Sooz's 40th Birthday Blog Post

Happy Birthday To Me, Happy 40th Birthday To Me (you know the rest!)

40! Really! Where did the time go? It got me thinking about my past birthdays and which ones I remember most.

I think the first one I remember was my 7th birthday. My mum was in hospital, as she was pregnant with my sister and I was staying with my gran and grampa. My aunt bought me a Holly Hobby ironing board and iron (wishful thinking!) and my parents bought me a doctor’s kit and nurse’s uniform(also wishful thinking).  Wish I'd kept my Holly Hobbie ironing board  - apparently it's a collector's item now!

 

 

Fast forward several years, and although I had loads of great presents over the years and excellent birthday celebrations with various friends and family, there are few that I can say,'that was my such and such birthday’.  I remember my 18th birthday, where I had a house party and then decided for some reason ( I suspect too much mulled wine) that going for a run at 10pm on a freezing December night in shorts and a vest was a good idea...(in my defence I was an athlete and used to run for Scotland) I can, however, assure you there will be no repeat of that this year! I also remember the gold necklace my parents bought me for my 18th.

My 21st was spent in Glasgow’s city centre, mostly in Yates’ Wine Lodge, if I recall, with lots of friends from work. It was that year when Mr Blobby was number one in the charts and I thought it was hilarious to pretend I was Mr Blobby. Methinks I had partaken of too much mulled wine then too. And I remember the gold watch my parents bought me.

 

 

 

 

My 30th saw about twenty friends and family set up camp in the Winnock Hotel in Drymen (near Loch Lomond) for their murder mystery night. It was brilliant fun, but my sister maintained for about two years afterwards, that one of my friends was actually one of the actors.  This time it was my Other Half that bought me the gold watch.

 

 

And now it’s my 40th. This has been the longest birthday celebration ever and with good reason. I am lucky enough to have lots of friends mainly from my various jobs over the years, as well as some university and schoolfriends, many of whom don’t know each other. I received my first birthday present, a watch, round about the middle of November. I then went to the Isle of Arran, off the west coast of Scotland, for an overnight stay, with one of my best friends a week after that. Every time we go anywhere, stuff happens! We ended up coming third in the pub quiz in a tiny pub, where an American couple had decided to have their unofficial wedding reception - just witnesses and around 20 ‘locals’. I also got birthday cake No.1 and my first birthday-related ‘beamer’ (red face for those who require translation)

 

 

 

 

A few days later and it was off to Madeira with my Other Half. A week in the sun this time of year is always welcome (actually at any time of year). Being waited on and just chilling out for a week was utter bliss.

 

  (photo - ALamy)

 

Then it was home again and a visit from a very good friend from Austria, which I combined with an early birthday lunch out last weekend with 8 friends.   Birthday Cake No. 2 and more pressies.

Roll on Wed and out for dinner again - more food, more gifts.

Thurs - cards started arriving by post.

Fri came around and more gifts and cards started arriving by post. The evening meant out to our favourite restaurant with my Other Half and his parents for dinner

Sat - I had the great pleasure to meet my beta reader, Laura Cowan, who also is a master baker and agreed to make my official birthday cake for the big day. Check it out below. Isn’t it great? Birthday Cake Nr 3.

 

 

 



 

 

Of course, it had to be a book! 



 

And then the Grand Finale, Sun 16th December 2012 - The Big Four O - a family dinner out in my home town, with my cherubic nephews, siblings (not quite so cherubic!), parents, auntie, cousin and Other Half.

But do you know what, instead of there being an anti-climax, now that the day has arrived, I only have 9 more days to wait until Christmas!

Have a great festive period everyone!

Sooz (aka Auld Yin)