Every year without fail, I get asked what I want for my Birthday. Now, it will probably surprise most of you who read this blog to know that I actually really struggle to answer that question. Yes me, the girl who writes several posts a week detailing all the entirely frivolous and material things she thinks she needs to have in order to be complete. The girl who just can’t seem to stop her skirt and shoe collections from growing, despite there being very little room left for them to expand into. The girl who can’t go into Primark for tights without coming out with at least 2 tea dresses. I find it alarmingly easy to compile mental wish lists, and yet the moment someone puts me on the spot and asks me to commit to something, my mind goes blank. What can I say? I’m a pain in the ass. So this year, when my other half started asking what I wanted to do to celebrate this year I only asked for one thing – I said I wanted to feel special.
Another thing that you will probably be surprised to know about me – I don’t do a lot for myself (ok, except shop. I shop for me a hell of a lot). I know – I’m pretty sure all the whining about life and babbling about clothes and shoes that I do probably sometimes gives the impression I’m a bit of a brat! And I can definitely be a brat, truth be told, when the right person gets up my nose. But the truth is, I find the most satisfaction in life from doing things for other people. It’s why I love to bake and cook, and keep a nice, homely, house. It’s why I love having a dog so much and look forward to being a Mum, and it’s why I love buying gifts for people – I love everything about the act of choosing a gift someone will love, and seeing the look on their face when they open it. But the problem is I feel so strongly about it that I just assume everyone else is the same, and it can take the wind out of your sails a bit when others don’t go to quite the same amount of effort as you. See, at the same time though, just to make myself sound even more of a weirdo, I’m a little too apologetic and doubting of myself to really expect anything else, so I’ve spent life mostly wanting a party, but being too afraid to ask anyone to come, or hoping someone might organise a surprise, but never suggesting it might be something I’d like. I know, I’m a walking contradiction. So this year, I thought screw it, I want to be spoilt! And leaving the poor boy with zero ideas or direction whatsoever, I left him to it!
He came up trumps, readers! It started the evening before my Birthday, when I discovered the hotel we were staying in was not the one next door to the office that we always stay in when he’s stopping over for work. Instead he’d booked us a suite at The Burlington – a 4 star Victorian hotel in the city that I’ve always been curious about but never been to. The room came complete with complimentary chocolates and wine (free chocolate and wine – let’s face it, he’d have won me over with that alone!) and he’d snuck out at lunch to arrange my presents on the bed – which, by the way, were awesome – and then booked not one but three different tables for dinner so that I could choose where I wanted to go! I went for pizza and beer, because, well, because pizza and beer, and we had a lovely evening stuffing our faces before heading back to catch up on The Walking Dead. Basically the most perfect evening I could have asked for. Those awesome gifts I mentioned? He’d only gone and got me the Joules Fido wellies! I’ve lusted after these for years thanks to the cute little Beagles on them, but I’d always resisted because it seemed too frivolous even for me to spend that much money on wellies that were ‘pretty’ – so they were basically the definition of a perfect gift for me! He also got me a beautiful Joules scarf and this book, which I found hilarious:
That is until I came across this page….:
…..and realised that I am the dick the book was talking about! Oh well!
The next day I headed into work – I know, who the heck goes into work on their Birthday?? Well, I will be from now on, because I felt like the most loved person on the planet with all the cards, lovely gifts and birthday wishes. That night we headed for a slap up curry with my family, then I had a lazy weekend walking the dog (with my new wellies on, obvs), catching up with friends and getting yet more lovely gifts – special shout out to my bestie Emma who treated me to the most beautiful baby blue pencil dress with a white lace overlay from Lipsy, I cannot wait to wear it once the weather warms up! All in all, it was a wonderful weekend, and I more than got what I asked for – I felt like the most special girl in the world.
I wasn’t though – because I share my Birthday with another special lady – my Beagle Bonnie who turned 4! Yes, I am one of those ridiculous people who treats their dog like a child, and went completely over the top with her gifts:
Yes I did wrap them. And yes, I did make a special trip on my lunchbreak to buy doggy themed wrapping paper. What of it?? Probably my favourite part of the weekend was watching her open her gifts and play with her new toys – she was particularly enamoured with a stuffed duck that honked, though it was dead and disemboweled before the end of Saturday…! She also got a gun that shoots treats into the air for her to chase and catch, which lets face it, was a gift for everyone! My favourite of her gifts though? Definitely these:
Oh yes, these bad boys – again courtesy of Emma – are going to be a whole lot of fun!
For me, not for Bonnie. Soz Bonnie!
Love,
Picking the Day 