 |
| Raspberry tart, The team beach adventure, Nick's chalk drawing |
We all know that as you get older birthdays get less important - or so we are told. In my mind, presents or no presents, its the day to celebrate your life... even if it is by yourself. Career opportunities have taken me away from my comfortable routine, my friends, my family, and for the first time in my life I will be working on my birthday. But this is not a bad thing, particularly if you are happy with your life choices and are content to break tradition and make some nice experiences for yourself. This post is a bit about how I spent my day, but also it might give you some ideas for how to make the most of what is just any other day...
Being a big foodie, I started the day with a small luxury - a tasty raspberry tart from a French style patisserie in Hove. I have walked past this place every day for a month on my way to work and finally I gave in and gorged. I know its a bit cliche to say I like French food but it was so great because it reminded me of skiing with my family and how I would go buy our breakfasts each morning to practice my French. The eating of the tart was followed shortly by a phone call to the parents. So tip number 1 - celebrate with your own mini birthday cake (or equivalent pastry) and don't forget the people you love are with you if only in spirit!
Luckily I am currently working for an awesome company in Brighton who took me on a mini lunchtime adventure to the beach where I had calamari and ice cream (but not together). I had tried to keep my birthday on the down low but once it had come up in conversation with one person it spread like wildfire. I was planning to turn up casually with a bottle of Prosecco and some cheap plastic glasses for the staff and casually drop it in that I am now 20 (which I did) but it turned out they had bigger things planned. I realize not everyone's job is quite like this and I was extraordinarily fortunate with the weather and the people but what I would say is no matter how concerned you are about playing it cool on your birthday, it's a good thing to tell at least one other person around you because, who knows, everyone else might think it a good excuse to do something fun!
Next on the agenda: do something free! For me that involved getting a makeover from No7 at Boots - nothing too pretentious but another example of something nice you can do for yourself.
Last but not least - meeting someone new to share some of the day with. On my walk home I decided to buy some Doritos and chocolate for a guy called Nick who is homeless and we chatted all things art, sea-swimming, and guitar. I am not saying everybody go hang out with a stranger but I really enjoyed getting a new perspective on things, which hopefully I can take into my next year of life! (See Nick's chalk drawing above)
0 comments:
Post a Comment