Birthdayweek Celebrations


Birthdays are funny old things. I never really understood why we celebrate them. To me, they always feel like a bit of a stark reminder of how much time has passed me by and how little I've done with it. Looking back over the previous year usually makes me cringe rather than feel like celebrating!

My 27th year on the planet has been a particularly strange one. It started out with birthday cake on a hospital ward and it seems that sort of set the tone for the next 365 days. It's been tough. It feels like a bit of a miracle (or a curse, depending which day you ask) that I made it out the other side to see another birthday occur.

I decided I would actually do something to celebrate this one and what started out as a birthday quickly turned into a birthweek (though rudely interrupted by revision and an exam) filled with fun and festivities with lots of my favourite peeps.


My birthday was actually on Sunday the 7th, but the celebrations began early ..because why not?! Saturday kicked off with Color Me Rad at Aberdeen beach, then I managed to fit in a short spell of studying before heading out with a few friends that evening. We started off with a beautiful dinner at Howies - a restaurant I've written about previously, which has fast become one of my favourites in Aberdeen - before heading down to the Arches for an attempt at the Breakout Game! 

A real-life escape game, we were locked together in a room full of clues, riddles and brainteasers, with an hour to solve the puzzle and break out of the room. It involved some physical interaction with the room (tearing it apart searching for signs and clues), a solid dose of teamwork, a lot of applied logic, and many a confused look, but we got ourselves on a roll and managed to escape in 58 minutes - just within the target time! It was brilliant fun and something I'd recommend both for friends looking for something different to do and for groups or businesses looking for a team-building activity.

After we'd "broken out" we headed to Frankie & Benny's at Union Square where my sneaky friend surprised me with a birthday cake and we spent the rest of the evening enjoying cocktails and dessert.

Confit duck leg // Green pea and spinach risotto // Shetland salmon fillet.
*Photo from the Breakout Games' FB page

I spent my actual birthday with my mum, meeting her after church on Sunday and spending the day in the Aberdeenshire countryside. We started off with a trip to The Store at Foveran where they were holding an event as part of Open Farm Sunday and we spent some time browsing market stalls, looking at tractors and watching sheep being sheared! 

From there we headed out towards Tarves to pay our first ever visit to Formartine's shop and cafe. It was a beautiful wee venue adorned with pastel bunting and floating clouds, and the coffee and cake we sampled were delicious. The rest of their menu looked impressive and it's definitely a place I'll be returning to! 

My wee mum had packed us an adorable picnic, but the Scottish weather conspired against us (again!) and we ended up retreating to the car where we tucked in and opened presents under a canopy of trees as rain poured down upon the windscreen.  

Still raining, we headed to Haddo House from there and had another caffeine fix in the cafe while mum read a book and I got some much needed studying done.

It was a cute, chilled kind of day and I was utterly spoiled by my lovely family and friends.

Such a boiled sprat.

The day after my birthday was the dreaded exam which, er, happened - let's leave it at that - and then on Tuesday morning I headed down to London to spend a few days with my beautiful friend Eve. I had a brilliant trip, which I'll write more about later, and then returned to Aberdeen to have a sleepover with my sister who surprised me with yet another birthday cake! 


Turning 27 wasn't so painful after all and I'm so grateful to my family and friends for making it such a lovely week.
Big thanks to everyone!


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5 Comments

  1. a caterpillar cake is a must! sounds like a lovely week you had:)

    Eilidh from Velvet-Winter

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    1. Right? The tell-tale sign of a good birthday!x

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  2. A belated Happy Birthday! I always feel that birthdays are an opportunity to celebrate someone's existence full stop - not their continuing existence, or how many miles they've logged, etc. I'm so glad you were spoiled and celebrated. And sorry to see that the RAD occasion wasn't as colourful as it might have been, but hooray for you to have run it (and more)!

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    1. Thank you, Christine :)

      "Celebrate someone's existence full stop.." I like that. What a nice way of thinking about it!x

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  3. Wow, this is the finest birthday party I've ever attended. My birthday is tomorrow, however, I haven't settled on a birthday outfit yet. However, my sister advised me to go to Best Essay Writer, which offers the best birthday outfits, and I went to this side decide suit.

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