On Friday I celebrated another trip around the sun

Just a warning - if you are hungry, have something to eat first.

It was such a great birthday, honestly. I really needed the positive mood as this year has be a very hard one and may just continue to be so until the end and into next year.

My family woke me up with lots of hugs and kisses and the most beautiful cross necklace I have ever seen. As it's sort of holidays already it was a slower than usual morning. I just had to drop A off a school (the twins stayed home) - A only went to school as she had a birthday party directly after school where the clever parents rented a small bus to take the whole party off to Bounce. I then met up with two friends that I have really grown very fond of this year. When an old school friend of mine told me years ago that my friends will later be the moms of my kids' friends I honestly did not believe her. But it turns our that cool kids have cool moms and that you will find friends among the moms that you may very well have been friends with in any case. The 3 of us are planning to have a coffee club on Friday mornings next year - after dropping the kids and before work. I am really looking forward to this friendship initiative. We had a lovely breakfast (and I got some really lovely gifts too) and the work day started.

 At work I was spoiled with some very pretty gifts too. I really try to never work the full day on my birthday - in all honesty I feel I can get that for being a business owner. So I spent the afternoon with my two boys - while they played Lego and watched a DVD I mostly slept - peacefully on the couch. Great way to spend your birthday. As it was a Friday night and the au pair is already on holiday we had a family dinner out in stead of our usual spoil dinner for just the two of us. We had a lovely meal at Cappuccinos at Brooklyn Square and drifted to Exclusive books - something we all enjoy. We had small rain showers 3 times on my birthday  - I see it as a blessing. The Christmas tree in Brooklyn Square looked particularly beautiful reflecting in the rain.

We headed to Wakaberry for desert just because no calories count on your birthday !

It was such a lovely evening our with my little family - I felt truly and honestly blessed beyond words.

On Saturday morning I met a few friends at Isabellas at the Greenlyn centre. It was sort of a last minute idea and I invited them as they called or messaged on Friday. It was basically - join me if you can, no problem if you can't-and it really worked out well. It has such a nice atmosphere with the Hazel foodmarket next to it and the general market spread through the centre. Isabellas go to so much trouble if you book a table and the brought huge pitchers with cold water with mint and lemon. Perfect for a hot day.

We had wonderful decadent cake galore and a great chat while the smaller kids played in the kiddies area and the bigger girls strolled the market close to the shop. It was great to see some old friends and some new ones and my heart was light and happy when we left.

My very tasty but way too big piece of rainbow velvet cake.

It was honestly a lovely birthday - one I will remember for the many happy moments.