Feeling 22

I recently celebrated my 22nd birthday. I'm a firm believer that birthday celebrations should be spread out over as long a time as you can manage, and I think I did pretty well this year. I also got 3 birthday cakes so that has to count for something.

I kicked off celebrations a week early when I was treated to a beeeauutiful steak at Cafe Rouge before a night out in Exeter with all of my friends still around down here. 

 Obviously a new outfit was needed and after a verrrry big shopping spree on payday I settled on this dress from Topshop which I love!

I had a great night, feeling pretty horrific the next morning but it's nothing that can't be fixed with a morning snuggled up on the sofa watching Friends and a trip to my new favourite cafe in Exeter, Cakeadoodledoo. It's tiny, but the slices of cake are not, so I don't mind the occasional wait for a table.

On my actual birthday I was surprised at work with the first delicious chocolate cake of the day (I'm talking a lot about cake aren't I?!) 

Aaand that evening I had a bunch of friends over for curry, games and more chocolate cake thanks to the fabulous Cat - just LOOK at it! 

The next day I had a day off work and headed northwards to my parents' new house in a small village in Nottinghamshire for a weekend with friends and family which was lovely! 

Having not seen anyone since Christmas it was great to catch up, eat even more, and explore the new area...

...which, by the way, is pretty beautiful.

A fantastic few days with some of my favourite people! I'm looking forward to a lot of changes this year... who knows where I'll be at 23!

Trip to Scandinavia

Yesterday, I got back from a trip to Copenhagen in Denmark with my parents to celebrate my Dad's birthday. It was great - it was so nice to get away from my dissertation and all the other stress at home for a few days and spend time with the family!

We arrived late in the evening and went straight to the hotel, where we were on the 20th floor with some fantastic views of the city on one side, and on the other in the distance was the sea and Sweden!

We decided to just use the first day to explore the city, have a wander round and get our bearings so we could plan the next few days. Starting off in Norreport we found a wonderful food market called Un Mercato - everything looked so delicious!

We wandered back into the main town, taking in the sights before stumbling across the Lego Shop!

I'm a big kid at heart so definitely spent a little too long in there!

 Nyhavn built out of lego - very impressive!

Then we headed over to the real thing...

Unfortunately the weather wasn't that good that day, so it's not the best photo! But still, the buildings are painted in gorgeous colours, trust me!



Day 2 was my dad's birthday, and as a surprise we actually got the train over to a town called Malmo in Sweden for the day! It only takes about half an hour on the train from Copenhagen, mostly on a bridge crossing the sea. It was foggy again so the views weren't that great, but on a clear day you can see a big wind farm across the sea.

This day consisted mostly of looking round shops, since Malmo is more of an industrial town which doesn't really cater for tourists in the same way that Copenhagen does. The design there is fantastic though! Most of the shops we ended up looking in were interiors - we are all suckers for a bit of interior design and I spend the day pretty much planning my future home... just need some money please!

Loved this bit of street art painted on a wall. No idea what it has to do with paintbrushes but the message should certainly be remembered!

After spending the day looking round Malmo we headed back to Copenhagen for dinner and a night time stroll. Something Copenhagen has in the Kongens Nytorv area is the #HappyWall - pretty hard to explain but basically a load of flippy doors on hinges, one side black and the other in colour, so people can write messages, names etc.! Like this...

Pretty cool!

Nyhavn is gorgeous at night time, too

A lovely trip, all making for a smiley girl!

N x