I didn’t get around to posting about my birthday as soon as I was planning, but here’s what happened…

I woke up at around 8:15 and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I woke M up - I figured I was allowed since it was my birthday after all! We lay in bed for a little while before getting up. I had the day off work so it was nice to have a little sleep in.

After we got dressed, M gave me my presents - I got a 365 Days of Kittens calendar, and a gorgeous 18ct gold necklace, imported from Italy. It’s a plait design, with each strand of the plait comprising its own intricately-woven stands of gold. It’s beautiful.

We then went downstairs and M made me a coffee, and we had half a piece of toast each - we were going out for lunch so we didn’t want to ruin our appetite. Later on I got dressed for lunch, and put on a top I bought in Sydney, and M put my new necklace on me. I felt very swish indeed!

For lunch we went to a really nice Italian restaurant in the city. The only problem was that there weren’t many places to park for the length of time we were going to be there, so we ended up parking in a 1-hour spot, with M having to move his car a bit later. Soonish after we got there, M asked if I wanted to go into the city on Saturday night. I asked why, and he said, “Oh I don’t know, maybe we could spend the night at The Embassy [the hotel we stayed at on our wedding night]?” Yay! We’re staying in an executive suite with a spa… mmm spa. So we’ll be spending another night away from home this weekend - the cats won’t know what’s going on, with us disappearing all the time!

We had our entrées, and then M went to move his car. Fortunately he got a 2-hour park this time, so he didn’t have to move it again during the meal. Soonish after he came back, he said that his pants were a little tight, and that he must be putting on weight - this was of course a lead-in to him bringing another package out and handing it to me.

I opened it, and it was a bracelet to match the necklace. It looked so lovely, sitting on the black velvet in the box. He put it on me, and I felt even more swish! He has a habit of springing surprise presents after you think the present-giving has finished. I confirmed that this was the last one, and he said it was! The rest of our meal was really good - I had a fillet of beef for the main course and we ordered a couple of side dishes. Afterwards we were both really full, but managed to share a dessert - flourless chocolate and almond torte. Yummy. After that and a coffee, I was completely stuffed.

We went home afterwards, and I relaxed for a few hours before getting ready to go to my parents’ place. We got there at 6, and more present-opening began. I got a Cat-A-Day calendar, but not quite the same as the one M gave me because this one sits on the desk and you tear off a sheet each day. I also got a set of really cool coffee spoons, and some gorgeous diamond earrings. I put them on, and felt like an advertisement for a jewellery shop! La di da. I also got some perfume and some chocolates.

We had dinner consisting of pizza (although I only had 2 tiny pieces because I was still comfortable from lunch!), and then a brilliant birthday cake, which consisted of a centimetre of chocolate sponge on the top and the bottom, sandwiching a couple of centimetres of chocolate mousse. Mmmm.

So that was my day! I wore my new necklace and bracelet to work on Thursday, and put up my two cat calendars, so I was surrounded by presents.

We just got back from the hotel, and it was excellent. We wandered around town yesterday afternoon, then came back to the room and relaxed before going out for dinner. We went to a pub up the road and had quite a nice schnitzel (although still not as good as The Earl of Leicester’s schnitzels), then came back and opened the bottle of wine we took with us. I took a few photos of the sunset, although the photos didn’t look as good as the real thing.

Today we went into town again, and I bought a watch with my birthday/Christmas money. Well, I’ve almost bought it - the woman’s getting it sent to a jeweller to have a couple of links taken out. She initially had a go herself and scratched up the band a bit, so if it’s not perfect when I get it tomorrow I’ll ask her to order a new one for me since she’s the one who stuffed it up in the first place. So I’m a bit worried about that, but hopefully it will be ok.

The cats didn’t miss us at all - as soon as we got home, all they wanted to do was go outside! It’s so nice to be loved.