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.

One of my favourite places to go is the zoo and will go at any opportunity I can.  If I lived close enough I'd definitely buy an annual pass and go every week if I could.  I just have such a huge love for animals and if I'm ever feeling down a trip to the zoo is a sure fire way to cheer me up.  I'm like an over excited child when I go to the zoo, especially when I get to see an animal for the first time.  I have never been to Yorkshire Wildlife Park before, but with the UK's only zoo with a polar bear I couldn't wait to go and see it.  Unfortunately I couldn't get a great picture of him as his enclosure was massive and he was near the back, but still just to see the sheer size of him even from so far away was amazing.  It is not the biggest zoo that I have been too, but it did only open 5 years ago and seems to be a work in progress and expanding with new animals and enclosures.  It was however still a great day out and would definitely go back.

Which is your favourite zoo?  I'd love a few more to add to my list.

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.