Twenty four hours in photos...

Yesterday was my twenty-seventh birthday. It was the first birthday I've ever spent in bed. Past birthdays usually involved a day out somewhere; often a day out to London to shop, sight-see, maybe catch a show, and indulge in a couple of cocktails. Last year, I spent the day by the sea in Bournemouth. Quiet birthdays often left me feeling down, so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed yesterday.

I woke up to some lovely gifts from my parents; spent the afternoon eating too much junk food with my younger Sister while watching The Vow (hello Channing Tatum!), and playing Gin Rummy (I can't even remember the last time I picked up a deck of cards); my Body Shop haul arrived;  I got more presents from my older Sister in the evening; had a good catch up with the bestie over the phone, and got lots of lovely messages from friends; and finished the evening with a few slices of pizza and a lovely email from Nita -(thanks so much again)!

I decided to document the day as much as I could, so I'm going to share the highlights with you...

 My Mum picked this card because of my quite obvious obsession with dresses...

Gifts from the Parents. My Mum thought she'd picked up wrapping paper, but got cellophane instead- but I actually really like the way the gifts looked like this! They looked like giant sweeties!

Unwrapped... 

 1. Presents from my parents. 2. Me in my new dress.

3. Lovedrobe shrug. 3. Patterns and textures.

 1. Palm trees. 2. Leopard print maxi.

2. Palm tree dress. 4. Leopard print.

They bought me a large box of Thorntons chocolates; a palm tree print dress from Dorothy Perkins; a leopard print New Look maxi; and a black Lovedrobe New Look shrug. They did well, considering I chose the clothes! Haha. There's a little sneak peek of me wearing the leopard maxi, too.

1. Birthday cake and candles. 2. Chocolates

3. Best of British chocolates. 4. Slice of birthday cake. 

My Best of British Thorntons chocolates and a Cadbury's Flake chocolate birthday cake, so kindly brought upstairs for me to blow out the candles. It was delicious!

1. Close up of my balloon. 2. The Women DVD.

3. Rented copies of The Vow and One Day. 4. Birthday Balloon.

I also got a birthday balloon, and my Sister went and rented The Vow and One Day at my request. I really enjoyed The Vow. It's a really good girlie film (based on a true story) about a woman who loses all memory of her life with her husband after a car accident, and the husband loves her too much to give up and walk away. It stars Rachel McAdams (who is one of my favourite actresses) and Channing Tatum (who is so very easy on the eye). His character singing along to Meatloaf's 'I'd Do Anything For Love' at the beginning had me in stitches. I still need to watch One Day, which I'm hoping is as good as the book, and my copy of The Women came this morning.

These are the little gifts I got from my older Sister, along with some money towards a new dress. She bought me a cute cherry print Paperchase notebook (I adore Paperchase and pretty notebooks); a little pot of L'Occitane Cherry Blossom body cream (which is my favourite scent from their range); a Belle of the Ball face mask; and a set of really cute Cath Kidston bird brooches. She presented them in a huge pretty gift bag so I could use it on display in my room, so I've used it to store my scarves under my dressing table.

 1. Bird shaped birthday card. 2. Presents from my Sister.

3. The gift bag. 4. Pretty pink toiletries.

 1. Cath Kidston brooches. 2. Another shot of presents from the Sis.

3. Close up of the notebook pattern. 4. Brooches out of the packaging.

My Body Shop haul was delivered mid-afternoon which was like a birthday present on it's own. I got an under eye concealer/highlighter; a shimmer waves blusher (which I've needed to replace for months); a watermelon lip balm; my usual Vitamin E moisture cream; Coconut Shower Cream; Coconut Body Milk (I love the smell of coconut, especially in the summer); and a free Earth Lovers Pear and Lemongrass Shower Gel (which is bio degradable). It's been so long since I've indulged on cosmetics and toiletries, so this parcel was heaven.

1.2.3.4. Body Shop make up and toiletries.

And my two beautiful new Dorothy Perkins dresses arrived today... One is a brown swan print tea dress, and the other is a penny farthing print shirt dress. I'd recommend sizing up with these dresses as they're very small sized with little stretch.

EDIT: I've decided to send the swan print dress back, and have ordered the fish print AX Paris zip dress instead. The swan print dress didn't leave much room to breathe.

 So that is the twenty-four hours in photos. I still have a couple of packages on their way from friends, and my younger Sister; so I think I get to stretch the birthday out a little more this year!!

Sorry for making this a photo heavy post- but I promise this is the condensed version! Thanks again for all the lovely birthday messages left for me. I think another slice of birthday cake is calling my name... Ciao!