another day, another year older.

Yesterday was my 23rd birthday! And as I'm a bit cynical about birthdays and the singing in general, it all went really well! I hadn't told anybody at work about it mostly because I didn't want people to make a big deal out of it. But Lou went ahead and informed my boss and my friend Karl. And go figure, round 4:00pm there was cake and singing. I'll admit now that it was nice. I was more interested in the card to be honest!

Then Lou was gracious (and awesome) enough to take me out for dinner. Katie came and met us here and we all headed off to T.G.I.Fridays (yes, TGIFridays, the same as in the states - they serve "American" food). We had a great meal and loads of cocktails.

Finished off the night with a quick stop at our local pub in Tooting. We mostly just wanted to reassure the landlord (Lindsey met him while she was here!) that we were alive. Had a couple birthday shots and headed home.

All in all it was a great birthday. Just like Christmas, it wasn't the same as back home. But it's a new year, I live in a new country and have some wonderful new friends. At the end of the day, you just want to be with people you love on your birthday and I got just that - so I'm not complaining. (Don't think that means I didn't miss you all!)

ringing in the new year.

me and lou at carat's christmas party.

hello 2010! i hope everyone had a great new year's, because i surely did! me, lou and some friends went out for a nice dinner in covent garden. we then did a bit of dancing and then round 11:00 headed off to waterloo to catch the fireworks. unfortunately, we didn't really get to see the fireworks because the bridge was far too full with people! nevertheless, we brought bottles of champagne and were surrounded by people and patiently waited for big ben to strike 12!

i frantically called everyone back home to wish them a happy new year's! it was a great time. the journey home was ridiculous but was well worth it. it was by far one of the best new year's eves i've ever had. lots of fun.

here's to hoping that 2010 is as good as 2009.