.. Birthday Fun ..

(source catherineryanhoward.com)

I turned the wonderful age of 26 on the 15^th September, and to be honest with you this year I wasn’t excited as I usually get. I don’t know whether it’s finally daunting on me that I’m in my late 20’s, and being the big kid that I am – I literally just dread getting older. However, I did celebrate my birthday a little bit differently this year and did enjoy it along with all the pressies... of course.

 I celebrated the weekend before my birthday with my close friends and my lovely mum. This year I decided I didn’t want to go all out and get very drunk, I just wanted to have a nice, chilled night out full of giggles, laughter and fun and that was pretty much how I spent my night ( with the odd tipple here and there ) . We decided to visit COAL in Exeter – A fantastic restaurant with a cocktail bar and to our joy the cocktails were BOGOF. Since it was my birthday I didn’t need to buy my drinks, as my wonderful friends chipped in, but we spent the majority of our stay there sipping on Strawberry Daiquiris and Tequila Sunrises. My mum left shortly after, so once my best friend joined us we carried on into town.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a birthday without a birthday shot, so we visited a lovely pub/lounge called John Gandys. Downstairs you’re met with a huge floor space where everyone can dance, chat and chill and upstairs it’s full of dimmed lights and a fab cocktail bar. I had a ‘Squashed Frog’ cocktail that actually tasted very nice and we decided to stay there for an hour or so. Then it was off to our next destination called the Chev (Chevalier) which has a dance floor although, I never danced it was nice to just have a little boogie whilst sipping a nice Vodka and Lemonade, by this time it was about 1am and I was ready to venture off into a club, so the remaining friends and I ventured over to Mosaic which is a 3 floored pub/club. The music is not bad, it’s pretty much your standard chart music but, that was just enough to give my legs a bit of a workout.  I think we all were pretty much cream crackered by 3am and decided to call it a night. Let’s say the next day was full of flashbacks, and memories that will be cherished forever.

My actual birthday was celebrated with my wonderful boyfriend who paid for us to visit Bristol for the day. We travelled by train and got there for about 9.30am where we had a nice breakfast. We needed full bellies ready for our shopping trip. We visited Cabot Circus and my first stop was the Yankee Candle Shop. Oh... My... Lord! I was in heaven (I will be sharing you my Yankee Candle collection very soon) I ended up coming out with 1 large jar, 1 small jar and a million wax melts. The rest of the day was spent checking out the shops, buying my birthday presents from John and just enjoying each other’s company.

      

When we got home in the afternoon, my parents came over with my presents and card and then we visited Hub Box which is a fantastic burger restaurant. It’s very quirky and different and the food is incredible. Everything is cooked to perfection and whenever I visit there all I have is praise. As you can imagine I was pretty tired by the end of the day, so we sat down with a nice cup of tea ready for bed.

My birthday was simply fantastic and I’m so glad I didn’t go crazy like I did last year. Although I’m not happy about turning another year older, I am very much excited to see what this year brings. Of course, you’ll all be here to share my journey! : )