Birthday celebrations!

I've had a crazy past couple of weeks, but it's definitely not something to complain about! It's been a whirlwind of birthday fun and holidays/work with a lot of riding thrown in too!

My celebrations started on Sunday, the day before my birthday and my family took me to a very nice restaurant for lunch where I had a quinoa, roasted aubergine salad followed by a chocolate tart for dessert. The food was delicious and, although it was obvious to us that we were out celebrating, the staff obviously twigged too so when I got my dessert, I got a super cute surprise birthday message!

With my brother having our meal out

I spent my actual birthday out on a birthday ride and then had a lovely afternoon tea in the gorgeous sunshine. I drank lots of wine/champagne, ate (too much) good food, galloped across fields and opened some fantastic presents. One of which was this beautiful thing on which I am currently typing- a Macbook Air. It happened. I took the plunge (after so much deliberation that mum ended up just dragging me into the Apple Store) and I have to say I do not have a single regret. I've officially become an Apple whore, but it's awesome. I also got some lovely pieces of jewellery, and the most exciting thing- VENICE! I'm counting down the days until my biggest 21st birthday present in the form of a 4 day break with mum to this beautiful city.

Birthday lunch, 'scuse the ambulance- nobody was harmed!

I also celebrated with my gorgeous girls (minus one- we missed you!) over the weekend and we had the most wonderful weekend country retreat. We started off with afternoon tea and a BBQ on the Friday, and headed into Cambridge on the Saturday to go punting. We booked a private tour with Let's Go Punting (who were fantastic- full of banter and interesting facts and made for a great trip, find their website here). We took along a bottle of champagne and made some chocolate-covered strawberries in the morning to have a classy little picnic on board. This was followed by some shopping, and lunch at Harriet's tea rooms, which as always, lived up to expectations. Then we returned to mine to have a cocktail night with more champagne. It all made for a fabulous weekend. I had such a wonderful time.

Punting with champagne!

Giving it a shake!

As for the birthday cake, I decided to have cupcakes made in a cute vintage style which were so so yummy and absolutely perfect! There rates were very reasonable considering the quality of the cakes and they were perfectly decorated so if you're thinking of having some cakes made, seek her out! They were made by a lady in the Cambridgeshire area, and you can find her website here: http://www.thesweetkitchen.co.uk/

My lovely cupcakes, plus an extra 12 mini cupcakes too!

A day after my friends left, I was getting ready to jet off again to the South of France for my job as an Au Pair for two weeks! So I really haven't had that much room to breath but it's been a fab few weeks and now I have to whole of summer to make more memories before Venice, and then going back to university at the end of September!

Discovering Etsy

My friend told me a while ago about this site which she deemed "like eBay, but better". This sounded too good to be true! I love eBay but I do think it's getting a bit too commercialised and it's starting to overlook all the little gems that are hidden in the depths of the website. So when I finally got around to visiting Etsy, I got super excited. 

If you're into genuine vintage items, handmade jewellery and loads of other cool, unique gifts and accessories, this is the place for you. Everything ranges in prices so it can suit every pocket and the items are just gorgeous. I think the greatest thing about this site is that everyone is so like-minded: we're all interested in the same style and want to buy and sell genuine items. From what I've heard, although I can't yet speak from experience, the site is welcoming and is absent from any of the hostile tensions which quite often exist between buyers and sellers on eBay. I have read several online reviews of the website because I've been interested in buying a few things and, naturally, you always want to know that the website is safe/you're not going to see your money disappear. Whilst I've found the majority are very positive, particularly one reviewer who had set herself up as a new seller, there was one website where many of the comments underneath were hugely negative, with 1-star ratings littering the section. But I haven't been put off that easily. Etsy seems like it was literally made for me and my tastes and there are too many lovely things on there that I simply cannot wave bye-bye to. So, I'm, taking these with a pinch of salt and hoping that it's only those with bad experiences who have taken the time to comment. Like eBay, there is a feedback system with a percentage rating and obviously, you avoid those that look even vaguely dodgy... I'm going to give it a chance.

Take a look! It's well worth it... www.etsy.com

Once I've made my mind up on what to order, I'll post about my new goodies soon... xoxo