It's my 40th birthday!

Happy birthday to me.

Rather than mourning my youth (I did that with a terrible flourish at 36) I am mostly grateful. Grateful for the two gorgeous children who were so excited for me today, waking me with their fight for a premium  spot in bed for cuddles and card reading. Gareth, with his usual kooky humour bought a bizarre hedgehog shaped cake from Marks and Spencer and I blew out candles with bed hair and cheers.



I had a chance to do some yoga before the school run and felt grateful again that I found yoga at the age of 22, and have continued to practice for the past 18 years. By no means am I writing this smugly as someone who is above the petty depressions of life - I have often had to use the clarity and energy of yoga to wrench me back from sad and toxic depths - but the fact is, it is a tool I can and have used and now finally, at 40, I have reached an inner equilibrium (90% of the time) and am still fit and flexible with a strong spine.

The sun is shining today. I have some money to spend on summer clothes and a party to look forward to on the weekend (which may ruffle my equilibrium the next day).

This here cake above really made me smile. I made it yesterday food styling a shoot for Betty Crocker's cake mixes and I think it is very pretty.  Every now and then I get the chance to do shots that make me feel buzzy, happy and creative. I was scared to make this layered sponge, that also required cutting - a perfect inner to camera. It's not something I have ever had to do for photography - the ready mix sponge did make it a doddle - but I like to think it took some skill to decorate it and set this shot up.  Another blessing of age is the culmination of skills you bring to your work: in my case the years of pouring over cookbooks and magazines for inspiration, the mistakes that lead to fine-tunement and the eventual coming together of the myriad paths that lead me here. I hope I can continue to grow and learn and have many more bright and buzzy days. Thanks for sharing this journey with me.

xx Nicole