23 years young

On monday I turned 23. It really hit home how much my life has changed in just a year.

The
saturday before my birthday I had my first ever pilates class in the
morning (one word, OUCH!) and in the afternoon we had Louise’s wedding
makeup trial at Illamasqua. Totally over the moon with this bold look we
are all getting, and my first time trying their makeup I really liked
it. We went to the Dhabba afterwards for dinner, and my lipstick lasted
the whole meal, now that’s staying power! Really impressed with it in comparison to the likes of Mac, whose lipstick I love but it just doesn’t last as long as I’d like it to.

On
the sunday morning I went for breakfast with Louise at a soon to be
favourite place, Once Upon A Tart. Everything I love crammed under the
one roof – tea, home baking and insane decor. What is a summer bikini body anyway? We went to The Residence afterwards for a neck, back and shoulder massage and manicure. That evening I met up with John and his family for dinner at Rogano, ate some very tasty seafood and they surprised me with an early birthday cake and lots of lovely pressies.

John
stayed with me on the friday night all the way through until after my
birthday 🙂 Spending time with our little precious kitty is so relaxing,
and gives us lots of laughs at the same time. Introducing Dexter to the
guinea pigs for the first time was really successful and very cute to
watch! Which is a major relief, because Oscar, Alfie and Dougal are my
favourite boys too. I was too focused on them all to take pictures, but I
certainly will next time.

On
the monday morning of my birthday, I woke up to breakfast from John, a
bunch of roses and two beautiful cards. One from him, and one from the
animals! He’s a big moosh, it was so sweet. Dexter was an expensive wee
fella, so John put a good bit of money towards him for my birthday, and
this weekend he’s taking me to the King Creosote gig and out for dinner. CAN’T WAIT!
Haven’t had a night out in ages, looking forward to perhaps going to
the Cathouse after the gig and having a good old boogie (or mosh,
whatevz) Dancing together like numpties when we’re out is one of my favourite things to do.

In
the afternoon my mum took us and my family to the Hidden Lane Tearooms
for lunch. It was so yummy, and my gran was mega chuffed to get her tea
in a real china cup rather than a normal cup/mug (apparently it’s the
simple things in life ladies)

On
monday night we had dinner in the flat, and Katrina bought me glitter
meringues and a cupcake from Vanilla Black. Cake overload yet? I swear I
am on a detox now! I totally overindulged that weekend but I swear to
be on my best behavior now. The Dominoes two for tuesdays the night
after when I went to see my dad’s side of the family was the straw that
broke the camels back. I disgust myself! But I’m allowed to be naughty
around my birthday right? On tuesday I started a job as assistant art
director on a feature film, written and directed by the lead singer in
scottish band Belle and Sebastian. I’m on this for 9 weeks, which is a
really long contract for me (believe it or not!) and an amazing project
to get involved in, so I feel like I am on cloud nine at the moment 🙂
Got a really great cast but I can’t talk about it just yet, but I’m
sure I’ll be able to mention more sneaky details soon. I got some lovely cards and lovely pressies, and although I totally milked it over a few days I’m beginning to realise it’s harder to do that with birthdays as you get older! Haha. Still got a few of my best ladies to see, how I miss them so 🙁 My fault for being a bore and not having a big shindig or night out last weekend to bring everyone together. Anyone else find this hard as all your friends grow up and people move away?

I really can’t explain how it feels like time has
flown since I wrote my 22nd birthday post. My life has changed so much
in this past year – without a doubt the toughest year I’ve had in my
entire life. I am in such a good place now, with my personal, home life,
career, and general frame of mind. I wouldn’t be in this position without the support and love of my family and friends (you know who you are) and wouldn’t still be writing this blog without the patience and support of you guys too! Thank you doesn’t even come close. I hope this time next year I can
look back and see a continuation of the good times I am having right now
🙂 A favourite quote that springs to mind is ‘Life’s not about waiting
for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain’. And
that is exactly what I am doing from now on♥

Ayden x