Another year older

I've been enjoying my holidays so far, not been doing a whole heap, just trying to relax but have been looking forward to my birthday. I'd planned on having dinner at The Olive Tree restaurant where we had our wedding reception and I was pleasantly surprised to find that apart from my older sister, everyone I had invited said they were going to come.

Now, I have a little kid's enthusiasm when it comes to events. Five year olds don't sleep a wink before Christmas because they're so excited. I'm exactly the same and it's not just Christmas that does that to me. I can be having something as simple as a bbq and I have trouble sleeping. I don't know exactly why but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it's due to the fact that I don't have a particularly great track record when it comes to friends. Most of the people I've called friend over the years seem to be the unreliable type, the ones who don't go out of their way for you unless there's something in it for them. So knowing that I have 15 people actually willing to turn up and help me celebrate my birthday, that's something to get my excitement levels up about.
We went Go Karting with Christian's work friends on Friday and headed back to Mel's place afterwards so you'd have thought that by the time we got home from that (4am was coming up really quickly by the time I fell into bed) it wouldn't have been hard to fall into a nice long sleep.
Think again.
I was up at 7am.
Typical bloody me, eh?

I'd had a plan to have a Nanna nap at some time during the day to make up for the lack of sleep but that never really happened. We went round to Barb's place late morning to see her family, plus Mum was dropping in before work and while there, they gave me my birthday present, a very nice new camera. For those of you who are into photography, it's a Cannon S51S if that makes any sense. Basically, I love taking photos but I'm not very good at it, and I wanted a decent camera to practise with so I'm very happy with this one.
So I spent most of the day playing and trying out settings and stuff and not napping. I did try and have a lie down several times but I couldn't sleep. That goes back to that kiddie enthusiasm.

I didn't go too badly that night. We got to the restaurant at half seven and even though I had yawned the whole way in the car, once there I felt pretty awake. I managed to sit on the wrong side of the table though, up against the wall so it made it a bit awkward as I was constantly getting up to say hello to people and having to push my way past everyone to get to an open area, but you know, it was my birthday, I'm allowed to be an inconvenience!

Ok, now some photos. It's actually been a while since I've done a photo post. I think almost everyone there got to play with my camera and almost everyone wanted to play with the colour settings, so most of them are a bit weird so just ignore those bits.

Right, first pic is of me, taken by Mike I think. It's a bit blurry, I think he was too quick for the auto focus to kick in but really, it's one of the only photos that were taken of me that night and the only one that I actually look ok in. But that's probably because it's blurry!

Here's a photo of Smerk but just to confuse you all, she was wearing a red shirt! I actually took this photo and do you think I noticed at the time? Nope, not I dear reader, I'm a bit too vague for stuff like details ;-)
Oh, and I'd just like to point out (mainly for Acci's benefit) that in this photo, Smerk is the filling in a Mike sandwich! (sorry Chicky, I really couldn't help it...)

Ok, this next one is of my brother Scott and his doppelgänger. Out of my two sisters and Scott, he and I are the ones who look the most alike (according to us - Barb and Jo apparently look very similar but none of us can really see that). Anyway, both Scott and I would agree that it's a pretty shocking photo but that's never stopped me from posting them on here before.

This is a photo of me and the Mikes. Most girls would, if they're lucky, have one Mike at their birthday, I was lucky enough to have four! At one point Mel was made an honourary Mike to fit in with the pattern of every second person at the table being a Mike!
I started to explain who each Mike was but it got really really long - long enough to warrant a post of it's own and so I think I'll do that next. So, to keep it short, from left to right you have Mike, Me, Mike, Mike and Mike ;-)

Kat, looking gorgeous as usual. It never ceases to amaze me just how beautiful she is, on the inside and out. Kat would have to be one of the nicest people I know, and has the annoying habit of looking good, even after she's just woken up. She's also always good for a laugh and I was so happy she could make it.

Mel turned up looking absolutely stunning in a gorgeous red dress and I was so annoyed when I realised I didn't get a photo of her actual dress. So you'll just have to imagine that bit! It was real pretty!
I also didn't manage to get a photo of her and Jann together, so you'll just have to make do with this one of Mel by herself!
After dinner, the plan was to head off to the casino and maybe a pub but it was so late by the time we finished dinner (lets just say I was about to turn into a pumpkin) that most people headed off home and a few of us came back to out house for a couple of drinks.
Christian and Dan played about with the camera a bit more and this is a pic that Christian took, trying to get us all to look blue.

Last Christmas, Christian bought me an Umbilical Brother's charades game, one that I haven't played yet. So that was played and it was by far the best charades game ever, since the Umbies do all the acting, all you have to do is the guessing.

It was another late night for me, but not as late as the one Christian, Kat and Dan had. It was 7am before Christian came to bed and not too long after that that I got up and about.
But I had an awesome time, it was great to catch up with everyone and I had so much fun.
And for some strange reason, I'm feeling a lot older today...