Thursday 8 August 2013

My Life Lately Part 1: 21st Birthday and Graduation (WARNING: Contains food porn).

As some of you may have noticed, I have been very on-and-off with my blog for the past few months. A lot of this was due to uni stress and some personal issues, and also because I had kind of lost the sense of direction that my blog was going in. I have been doing some re-evaluating recently; trying to find myself and what makes me happy whilst relaxing a little now that I am free from word-processed documents and crazy deadlines. And I'm pleased to say I am finally getting there. I am hoping that now, I can really get my blogging streak back as I am not going to lie, I have missed having the mental capacity and the motivation to sit typing up posts every day, take photos, read other blogs and reply to all the lovely comments I get. I have really wanted to start incorporating more lifestyle and personal posts in to my blog too- with being out of uni I have just been taking some time to enjoy life and have days out, and I would love to share them with you. So, in a bid to add a more personal touch to my blog, reintroduce myself to my loyal old followers and for my newer followers to get to know me, I thought I would put together a couple of posts of what has been keeping me busy over the past couple of months. Thinking about it now, there has been quite a lot so it will probably take up a couple of posts, so I thought I would start with the two main events in my life recently; my birthday and my graduation.


So, in June I finally turned the big 21. I don't know why, but I have always looked forward to my 21st birthday. Maybe because it's that age where you start being taken more seriously. Plus I can legally drink in America now ha. I'm not a huge party animal these days; I much preferred the idea of being able to spend quality time bonding with those I love whilst still remembering the occasion the morning after, so I opted to just go for a nice meal at Harvester with my grandparents and my best friend. I love it at Harvester- everything I have ever had there has been spot on, and the caramel apple pie with custard is to die for! Me and my friend also went for tapas and cocktails the day after my birthday which was lovely. Even though things didn't quite turn out as I had originally planned and I didn't get to celebrate my birthday with my whole family, I still had a lovely couple of days with those who did make it special and I felt spoilt to death. I didn't actually take that many photos, hence the Instagram collage, but I can share with you the amazing Red Velvet cupcakes that my sister-in-law bought for me!


The second big thing that has happened to me recently is that I finally graduated. Honestly, to think that after seventeen years in full-time education I am finally free to take on the world is crazy, and wearing that cap and gown I have never felt prouder. University wasn't the easiest three years; not only for me but for everybody on my course. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of living away from home, made some amazing new friends and fell in love with the city of Liverpool, the course just wasn't what we had all expected and I still have my debates about whether it was worth all that money. But hey-ho, every single one of us pulled through it, and graduation was a day for us all to finally relax and celebrate it together.

My mum and I stayed in Liverpool over night as I had to be at registration early the next morning. We decided to start the celebrations early and went out for dinner at Amalia Italian Restaurant, where I had some yummy soup followed by a garlic chicken and mushroom calzone that was bigger than my head! If you are looking for an Italian restaurant in Liverpool I would definitely recommend this place; it has a really relaxed atmosphere and the staff were so friendly; not to mention the food was delicious- the bread that they serve with the soup and pasta dishes was so good- I seriously could have just eaten that by itself!

The weather was glorious on the day of graduation- It was just at the beginning of that crazy heat wave we had, so even though we were sweltering in our gowns, it made for happy moods and good photographs. After the ceremony and a quick photo session with my friends, I headed off with my mum and grandparents for lunch at Patisserie Valerie. Oh. My. God. If you have never tried the cakes from Patisserie Valerie, you need to check for your nearest cafe and head down there; it's my new weakness. I had a salmon and cream cheese bagel as my main which was absolutely lovely, but in all honesty whilst I was eating it all I could think about was which cake I was going to choose for dessert as there are LOADS. I ended up going for the Tiramisu which was amazing, and my mum also gave me half of her Double Chocolate Gateau slice as she doesn't have much of a sweet tooth and I'm a little fatty. My grandparents also bought me a celebration cake which I designed myself and ordered beforehand- I am super indecisive so I ended up putting together the most sickly-sounding combination but I can assure you it was amazing... Are you ready? Vanilla sponge cake with one layer of chocolate cream and one layer of coffee cream and plain cream around the outside, with mixed exotic fruits on top and dark chocolate around the outside (just wait till you scroll to the bottom of this post and feast your eyes on it!)

After lunch, my mum and I decided to make the most of having a free day in Liverpool City Centre and we shopped til we dropped before enjoying an AH-mazing cocktail (mine was called a Knickerdropper Glory- it was just like an ice cream sundae in cocktail form) and some tapas at Tapas Tapas.

I know that this has been a really long post; well done if you have made it this far but I really hope that you have enjoyed reading it- Let me know if you would like to see more lifestyle posts like this from me as and when things happen! Here I leave you with some pictures from my graduation and lots and lots of food porn from that weekend- It was definitely an indulgent couple of days haha!



12 comments:

  1. Happy birthday and congrats on graduating! I've still got a year to go haha. All that food looks AMAZING x

    Alavish.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. Thanks sweet! Aww power through, it will be over before you know it! :) xx

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  2. That food all looks amazing!! Happy belated 21st and a huge congrats on powering through your degree, you deserve to relax!! xx

    paintedglitter.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. Thanks lovely! Haha, I was so hungry typing up this post! xx

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  3. Happy birthday & go you for graduating! I am so hungry now, the cupcakes look delicious.

    Hayley
    Water Painted Dreams
    xxx

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  4. Happy birthday & congratulations! I've also turned 21 and graduated from the uni of Liverpool this year ;) it's a proud feeling xx
    www.LaurasHaven.com

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    1. Thanks beaut! Happy Birthday and congratulations too you too! :D xx

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  5. Oh this is making me hungry, I really want to try patisserie Valerie, I noticed there's one in Leeds the other day so it's next on my list. Congrats on graduating! X

    Thegirlwithtoomanyclothes.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. You NEED to go- Definitely get yourself down there haha! Thanks lovely :) xx

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  6. Oh myyyyy, that food = AMAZING! & I really like your dress(?) you wore to the Italian! Congratulations on graduating and I hope you had the best birthday... i've pretty much been doing the same haha :D x

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    1. Haha right?! And yes, it's a dress- Thank you, I picked it up in the Miss Selfridge sale for a bargain £7! :) Thanks sweet :) X

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