Turning 19!

* not actually my cake, photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39551170@N02/15270339206

I feel like the majority of posts on this blog relate to personal things happening in my life and they're usually quite well received, so I thought I'd come out of my blogging rut to do a post all about my 19th birthday on Friday.

If I'm honest, I'm not particularly major about birthdays. If you've read my post about what I did on my 18th birthday, that may come as a bit of a surprise to you as that one was a pretty big spectacle! But aside from milestone birthdays where my darling mum has a tendency to go a bit OTT, most birthdays tend to go by relatively quietly with this year being not much of an exception.

I've been working recently in London so have been staying in hotels there, but luckily was moved to a job very close to home the week running up to my birthday, which meant I was able to spend more time with my family - but also meant I was able to start preparing myself for moving back to university! I knew all along I was intending on moving back in on my actual birthday in the evening so I could have the rest of the weekend to unpack and sort my life out before starting actual lectures on Monday. Made for a bit of a manic week!

On Wednesday I went to see my dad for supposed birthday drinks in the evening, where we actually sat around drinking cups of tea and chatting about politics and savings accounts.... Wish I was joking but alas, it appears I have hit the world of adult conversation very early on! I hadn't seen him for a few weeks so it was good to catch up and hear all about his recent trip to where my family are from in Ireland with his mum, and how he went to an Elton John concert at Longleat House (which we are fortunate enough to live very close to!) - it's a sad day when you're dad is having a more wild and eventful life than you do!

On Thursday I went out for dinner with my mum and a stepdad and we went to one of our favourite Chinese restaurants in my town. My goal for the night was to do something in our town that I couldn't do at university in Birmingham so wanted to go to an independent restaurant and our other favourite is the Italian we actually went to for my birthday last year but I think we've already been there a few too many times in the past month to go again! Plus, my friends and I have yet to find a really nice chinese takeaway in Birmingham (crazy, I know! But it's always the prawn crackers that let us down.... On a side note, if you've been to UoB and know a good chinese that delivers to the Vale, hook a girl up!) so it felt like a good idea. It was a really lovely evening spent with my parents, who really are some of my best friends in the world. One of my best friends babysat my little brother and sisters - who were invited but don't like Chinese food so they didn't come - and after we came home I sat up having a catch up with her and she gave me a really lovely card which is now sat proudly on my windowsill.

On Friday - my actual birthday - I woke up early so I could spend some time with my family before taking my little sisters to school. I got some very thoughtful presents from my family but I think the highlight of my morning was getting a Moonpig card from one of my best friends from uni who knew she wouldn't even be in the country on my birthday! Was such a lovely surprise, she'd even messaged my mum to ask for our address so I would get it in the morning. I knew I was planning on moving back up to University that evening and wouldn't see my little sisters before I left so dropping them off at school was my way of saying goodbye. If you know anything about me, it's probably that my family mean the absolute world to me so saying goodbye to them when I know I'm leaving for a while cuts me up so much, and the school run is quite a good way to stop me from turning into an emotional wreck! After that mum and I went on to Bath to go shopping, and the trip from my house to the girls' school to Bath, about 30 miles, took a grand total of 1hr 45 mins due to Nunney Horse Trials and a Bath Uni open day both on that day which was less than ideal but gave mum and I a chance to have a good natter and enjoy the beautiful countryside around where we live - something I'm definitely going to miss!

Mum and I spent the rest of the day doing a bit of shopping and she absolutely spoilt me. I picked up some really lovely bits, including this lovely raincoat from Joules which I think I'm going to end up living in this summer, and this gorgeous purse from Ted Baker. As I've gotten older and both mum and I have gotten busier, we haven't been able to spend as much time together as either of us would like in the past few months, so it was lovely to be able to spend a lot of quality time with her and properly catch up. We were actually meant to go and see Me Before You in the cinema that afternoon but were having too much fun mooching around so decided to go and have lunch at The Cosy Club and carry on shopping afterwards instead.

After we went shopping we headed home at about 5 and mum had to rush off because my sister was having a camp out at her school in the evening so mum said she'd go along as well - when I caught up with her the next day, she said it had been a good evening with perhaps a bit too much wine and she'd wimped out of sleeping in a tent in the end and slept in the back of our van with a memory foam topper as a mattress. Lovely bit of a glamping! But my little brother was staying at home with my nana so I spent a bit of time with them and had a slice of homemade carrot cake with my best friend Antonia who popped over to say hello and give me a bottle of champagne. Again, where I'd been so busy lately I hadn't had a chance to see Antonia properly and not sure when I'll next get to see her now that I'm at uni for most of the summer, so was lovely to have a little giggle with her for a bit and was really touched that she went out of her way to come over on my actual birthday.

Then I finished up my day by packing up all the stuff I wanted to take back to uni in my car and making the trek up to Birmingham! I love driving, especially since I got my new car in March, so I spent the evening cruising along singing at the top of my voice to cheesy my songs - not a bad way to end the day! Once I'd unpacked, my best friend Abi rang me and we were on the phone for about an hour and a half catching up about life and planning when she was moving back in too, when we were interrupted by one of my flatmates coming in drunk so I scurried off to go look after her. That made it feel more like I was actually at university, before that it all felt a bit too surreal! And before you say anything, she more than made up for getting me to look after her on my birthday by baking me the most adorable cupcake shaped birthday cake!

All in all, I had a really lovely day and was completely overwhelmed by all the lovely messages I got from friends and family. I'm not big on birthdays because I don't think I deserve attention for things unless I've actually achieved something, but I'll admit it's hard not to be having the best day when you keep being bombarded with messages of love and well wishes from your favourite people!