Happy Birthday To Me!

Yes! It's my birthday!

Okay, it was my birthday last Saturday. But I'm still claiming this post-birthday week.

It seems that seventeen came and went so quickly, and eighteen is already here- and it hasn't yet sunk in. Eighteen. What do I do now?

Birthday party planning consumed much of the weeks preceding my birthday, as it would be my last birthday shenanigan before perhaps the big 'three-oh'. (That's right, no 21st for me. Hopefully I'll be spending that birthday somewhere else in the world.)
So there was the food and the drinks, the decorations, the seating and the heating, the cups and cutlery and crockery and bits and bobs to put on tables, then there was the tables themselves, the cake, and of course, the music.

By Saturday afternoon, I wanted to curl up in a ball and go to sleep.

But alas, I did not. I got ready for the night and partied on.

It occured to me, however, while I farewelled friends with the usual "Thank you for coming!" followed by the "No! Thank you for having me! I hope you had a good night!" that I was in fact not sure whether I'd had a good night.

See, I'd been planning my birthday for weeks- months even! I'd been looking forward to it, and was so excited to celebrate turning eighteen, that by the day came, I was so busy and stressed with setting up and getting things ready, that I'd forgotten to relax and get myself ready. I was so fed up with the day that- and it all came so quickly- that I suddenly just jumped right into it, and before I knew it, half the night was through.
Now I wasn't drunk (boo!) but I don't quite remember what I spent most of the night doing. I recall dancing a little bit.. taking some photos.. chatting with a few people... being made to skull a glass of pink champagne... giving a terrible speech and cutting my cake.. but all of this is only in snippets.

...so perhaps I was drunk.

But I shouldn't sound like a total grouch. Despite the fact it wasn't a perfect birthday like I'd wanted, I was still surrounded by the people I love who were wonderful enough to come and celebrate with