Dirty thirty

What a weekend I've just had! I drove up to Scotland straight after work on Friday, in convoy with some friends. We were well prepared for the trip with supplies of chocolate eclairs -not the pastry ones much to my disappointment, Jellytots -which I haven't had in ages(!), and wine gums -yuck. The destination was Pop's house. We hit the M73 around about 9pm which wasn't bad going considering the weather and the traffic. At this point, Karen excitedly blurted out - "Oh, I can tell I'm in Scotland, there's a castle over there!" *Confused look on my face* "Castle? Where??" I looked in the direction Karen was pointing and realised much to our amusement that she'd seen the outline of some high rise flats just before Easterhouse! From a distance, the square tops looked (some what) like turrets. Bless, an English person across "the border."

As I pulled into Dad's street I thought I could make out his shadow in the doorway. As it turned out, here's what greeted me:

Well, sorry to disappoint folks, I just realised that I've left the box and all the bits for my new camera at my Dad's! Work with me here and picture the scene...the front door was plastered with a HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner and balloons clinging for dear life *grin and a big wiggle* More birthday balloons and banners greeted us in the living room along with the rest of my folks. It felt sooo good coming home to them and all the decorations :-))

On the Saturday Sarah, myself and the girrels hit Glasgow for some shopping. Why is it when you're ready to part with cash that you never see anything that you like?! In the evening, along with the extended family, we all headed to a contemporary Scottish restaurant. I figured with all the foreigners attending that no trip to Scotland would be complete without some haggis on the menu! The venue of choice was Arisaig in Glasgow. I have to say, that it was the best meal that I've had in a long time, and they had an excellent selection of vegetarian dishes too, even a veggie haggis.

Well, no birthday is complete without the cake. Piccies will follow, but trust me when I say that it was the best cake that I've ever had. The design was a girrel on a bike, she even had dodgy spikey hair!

I really had the best time. I kinda feel like I've added the last book in the bookshelf that is this part of my life, and I'm now moving onto to fill the next. It feels like you've got something under your belt, turning 30. You feel more comfortable in who you are and the decisions you make, and you definitely appreciate the effort that family and friends make.

A big, big thank you to Dad for giving us his house for the weekend, and to Ann-Marie for organising the decorations and cake and helping Dad colour code the bed sheets, and for sending him back to the shops for the umpteenth time until he arrived with the correct duvet cover and valance sheet! A big thank you to my wee brother for flying over from Denmark just for one night! A big thank you to all my friends and family who were there to make the night so special. And last, but by no means least, a big thank you to Sarah for being the bestest girrelfriend in the whole wide world ;-)! (although you have lost some points for making me share the chocolate cake ;-))