joint 18th celebration.

i know what you're all thinking. how many birthday celebrations can one have? though the titular 18th celebration suggests, this was a party thrown to acknowledge my 18 years of existence as human. however, i see this also as a happy congregation with the people i love, with lots of food, laughter, and of course, CAKE thrown in!

this day was another great reminder of all the people who loves me, and all those who have nurtured me to be who i am today. i grew up with most of these people here, of which i knew when i was first brought to church as a baby.

my 18th birthday was also shared by my good friend mara, and my cousin rita, of which we were born about 3 weeks after each other (me being the oldest)! we had a great time sharing our memories growing up together, and all our awesome (funny) moments.

the most priceless picture taken on my polaroid!!!

we've already had a joint 10th birthday where we simultaneously went ice skating and bowling, followed by a great meal at a restaurant a good 8 years ago. 

this year we decided to play down the more active activities haha, and instead i put together a quick photobooth after a visit to the 99p store for wigs, masks and moustaches. i had a few other props at hand already, so we were fit for taking funky pictures and having fun with the selfie stick (oh, and the props also made rather wacky group photos!)

we were joined by my parents' god-grandson this year! he was the cutest little thing and i'm so happy he came to join the p-a-r-t-y!

needless to say, there were lots of pictures from that day, however the best ones were probably the ones where we attempted to recreate our old photographs; i didn't realise how hard it was until we tried!

the food was awesome, and the company - even better. roll on our joint 21st!!!!

chillin'..or not.

wow life is so packed and crazy at the moment. i feel as though i'm in a whirlwind lately and i simply can't find my way out most of the time. 

the pressure is huge now the days are drawing nearer and nearer towards my alevel exams, which in fact is in less than a month's time!!

i'm so glad i got a chance to just chill and have lunch with my friend jan today - to just take a breath of fresh air away from the school grounds (which i believe is nearly choking me). the sun was out, it was a whopping 27C and everything just seemed so at peace and serene all of sudden. it made me feel oh-so-comfortable. this is perhaps God's reminder for me that He's got it - all in his mighty hands!

a visit to the farm.

i've been wanting to visit the farm since probably last year but hadn't got round to it at all! i'm so glad the weather has brightened up over these few weeks in rainy cold britain, and that my family all agreed and cleared their schedules for this day out.

and i'm telling you now, you'll have so much fun at the farm that you'll realise it is not just a kid thing to be visiting farm animals.

we decided to visit bockett's farm in leatherhead, as i recalled visiting when i was about 4 on a school trip. i remember it being so damn fun and now that i've finally reached adulthood, i felt compelled to recall these childhood memories - that's the nostalgic side of me.

we had the rare opportunity of witnessing a lamb being born right in front of us and being propped to stand on to its feet for the first time. mannn was it cute and made such an interesting snap story on my snapchat haha

^^ cute love birds perched against these vibrant colours^^

our walk around the greater radius of the farm was perhaps the most fun as less people tended to trek this far up the hill. the landscape was utter beauty looking down from the hilltop and the animals were the most friendly ones you'll ever meet.

they loved munching on grass and meeting people, and my dad could not resist but help us pull out some fresh grass for us to feed them with

^^if you look closely, this little donkey appears to be munching half my face!^^

it was such a refreshing day out as i had been locked down at home and revising the whole of this week - not long now till my a level exams!

needless to say, the day was filled with selfies with animals and lots of giggles as they do their own thing!

after visiting the barn and feeding the sheep, we headed over to an animal handling session where they let you touch all sorts of furry animals including bunny rabbits, newborn chicks and a baby goat! they were all so cute and reminded me of the bunnies i used to own!

^^feeding the sheep^^

the day was ended with a classic pig race. i betted on peppa pig but unfortunately she came third! oh wells, always a next time, for i'm sure i'll be saying hi to the farm animals very soon! :P

Insta-Thursty: Week 21

trifle master - see the blog post here!

spent the afternoon help make cute wedding favours - aren't they cute

celebrating my big 18th! at school.

crazy family birthday celebrations

day out to dimt and london bridge on the last day of term. see more here

yummy food at wahaca - kelly is such a cutie and treated me for this meal!

pizza making and friends.

our renovation work in the house has finally been completed!!! praise the lord!! though there are still some bits and pieces left to be done, the majority is out of the way and i was able to invite some friends over during the easter for...you guessed it...more birthday celebrations! (18 is a big number yano ;))

dyu know bout the cheesy crusts?

dinner is always a hard one if you want to entertain your friends and accommodate everyone's palettes simultaneously. so i came up with the idea of pizza making for dinner! i rounded it off easily with a bowl of pasta and some salad and ta-da, something for everyone!

the pizza dough base recipe was obtained from the martha stewart website and worked out fabi-docious. i made two batches of dough just to be sure we had enough food, and mannnn did we end up with about 8 pizzas, lots of dough balls (perfect with pesto) and a few chicken bites!

for toppings, i had a quick pop to tesco and came back with tomato puree, LOTS of cheese, sausages (the big fatty ones), bacon, sweetcorn, ham, chicken pieces, meatballs, peppers, salad leaves, spinach and mushrooms.

the result? a food coma with my new bday toy sloth and a mega pizza feast which filled us up so much we had no room for ice cream....

the evening consisted of more snacking, banagrams, some polaroids and many crazy games of wii tennis. wow have i missed having friends over.

and here's to many more fab pizzas!