the waterfront before heading into Gardens by the Bay. Right at the top of my to-do list was Supertree Grove so I was very excited to finally see those avatar-style trees.
But first up, we bought tickets to go into the Cloud Forest, one of the conservatories in the gardens. It was a pretty gorgeous experience. The Cloud Forest is an enormous, mist-filled conservatory containing hundreds of lush, tropical plants. The two main attractions in here are the world’s tallest indoor waterfall (35m) and the cloud walk; a pathway that snakes in and around the mountain-top waterfall, surrounded by floral gems and giving you a little hint of the city that lies beyond. We spent a good while in here before heading back out to get lost in the gardens.
There are so many nooks and cranny’s; you could easily spend hours and hours in the gardens. My favourite area was, of course, Supertree Grove; those man-made beauties wouldn’t look out of place in a sci-fi film and I had a lot of love for them. We lost track of time wandering those gardens but eventually the heat became too much and we decided it was time for a drink and/or ice cream. We took a walk (aka got lost in a shopping centre) back under Marina Bay Sands and emerged back on the water front, where we quickly found somewhere selling ice cream and quickly learnt we needed to eat said ice cream fast if we didn’t want it in liquid form.
Slightly more revitalised (fighting jetlag in that heat is no joke), we walked over the helix bridge and around the bay. I love a good skyscrapers-on-the-water view so it was all very much up my street, but we were ready for another break by the time we got over the other side. We stopped for milkshakes at Over Easy which has a perfect view of Marina Bay Sands across the water. It was the perfect way to spend an hour; drinking a strawberry milkshake in hot weather on my birthday (not something that happens a lot when you’re born in February) and planning out the week ahead.
Next up was a birthday cocktail! I decided the best way to justify spending $30 on a cocktail was to make sure it was the original Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel, and that it was on my birthday. I was a tad disappointed to discover that Raffles Hotel is under refurbishment until mid-2018 so we didn’t get to see inside, but luckily they have a little pop-up just round the corner so we could still try the famous cocktail. The barman whipped up our pink, gin-based cocktail and we took a seat on the bar stools. The first thing we noticed was that there were monkey nut shells all over the floor which didn’t really seem in keeping with a posh hotel. However, the barman explained to us that it’s an old tradition, supposed to bring luck and prosperity. So we dipped our hands in the hessian sacks of nuts and got eating/throwing!
When we were done drinking, we went back to the Marina Bay shopping centre (on purpose this time) to grab some food at their food court. It was a bit manic but we got some Indian food, and split a naan, for just a few dollars.
We then did a last minute dash back to the gardens to catch the Garden Rhapsody, the signature light and music show. Those Supertrees explode into a neon light show twice an evening, every evening, and yeah okay, it was basically my favourite thing about Singapore. We got there a bit late (it takes surprisingly long to get through that bloody shopping centre and into the centre of the gardens) so we just collapsed onto the floor wherever to watch the magic happen.
Once it had finished, we headed straight back to the hotel, completely dead on our feet.
First day: done
But first up, we bought tickets to go into the Cloud Forest, one of the conservatories in the gardens. It was a pretty gorgeous experience. The Cloud Forest is an enormous, mist-filled conservatory containing hundreds of lush, tropical plants. The two main attractions in here are the world’s tallest indoor waterfall (35m) and the cloud walk; a pathway that snakes in and around the mountain-top waterfall, surrounded by floral gems and giving you a little hint of the city that lies beyond. We spent a good while in here before heading back out to get lost in the gardens.
There are so many nooks and cranny’s; you could easily spend hours and hours in the gardens. My favourite area was, of course, Supertree Grove; those man-made beauties wouldn’t look out of place in a sci-fi film and I had a lot of love for them. We lost track of time wandering those gardens but eventually the heat became too much and we decided it was time for a drink and/or ice cream. We took a walk (aka got lost in a shopping centre) back under Marina Bay Sands and emerged back on the water front, where we quickly found somewhere selling ice cream and quickly learnt we needed to eat said ice cream fast if we didn’t want it in liquid form.Slightly more revitalised (fighting jetlag in that heat is no joke), we walked over the helix bridge and around the bay. I love a good skyscrapers-on-the-water view so it was all very much up my street, but we were ready for another break by the time we got over the other side. We stopped for milkshakes at Over Easy which has a perfect view of Marina Bay Sands across the water. It was the perfect way to spend an hour; drinking a strawberry milkshake in hot weather on my birthday (not something that happens a lot when you’re born in February) and planning out the week ahead.
When we were done drinking, we went back to the Marina Bay shopping centre (on purpose this time) to grab some food at their food court. It was a bit manic but we got some Indian food, and split a naan, for just a few dollars.
We then did a last minute dash back to the gardens to catch the Garden Rhapsody, the signature light and music show. Those Supertrees explode into a neon light show twice an evening, every evening, and yeah okay, it was basically my favourite thing about Singapore. We got there a bit late (it takes surprisingly long to get through that bloody shopping centre and into the centre of the gardens) so we just collapsed onto the floor wherever to watch the magic happen.
Once it had finished, we headed straight back to the hotel, completely dead on our feet.
First day: done
13 Feb 2017
Oh look, I'm 25
Good morning my darlings, how was your weekend?
It’s a Monday morning and I’m actually in a good mood. I KNOW.
There are many things contributing to this. The fact that I’m not at work. The fact that the sun has come out (and about time too). The fact that someone has just brought me a stack of pancakes, soaked in maple syrup, and an Oreo milkshake (which I just had my first sip of and oh baby is it good).
Oh and it’s my birthday hence all of the above (yeah, I'm arrogant enough to assume that the sun has come out because it's my birthday).
I refuse to go to work on my birthday, a bit like a child refusing to go to school amidst a tantrum. Nah uh, not happening pal. I don’t necessarily need to have big plans, I just find it depressing to work on my birthday. I like to acknowledge it happening and to do that, I don’t want it to feel like just any old day. This year, in particular, I knew I couldn’t go crazy with celebrations on my actual birthday. For starters, there’s only so crazy you can go on a Monday in the middle of February. But mainly because G and I a) went out for the most amazing nine course tasting menu meal at the weekend to celebrate both my birthday and our anniversary and b) have booked a helicopter ride in New York (!) as our birthday presents to each other. Fair to say we’re already going pretty crazy.
So today is a chilled one. I didn’t get out of bed until about 10 and it was lovely to wake up to birthday messages from my favourite people. I had a phonecall with my mum and step-dad and then discovered a big happy birthday balloon in the living room, left by G before he headed to work this morning. This made me happier than is probably normal but I love a balloon soooo…
I’ve taken myself off to The Pudding Stop for a spot of writing (with milkshake and pancakes of course) and then I have a massage booked at midday. An HOUR LONG massage. I’m already doing all the heart eyed emojis. I don’t have any specific plans for the afternoon but I think it’s probably going to involve some baking whilst listening to the La La Land soundtrack and then maybe binge watching something on Netflix without feeling guilty that I should be doing something more productive cos EFF OFF IT’S MY BIRTHDAY. And then hopefully by then, G will be home and I can open my cards and presents and order a take away.
As people get older, there seems to be a tendency to see it as a bad thing, and focus on things they haven’t done yet. But I’ve been spending most of the morning thinking of all the things I have achieved so far. I’ve decided that 15-year-old me would do a little excited sick down herself if she saw where I was now. 15 wasn’t a great year for me and I wish I could go back and tell her girl, you’re living in St Albans. You would LOVE your little flat. You spend a lot of your spare time sitting in cafes typing away. You’re paid to edit NHS guidelines. You have a week-long holiday to New York booked. You’re in a long-term relationship with the best guy (I know I’m biased but he did just buy you a birthday balloon so I think that proves my point).
Just typing that out made me feel light and free, and I’ve realised that I probably need to do this more often. When I’m having (mostly daft) moments where I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing or that I’m somehow failing or that I should have achieved more by now; I need to look at my life through the eyes of 15-year-old me. Cos 15-year-old me would probably hate me in those moments. She’d look at me like ‘what the actual fuck are you talking about?! LOOK AT YOU BITCH!’ and she’d be bloody right. There’s a lot of pressure coming from all directions at this time of life and I think it’s very easy to compare yourself to others or feel like you’re not doing that great or wonder why you haven’t achieved your dream yet. But there’s so much life ahead of us and we have to be patient. If we spend all of this time of life comparing ourselves to others, and constantly putting ourselves down, then we’ll end up not enjoying the here and now. And I suspect that this is a pretty good time of life to be in.
Actually, I know it is. There’s Oreo milkshakes for crying out loud.
Enjoy your day you sassy thing you. And don’t forget how awesome you are.
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