Another year older, another year wiser but still just a Muggle

So I am now 27, EEEP crikey. It is terrifying to think I am really REALLY an adult and 30 is now only 3 years away! It only feels like a year ago that I was turning 21, I have been promised that my 30’s will be amazing so we will wait and see I guess. Until this I will enjoy being in my 20’s still.

If you saw my previous post you may have seen that my week off didn’t start quite according to plan alas. But Wednesday rolled around and I had a nice relaxing afternoon and saw my Aunt for a little bit. I then headed to bed for 11:30pm. This is a big thing for me as I am usually very impatient and I open my presents at midnight! I decided to wait till the morning which I am glad I did.

We got up about 7:30am, which is crazy early for a day off I’d say! But I wanted to make the most of my day. I had to sit outside the living room eagerly waiting for Matt to ‘finish’ a surprise for me. When he let me in I was so excited. He has dressed all the Poes in little hats, and he had, had them printed on a cake too and there were candles light and a hand drawn Happy Birthday sign. It really meant a lot to me especially as it was the first celebration in our flat together that he decorated it up a bit!

 I unwrapped my gifts and I was really surprised Matt got me the time turner I had been pining after. It is beautiful and is the real silver and gold one I wanted! I am terrified I might lose it so I may buy a safety chain to clip on it! I also got some Harry Potter Pop Funkos, and got a beautiful dress and shirt! I also spent my gift card the lovely ladies at work got me on Friday on a penguin jumper which you can see below too!

 I then got ready and I picked my new elephant dress. I bought some navy tights to go with it and paired that with a navy cardi and a backpack as I wanted to be hands free all day! We then headed to The Harvester to have breakfast. I had planned on a simple crumpet and fruit type breakfast as my tummy still wasn’t feeling 100%. However when we got there I was actually quite hungry and pretty unhappy about missing out on a fry up on my birthday so I caved and got one! I did however give some to Matt as I couldn’t manage it all! It was well worth it as it was DELICOUS!

The motor way was insanely clear and we arrived around 11:45am. Our tour started at 12:30pm so we had a fair bit of time to wait. We looked round the gift shop and I excitedly started make a mental list of how I was planning on spending my birthday money, and then we sat outside for a while as the sun was shining gloriously and it was the first beautifully sunny warm day that week!

We queued up just before 12:30 and headed in! We did the first part with the cinema and little talk and I got to push the doors open to the great hall as it was my birthday woo! I was so excited and I got Matt to snap as many photos of me with my favourite props and sets as possible and I took WAY too many photos myself… It is hard to pick just a handful out of the hundreds but here they are!

The sets are all beautiful 

I did the broom stick thing this time! That was loads of fun, I didn’t do it last time because of the queues and the fact that I really hated photos or videos of myself (shame really!) this time however the queues were only around 10-15 minutes long and I really wanted a photo!

I love this picture and I got to pick Gryffindor robes

After looking at all the beautiful sets, we headed into the next part which was the main reason for my visit THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS! It was really awesome and you got to go up inside it too which I hadn’t realised you could do! It was stunning and exactly how I imagined it would have been!

I tried so hard to get through to platform 9 3/4 but it didn't work

When you come off you can have your photo in a booth to look like you are on the train (which we did and bought!) and then you get to have a few snaps and play around in another booth with a video that plays in the window! I really enjoyed that part!

So happy I got a snap of Matt to keep!

We got through into the middle bit, and I was ready for a sit down! We both got butter beers (I got the fancy one with the mug you get to keep and Matt ended up getting 2 disposable ones) It was warm enough you could sit outside which was GREAT! It meant we got to do all the outside stuff properly and sit down and really enjoyed our butter beers (last time we went it was SO COLD outside we spend a minimum amount of time outside and rushed through it!)

I wish I could drink butter beer all day long

Couldn't resist getting a snap on all the things outside

The next bit was all the inside information, the how they did it and the artwork and what not. I love this bit too as it is so fascinating and interesting the amount of work that goes into making films.

Then you head up Diagon Alley. I remember it being longer and I kind of wished it was but it was really awesome regardless! I love peering into all the shop windows.

My favourite shop

Then the last bit which is defiantly a favourite of mine was the Hogwarts model. It is just stunning and the atmosphere in there is perfect. It just makes you wish SO HARD that it was all real and you could really go there. I won’t stop hoping that maybe one day I will get my letter ha! You just have to sit back and take it all in!

The Hogwarts model... so stunning

You then go through the wand shop bit with the names of all the people that worked on the films on wand boxes, again this is really atmospheric and pretty impressive.

And then you end up back in the gift shop! I was pleased I looked at the beginning as I was pretty tired (it was about 5pm by this point and I was starving) I picked out a few bits. I got myself a beautiful T-Shirt, chocolate frog, Muraders map mug and a souvenir guide. I really wanted a wand too, but I decided against it as it was quite pricey and I wanted to save some of my pennies for other things.

My mini haul

While we were paying I also got a ‘It’s my birthday’ badge! I was pretty pleased with that!

And with that we headed home. It was NOT a clear drive home, actually it took about double the time but I guess the M25 at rush hour you wouldn’t expect anything else. We then got a pizza and garlic bread from Morrisons on the way home and I really enjoyed that and ate while watching so Star trek next gen. The evening was spent being lazy in our pj’s just watching TV and playing on the internet.

It was one of those days that I just DIDN’T want to end, and I didn’t want to go home either. It went so quickly and I enjoyed every moment of it. I then popped into the shower and Matt relight the candles on my cake and sung Happy Birthday too me which was the perfect end to the perfect day!

Birthday Girl Birthday Weekend!

So as I now write this I am a grand age of 25! I have just had a 4 day weekend and to be honest has been amazing. It makes coming back to work really really hard. I only have to do three days but it seems soo long especially when Matt has the WHOLE DAMN week off.

So where should I start. I will start with Saturday and Sunday I guess. Saturday was slow I saw Gemma for a bit, I actually can’t remember what else I did. Oooh I popped to the Valley to get a couple of bits, but just chilled out for most the day.

Sunday was the first big awesome day. I woke up around 6am! This almost killed me, but I got up and curled my hair really nicely and did my makeup packed some ridiculously massive bag with a spare coat and all sorts and we headed off at just gone 7am. McDonald's breakfast was the first stop and I got one meal and a snack wrap cause HEY IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY WEEKEND :p couldn't actually eat it all. Then we arrived in London at the Olympia around 8:15am and parked up and joined the queue. It was pretty small to be honest and never really got too much bigger not compared to the summer anyway.

We went straight in around 9am and got two talk tickets that cost £40 eep. And then walked around the stalls twice as it was just sooo empty and quiet. We went and sat in the car as it hit me how tired I was and actually fell asleep for an hour. We then went back in to the talk with Michael Shanks and Suanne Braun and Michael’s wife joined in too which was great as I love her in SG1 and Andromeda. I have to say the talk didn't flow as well as past talks and there wasn't enough SG1 mention for my liking but it was enjoyable. Just wish I hadn't sat behind the really tall guy. Boo.

We ate Lunch in the car and did some more browsing. Matt wanted me to pick out thinks for my birthday which I did although the stalls were fewer and not as good as the summer so I didn't find that much stuff alas. 

I spent about an hour debating if I should get an autograph from Virginia Hey, and I’m glad I worked up the courage as she was the nicest lady ever! She was so chatty and happy and told me I had a beautiful name :D

Then I had Michael's photo shoot at 3:30pm and swooned a little. His Accent and how nice he was to me and then I hip bumped him when they took the photo all made me smile WAY TOO HARD eheheh! Not a fan of me in the photo but I think it is nice and natural!

I picked out a few bits during the day and we also grabbed tickets to the Star Trek talk that was free. That ended up being really awesome! Had two actors from Deep Space 9 and Voyager. The drive home was pretty horrible loads and loads of traffic but we got back and ate pizza and watched Star Trek!

Much to my dismay I forgot my camera and I didn't really take any pictures which really was a real shame! I will make sure to take some next time!

Monday was a lovely day. Just got up when I woke up and went into Croydon which was nice as it was soo quiet in there. Got a few bits I needed and Matt got me a lovely jumper for my Birthday to add to the pile of gifts he had bought me! We got home and I showered and chilled out and then got ready and went out for dinner with my Mum Dad and Sister. It was really lovely and the food was delicious.!

I got home stuffed to the rim and begun the countdown to midnight so I could open my gifts hahah! 

So midnight came and I got to open all my gifts! I've shown a few on here already. I ended up with 4 jumpers….

Polar Bear one (from Matt) – H! by Henry Holland

Polka dot (from Sister)– Forever 21

Squirrel and fox ones (from my Grandma) – New Look  

I got a dino from Matt and the pop figures as well as the tree necklace and snowflake necklace. We got them from Comic Con.

Sarah got me the air fresher and gloves and socks and Laura got me the other necklaces, note book and light coloured scarf. My aunt also got me the peter pan necklaces which I FREAKING LOVE! They looked soo good on with some of my jumpers!

I also got a beautiful coat from my mum and dad too but I haven’t taken a picture of it yet! It’s a Hell Bunny Millie coat I think I mentioned it in a previous post.

Then on Tuesday I got up early again and began my loooong 2-3 hour drive to Longleat safari park.

We were greedy again and stopped for Maccy D Breakfast again oops! Then carried on our journey, the M25 was horrible and very stop start but after that it was a clear run, a very long run but clear, took almost 3 hours in the end! We stopped off and then went straight into the Safari bit.

It was great and I really really enjoyed it. There was a lion that walked in front of my car and big animals you usually have to look through bars and windows to see were right next to my car. It was great soo much fun and amazing to see these animals so close. The Monkey bit though I did not enjoy I watched them peel the rubber off the car in front and snap the Ariel! Eeep I got out of there ASAP! 

The next bit was then a walk around zoo bit, but it was all so interactive. We got to walk with actual penguins and through lots of animal bits. We walked past a enclosure with birds and a man was in there feeding them and had two on his arm. I was like I WANNA DO THAT MATT. So we got £1 handed it over and got some bird food. I walked in hoping a bird would land on my arm and BAM around 7 just landed on me. They were in my hair and on my back and just everywhere! It was so funny Matt got some pretty good photos of me being mugged by the birds ehehe.

Matt got some beautiful pictures of the animals and I wanted to share a few below. He took over 200 so I just picked 10 of my favorites. 

So now I am back at work and it’s pretty awful. I generally had an amazing 4 days. The weather has been great, Sunday was perfect and it was sunny and dry till about 2pm yesterday and then started to spit around 4pm… but we left around 5 so it was fine.!

Now I have to wait until Christmas for some more time off. I cannot wait until the run up to Christmas; it will forever be my favourite time of the year!

I want to end on a comparison. A body and head shot of myself 1 year apart both a comic con in the same place. I think I have changed a lot :)