I haven’t really been a birthday fan since I was about 12 just because I always find them a little underwhelming. You end up with a million people who don’t really speak to you wishing you well and asking if you had a good day when I really don’t see such difference between a birthday and any other day. Except maybe for the excuse to plan social occasions which is always fun. I especially think my birthday feels weird since I spend it in Edinburgh now when I’m away for uni and without your mum to wake you up in the morning and a special family meal it’s not really the same. I think it’s something to do with the fact that the day is all about one person, rather than a celebration that is for everyone: for example, Christmas is when everyone is buzzing to get together and be merry. However I will end my ungrateful sounding rant about how my birthday doesn’t make it into my top 5 days of the year and will talk about what I’ve gotten up to in the endeavour of celebrating my inevitable ageing. And with three days worth of activities, it maybe sounds like I did indulge on that whole birthday thing after all..

So on Friday night I finally got to receive the birthday present that I bought myself months ago, a ticket to see one of my favourite drag queens, Bianca Del Rio (the winner of season 6 of Rupaul’s Drag Race). She is a hilarious insult comic and talented lady who I’ve loved since the first thing she said on the show. It kinda felt weird to be in her presence because one second I’m binge watching her season on Netflix and the next she’s a real person, mere metres away from me. It was a little surreal. It didn’t hurt that we were also in the gorgeous Usher Hall and I got to catch up with my lovely, lovely friend Danielle.

Then the legit day rolled around and it started off quite relaxed, I slept in and came to lazily, opened some presents then duty called so I had to go to a committee meeting for dance which was honestly a lot of fun because as much as we get down to business, we also have such a laugh. As always, our meeting lasted quite a while but it was a fun one. By the time I got home the afternoon had run away from me so Fraser and I went out for dinner and that was another tick off the list of places I want to go in Edinburgh (a real work in progress). We went to Sygn in the West End of Edinburgh which does really simple burgers and hot dog style food and got some mozzarella sticks, haggis balls and sesame chicken followed by wholemeal chicken wraps and side salad. I also ordered a couple of drinks off the cocktail menu which were delicious, I recommend the Kiwi Mexicana. After dinner I continued my voyage of Edinburgh bucket list venues and met some more of my lovely dancers for some more lovely cocktails at some of the nicest places I’ve been to (albeit a wee bit expensive). First up was Panda & Sons, an awesome speakeasy themed bar disguised as a barber shop externally you get to go through a book case door into a atmospherically dim-lit room which housed some lovely and creative cocktails and check out the gif below to see what a production my Birdcage was, so extra, I love it! We then checked out another new place called Copper Blossom which was so beautiful and cute I want to be the aesthetic of this bar, it had a, thankfully, simpler but delicious cocktail menu and is honestly just a lovely place. I definitely want to go back to both of these places and I’m so grateful to have had such lovely company to experience and share my birthday with. Going to bed tonight contented.

Possibly just social fun but I’m gonna lump it into to this birthday celebration post because I don’t think I can justify giving it a post to itself. The only sad part about going out on my birthday was that I was unable to watch the BAFTAs as it happened so I asked some pals to come around tonight and catch up on it with me. I released my inner hostess with the mostest and turned it out with lovely, yummy snacks (that all got demolished, naturally). It was a lovely, cosy night in and my fave La La Land won a bunch of awards including Best Film!! (Sorry if that was a spoiler, but it has been like two days now…) There’s nothing I love more than a night in with a glass of wine and great conversation about film, actors, musical theatre, dance and just life in general. Happy Katie 🙂