My Birthday Shindig

So I turned the big 3-0 here in London. What made it great is that it was celebrated over 3 days as it fell in the middle of the week. At work I was greeted by my friend Astrid in the morning with a cute gift and my team gave me cake in the afternoon, that one of my team members had baked (from scratch - who DOES that anymore??). I was touched. That evening Astrid and I found a fun cuban bar called Cuba Libre - it was 2for1 mojitos...you can see how the night went. ;o)

Syd took me out for birthday dinner to a neat Spanish restaurant. We had this amazing pork entree that was the finest cuts of pork that were flavoured with parprika and garlic. Yum! We then hit a great bar nearby that made the most interesting cocktails. I got one that was blackberry and basil. Sounds weird, but I took down the ingredients so I can try on my own someday because I quite enjoyed the freshness of it!

The highlight of my birthday was the scottish dancing evening. About 12 of us went out to a 'Ceilidh', which is essentially scottish folk dancing in a big church-like hall. It was the most fun I've had in ages. Hands down. And the best part, you don't have to have ANY dancing skill at all. In fact, its probably more fun if you don't have skill so that you don't take it too seriously. It was also great to see people from all ages, but especially young people, getting into a new culture, and having fun mingling with other people. There was like 300 people there!

There were a series of dances where you stand in line facing your partner, and then skip down the middle of the lines, form arches, skip around, and link hands/arms and spin. It all sounds like good fun doesn't it?

It was super exhausting too. Each song only lasted 5 minutes or so, but we tended to dance one, wait one, and then dance again so we could catch our breath (and our drinks!).
If the pictures are any indication of the lines and laughter, I hope they give an idea. ;o) Our only regret is that the night seemed to pass so quickly and then we were kicked out at 11. Good times, can't wait to go back!