So my birthday came and went in a flash, and I am still mourning it (even though I now have Christmas to look forward to). I had such a great time turning 25.. Me and the boy went down to stay in Brighton the night before at The Grand, which as expected was very.. grand. Our room was lovely and the bed was ginormous – for real, I could fit in it 4 1/2 times widthways (I rolled around to count).The nice thing about having a winter birthday is that everywhere is very festive, the hotel was no different; with a huge Christmas tree in the lobby and decorations.

On my birthday morning, opening presents in bed I squealed when I received my dream Shore Projects watch, (which I did a post about here) which I love it to bits and it’s even more beautiful in person. The boy did good, and check out the amazing wrapping paper he designed, complete with ‘me’ and my fave dachshund’s on! Too cute. We stuffed ourselves at breakfast which guaranteed us waddling around for the rest of the day due to how many pastries we inhaled. The weather was crap but we still made it round the lanes and kept cosy in shops and stopping for coffee in a little cafe. My favourite shop in the Lanes is called ‘Edited’, they have beaut design bits – we were in love with their cushions, especially the hot dog & fries. I popped into Lush to have a sniff and after chatting to one of the staff for a good 20 minutes, she proceeded to give me my purchases for free as it was my birthday! I was so shocked at this, it was such a lovely gesture, and is apparently something Lush workers can do as a random act of kindness. (Thanks gurl!) We got our photos taken in an old photo booth to remember the day by  and then headed home to meet my family for dinner at Wahaca. Afterwards we back to my parent’s for tea, cake and presents… the highlight being receiving a card from my dog Max. Who knew you could teach a dog to write..?!

Coming back into work the next day was a bit of a downer, but work was very sweet and got me a lovely card and a massive chocolate cake! Luckily I had my birthday party to look forward at the weekend, so the rest of the week went by pretty quickly. We had everyone to our flat for drinks and cake – a red velvet number with cream cheese frosting and white chocolate bricks made by yours truely. Sounds impressive, but this was put together after my original chocolate cake plan burnt to a crisp… I forget our oven is brand new, meaning it is the heat of the Sun itself. Preparing for the party involved cleaning the flat (not fun), putting up bunting (fun), and buying stupid bits at Tiger like gold shiny plates and neon plastic forks (more fun than expected). After drinks and cake we bundled into taxis to a hotel bar in Surbiton where I had tables reserved. This is where my memory gets fuzzy, probably because of copious bottles of wine, my girlies getting me some impressive green fish bowl drink with a sparkler (only the best) and a friend’s boyfriend feeling generous with tequila. It’s no surprise I felt like poop the next day, but this teamed with the number of people also feeling gross must have meant it was a great night. I also was lucky enough to get some great presents from my earlier Birthday Wishlist post here on Sickly… I knew my friends would get the hint! 

All in all I think my 25th was one of my best birthdays yet, and knowing it’s a long five years until the next milestone (30!), I can relax and enjoy the next few now that I’ve realised I’m really not 18 any more. Thank you to everyone that came/acknowledged my day, and especially thanks to the boy who made my day special, was a great bartender and host at my party, cleaned the flat afterwards, and semi-cured my hangover with this beast the next day…