happy belated birthday to me

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belated birthday, birthdays, cake, celebration, friends, gifts, photography, photos, post

This year my birthday fell on a Wednesday – right in the middle of a very busy week. It was an odd day, no letters to open, no gift to unwrap, just a few bings of my phone wishing me a ‘happy birthday’ via text. So as I walked into work I realised that I didn’t feel birhday-y at all – and not even in a bad way, it just all felt very grown-up and matter of fact.

My one treat of the day was free tickets to go to the preview screening of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. A little bit of magic and enchantment to excite the child within, ending the day on a much less adult note.

When I arrived home I found the post had been there and had left me a notice to come an pick up what didn’t fit through the letter-box, which is exactly what I did late on Friday afternoon when I had the time.

So yesterday morning I celebrated my birthday a few days late, unwrapped the thoughtful gifts that had arrived in the post. I sat surrounded by love in the form of cards and wrapping paper, each word and surprise making me feel special.

When my neighbour showed up, a song on her lips and a cupcake in her hands, I couldn’t help but notice the giddy feeling rising up inside me and I couldn’t help but think that I’m not so grown-up after all.

So maybe you’re never to old for birthday surprises but sometimes you just have to wait until all the grow-up tasks are done to be able to enjoy it. And even if it was  a few days late I really enjoyed this years birthday and took the time to thoroughly enjoy it.

a treat brought over by neigbours accompanied by a song

some gifts arrived in the post

late night cake

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birthday, blueberry muffin, cake, cupcake, donut, food, late night snack, muffins, tastes

It was my birthday yesterday and somehow I managed to spend the whole day without eating any cake – no birthday cake, no celebration cupcake, no ta-da donut – nothing, Nada.

So, on my way home from my late night lecture – I try to keep my students awake and involved every Monday from 8-9.30pm – I decided it was time for a muffin, a little bit of sweet to end my birthday on.

But when I got home the phone kept ringing, the minutes flew by and my muffin sat uneaten on a plate, neglected. Then I needed to do the washing-up, pack my bag for today and make sure I had all my printouts ready to go. By the time I finally got to sit down and read the few last pages for class the clock had struck twelve and it wasn’t my birthday anymore.

The blueberry muffin still sat uneaten on the kitchen table and I had spent my entire birthday without cake. I was unhappy with this, and so was my tummy – dinner had been a long six hours ago and the noisy rumbling wouldn’t let me forget it.  So, to my tummy’s satisfaction, I decided that since I hadn’t gone to bed yet it was still my birthday and I enjoyed some late night cake as a last birthday treat.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Change

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baking, cake, change, photography, photos, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Change

Today I decided to bake a cake – I had a few plums, some eggs, flour, butter and sugar so off I went. The change from ingredients to cake took less than an hour! Sadly the plums must have not been ripe as they turned bitter while backing them. A lesson lernt – sometimes you just have to eat around the bitter parts of life and enjoy the sweets ones.

cake, catch-ups and a chat-show

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Brendan O'Connor, cake, chat shows, chats, Dublin, friends, The Saturday Night Show, weekend

Meeting up with friends is always a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon, especially when there is cake involved. And that is exactly what I did yesterday!

It had been a while since I had had a proper catch-up with these friends and as we sat over coffee cups and plates filled with sumptuous baked goods we laughed and it really didn’t matter that it was raining outside or that we had all had a tough week.

As the day turned into evening and my friends decided it was time for a glass of wine, but since I had plans for later that evening that involved driving I stuck with cappuccino.

It was still drizzling when we finally left and I made my way across town to RTE. A colleague of mine had arrange for some journalist students to go to The Saturday Night Show with Brendan O’Connor and had asked me to join them. And even thought I didn’t know a single guest it was an interesting show and I am sure the students enjoy themselves.

By the time I was home it was past midnight and I spent a little while enjoying a cup of tea and my own thoughts. I even remembered to change the time on my clocks as tonight Ireland changed to summer time. Now all I need is to catch up on some writing and my weekend will be perfect.