It's All About Me!

July is a very busy month for us. We have both of our birthdays and also my niece Misty's birthday. You may recall that last year was my 30th birthday and I had the most amazing 80's themed party that was organised by Rich and my friends. It was hard to believe that a year had passed already.

We had a birthday meal in Wellington in between our birthdays which started with a group of friends having drinks and nibbles at our house. Then we headed into town for a meal at Wagamamas.

Wagamamas is not really a fancy place for a sit down meal but as there was a big group of us (and we were quite noisy) it was a perfect choice for some great food and drinks without the worry of annoying any of the other diners.

After the meal we headed to a couple of bars for a few more drinks which was followed by a very noisy, rather hilarious car ride home courtesy of Matt (thanks Matt!)

The day of my actual birthday fell on a Saturday. It started with Skype chats to my family back in the UK and opening of my presents. My Mum asked me some time ago what I would like for my birthday and I asked her to send me presents please!! I know my Mum loves to go bargain hunting for things that I would love and of course I love to receive these presents. I would say that I am pretty easy to buy for but also that she is great at finding me the best presents. This birthday was no exception! It was like Christmas day all for me!! Thank you Mum, I love you xxxxxx

I also got some great presents from Daisy and Rich, things that I wanted which included perfume, a new book and a tea pot to enjoy my favourite loose leaf tea!

Once all the cards and presents were open Rich and Daisy made me a gorgeous breakfast and then Rich headed off the the gym for a boxing lesson. This left Daisy and I to get ready for our day out.

Sadly the weather fairies were not being very nice and the weather was pants!! Driving rain and gale force winds did not make our original plans for the day possible. However, we were determined to enjoy ourselves which is just what we did.

We headed to a new bar and restaurant in Wellington called Ancestral which have cuisine from all over East Asia.

We were eating an early dinner so the restaurant was quiet which meant for great service as well as amazing food!!

Daisy had a simple dish of egg fried rice with bok choy and Rich and I had duck and fish with a side of bok choy and noodles (all eaten with chopsticks too!)

We eat Asian food quite a lot but this was something else. It was fine dining and the best Asian we have ever eaten. We will definitely be recommending this place!

After our meal we had a couple of games of bowling and then went home to get ready for our evening in with friends.

We were joined by Trina and Steve and their girls, Jodie and Paul and their boys and Erana who's son is Harrison a friend of Daisy's.

Trina made the most delicious carrot cake for me and I got to blow out the candles (after Daisy had done it the first time and we had to relight them ha ha!)

Thank you TT it was delicious xx

After we put the children to bed we had some drinks and lots of laughs until the small hours.

There is a reason that we are all standing in a line which is a long story but it involves 3 pencil marks that are now on my door frame with mine, Trina's and Jodie's height marked out lol!!

There is no easy time to be away from your family and birthdays can be really tough. I miss them all so much everyday but our surrogate family here in NZ and my amazing friends help fill the gap just nicely.

Thank you to everybody that made it very special xx