Birthdays and mysterious table bookings

First of all, please forgive me. Please. This week is going to be another ‘fill in the gaps’ rushed blog post, for a number of reasons, since this week’s post was supposed to be a very exciting one indeed. However, I am withholding that post until next week for reasons I’ll get into in a moment, however, first and foremostly, it is my partner’s birthday today! I am writing this today, on the Friday, the morning of his birthday, and so I’m sure you can appreciate why I can’t dedicate the time I’d like to on the post I’d like to be writing this week. It’s all very cloak and dagger, I know, but it’s so exciting and I don’t want to give the game away just yet! The post I’m writing for next week is about something very important to me and also very exciting, and so I want it to be one of my best to date. I’d like everything about it to be of the highest quality, and so I’m saving it for next week to allow myself the time to make sure it’s the best it can be. I received a fantastic camera for Christmas from my mum, (thank you mum <3 ) and so the images I’d like to take for the blog post, I’d like to take with my new camera, so everything is shiny and HD, but for that I need to wait for my memory card to arrive in the post! So that’s one reason as to why it’ll have to wait. The other main reason, is that I have actually been working all week in a new job. Sort of. Last week I revealed that I have been temping as a Santa’s Grotto elf over the Christmas period, and whilst this is true, this is not all I have been doing. The elf job was only two half day shifts and seeing as I said before, I have just moved house etc, I wanted a little more income over the holidays, so I have also been working in a local Thorntons shop! It has been fantastic, very hard work but very rewarding through the people I have met and the experience I have gained. More on that another day, but for now, let me tell you, I have been working all day every day, and so most days when I get in, I haven’t been too focused on writing my blog posts. Since I am off today, for my partners birthday, I figured I would just get up early and write it while he sleeps! And then, while he slumbers on, I’ll decorate the room with birthday banners and balloons… This may sound silly to some, since we are both adults and without any children. However, he has always told me that he doesn’t really like his birthday. Now, to me, someone who has always extensively celebrated birthdays and been celebrated with, this is unfathomable. I understand of course that as we grow older, each birthday may become less exciting, and one might be more inclined to say ‘oh, just one candle on the cake this year, no need to blow out that many!!’ but nonetheless, candles are yet another birthday tradition I revel in. So my goal this year, the first year we have lived together, was to try to make his birthday as exciting as possible, and start some of our own little birthday traditions. So I woke up early, decorated the living room with balloons and banners, and made him a cup of tea, which I took through whilst singing Happy Birthday to wake him. (A family tradition of mine is that on birthdays, you are woken up with tea in bed and the birthday song.) Now, what he didn’t know (and still doesn’t, he’s showering while I’m adding to this) is that inside his card I have revealed that I have made dinner reservations for us tonight at 7pm. That’s all the card reveals, however, it does not tell him where. Every day, I walk home from work the same way, and every day, I pass a little Italian restaurant, tucked into the corner of a little picturesque alley, with beautiful winding fairy lights and a raised porch outside, with wooden steps leading to the door, covered in curling vines of plants and leaves, weaving around the banister. It looks magical, and every day as I walk past, I can smell the delicious smell of the kitchen. Now, every day when I walk by, I decide that we are definitely going to go there one day. The exciting thing about this was that I had never actually seen inside the building, and being a bit ‘away with the fairies’ at times, I had let my imagination run away with itself as to how perfect it would be inside. And so, yesterday evening, on my way home, I walked my usual route from work, weary on my feet, but slowed as I approached the Italian. Today, I was going in.

So I did. I waltzed right in the door, and it was as adorable as I had imagined, dripping wax candles and Lady-and-the-Tramp style chequered tablecloths. There was an eccentric bartender who smiled and waved as I walked in, and took my name and the time of our reservation. It was perfect. So I made secret, surprise reservations there for dinner tonight without checking any reviews, taking the sheer busy-ness as a good sign. Don’t worry, I haven’t taken complete leave of my senses, I checked reviews last night, and they are highly well regarded and named ‘the best Italian in town.’ Safe to say I’m excited for dinner. I’ll catch you next week, and make sure to pop back, since next week’s post is a truly exciting one, and on you won’t want to miss! (I’ll also tell you how dinner goes, and if it really is the best Italian in town.) Rachel x

(P.S. I got all images from this week's post from their website, I hope I was allowed to do that, if you're reading lovely Italian please don't be cross.)