20 November, 2013

Happy Birthday To Me


Hip-hip hooray, 
it was my birthday.

One day rolled by,
one year older oh my!

nineteen, nineteen
what does this all mean?


I am now Nineteen. Yes I am young. But there was something about the number nineteen that sounded so much more older than being eighteen. Doesn't the number 18 just make you cringe? 

Wild kids running about, screaming at the top of their lunges, abusing their drinking freedom and creating havoc. That is the typical image of an 18 year old right?

I was under the impression that once the 15th of November rolled by, I'd magically be transformed. Taken out of that category. 1 year older = respected and matured. 

19.

And then the year after I would be 20! And oh boy that is when life starts right? When it gets serious and I have to knuckle down because I have hit the 20s?

These impressions I have had are stupid.

I didn't mature overnight.

And I have to remember not to limit myself because I haven't reached a certain age or milestone in my life. Life doesn't begin when I hit my 20s, or when I score my 'dream job' or when I get married.

I find myself wishing for the next few years to flash by quickly so I can be at a more certain, mature point in my life. But I can't make that happen.

I have to accept that life will always have uncertainty. There is no point standing on the side lines and waiting for the years to pass me by.

Every moment I will experience, every person I will met, and every conversation I will have, will be important.

Even in my late teens, it all counts. So on that note, here is the start of my life as a 19 year old. My very extended birthday weekend: 


Thursday     14.11.2013


After working at Noggi and helping out my mum with her tutoring business; we had a family dinner at 'Bakehouse' in North Strathfield. 

As we got out of the car on the way to the restaurant, I had a sudden childish urge. I asked my dad to give me a piggy back ride across the street.

This little moment made my night. In the brief moment that he carried me, I felt safe, child-like and free. Not really caring if I looked ridiculous. Sorry if I was heavy dad! 

After dinner we dropped by to Cheeky Chocolate and I chose two desserts to act as my birthday cake. The 'Raspberry Bomb' and the 'Lime Tart.' 

When we got home, we did the usual 'Happy Birthday' singing, blowing out of the candles, and presents. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable night being spoilt by my family. 










Friday     15.11.2013


My actual birthday. I woke up with lovely texts from close friends and the usual overwhelming brief Facebook messages. It's the one day of the year when everyone suddenly remembers you exist. Leaving you (most of the time) half hearted, generic "Happy birthday" comments.




This may look very strange to most of you. But it is a Korean
tradition to eat this soup on your birthday. The english translation
is - seaweed soup. So I had this for breakfast.

My birthday was quite average. I worked all day at Noggi, then with my mum in the afternoon. I was so exhausted by the end of the day, but as soon as I got home I started getting ready for the night.

It was my friend's 18th birthday party, and it was great that it fell on my birthday. Since I didn't really want to do anything big for my birthday this year, it was nice having something to go to in the evening.

I was able to dress up and see my friends, which was really great. I ended up having a lot of fun at the party. I enjoyed catching up with friends, eating, drinking, dancing and laughing excessively.

I don't usually find myself liking the 'party scene' so I was pretty surprised that I had that much fun! I Definitely allowed myself to be a little more immature than usual, but it was almost liberating.

I think I deserved to let go a little for once. Because hey, I am 19 after all.


Happy Birthday Nick! You always manage to make me
laugh and Thursday night was not an exception.
This beautiful girl (Lauren) is one of the best friends a girl
could ask for.  I couldn't survive without you my dear.
Another one of my amazing close friends - Christie.
I am so grateful to have gotten closer to you this year.

Saturday     16.11.2013


On Saturday, before my dad left to go to Korea, my family went out to Yum Cha. It is not the cheapest option for lunch (if you are hungry) so it is always a treat for me when I go.

In the afternoon my mum, my sisters (Kirstin and Caitlin) and I made our way into the city. This was going to be the second half of my birthday present from mum and dad.

It was a one night stay at the Novotel Hotel (this was way too much for a 19th birthday present!) I have been so exhausted for the past couple weeks, and especially after Friday night, I felt like I was about to drop.

Being tired and surrounded by the wet weather dampened my mood. But I wanted to show my mum that I appreciated everything that she was doing for me on the weekend. So I tried to enjoy myself as best as I could.

We spent the afternoon walking around the city, looking at the christmas lights in the QVB and doing some shopping. It was quite a rainy and dreary day but mum pushed on with her plans.

We visited the Sydney Eye Tower (Centre Point Tower), which included a very entertaining short 4D presentation and a 40 second elevator ride to the top. To a view over looking Sydney.

Even though it was quite cloudy, we still has an awesome view from the Observation Deck. After enjoying the view for a while we slowly made our way back to our hotel.

When we got back to the hotel we decided to go for a night swim. To our surprise it was an outdoor swimming pool. And it was still raining. The pool was heated but it was still not very pleasant to be in.

Mum and Caitlin seemed to be enjoying themselves, but I was pretty uncomfortable sitting in the luke warm water, while the cold light rain fell awkwardly on my face.

So after a short amount of time we decided to get out of the pool.  We hopped into hot showers and made our way back to our room.

After getting changed and having hot cup noodles Caitlin and I lay in our beds and watched TV while mum gave us face masks. It was a very relaxing and girlie night.

We also ordered some late night room service. It was the first time that I had gotten room service before. Very exciting stuff!


QVB

QVB

Sydney Eye Tower

Sydney Eye Tower

View from the top

Facials and what not 


First time room service! 


Sunday     17.11.2013


Just as I disposed my daily contacts on Saturday night, I realised that I hadn't brought my glasses. So I had to accept that I would be unable to see the next morning.

Little did I know, mum still had more places for us. Even though it was raining down on Sunday the plans still went ahead. I successfully spent half of the day partially blind.

If you very poor eye sight like me, you will know how difficult it is to go about your day without glasses or contacts. It was horrible. Everything was so blurry.

Despite my inability to see, I still enjoyed the day. We had breakfast at Badde Manors on Glebe Point Road. I scoffed down a beautiful Vegan breakfast along side with my usual soy latte.

Then we spent the rest of the morning wandering around Glebe Street Fair. Where stalls upon stalls were set up along the strip.

Despite the cold and rainy weather, there was a pretty good turn up. All the locals were out trying to enjoy the fair and support the stall holders.

Walking around, disoriented because I couldn't see anything, I had to get very close to all the things I wanted to look at. Caitlin suggested I use the camera on a phone to see my surroundings.

This worked! I could see everything clearly while looking at the phone screen. However, I could only do this when it wasn't raining. And of course I didn't want to make people feel awkward, thinking I was taping them.

I ended up getting a beautiful travel journal that I will use when I go to Cambodia, and a criss cross white skirt. Thank you so much mum!


Soy Latte. No sugar (I am trying to cut down.) I usually
get my coffees in take away cups because I have something
against latte glasses... not sure why. But they forgot
to put mine in a take away cup. Hmmm not happy Jan. 






This is a picture from Beginning Boutique of a model
wearing the same skirt that I got from the markets.
Sometime you can get lucky at Glebe Markets
and get clothes like this cheaper than the retail price.




I was not planning on making a big deal out of my birthday this year. I didn't really want to draw attention to myself.

But I was pleasantly surprised with the weekend I was given. And I am so blessed to be loved and appreciated by my amazing friends and family.

Thank you to everyone who played a part in making this birthday a special one. 

1 comment:

  1. curse that noggi manager for making you work on your birthday!

    ReplyDelete