Laura's Fantastic, Wonderful 24th Birthday!!

I’m excited to be writing this as a brand new 24 year old! I've been 24 for 3 days now, and so much has changed. I’m already so much more mature.

See?

I am sure you've seen, as I was so excited, I just couldn't hide it on any form of communication going, but I had SUCH a great birthday. It was amazing, and wonderful, and made me realise how incredibly lucky I am to not only have the most wonderful girlfriend in the world, and the most amazing parents, but also some of the best friends a girl could ever have.

This is going to be a feel-good post.

Since I was little, I’ve not only had my birthday on 6^th October, but I’ve kind of claimed the surrounding days so I at least get a birthday long weekend. And everyone pretty much plays along. So this year, my pre-birthday started Friday 5^th October.

Cuz I'm a princess

It happened to be Corporate Social Responsibility Day (try saying that three times fast) at work, so the whole office had lots of fun things planned for charity. We all got to wear jeans, and some of the fun activities included a stationary bikeathon, a Wii Mario Kart competition, an Xbox white water rafting competition, someone wore roller skates all day, and someone else shaved their head – all for charity! We raised over £5000 for the MacMillan Cancer Charity.

The girls at work surprised me with a beautiful chocolate soufflé cake from Paul, which was delicious, and a lovely card. Then, also for charity, we had a cheese and champagne afternoon – so I spent the afternoon of my birthday eve enjoying my favourite type of food! Cheers!

Then, late afternoon I got a call from reception to tell me a package had arrived for me. I was SO excited to find out that it was a platter of red velvet cupcakes from Hummingbird Bakery from my parents (and dog, and brother)!! Oh my days, they were just the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted – you can really see why they are such a famous bakery!

From work, Sarah picked me up and we headed off to my surprise weekend destination. I had gathered it was north, and about 3 hours away, but had no idea where it was! Sarah provided me with the obligatory road trip snacks (something sweet, something savoury, something chocolaty, oh –and Diet Coke, of course!!), and we headed on our way, eating cupcakes as we went.

*drool*

The rain and fog was so bad on the drive, I soon forgot that I was supposed to be looking for clues as to our destination! Not that I could see the signs, anyway. Poor Sarah was a little nervous as she hates driving in the rain, but we really enjoyed ourselves, belting out 80s power ballads, then switching it up with ridiculous 90s rap – I really love my girl!

It was only when we turned onto the M42 that I started to recognise the drive. I had definitely been here before, numerous times... but dare I hope that we were going to Lauren & Sarah’s?

But as I got more and more excited with every turn, I learned that not only were we getting to spend the WHOLE WEEKEND at S&L’s, but my Sarah and Lauren had kept this a surprise from me AND Lauren’s Sarah, as her birthday was earlier in the week! (I’ve just realised this post may get a little confusing with all the similar names!!)

When we pulled up to their house, we were greeted by the girls and their gorgeous dog, Willow (we’ve claimed her as our little niece!), and a delicious Chinese takeaway! We caught up, and chatted for hours over Chinese food and my red velvet cupcakes. I just couldn’t believe I was there! This was the best birthday weekend away possible.

Willow was a very good girl, considering the amount of photos she was subjected to!

The next morning, the girls got up early and went to a farmer’s market, to give us time to open my presents just us two. How incredibly thoughtful, right?

I received some wonderful gifts – Sarah & Lauren got me a variety of American treats I’ve been missing – graham crackers (which I got SO excited for), Lucky Charms, Marshmallow Fluff (which my Sarah got so excited for), Red Velvet Cookie Dough Bites – OH my god, just thinking about it is making me hungry!! Thank you girls, for helping me miss home a little less.

Mum & Dad gave me a beautiful big card and some shopping money for my American spree in December! (Vic Sec and Converse, watch out!)

Sarah gave me the new Victoria’s Secret London – Bond Street Edition perfume. I LOVE it! It’s so beautiful, smells amazing, and is so special because it’s exclusively from the first VS store in the UK!

She also is taking me to see Michael Jackson Immortal – Circ du Soleil acrobatics with MJ music – SO amazing!! I’m a giant MJ fan, and cried for 3 days when he died – in fact, I could write a whole post on my love of Michael Jackson, maybe I will! I actually tried to find tickets to this show but they were completely sold out, so I’m shocked that Sarah was able to get them!! I’m one lucky girl!!

When S&L came back from their morning out, Lauren cooked us a full English breakfast – vegetarian style! Who knew, meatless sausages taste awesome! It was delicious, and a great way to set us up for our afternoon’s activities.

However, before we set off, all three girls came out of the kitchen singing ‘Happy Birthday’ with the biggest cake I’ve ever seen! I was so excited, the girls made this cake just for me – and when I cut into it to find a beautiful pastel rainbow, I could have cried – so much effort went into making that delicious and beautiful cake, I can’t thank them enough! Since then, I’ve managed to eat rainbow cake every day, and share it with work, who said ‘you must have some friends who really care about you!’ I can definitely say I do!!

We soon set out to an ice skating rink in Birmingham (half of my ‘socks’ clue given to me by Sarah, and wearing NEW socks provided by Sarah) – we got booted up, and skated around the rink for an hour or so. Neither couple had actually been ice skating as a couple, so it was a new experience for both of us. It was half romantic and half hilarious – ice rinks haven’t changed from when I was a teenager! Lots of groups of young girls, boys trying to show off, and people almost running into each other.  Oh and trying to communicate while shouting over loud music and NOT falling over!! We were happy holding hands and scooting around the rink, and taking photos of each other haha!

Then, armed with slush puppies and awesome bowling shoes, we took to the bowling alley (socks again!). We put up the bumpers, as it was Lauren’s Sarah’s first time ten pin bowling ever, but you wouldn’t have known it! I’m known for being quite the sore loser in this sport (terrible bowling skills combined with extreme competitiveness will do that to you) but I managed to keep it under control and we had an awesome time doing something new. Though nobody let me win, so I came last haha.

When we got home before dinner, I was able to Skype my parents! It was great to get to see them and tell them all about my day, and they wanted to meet L&S, so the girls got to say hi, and so did little Willow! My mum said some lovely things about them and thanked them for taking such good care of us, and L&S thought my parents were great, so smiles all around!

How could you not love them? The cutest couple ever!! And their dog isn't bad, either! :)

For dinner, we went to Jimmy Spices in downtown Birmingham. We’d never heard of it before, but absolutely loved it – it’s an all you can eat buffet, but it’s upmarket, and they have stations where they make whatever food you’d like! EVERYTHING was delicious, from the chicken pot stickers, to the fajita station, to the make your own chow mien, to the sushi, Indian, and the desserts!!! It was the perfect place for foodies like us, and we had a wonderful time. And can’t wait to go back!

Sunday, my post-birthday, was just as good as the rest of the weekend. After a morning of chatting (how do we find so much to talk about?) we took Willow for a promenade, and then had a lesbian movie afternoon, where L&S educated us with ‘But I’m a Cheerleader!’ and ‘If These Walls Could Talk 2’ with Ellen and Sharon Stone. But this wasn’t just any old movie afternoon – it was one with a cheese and pate picnic!!! Heaven, I tell you.

Finally, Sunday night we drove home, Sarah and I recounting the many amazing points of my birthday, and the weekend. We always find ourselves so eager to go back to Birmingham once we leave, and Sarah couldn’t have given me a better surprise.

True Love

The birthday fun doesn't stop there. I got some lovely cards from my grandparents (on my Australian side, in it said ‘give Sarah a kiss and a hug from me!’ – how adorable!! I received a card from my gorgeous friend Tina, which came all the way from Seattle, and made me tear up. I also got to see Alison last night, and got a beautiful and touching card from her.

I received a wonderful message from one of my Mormon friends from home, who said Happy Birthday – but also, that she loves the blog, and that Sarah and I have really helped change the way she views gay people/couples. I mean, I honestly can’t think of anything more meaningful than that message. I’m so happy that we are able to make a difference, and it means a lot to me that she would reach out to me to tell me that.

So, I think I've talked your ears off enough about my 24^th birthday, but I could go on and on. Thank you all for your messages, emails and well wishes over the weekend, you've all helped make this one of my best birthdays ever!!

Lots of love, 

Laura xo