Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that my birthday would be in the midst of lockdown. I naively thought that the lockdown measures would lift in April or something, and kept my fingers tightly crossed. Suddenly cocktails, dining out and catching up with friends was out of the question. I couldn't get a grocery home delivery near to my birthday so that ruled out cakes, decorations and the ingredients for my afternoon tea idea. The reality is I don't have access to gold balloons displaying my age, or huge gold letters spelling out HAPPY BIRTHDAY (so you won't find any of that sh*t on my Instagram). I don't have banners or bunting or fancy cake toppers or cupcakes. The only telling that it was my birthday was birthday cards coming through the post (now all stuck on the wall as a glorified wall mural like we did last Christmas with our Christmas cards) and a sh*t ton of deliveries. And with that, a diary of a birthday during lockdown...
Lately I've got myself into a morning routine of yoga to gradually ease myself into the day and then more strenuous exercise to fully wake up. It's my birthday so I feel I can be exempt from exercising on today of all days ;)
Mr Curiouser and Curiouser is working today, but I am not. He offered to take the day off but is there any point taking holiday during lockdown? It's not like we can go anywhere. I'm not worried as we know we can make an awesome day of it until lockdown eases and things start to re-open again.
My partner surprises me with a scroll and it turns out to be a love letter which he has done in the form of a poem (this guy is smooth AF and always has been!). He was sneaking about the night before, printing, and running up and down the stairs so it all makes sense now! He takes my hand and leads me downstairs where he has prepared pancakes for breakfast.
We have two pancakes each and share the last one (that's love right there!). Very happy and in a mini pancake coma (poma?), I then start opening some of my birthday cards and gifts. Friends and family have been very kindly ordering from my Amazon wishlist so it's a bit of a mystery knowing who sent what and it turns it into a guessing game.
Mr C & C starts work at 9 and I take some time getting ready. Today I decide to wear one of my favourite Oliver Bonas skirts with a black cropped tee and a spritz of my favourite Chanel perfume. I also ditch my glasses - which I've been wearing for the last two months - and dig out the contact lenses again. It feels so good wearing them again.
It's a fairly slow morning. I reply to birthday messages, take some calls, discover some lovely messages from blogger friends, watch Catfish, but mostly do some writing.
Mr Curiouser and Curiouser asks what I'd like for lunch and I really fancy something crunchy with ketchup. I love, love, love chicken dippers, chicken nuggets, chicken goujons and the like, but we don't have any in the house. We do however have fish fingers which really hit the spot. Over lunch we watch one of my favourite shows and tuck into biscuits afterwards (standard).
As the day goes on, the realisation of having a birthday in lockdown kicks in. It's a weird feeling. I keep getting reminders on social media about how I was celebrating my birthday last year and on previous years. I see the pictures taken with friends. I see pictures of this wonderful plant based afternoon tea I went to with my sister last year. Whilst it sucks being stuck inside, I know it's the right thing to do.
With Mr Curiouser and Curiouser back at his desk it does feel a little lonely, but I count myself lucky that we live together and have each other. I cannot begin to imagine how people on their own during lockdown must be feeling. That afternoon friends and family call me to see how I am doing and with that the afternoon flies.
On my birthday I usually chance a lottery entry and this year is no different. The jackpot today is 42 million but to be honest, I'd be perfectly happy with two zeros let alone a six zero number (every little helps!).
I receive an email with a voucher for my birthday and with that I discover a John Lewis voucher I received for my birthday 2 years ago which has a life of ... 2 years. I can't recall using it and panic. Cue a panicked online shopping session to see if I can spend it still. As luck may have it, the voucher is still active and I get on it ASAP.
Dinner is a bit of an interesting one as I ordered a birthday meal (and pud) in our last shop but both went out of stock and couldn't be delivered. As luck may have it, I find some scallops buried deep in our freezer which I bought especially for Christmas and somehow forgot about. The main course is another case of digging about in the freezer, but to be honest, I'd be perfectly happy with a chicken kiev (breaded chicken again for the win!) or a pizza.
Tesco has imposed an item limit on their online shops so we didn't have any wine for a while (we instead prioritised the essentials). My partner raised a valid point recently: Order a box of wine and it will count as three bottles of wine but at the same time it will only register as only one item... GENIUS. So in our last shop we ordered some random box of red wine which we didn't have high hopes for, but it's actually pretty decent which is lucky considering we now have three litres of the stuff. For dessert it's a slice of the chocolate birthday cake Mr Curiouser and Curiouser baked for me (a cake meets brownie hybrid with tons of dark chocolate). It's HEAVENLY. Especially when heated (which is what we do).
A quick, early dinner means a good long evening. Later on we watch one of my favourite French films (which luckily Mr C & C likes too) with wine and blankets. Later still I have a video call with my family. The last big call we did was over Easter so it's lovely to be all together again. I hazard a guess at who ordered what from Amazon and some how guess all of them correctly! I'm not sure how, but we end up talking for an hour and a half and it's now pitch black outside.
Whilst I couldn't have predicted a birthday like this, I feel like we made the best of it and although simple, it didn't make it any less special. It just goes to show that it's not things that make a day special, it's the people in your life.
MORNING (AND BREAKFAST)
Lately I've got myself into a morning routine of yoga to gradually ease myself into the day and then more strenuous exercise to fully wake up. It's my birthday so I feel I can be exempt from exercising on today of all days ;)
Mr Curiouser and Curiouser is working today, but I am not. He offered to take the day off but is there any point taking holiday during lockdown? It's not like we can go anywhere. I'm not worried as we know we can make an awesome day of it until lockdown eases and things start to re-open again.
My partner surprises me with a scroll and it turns out to be a love letter which he has done in the form of a poem (this guy is smooth AF and always has been!). He was sneaking about the night before, printing, and running up and down the stairs so it all makes sense now! He takes my hand and leads me downstairs where he has prepared pancakes for breakfast.
 |
| He makes the best pancakes! |
 |
| Maltesers chocolate spread is always a winner! |
We have two pancakes each and share the last one (that's love right there!). Very happy and in a mini pancake coma (poma?), I then start opening some of my birthday cards and gifts. Friends and family have been very kindly ordering from my Amazon wishlist so it's a bit of a mystery knowing who sent what and it turns it into a guessing game.
Mr C & C starts work at 9 and I take some time getting ready. Today I decide to wear one of my favourite Oliver Bonas skirts with a black cropped tee and a spritz of my favourite Chanel perfume. I also ditch my glasses - which I've been wearing for the last two months - and dig out the contact lenses again. It feels so good wearing them again.
It's a fairly slow morning. I reply to birthday messages, take some calls, discover some lovely messages from blogger friends, watch Catfish, but mostly do some writing.
LUNCH
Mr Curiouser and Curiouser asks what I'd like for lunch and I really fancy something crunchy with ketchup. I love, love, love chicken dippers, chicken nuggets, chicken goujons and the like, but we don't have any in the house. We do however have fish fingers which really hit the spot. Over lunch we watch one of my favourite shows and tuck into biscuits afterwards (standard).
AFTERNOON
With Mr Curiouser and Curiouser back at his desk it does feel a little lonely, but I count myself lucky that we live together and have each other. I cannot begin to imagine how people on their own during lockdown must be feeling. That afternoon friends and family call me to see how I am doing and with that the afternoon flies.
On my birthday I usually chance a lottery entry and this year is no different. The jackpot today is 42 million but to be honest, I'd be perfectly happy with two zeros let alone a six zero number (every little helps!).
I receive an email with a voucher for my birthday and with that I discover a John Lewis voucher I received for my birthday 2 years ago which has a life of ... 2 years. I can't recall using it and panic. Cue a panicked online shopping session to see if I can spend it still. As luck may have it, the voucher is still active and I get on it ASAP.
DINNER
Dinner is a bit of an interesting one as I ordered a birthday meal (and pud) in our last shop but both went out of stock and couldn't be delivered. As luck may have it, I find some scallops buried deep in our freezer which I bought especially for Christmas and somehow forgot about. The main course is another case of digging about in the freezer, but to be honest, I'd be perfectly happy with a chicken kiev (breaded chicken again for the win!) or a pizza.
Tesco has imposed an item limit on their online shops so we didn't have any wine for a while (we instead prioritised the essentials). My partner raised a valid point recently: Order a box of wine and it will count as three bottles of wine but at the same time it will only register as only one item... GENIUS. So in our last shop we ordered some random box of red wine which we didn't have high hopes for, but it's actually pretty decent which is lucky considering we now have three litres of the stuff. For dessert it's a slice of the chocolate birthday cake Mr Curiouser and Curiouser baked for me (a cake meets brownie hybrid with tons of dark chocolate). It's HEAVENLY. Especially when heated (which is what we do).
 |
| You can't beat a chocolate cake! |
EVENING
A quick, early dinner means a good long evening. Later on we watch one of my favourite French films (which luckily Mr C & C likes too) with wine and blankets. Later still I have a video call with my family. The last big call we did was over Easter so it's lovely to be all together again. I hazard a guess at who ordered what from Amazon and some how guess all of them correctly! I'm not sure how, but we end up talking for an hour and a half and it's now pitch black outside.
Whilst I couldn't have predicted a birthday like this, I feel like we made the best of it and although simple, it didn't make it any less special. It just goes to show that it's not things that make a day special, it's the people in your life.
First image: twinsfisch on Unsplash
All other images my own!
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