How do I have a 4 year old nephew already? (And another niece or nephew on the way). Happy birthday, Blake. I love when you FaceTime me and ask me to “bring the Nintendo”.
It’s Your Third Birthday!
My nephew, Blake, turned 3 on the 28th of May. I got up at 5AM to get a flight home from Amsterdam to surprise him for his birthday. In the run up to his birthday, he kept FaceTiming me and asking if I was coming to his party. The guilt was too much so I happily changed my flight to an earlier one.
Blake had a party at his house with all of his friends. There was a bouncy castle that I perhaps spent too much time on (wow, what a workout). The sun came out for his birthday and I think it was a success. Well done to my sister, Carolyn, for planning it all.
Happy Birthday To Me
I’m a few days late in posting this, but the 25th of January was my birthday. Birthdays stop mattering after a certain age, but I made sure I had a day of ‘me’ stuff. It looked like this:
Had breakfast at Tantrum Doughnuts Did a bit of work Bought a new video game (Wildlands. It’s really good.) Enjoyed tapas and cocktails in Finnieston
Happy Birthday, Indie
Happy birthday, Indie. Although I’m not 100% sure when her birthday is, I got Indie from the SSPCA in November 2006. I was told she was around 6 months old at that point, which means her birthday is some time around now.
This year has been tough. Indie had a tumour cut out and got pancreatitis in the space of 4 weeks. She’s definitely back to her normal self now, which I’m relieved about. Love you, girl!
My Birthday In Switzerland
I wasn’t thrilled about turning 30. To soften the blow I celebrated my birthday abroad. The criteria was the following:
- Cheap flight from Edinburgh or Glasgow airport
- Short journey
- Scenic place to take photos
A flight to Geneva was £80 from Edinburgh and only a 2 hour flight. With a lake and mountains within distance, it was the ideal location.
Booked.
I train hopped from Geneva to Lausanne and Vevey. Lake Geneva was very grey. I come from Scotland-I am used to grey weather, but we often get a break in the cloud at some point during the day.
For the 4 days I was in Switzerland, it was coated in a grey blanket of cloud.
I tried chasing the light by visiting Lausanne and Vevey, but the weather app lied to me. Still, this didn’t dampen my trip and I did a lot of street photography seeing as landscapes were out of the question.
Despite the greyness, I had a wonderful birthday. Switzerland was beautiful, I drank good coffee and expensive gin, and I got to try out a different style of photography.
Gran’s 83rd Birthday
My Gran had a bad fall. We were all set to head to Mar Hall for afternoon tea (my favourite place for cake, coffee and sandwiches!), but at 83 the fall badly impacted her back. As a result, we celebrated my Gran’s 83rd birthday from her house.
There was still cake. Chocolate. And I got to see my nephew, Blake. Any day that involves chocolate cake and my nephew is a good day. Happy birthday, Gran.
Afternoon Tea at Mar Hall
It was my gran’s 81st birthday a couple of weeks ago. I presented her with a list of birthday options, including dinner at a nice restaurant and go-karting. A knee operation didn’t stop my gran from zealously choosing the latter, despite me having actually listed it as a joke. I managed to talk her into afternoon tea at Mar Hall instead, which we finally did today. Maybe we’ll do go-karting next year, gran.
Anyway, afternoon tea at Mar Hall has become my favourite afternoon tea to date. The coffee was good, the chairs comfy, and the cakes brought to you in a doggy bag if you couldn’t manage to scoff them, which we couldn’t. Surprisingly. Oh, and the company was …
My 25th Birthday
I have to admit, I wasn’t overly excited about turning 25. Quite the opposite, in fact. For as long as I can remember – because somebody told me so – 25 is the age I’ve associated with slowing metabolism and ageing skin. It’s all very dramatic. In the end, though, my friend Gary said “What’s so bad about turning 25? You’ve got good friends, you don’t have a broken heart, and you’re in good shape”, and he was absolutely right.
I thought long and hard about how I wanted to celebrate my birthday; go-karting? Ice cream? My favourite meal of mashed potatos with mashed potatos and mashed potatos? In the end I settled on a road trip, because I love nothing more than exploring with my camera. So we filled the tank with petrol, put The Beatles on repeat, bought a ton of sugary foods and headed to Fort Augustus in the Scottish Highlands. Magic.
Happy 55th, Mum
Mum, you’ve just turned 55 (as if you needed reminding). We spent your birthday at the same place we celebrated dad’s last birthday. He’s not with us anymore, but we’ve all watched you piece your life back together better than anyone could have predicted. You’re happy, you’re fulfilled, and you’ve uncovered a whole new passion in life that’s ultimately left you more appreciative of everything and everyone around you. It’s great to see, I wish I was more like you.
We may clash as colleagues (oh boy, do we clash), but I hope we can prevent that from interfering with our personal relationship. I know I have trouble saying it, I know I rarely hug or show affection to you, but I really do love you. Happy birthday, mum.
P.S. Now you can’t complain I never feature you on my blog!