Yesterday was my Birthday and as much as I hate surprises, mainly due to my anxiety, my boyfriend was determined to surprise me.  He proved yet again just how well he knows me by surprising me with the cutest little Peter Rabbit themed afternoon tea at Colwick Hall.  If there's one thing I love it's a good afternoon tea!

The one thing I really loved about this afternoon tea is the theming, you could tell that they had really put some thought into it down to each last little detail.  At the entrance there was a giant scarecrow and Peter Rabbit themed signs, including cute little allotment wheelbarrows.  The decor inside was just beautiful too.  The room was filled with beautiful climbing roses, not only were they aesthetically pleasing but they really gave the feeling that you were sitting in a quaint little rose garden.  I have also now decided I want to fill my dining room with them too, ha ha.

Then when the afternoon tea was bought to our table I couldn't contain my delight.  It was the cutest, especially the crate of little garden themed cakes.  The stand was filled with a variety of sandwiches, super yummy mini cheese and leek pies, the cutest little cup of carrot and coriander soup and finally scones with clotted cream and jam.  It was all very delicious, especially the homemade soup and mini pies.  This is the first time I've had afternoon tea with anything hot on it, it made a nice change and added to the variety of the afternoon tea.  There was also a wide selection of teas available but seeing as it was my birthday I just had to treat myself to one of their speciality themed cocktails to go alongside the Peter Rabbit afternoon tea.  I opted for the raspberry mojito one and it was delicious!

Finally onto my favourite part of the afternoon tea... the cakes!!  Just look how incredibly cute they are!  There was a really great selection including bunny tail meringues, carrot and ginger cookies and lemon cake.  My absolute favourites though had to be the miniature plant pot chocolate muffins and have you seen those little acorn doughnuts?!  So god damn cute, especially for a a doughnut lover like myself.

This was an absolutely fantastic afternoon tea, the only thing missing was Peter Rabbit himself.  If you're looking for a delicious afternoon tea, I would definitely recommend Cowlick Hall.  Their next themed afternoon tea which launches on the 4th May is a Star Wars themed one, and seeing as my boyfriend is a huge Star Wars fan we're hoping to go back to sample that one too.

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I've been dreading this birthday for a while now and I have to admit I was getting a little depressed about it last week, but last weekend I turned 30.  I know age is only a number but I just feel like 30 is one of those milestone ages where you start to reflect on the things you've done, or in my case haven't done.  When you're a teenager 30 seems so far away and you have all these visions of what you will have achieved and where you will be in life.  So feeling like I haven't really achieved any of these things started to get me down.  I feel like I wasted most of my 20's letting my anxiety and depression take over my life, turning down opportunities, shutting myself away and letting life just pass me by.  Now I have come to terms with being more accepting of my anxiety I know that dwelling on this is not helpful, so I pulled myself together and decided that I would have a weekend of celebrations.  My 30's will be my decade and I will grab onto any opportunity possible no matter how much my anxiety tells me not to.

I started my weekend off with a trip to Twycross Zoo, one of my favourite places.  I always used to go to the zoo on my birthday and I've been dying to go since my anxiety started to improve.  As you can see the weather was definitely on our side and it was a beautiful sunny day.  So sunny in fact that I came home to find my shoulders sunburnt!  I didn't even realise it was that warm.  The zoo is one of my happy places, I love animals so much and I feel like when I walk around places like this I do so with a permanent smile on my face.  Me and my boyfriend then went to a pub that had the biggest and most incredible cakes, I really could not get over the size of the slices.  I was a complete failure as a blogger though and forgot to take a picture, I will definitely be going back though so I'm sure I'll be able to share that with you another time.  If I can hold myself back long enough to take a picture, ha ha.

Sunday was my actual birthday, and as I mentioned the cake from the night before was huge so I decided to finish it off for breakfast.  Well, if you can't have cake for breakfast on your birthday when can you?!  I then opened my cards and presents from my family but a special shout out has to go to my boyfriend who surprised me with a trip to Disneyland!!  It has filled me with a mixture of anxiety and excitement but I'm hoping as time goes on the excitement will overtake my anxiety.  I have been wanting to go for so long and I may have just turned 30 but who isn't a big kid at heart when it comes to Disney?  

As it was another nice sunny day we took the dogs for a nice relaxing walk around Rufford Park in the sunshine before coming home to get ready for dinner.  I went with some family and friends to a Teppanyaki restaurant that I'd been wanting to try for a while and it was amazing.  Having someone stood cooking your food fresh in front of you is more entertaining than it sounds, as they do put on a little bit of a show with a few tricks and fire, and everything tasted delicious.  We were there over two hours and the time just flew by.  We then all came back to my house for champagne and cake.

It really makes me feel accomplished sitting and writing this post and looking at how much I've done for my birthday.  To some it may not seem that great, but considering my last birthday was spent at home with a takeaway barely able to leave the house, it's amazing to see how far I've come in a year by being able to eat out, go to the zoo and even book a trip to Disneyland.  Something that not long ago I would've never even thought I'd be able to say.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

As I mentioned in my last post I was feeling a little down about my Birthday and hadn't really made any plans due to my anxiety being quite bad.  Nevertheless, I was determined to have a nice day and to just relax and enjoy it.

If you follow my blog or my instagram you'll know that I'm an avid baker and I'm always busy baking everyone else's birthday cakes that I've never really had a fancy one of my own, so it was lovely to wake up to this surprise cake that my mum had had made for me.  Isn't it beautiful?!

I had a nice relaxing morning with my mum and boyfriend opening presents and then, seeing as the sun decided to make an appearance for my birthday, me and my boyfriend decided to take a nice little stroll around the village with Riley.  I love spring walks and all the pretty flowers blooming down the lanes.  Then we spent the afternoon eating yummy snacks and watching a movie.  In the evening we had a Greek takeaway and then a few friends came round for drinks.  All in all it was just the kind of birthday I needed this year.

Finally, as I got some lovely gifts from friends and family, and here goes the obligatory I'm not bragging statement but I love seeing the gifts other people get for their birthdays, so I thought maybe you'd like to see what I got too.  Or maybe I'm just nosey.

Off for a nice long soak in the bath now and to use some of these Lush goodies.

I love reading other people's posts about what they got for Christmas or their Birthday (maybe I'm just nosey) so thought I'd share some of my presents I got for my Birthday last week.

Now you all know that I love to bake but I also really enjoy cooking different things too, so my mum and dad got me these Wagamama cookbooks and I can't wait to try out some recipes from them.  I love Wagamama so being able to recreate some of my favourites at home will be amazing.

When it comes to perfume I have my two favourites and they're the ones I tend to stick to - Coco Mademoiselle and Miss Dior, but when I was in Boots shopping for perfume for a friend I mentioned to my mum how lovely this one smelt.  She obviously took note when I found this wrapped up for me.  I love the cute little bottles the Marc Jacobs perfumes come in and this one has a lovely sweet smell to it.

I haven't talked about it too much on here yet but I am on a bit of a health and fitness kick.  I have been trying to eat a lot healthier and am currently doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred.  I have just started Level 3 and have seen a huge change in my fitness level and now I can use these weights I got for my birthday along with it I'm hoping I'll be able to increase it even more and get even more toned.  I've been wanting one of these Yankee Candle burners for a while and the Home Sweet Home melt has an amazing Cinnamon smell to it, so I can't wait to burn that.  My mum and dad also got me a voucher for a spa day at Eden Hall, which I recently went to for my friend's hen party and it was so relaxing.  I can't wait to go again.  Then I also got this aromatherapy bath and shower oil which is meant to focus the mind and calm your thoughts.  I haven't tried it yet but will be sure to do a proper review of it when I have.

My lovely cousin who is doing a work placement at Warner Brothers got me the Game Of Thrones box set, so I can't wait to finally catch up on those.  I've only watched Season 1 and have been dying to watch the other 3!  Then I got some vouchers and money from friends and family that I'm hoping to go and spend to get a few bits for my holiday to Santorini in a few weeks.

My friend Lisa, whose wedding I am going to Santorini for, got me a little goodie bag full of Makeup Revolution goodies.  I've been wanting to try some Makeup Revolution products for a while so these were a nice surprise.  Also can't wait to tuck into these chocolate truffles she got me, how cool is the packaging?!

Then finally I got this amazing book from my boyfriend.  Ever since I did A Midsummer Night's Dream at school I fell in love with Shakespeare and have wanted a classic copy of his complete works.  I have hunted high and low and they have either been in really bad condition or ridiculously overpriced.  Somehow he managed to hunt down this copy for me, which is over 100 years old from 1908 and is in amazing condition.  It is one of the loveliest and most thoughtful presents I have received. 

It was my Birthday on Thursday and normally I like to take the day off and have a day out, usually the zoo, but this year I just wasn't feeling it.  Maybe it's old age kicking in!  So I decided that I was just going to have a nice relaxing day and see where the day took me.  I had a nice lie in and then got up and opened all my cards and presents.  I got some really lovely presents but haven't had chance to take any pictures of them yet so I will probably share them with you in my next post.

As I am trying to be a lot healthier this year I have got into the habit of exercising every morning and eating healthily but I decided that my birthday was a good excuse to forego this for a day.  So I went for a very unhealthy lunch with my mum and boyfriend at Ribs 'n' Bibs.  If you're ever in or around Lincoln I definitely recommend it, the food is amazing and they do the best mac 'n' cheese as a side that I've ever had!

Then I just came home and relaxed for the rest of the day.  In the evening some of my family came round and we had a few nibbles and popped some champagne.  It wasn't the most extravagant of birthdays but sometimes days like this are the nicest and as long as I'm with the people I love on my birthday I don't really mind what we do.

This week it was my birthday and as underwhelmed as I am about getting another year older, I still wanted to have some fun.  One of my favourite places to visit as both a child and an adult is the zoo, so it seemed only fitting to revisit one of my childhood favourites Twycross Zoo.  It turned out to be a lovely sunny day where I spent most of it coo-ing over a four week old elephant and baby gorilla, watching the funniest of chimp fights (only playing, of course) and making friends with a penguin.

After a busy day at the zoo, there was just enough time for a quick change before going for an amazing meal at my favourite local Thai restaurant with my parents, sister and boyfriend.  Unfortunately I was too busy eating the delicious food to take any pictures but I did manage to get a quick picture of my outfit before we left.

Top - Peacocks

Necklace - Primark

Skirt - Primark

All in all it was a great day, and I got a lot of lovely gifts, which I will share with you another day.

Hope you're all having a great weekend.