21st birthday

I turned 21 yesterday. For the last few years I've hated the fact that my birthday is so early in my year group, especially last year being the first of my friends to leave my teenage years behind. This year however I decided to embrace my birthday and I had a lovely day in the end. It actually began the night before as my friends and I had a night out in Leeds, starting with cocktails at The Alchemist then heading to a bar on Call Lane just in time for midnight to strike and my birthday to begin.

Fast-forward 10 hours and I was waking up a little worse for wear, ready to head home for cake and presents time. My sister and mum made me a salted caramel chocolate cake from the 'Cake Days' book by Hummingbird Bakery. I think the photo below speaks for itself really..

Then I opened presents from my family. I was very lucky and received some lovely things.

Hotel Chocolat cookies & creme caramel slab, MAC 318 retractable lip brush, Philip Kingsley elasticizer, 'The unbearable lightness of being' book, a vintage leather rucksack, OPI 'Tickle my France-y', earrings from Annarack, The Bohemian Collective knuckle rings, YSL Rouge Pur Couture in Rose Tempura, REN AHA concentrate, & Other Stories couture carnival hand wash & cream

Chubby hand modelling my new nail polish and rings

My friends had also surprised me the night before with a caterpillar cake (you're never too old for caterpillar cake) and a print which they'd had made with some memories written on it which I thought was lovely. I'm currently on the search for a nice frame to put it in so i can take it back to uni with me.

When I'd showered and made myself look a bit more presentable, my family & I headed back into Leeds to Reds BBQ where I was embarrassingly defeated by my pulled meat nachos, practically crawling back to the car afterwards.

All in all, I had a really lovely day and I'm feeling very grateful to my friends and family for making sure that 21 started well.