Birthday

Happy Birthday To Me

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So last weekend was my birthday . It has actually turned into more of a “birthweek”, as the celebrations seem to have gone on for much more than a day. I can’t believe that it is now two years since I began my blog and celebrated my 50th birthday.

Escape Rooms

I know that Escape Rooms have been around for some time, but I have discovered them only recently. Our daughters bought us tickets for one at Christmas and then we went to one in the Lake District shortly afterwards. They really grab my attention, as I love puzzle solving, it really gets you thinking and it also gets you working as a team.

On the day of my actual birthday, I had to work, but in the evening had arranged to go out for a lovely meal with my husband, brother and sister in law. We then went on to play one of the escape rooms at the Escaporium at The Piece Hall in Halifax. I had chosen the Halogorian, which was based on the history of Halifax. We had a really great night and also escaped with eight minutes to spare. We were pretty pleased with ourselves I have to say!

Brunch at The Ivy

The following day, I had arranged to go for Brunch at The Ivy in Leeds. This wasn’t particularly for my birthday, as it had just been a date when everyone was free. I had been to The Ivy in Harrogate before, which I had really enjoyed and the one in Leeds didn’t disappoint either.

I think that prior to going, I would have said that I am not an Ivy type of person. I would have expected it to be overpriced and pretentious, but in fact it is a really classy restaurant, with lovely food, in a great setting and not too expensive at all.

Kinky Boots

The next event was to go and see Kinky Boots at Leeds Grand Theatre. I had heard the soundtrack on a number of occasions and it certainly sounded upbeat. I knew the basics of the story, as I had seen the original film several years ago. It is about a traditional shoe factory which is struggling to stay in business, but the owner meets a drag queen and discovers a niche market making boots with heels for drag queens.

The show was absolutely amazing! The singing blew me away, the songs veered from uplifting full song and dance numbers to full on emotional ballads. The dancing was so impressive, particularly from the “Angels” who danced expertly in high heels. The story teaches us a lot about accepting people for who they are, not assuming things about people and getting to know people and what makes them tick.

The whole show left me feeling completely elated and I wanted to dance and sing all the way home (and at work for the whole day after)

A Sunny Easter Holiday

You would think that all that would have been enough, but the week following my birthday was the Easter weekend. It was an absolutely beautiful weekend, with the sun shining and hardly a cloud in the sky.

On good Friday I spent a couple of hours helping at messy church, which was held outside thanks to the beautiful weather. The families that came had a great time and it was lovely to see them enjoying the sunshine and learning about Easter.

Over the rest of the weekend, we had a craft fair, spent some time sitting out in the garden with family (drinking slightly too much prosecco) and walking in the Yorkshire Dales on Easter Monday.

All in all I had a great birthday, on the day itself and for all of the following week. When people tell me that birthdays are just for children and that you get too old to celebrate them, I have to disagree. Birthdays are there for celebrating and enjoying, despite your age!

 

Time Flies

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I can’t believe that we are already on Wednesday and that I have not got round to writing my blog again this week. I also can’t believe that it is the middle of August already, where does the time go?

This week it will be my eldest daughter’s 21st birthday, the last milestone birthday of the year for us as a family. It has certainly been a year for milestone birthdays, with me being 50, my youngest being 18 and my eldest being 21. That certainly wasn’t planned in any way, but it has made for a very busy, exciting, if not slightly expensive year.

This week also sees the week, where my youngest daughter will receive her A Level results. She is not particularly concerned about this, as she does not wish to go to university and has already found herself a job, but I do feel for all those other students and parents out there, who are anxiously waiting to see what Thursday will bring.

Making Progress

Over the last couple of weeks I have felt really motivated to keep up with my running and also to keep on with the healthy eating. I certainly feel much better for it and feel that I am definitely making progress with my fitness.

On Tuesday I attended at my usual Slimming World class and it was the evening to award the “Woman of the Year”. The people who had been nominated talked about what had been the defining moment that brought them to lose weight and what a difference that it had made to their lives.

It was very inspiring to listen to their stories and very moving too. It certainly got me thinking about the difference losing a couple of stone and increasing my exercise has done for me. Interestingly, some of the women had no photos from when they started losing weight, which said a lot about the lack of confidence that you can have when you are overweight. I certainly felt that I didn’t want to appear on photos. I’m still not the most photogenic person , but don’t completely hate having my photo taken anymore.

Hopefully I’ll keep up the hard work and continue with the progress. I’ll let you know how I get on!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An eventful week (2)

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So the second part of the week was spent celebrating our youngest daughters 18th birthday. It’s really hard to believe that she is eighteen already! When we used to go on holiday in a big family group she was always the baby and now she’s an adult too.

Celebration cocktails

On Thursday it was her actual birthday and we had a bit of a lazy day at home then celebrated by gong into Leeds for cocktails. There were a couple of friends and one of the mums who I am also friends with. We had a few cocktails together and then the young ladies went of to celebrate whilst me and my friend returned home. I’m definitely not cut out for partying until the early hours any more.

Party time!

On Friday evening we had the official party at our local country club, which sounds much grander than it actually is, but it was a great venue for her to be able to celebrate with her friends.

Early in the evening the family guests began to arrive and I was a little concerned when there were very few friends there. However I was reliably informed that no one goes out that early and true to form about 1 1/2 hours later the friends began to drift in and there was a steady stream of them for the rest of the evening.

They were a great bunch of young people. They probably drank too much, but there were no problems and they all seemed to enjoy themselves, which was the main thing.

The food consisted of take away pizza, mozzarella sticks, garlic bread and chips, followed by tiers of donuts. I was a bit dubious when she told me that this was what she wanted, but it actually worked really well and certainly as much easier than preparing loads of food that no one eats.

At the end of the night the younger ones went off to party some more and yes older folk went home to put our feet up.

It was great to see the young people enjoying themselves and was good to get the family together too. I may be biased but I’m really proud of how she has grown up and what a lovely articulate and sociable young woman she has turned into.

The only downside to this week is that I have  probably eaten my body weight in donuts and pizza and really need to get back on the healthy eating, but for this week, life was not about eating lettuce and fruit, but about spending time as a family and celebrating their achievements.

 

Finally Fifty

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So the party was last week, but on Wednesday I finally turned fifty this week. I can’t say that I really feel any different. I don’t look any different. The world is still turning, so I survived pretty well. When I started my blog in January, being fifty in April still seemed a long tome away, but now its here and yes I am 50!

The first Quarter

I feel that I have achieved quite a lot in the first quarter of this year and feel proud of myself. According to my Strava I have walked a total of 183 miles so far. I think that’s pretty good. I have lost almost 2 stones (1 stone 12 1/2 lbs to be precise). I have taken part in several park runs, including one in London, where I turned up on my own to run, without knowing anyone at all. I have completed a training qualification. Most of all, I have managed to write a blog each Sunday and find something interesting to put in it. All in all a pretty good start to the year.

Easter Sunday

Toady was Easter day, which has always been an important day in our family. This year was a bit different, as my eldest daughter did not come home from university and my youngest had been out with friends and stayed over, so we did not see her until lunchtime.

My husband and I went to church. Part of me feels that this is something that I do out of habit these days. I have always gone to church and would have said that I have a strong faith. However these days I find myself questioning quite a lot of things that I have always believed (Maybe that’s a conversation for another day). However, today I enjoyed the service and also socialising with members of the congregation afterwards.

After church we had family at our house for Sunday lunch. This consisted of my mum and dad, in laws, a lovely lady from church who is a really good friend of the family and my sister in laws mum. When our youngest daughter came home for lunch it reduced our average age to about 70! After spending last weekend with all the young people, it was certainly different to have the older generation with us this weekend, but it was really lovely to sit and chat and for them to catch up with each other too.

Looking Forward

So what’s next? Well later this week my husband and I are setting off on holiday with friends. We are driving the Pacific Coast Road, starting in San Francisco and ending in San Diego. Like my party, it has been a long time in planning. As I write I haven’t started packing yet. I’ve bought a new suitcase and a pair of trousers, so tomorrow I definitely need to get organised and start sorting put some clothes and packing.

It is the longest time that we will have been away without our girls. It’s not like we are abandoning them, they are old enough to be left at home, but it will seem strange to have a long holiday without them.

My intention is to write a blog more often over the next couple of weeks, hopefully updating on our travels in California. Again I don’t know whether anyone will read it, but it will be a record for me of what we did each day, the sights that we have seen and any other interesting snippets along the way.

Shortly after I return I will then be taking part in the moonwalk in London, so sitting down on holiday for two weeks is not an option. I will definitely need to keep up walking some distances whilst I am away.

So hopefully I will write later in the week and let you know about my travels.