The Birthday Post

Yesterday was my birthday! I always used to do a post about the day, but then I stopped last year for some reason. I've decided to revive the tradition and do a post about yesterday.

Traditionally, I haven't been a huge fan of birthdays. I'm not sure why, but something about them makes me feel a little bit sad.

As soon as I got to 18 and could do everything I wanted to legally, I sort of stopped looking forward to them. But I've decided that is the wrong attitude, and I should use them as a chance to celebrate another year, not be sad it's over!


So I turned 32 yesterday. I don't know how I got so old! But really, it's nothing to be upset about. I spent the day feeling thankful that I've got such a lovely life. A nice family home, a lovely husband, I job I really enjoy, a decent work-life balance, some great friends and of course my beautiful little boy.

What more could I really want? I don't want to take these things for granted.

And actually I had a really happy day.

I got woken up at 5:15am (that is having a toddler in a nutshell for you!) but I got lots of cuddles and kisses from Theo and the sun was shining in through the blinds so there was a big smile on my face despite the early hour!

As usual, I got up,  made a cup of tea and some milk for Theo, fed the cat and went to let the chickens out!

There's three rules I always try my hardest to follow on my birthday: 1) No work 2) Lots of food 3) Champagne for breakfast. I've stuck to that formula for a few years now and it certainly eases the pain of getting older.

Seb and I had both booked the day off so we knew we could relax – I just find it miserable working on my birthday, so I always book leave, even if I'm just spending the day on my own.

I dropped Theo off at nursery and then (super proud of myself for this) I went for a run. How I've changed! Old me would definitely have pulled the birthday excuse to get out of that! But running is becoming an important part of my life – and I'm planning a post on why. I couldn’t see me doing it later on in the day so I thought it best to get it over and done with.

When I came back, it was still early so we had a beautiful long, lazy breakfast in the garden, which has to be one of my all time favourite things to do. We had croissants with Bavarian ham and Emmental cheese, strawberries, good coffee and orange juice – and I cracked open the Moet as well!

It was beautiful and I had such a nice morning. I sat in the sunshine and opened some cards and presents. I was a very lucky girl and I got some beautiful things – a new pair of proper New Balance running shoes, a bespoke necklace from Stella and Dot with Theo's name, a new bag, a beautiful Oliver Bonas scarf and an apple tree (which I was massively excited about, as I've always wanted one!).

I might well be getting old though, because the best thing was the messages in the cards I got. They made me well up.

Then I went upstairs to get showered and changed to go out for lunch. It might sound like a small thing, but with Theo I never normally have the luxury to take ages getting myself ready, so I really enjoyed it!!

I wore my new navy off-the-shoulder shirt from Very with some Topshop Leigh jeans and my nude jelly flats from Vivienne Westwood that are in constant use at the moment.

On the way to lunch, we stopped in to see my friend Katie who works from home, and then it was onto Langar Hall, a beautiful restaurant in a manor out in the country.

We had a really delicious lunch – I went for a gorgeous pork loin dish and then a vanilla panna cotta for pudding – although I did get severe pudding envy when Seb's came out. He went for the chocolate mousse with caramel ice cream and it was spectacular – luckily, he let me share some (see? I wrote that like he had a choice in the matter!)

After a leisurely afternoon we went back to pick Theo up from nursery, and he'd painted me a card which was lovely! Then back home for tea and cake.

Seb bakes me a weird and wonderful cake each year, and this one's was a 'Jaffa Cake' with orange marmalade jelly filling and chocolate icing. I sat by the riverbank at the bottom of the garden and has some more champagne (it has to be done on a birthday!) and just enjoyed the sunshine.

I had a beautiful, chilled out day and am so blessed to have a lovely family to enjoy it with. Perhaps getting older isn't so bad after all.