The Weekend I Turned 23
And so another birthday snuck up on me. I swear it has done that too often over the past couple of years. I start university, get into the rhythm and then I blink and it's the 4th of November again. This year my birthday fell on a Saturday, which was very nice as I didn't have to go to work or class at university. I could just have a very chill day and I did just that.
I started the day off with waking at twenty minutes past eight and subsequently getting ready to visit my horse with my mother. We had arranged dressage training on my birthday as opposed to the usual Sunday time, as I knew I would be heading out to a party Saturday evening and I didn't particularly feel like getting up and training with the heaviness a night out always settle on me the day before.
We are still without a saddle that fits her but that is mostly because I still haven't gotten around to calling on someone to check it for us. I secretly don't mind that much. I love riding bareback because it does wonders for my balance, even if it can be difficult without the support a saddle provides. The bedding in our riding hall literally just got renewed and we were one of the first equipages to ride on it. It'll take some time to properly settle in but is was still a very nice ground to work on.
Training was tough because I hadn't really ridden throughout the week but we managed okay. Money was a bit jumpy but for most parts I managed to use that energy constructively. I even got surprised with a bouquet of yellow roses from one of the people from the stables. They were to ride after me and upon spotting that it was my birthday on Facebook, they wanted to get me a little present. It was so nice and I got completely surprise when I pulled Money to a halt next to the mirror and suddenly was trust flowers into my hand. It was such a nice gesture. As was eating the lemon moon cake that my mother had been smart enough to buy.
It was a bit odd not to start the day with presents first but I didn't quite fancy getting up that early to do it before we headed out to the stables. However, as soon as we got home, Dad had made pancakes. I love his pancakes so much. It's a rather rare treat and I know it takes ages to make a whole pile, though we never made them as tall as in Rasmus Klump. We found a vase for my new flowers and sat down to dig in to the delicious late breakfast.
The boys had even gone out of their way to present me with the ingredients to make a hot chocolate. I love to use those tiny marshmallows in my hot chocolate (which is rather odd as I don't like marshmallows on their own. I only like them in the roasted over fire or dissolved in a hot drink). But it was just such a nice little additional and considerate thought that my heart melted a bit. It turned out that the Nutella we had in the cupboard was out of date, so I went for a classic pancake with sugar instead.
As we finished the breakfast, we finally headed to the living room to open presents. I hadn't really provided a wishlist this year other than offhandedly saying two things I definitely knew I would like to have for my birthday. One of them I was actually there as my mother bought them. It's a pair of black Hunter boots - the kind I've worn for years out at the stables - but my current ones had lost their ability to keep out water due to wear and tear.
Other than that, I wasn't sure what I was getting but I must tip my hat to my mother. She's always been great at getting gifts and she is likewise very good at reading me and knowing what I'll like. I think it might be a mum superpower or something or maybe it's just her. As I sat down to open the presents (in my usual spot), we even turned on the massive scented candle I bought in Bath last year. It's still going strong, even if it did start with very black smoke when we fist lit it.
I took my time to go through the presents, as I always like to, and I got so many great things. Other than the hunter boots, I got a blue duvet and pillow casing set (which I had wished for), a Kay Bojesen horse (a wooden designer piece), a Zoella make-up bag and the wintery lip balms and three items of clothing from Topshop: black Jamie jeans, a fitted off-white jumper and a black bodystocking. Unfortunately, I'll have to return the last two as one doesn't suit me and the other is too small. But I'm so happy with the presents I got this year, especially since I didn't give people a lot to work with.
After this, the boys headed out to run some errands and hit the gym, while Mum and I got cosy in the living room for a bit. I made sure the weekly update of one of my stories were ready to go up on AO3 and afterwards, I made it a point to go through the messages with happy birthday wishes to keep on top of things slightly. Oddly, my Facebook wall wasn't so busy this year but surprisingly I got several lovely messages from people on Tumblr and one of my online friends even drew me with dogs! Like, how it that an actual thing? It's so cool and I almost cried when I saw it.
We moved on to watch a movie together (The Lincoln Lawyer). Mum realised she had seen the movie like half-way through and headed upstairs to take a nap. I wasn't sure I had seen the ending, so I stuck around while I curled up under a fluffy and warm blanket. Ever since I had gotten home from my horse, I had been wearing my favourite onsie (funnily enough an old birthday gift) and everything just felt cosy and nice with the light grey clouds out the massive window next to the sofa.
After the film finished a little to 5 PM, I decided to take a little nap. The boys would be bringing home Chinese takeaway but not for another hour or so. I wanted to restore a bit of my energy as I was to be heading out for a Christmas party that same evening. There's also just something about naps that make me happy, so being allowed to take one on my birthday was wonderful.
A quater to six, the boys arrived with the take-away and Mum and I were rousted from our respective naps. We had a short dinner together, whereafter I headed up to "get ready" for the Christmas party, which started at 8 PM. In reality, I spent like half an hour just scrolling on Tumblr and chilling out before I actually got ready. It all worked out perfectly in the end though, as Mum dropped me off at the place of the party just a little after 8 and I immediately spotted some of the tutors looking for the entrance. It was a Christmas party for my whole year and in addition the ten tutors we had been with for the three intro days.
I had purposely only bought 6 Mokai bottles, because I didn't want to get drunk out of my mind but at the same time, I wanted enough that I wouldn't have to get more as it was a private party. When I arrived there were hardly any people here but they had decked it out so lovely with bags of chips along four long table and two set ups of beerpong. Gosh, there was played a lot of beer pong. I kept mostly to the sidelines and the few times I jumped on teams temporarily, I didn't help at all.
It was wonderful to get to chat to some more people from my year, which honestly I haven't done enough of. My best friend, who is in the year as well was away for a work Christmas party, which sucked a bit but it then made me push my own boundaries and talk to more people, so it all worked out. A little pleasant alcohol buzz and a causal atmosphere with nice music and I don't feel so scared of going up to people to talk to them or dance around ridiculously. It can be a liberating experience and I've definitely gotten better at it over the years. It astounding that for a long time when I was like sixteen, I would never dance as I knew I couldn't dance and feared I would look silly. I do still look silly when I dance, I have no doubt of it but I am so over worrying about it at this point in my life.
As the party started thinning out around 3 AM, I chose to be heading home as well. I had been on water for the last hour after having run out of Mokai but it worked out perfectly with my unwritten rule of no alcohol after 2 AM. More by chance than anything, I caught up with a big group of people - most of the tutors included - heading for the metro and I just latched onto them to get to Nørreport St and catch the train home.
There's something about walking in big groups like that, moving back and worth to talk to each other that makes my heart happy. You might not know everyone in the group but you know enough of them or have seen most of them around and with that comes a feeling of togetherness. You're walking side by side to get to the same place. It's a nice feeling to have bubbling in your chest at the end of a very long day.
I made it home safely and the following day, I woke up around 11 AM. It was just around six hours of sleep, which probably wasn't enough but a warm shower helped loosen up the tense muscles. As did having a pancake with Nutella - I think that's must be a secret lifehack or something. Or it's just because of my lifelong indulgence of Nutella and love for pancakes that I think that. While chilling in bed I finally got the chance to catch up on the last episodes of Stranger Things season 2.
As usually after a night out drinking I felt very worn down. It isn't really a hangover, especially not this time when I only had 6 drinks, but more so a bone tiredness that comes from being out late, staying on my feet (often jumping around and dancing) and interacting with a lot of people. Alcohol takes the filter away somewhat and Danes are generally more sociable when there's alcohol involved. It was a great bonding experience but it always hit me the day after.
Soon enough, while I was getting to the more nail biting parts of the show, delicious smells of my mother's cooking started making its way to my room. It's a tradition to have a family dinner of lagsagne on my birthday and since I was going out on my actual birthday, we had pushed it back a day. I don't really eat beef at all anymore but I do make a few exceptions for special occasions.
However, before the feast was on, we had another thing on the agenda. Something that arrived in the post on my birthday, which wasn't a present was the board game that I had ordered. Dan and Phil's Truth Bomb - the explosively honest party game.
Of course, I had to subject my family to it while the lasagna finished in the oven. The gameplay turned out to be a bit of a disaster with mixed fields and confusions but it was very fun to play regardless of that. It's an interesting game and I really liked it. I must play it with my friends sometimes. We made it through two rounds before the food was ready.
The food was divine as always. Mum only cooks it a couple of times a year so it's always a very nice treat reserved for birthday or other special occasions. It's quite foolish to think that I used to not like it. I think it was mostly the messiness of it that I didn't quite like but I'm happy I've grown out of that.
After dinner, we headed to the living room where we rented a movie on iTunes. It was called Bad Moms and it was really funny and lighthearted. It's so rare that the four of us sit down all together and watch something so that was also a nice little thing. You have strings to pull when its your birthday and I was pulling all of them and I don't regret it.
However, even my prolonged birthday weekend had to come to an end and unfortunately it didn't turn out to be the most pleasant one. I felt a slight tickle in my throat when I went to sleep and when I woke up the following morning I was coughing my lungs up. Turns out I got pneumonia and had to spend a week rolling around in bed coughing, which is also the reason why this post goes up so late. But I won't let it overshadow how nice my birthday was this year. It was a combination of family, chill time, parties and cosiness. The only thing missing were my best friends but hey, you can't have everything.
I started the day off with waking at twenty minutes past eight and subsequently getting ready to visit my horse with my mother. We had arranged dressage training on my birthday as opposed to the usual Sunday time, as I knew I would be heading out to a party Saturday evening and I didn't particularly feel like getting up and training with the heaviness a night out always settle on me the day before.
We are still without a saddle that fits her but that is mostly because I still haven't gotten around to calling on someone to check it for us. I secretly don't mind that much. I love riding bareback because it does wonders for my balance, even if it can be difficult without the support a saddle provides. The bedding in our riding hall literally just got renewed and we were one of the first equipages to ride on it. It'll take some time to properly settle in but is was still a very nice ground to work on.
Training was tough because I hadn't really ridden throughout the week but we managed okay. Money was a bit jumpy but for most parts I managed to use that energy constructively. I even got surprised with a bouquet of yellow roses from one of the people from the stables. They were to ride after me and upon spotting that it was my birthday on Facebook, they wanted to get me a little present. It was so nice and I got completely surprise when I pulled Money to a halt next to the mirror and suddenly was trust flowers into my hand. It was such a nice gesture. As was eating the lemon moon cake that my mother had been smart enough to buy.
Post training cool down walk with Hallie cutting in front
It was a bit odd not to start the day with presents first but I didn't quite fancy getting up that early to do it before we headed out to the stables. However, as soon as we got home, Dad had made pancakes. I love his pancakes so much. It's a rather rare treat and I know it takes ages to make a whole pile, though we never made them as tall as in Rasmus Klump. We found a vase for my new flowers and sat down to dig in to the delicious late breakfast.
The boys had even gone out of their way to present me with the ingredients to make a hot chocolate. I love to use those tiny marshmallows in my hot chocolate (which is rather odd as I don't like marshmallows on their own. I only like them in the roasted over fire or dissolved in a hot drink). But it was just such a nice little additional and considerate thought that my heart melted a bit. It turned out that the Nutella we had in the cupboard was out of date, so I went for a classic pancake with sugar instead.
There aren't many better things than to have a munch on pancakes with loved ones
As we finished the breakfast, we finally headed to the living room to open presents. I hadn't really provided a wishlist this year other than offhandedly saying two things I definitely knew I would like to have for my birthday. One of them I was actually there as my mother bought them. It's a pair of black Hunter boots - the kind I've worn for years out at the stables - but my current ones had lost their ability to keep out water due to wear and tear.
Other than that, I wasn't sure what I was getting but I must tip my hat to my mother. She's always been great at getting gifts and she is likewise very good at reading me and knowing what I'll like. I think it might be a mum superpower or something or maybe it's just her. As I sat down to open the presents (in my usual spot), we even turned on the massive scented candle I bought in Bath last year. It's still going strong, even if it did start with very black smoke when we fist lit it.
This year's gift table
I took my time to go through the presents, as I always like to, and I got so many great things. Other than the hunter boots, I got a blue duvet and pillow casing set (which I had wished for), a Kay Bojesen horse (a wooden designer piece), a Zoella make-up bag and the wintery lip balms and three items of clothing from Topshop: black Jamie jeans, a fitted off-white jumper and a black bodystocking. Unfortunately, I'll have to return the last two as one doesn't suit me and the other is too small. But I'm so happy with the presents I got this year, especially since I didn't give people a lot to work with.
After this, the boys headed out to run some errands and hit the gym, while Mum and I got cosy in the living room for a bit. I made sure the weekly update of one of my stories were ready to go up on AO3 and afterwards, I made it a point to go through the messages with happy birthday wishes to keep on top of things slightly. Oddly, my Facebook wall wasn't so busy this year but surprisingly I got several lovely messages from people on Tumblr and one of my online friends even drew me with dogs! Like, how it that an actual thing? It's so cool and I almost cried when I saw it.
We moved on to watch a movie together (The Lincoln Lawyer). Mum realised she had seen the movie like half-way through and headed upstairs to take a nap. I wasn't sure I had seen the ending, so I stuck around while I curled up under a fluffy and warm blanket. Ever since I had gotten home from my horse, I had been wearing my favourite onsie (funnily enough an old birthday gift) and everything just felt cosy and nice with the light grey clouds out the massive window next to the sofa.
It's quite a good movie actually, I might finally get around to reading the book (which Mum loves)
After the film finished a little to 5 PM, I decided to take a little nap. The boys would be bringing home Chinese takeaway but not for another hour or so. I wanted to restore a bit of my energy as I was to be heading out for a Christmas party that same evening. There's also just something about naps that make me happy, so being allowed to take one on my birthday was wonderful.
A quater to six, the boys arrived with the take-away and Mum and I were rousted from our respective naps. We had a short dinner together, whereafter I headed up to "get ready" for the Christmas party, which started at 8 PM. In reality, I spent like half an hour just scrolling on Tumblr and chilling out before I actually got ready. It all worked out perfectly in the end though, as Mum dropped me off at the place of the party just a little after 8 and I immediately spotted some of the tutors looking for the entrance. It was a Christmas party for my whole year and in addition the ten tutors we had been with for the three intro days.
I had purposely only bought 6 Mokai bottles, because I didn't want to get drunk out of my mind but at the same time, I wanted enough that I wouldn't have to get more as it was a private party. When I arrived there were hardly any people here but they had decked it out so lovely with bags of chips along four long table and two set ups of beerpong. Gosh, there was played a lot of beer pong. I kept mostly to the sidelines and the few times I jumped on teams temporarily, I didn't help at all.
Beerpong is always a hit with university students - around the world I think
It was wonderful to get to chat to some more people from my year, which honestly I haven't done enough of. My best friend, who is in the year as well was away for a work Christmas party, which sucked a bit but it then made me push my own boundaries and talk to more people, so it all worked out. A little pleasant alcohol buzz and a causal atmosphere with nice music and I don't feel so scared of going up to people to talk to them or dance around ridiculously. It can be a liberating experience and I've definitely gotten better at it over the years. It astounding that for a long time when I was like sixteen, I would never dance as I knew I couldn't dance and feared I would look silly. I do still look silly when I dance, I have no doubt of it but I am so over worrying about it at this point in my life.
As the party started thinning out around 3 AM, I chose to be heading home as well. I had been on water for the last hour after having run out of Mokai but it worked out perfectly with my unwritten rule of no alcohol after 2 AM. More by chance than anything, I caught up with a big group of people - most of the tutors included - heading for the metro and I just latched onto them to get to Nørreport St and catch the train home.
There's something about walking in big groups like that, moving back and worth to talk to each other that makes my heart happy. You might not know everyone in the group but you know enough of them or have seen most of them around and with that comes a feeling of togetherness. You're walking side by side to get to the same place. It's a nice feeling to have bubbling in your chest at the end of a very long day.
I made it home safely and the following day, I woke up around 11 AM. It was just around six hours of sleep, which probably wasn't enough but a warm shower helped loosen up the tense muscles. As did having a pancake with Nutella - I think that's must be a secret lifehack or something. Or it's just because of my lifelong indulgence of Nutella and love for pancakes that I think that. While chilling in bed I finally got the chance to catch up on the last episodes of Stranger Things season 2.
Dog cuddles, pancakes with Nutella and a good show on my laptop
As usually after a night out drinking I felt very worn down. It isn't really a hangover, especially not this time when I only had 6 drinks, but more so a bone tiredness that comes from being out late, staying on my feet (often jumping around and dancing) and interacting with a lot of people. Alcohol takes the filter away somewhat and Danes are generally more sociable when there's alcohol involved. It was a great bonding experience but it always hit me the day after.
Soon enough, while I was getting to the more nail biting parts of the show, delicious smells of my mother's cooking started making its way to my room. It's a tradition to have a family dinner of lagsagne on my birthday and since I was going out on my actual birthday, we had pushed it back a day. I don't really eat beef at all anymore but I do make a few exceptions for special occasions.
However, before the feast was on, we had another thing on the agenda. Something that arrived in the post on my birthday, which wasn't a present was the board game that I had ordered. Dan and Phil's Truth Bomb - the explosively honest party game.
Messy but fun
Of course, I had to subject my family to it while the lasagna finished in the oven. The gameplay turned out to be a bit of a disaster with mixed fields and confusions but it was very fun to play regardless of that. It's an interesting game and I really liked it. I must play it with my friends sometimes. We made it through two rounds before the food was ready.
The food was divine as always. Mum only cooks it a couple of times a year so it's always a very nice treat reserved for birthday or other special occasions. It's quite foolish to think that I used to not like it. I think it was mostly the messiness of it that I didn't quite like but I'm happy I've grown out of that.
Gooey and falling apart but oh, so delicious
After dinner, we headed to the living room where we rented a movie on iTunes. It was called Bad Moms and it was really funny and lighthearted. It's so rare that the four of us sit down all together and watch something so that was also a nice little thing. You have strings to pull when its your birthday and I was pulling all of them and I don't regret it.
However, even my prolonged birthday weekend had to come to an end and unfortunately it didn't turn out to be the most pleasant one. I felt a slight tickle in my throat when I went to sleep and when I woke up the following morning I was coughing my lungs up. Turns out I got pneumonia and had to spend a week rolling around in bed coughing, which is also the reason why this post goes up so late. But I won't let it overshadow how nice my birthday was this year. It was a combination of family, chill time, parties and cosiness. The only thing missing were my best friends but hey, you can't have everything.
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