Happy Birthday to me!

I'm not doing very well at keeping up with this blog but wanted to make sure I at least took a moment to record a very special weekend.

On Friday, I turned thirty-six and feel very blessed to have enjoyed a wonderful birthday in the company of old friends and new.

A hilarious singing frog e-card from Marie, Richard, Ava and Penny got my day off to the right start and sharing mid-morning birthday cupcakes from Crumbs - courtesy of Jaishree - with other members of my new little team made me feel very special.

I then took my first (and probably last) summer Friday and headed out on an afternoon outing with Jon, who is visiting me from Shanghai (via London), and Rachel, my work colleague and now friend, who very sweetly organised my entire birthday celebration.

We hopped on a ferry from the tip of Manhattan for the five minute trip to Governor's Island, a tiny pedestrian-only haven from the city hub-bub, which only opened to the public a couple of years back having previously operated as a military base. Once there, we ate Belgian waffles with ice cream and chocolate sauce, rocked in hammocks and explored the four corners of the island by foot taking lots of photos of the views over the water. It couldn't have been more perfect to be honest.

Having torn ourselves away from the peace and quiet, we headed for Williamsburg where we met up with a few more lovely people for some evening fun. The food at The Star of Brooklyn provided real (and substantial!) Southern comfort and the rooftop bar at Night of Joy provided the perfect venue for getting to know my new friends a little better. Even the cab ride home gawping out of the window at the Manhattan skyline and the Empire State Building lit up in rainbow colours for NY Pride is now vying for a spot in my Top 10 New York memories!

I'll try to write more about the rest of my weekend soon (it was a good one!) but, in the meantime, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who shared in my birthday from the other side of the pond too. You were very much present and part of my day. So many people sent cards and emails and text messages from home which brightened my day and continue to make me smile. I'm a very lucky girl!