I Turned Eighteen!

Hey everyone!

Since we last spoke, I have had a birthday. I turned eighteen! I am so very excited! I can now legally drink alcohol, smoke (not that I will, obviously), vote, and be called an adult. There’s probably a bunch more things that come with turning eighteen, too, but those are the major ones I think.

So, my birthday “started” on the 6^th of August, since Dad couldn’t come to a birthday dinner on my actual birthday due to his work. I woke up on the Sunday and went out with Mum to pick up a cake. We chose a pink one that said it was strawberry flavour. It wasn’t very big, but it didn’t have to be. There are only four of us, after all. We came home, set up the cake with eighteen candles (a mean feat for a small cake!), and went out the back to celebrate. Mum, Dad, and Will sang me Happy Birthday and I cut the cake and made a wish. We then ate some cake while I eyed up the big box with blue-green wrapping and a big pink ribbon tied round it that was sitting in the centre of the table.

After cake, I reached for the box with both hands. Once it was sitting in front of me, I held both ends of the ribbon, only just having enough arm length to undo it in one motion. Then I read the card, and it was nice and lovely. There’s a little girl in a fairy costume on the front, and when I was little I wanted to be a fairy, so that was special to me. I then went ham uwrapping the box, tearing at every bit I could, catching glimpses of what was inside. It was a bright orange box, with a white Nike logo on it. Oh no, I thought (and said), Mum’s got me running shoes for my birthday. I kept unwrapping, really hoping it wasn’t running shoes (I’m about to get back into running, but I’m not that keen, you know?). Opening the shoe box, I saw gold tissue paper. I pulled the tissue paper back to reveal the shoes I have been wanting for about three years. Wedge. Trainers.

I picked them up, careful not to put them on the table (bad luck!), and looked at them in awe. Then I noticed that there was some of the tissue paper in one of the shoes. Mum must’ve stuffed some in one and not the other. Silly Mum! I pulled at it, trying to get it out but it was stuck. There was a little white box wrapped up in the paper, stuffed inside the shoe. Inside said box were some rose gold earrings. Long-time readers will know that I am absolutely obsessed with anything rose gold, so I was very much ecstatic when I laid my eyes on these. I got up and hugged and kissed Mum immediately. Considering I didn’t know what to expect since I forgot to give her a list, I think Mum did very well. I am very happy with my presents and they will no doubt feature in an upcoming favourites post.

You may think that is the end, but alas! It is not. The next day (August 7^th) was my actual birthday.

Dad woke me up at exactly 7:39am – the time I was born into the world 18 years ago – to wish me a happy birthday. I then swiftly rolled over and went back to sleep. I got up at about 10:30 and had some breakfast (leftover cake from the day before). Throughout the day, some extended family called and texted me, wishing me a happy birthday. Then came 2 o’clock: time to leave for uni. I picked up my bag and walked down the road to the bus stop, caught my bus and was off. I walked up the enormous hill my uni was built on (what a great idea. They should build more things on hills. That won’t annoy anyone.) and to my lecture hall. Amazingly, I was twenty minutes early, so I sat outside and waited for my uni peeps to show up.

Only they didn’t.

It turns out our lecturer was sick that day, but I hadn’t thought to check my emails till then. Fan-bloody-tastic. So I was straight back down the hill of death and onto the very next bus. Packed with school kids. Fun times! I love catching buses with school kids! Could my birthday get any worse?

No would be the answer to that. The rest of the day was lovely. Mum, Will, and I walked down to a local burger place and had some burgers for my birthday dinner. They were great burgers, just saying. Also, since it was my birthday, Mum and I had some alcoholic beverages with our dinner. Mine was called a Redskin, and I cannot for the life of me remember what was in it, but it was fruity and delicious! Mum had an Espresso martini and I had a sip and it was awful. I’m not particularly a coffee drinker, though. She, a very regular coffee drinker, also said it wasn’t great, but powered through anyway. We then walked back home, making jokes about how drunk we were (we weren’t, we’d had one drink each) and having a good laugh.

And that was how I celebrated my birthday, burgers, cocktails, and plenty of laughs.

Love, Nicky x