"Go Shawdy, Its my Birthday"

Today is my birthday. "Happy Birthday to me". I absolutely love my birthday. I'm like a 5 year the way I go around all smiley and giddy cos of my special day.

Each and every year I wait for the clock to strike midnight on October the 14th and move itself onto the 15th, cos that is MY day and I want to enjoy every second of it. Sleeping just gets in the way of some good birthday activities. And this year was no different. I kicked the day off by meeting my friend Martina for a training session, followed by a birthday cappuccino. Then it was back for a quick shower, before I met another friend, Derval, for lunch.
We drove out to a little restaurant in Clontarf, which is right on the Dublin coast and enjoyed some yummy sea food while discussing the break up of Madonna's marriage to Guy Richie, husband's and boyfriend's, the latest track gossip, clothes and shoes.

Afterwards Husband and I went strolling along the sea front of Malahide checking out the yacht's of some of Ireland's rich and famous, while getting the heads blown off us by the high winds. We endured it for as long as we could but eventually had to escape the elements by ducking into a local chipper for some fine greasy food.


From there it was onwards to Kildare to meet up with my parents and my younger brother for a bit of a birthday dinner. My older brother Edward, that's him next to me in the photo, was working late, so after dinner we dropped down to see him and his wife, Sarah.

Edward and Sarah know me so well that they had some chocolate on tap and let me sit there happily as I did my very best to eat the equivalent of my own body weight. They also got me a kick ass present. The new Sony portable reader. This thing is amazing. Its so light and no bigger than a standard greeting card, but it can store thousands of books. So my days of dragging heavy books around as I travel, are well and truly over. Plus I will save tons of shelf space in my room.

We drove back to my parents house and at this point I was sure all my celebrating was done for the day, but as we walked through the door I was greeted by my over enthusiastic parents, standing next to a cake that was ablaze with candles. Everyone broke into a fabulous off key version of the "Happy Birthday" song as I got ready to make the required wish, before blowing out the candles. Then it was time for the cards and gifts. Gotta love birthdays.

Conor takes a second to ensure every candle is lit.

Seriously, all these candles give the impression that I am very, very old, but I assure you, that is not the case.

Bottoms up as the cake gets ready to be sliced and diced.

Enjoying some of the funny notes and messages on my cards.