My 20th Birthday

Guys, I am officially no longer a teenager! On the 1st of July I turned 20 and had such a lovely time celebrating my birthday. I know this post is a little late (I actually ended up in hospital with appendicitis the day after my birthday which has definitely set me back a bit) but better late than never! I am going to do a separate post sharing all of the lovely pressies that I was spoilt with, but for now; here is how I celebrated!

Get ready for a whole bunch o' photos.

On the Friday Mum and I woke up at 4am and headed out to Sydney markets to grab some flowers to decorate the house and we managed to find a ton of gorgeous flowers that we made into bouquets at home. It was such a lovely experience and although I was super tired, it was definitely worth it to see behind the scenes of the Sydney florist industry.

All up, this whole lot of flowers cost us around $100 - absolute bargain!

On the Sunday before  my birthday (28th) I had an afternoon tea with some family and close friends where we played games and ate some of my favorite foods- it was such a great time and I haven't seen some of the guests in a really long time so it was so nice catching up. We played Heads Up (an app similar to charades), Pictionary (which I had surprisingly never played before), Spoons and enjoyed snacking all afternoon.

Is there anything better than a good cheese platter?

 

They may not look that great, but my Mum's beef goulash pies are DELICIOUS! (and we got these adorable chalkboards from Kmart for $2 each!)

On the day before my birthday I decided to treat myself to a wash, cut & blow-dry at the hairdressers and just as I was about to walk out the door, Mum surprised me with a gift voucher to get it all done which she had planned to give to me for my birthday before she even knew that I was getting it done beforehand! I decided to go for a big change and chop it shorter than I've ever had it before which I'm still not 100% sold on, but it feels so healthy and is really easy to look after so I'm loving that aspect. I didn't really get any nice 'before and after' photos but you can see the short hair in the following photos from my actual birthday.

I woke up on the 1st to pressies from Bryce and my family and then breakfast in bed (french toast with strawberries, banana and maple syrup) with freshly squeezed orange juice - a tradition in my family. 

After getting dressed and ready Bryce and I picked up Tiarney and we took the train into the city to go to 'The Grounds of Alexandria'. The Grounds is basically every instagrammers dream, with flowers stalls, various cafes, fresh donuts and gorgeous plants everywhere you look. 

 They even have a petting zoo with resident pig 'Kevin Bacon' and 'Turbo' the Shetland pony, as well as chickens and goats.

We ate lunch at 'The Potting Shed' which was themed as an actual shed/green house. There was tons of natural light, plants, and garden-y bits and bobs all around (water hoses to dispense the drinks behind the bar, shovel heads as plates and drinks served in pots anyone?).

Bryce and I shared some garlic bread, some pork ribs, and a pulled pork burger with chips - all delicious! 

All three of us chose different drinks, I had a raspberry lemonade, Bryce a lemon lime bitters and Tiarney some type of citrus blend. The drinks were all made on site I believe and tasted so fresh.

While we were eating, one of the workers happened to sit at the bar next to us and brought Fluffy with him. Fluffy lives at The Potting Shed and is the most beautiful Macaw who was dancing, talking and eating out of the workers hand. After admiring for a while, the girl behind the bar offered for me to have a hold- it was awesome.

On the way out we walked past the 'dog parking' area and I couldn't resist giving this adorable sausage dog some love!

I had wanted to go to Bondi Westfield to do some shopping too but time seemed to go very fast and we only got a chance to have food and a stroll around.

On the way back to the train station we found a massive antique store which we had a quick look in.

We headed back home and I had a package was waiting for me from the lovely Bec from Bec and Beauty whose giveaway I had won and she then sent it express so it would arrive in time for my birthday. I will include the goodies in my 'What I got for my Birthday' post but I was very excited to rip straight into it. She even included a little birthday card which was such a beautiful touch- Thanks Bec!

My family went out to a Lebanese restaurant for dinner and then I went back home to watch some more Orange is the New Black. 

All in all, I had an absolutely lovely day and felt very special amongst all the birthday wishes and love from the people in my life.
Thanks to everyone who made it such a great day.

-Caitie xx

What I've Been Up To // Life Update

So in lieu of the fairly large break I have had, I thought it might be nice to share a few of the things that have been making me happy and keeping me busy. I think this is going to be a pretty long one...

-So I am officially finished my first semester of my first year of Uni- WOOHOO! I don't go back until the 20th of July and am enjoying some time to relax. I didn't actually find the first semester too difficult and felt like the HSC (Australia's final year of schooling) was a lot harder,  although I'm sure it will speed up and get harder as we go along.

-I am house sitting for some friends for a few weeks which is a nice mix-up from daily life - plus they have American Netflix so I am currently binge watching my way through all the seasons of Orange Is The New Black after hearing so many good things about it. 

-Bryce and I went to the Sydney Vivid Festival this year (basically a gigantic light show spanning across the city for a few weeks) and I actually felt a little let down from last year...however I could put that down to running late, missing the water show/fireworks and a severe lack of navigational skills (oops). We still enjoyed walking around the city, and people watching in a busy city is always my idea of a good time.

-We made it to a place called 'N2 Gelato', which I have wanted to try for ages so I was stoked. Basically they use liquid nitrogen to make the gelato and have really creative ways of serving it. We chose a Ferrero Rocher one which had a rice bubble chocolate layer for crunch on top, a chocolate gelato with hazelnuts and a syringe with chocolate ganache inside. No word of a lie, it tasted EXACTLY like the real thing. We also got mango which was pretty standard in my opinion but still really nice and fresh.

-A few weeks ago, my friend Jordan invited a few friends over to his house just to hang out and after some intense battles on Mario Cart, most people left and was just myself, Jordan, Bryce and another friend, Daniel. We ended up staying until 4am and I honestly haven't enjoyed conversation so much in a really long time. We chatted about everything from Zombie Apocalypse plans to our future plans and it was just so great to get real with friends.

-I don't know about the rest of the world but Australia has been blessed with some killer sunsets recently, as in, the ones that set the whole sky on fire. Isn't God incredible?

 

-My little sister and I put on a 'cafe' at home and put together 3 breakfasts for our family, and then again the next morning for our neighbours (who had a birthday during the week). It was so much fun and such a good activity to do with a sibling.

-I used up the last of my Green Living candle, which would be disappointing because it is such a beautiful candle to burn but half the enjoyment is once I clean it out and can use the beautiful jar for other things. It is currently housing some red frogs but after they are eaten (won't be long) I will probably keep some sort of jewellery, or maybe my Polaroids...

-Priceline brought out their skincare goody bag in June and I've got to say, I don't think they have ever had a bag full of such good value.

This is what I bought:

And this (and more which I forgot to include) was all the freebies:

-I've been LOVING catching up with friends in general. I met up with my friend Cassie for dinner at a newly opened Cuban restaurant and we chatted for hours before heading back to her house and chatting some more. Its always so nice to have people in your life who you can go months without even talking to and then see and it is as if no time as passed at all. 

-I actually ended up in hospital the day after my birthday with Appendicitis and am still recovering. Its actually kind of nice to have an excuse to remove myself from life for a week or so, but the pains are certainly not so great :(

I have a couple of birthday related posts coming up, so stay tuned for those!
-Caitie xx