It was my birthday this week and I had a really lovely day. We’re in lockdown in the UK so it was a stay at home birthday with just me and my husband but he made it such a nice day. I got some fabulous gifts (including a mix tape that he made for me of songs that were in the charts on the day I was born, which I love), and he cooked me a curry in the evening. We watched Joker and had an evening of music and wine, it couldn’t have been a nicer day.
It was weird having a lockdown birthday but it gave me time to reflect back over the last year. It’s now almost a whole year since I last went in a shop (the first week in February 2020) or anywhere at all in fact. I know it’s been an horrendous year for everyone but I was thinking back over my personal year and realised that I’ve actually achieved a lot over the year and I want to celebrate those achievements. I’ve lost over three stone since September, which I’m really proud about as I’ve been overweight for a long time and it’s nice to finally be doing something about it. I’ve still got weight to lose but I’m more than halfway to where I want to be. I’ve managed to come off some of my medication, it wasn’t easy but it was absolutely worth it and I’m glad I did it. I’ve discovered that between my husband and me we can cut my hair at home and make a decent job of it. He cut five inches off my hair and I cut myself a fringe in and a few layers at the front.
For my birthday I got lots of lovely presents, including some new clothes in my new size which is lovely. I was delighted to be given new books from my husband, my mum-in-law and my best friend and all were total surprises.
I’ve been wanting to get the Bananarama and Phillip Schofield memoirs so was thrilled with those and I think I’ll read one of those next. Push sounds so dark and so good and I’m keen to pick that up when I’ve finished my current reads. The Apollo book is a very heavy coffee table book full of stunning photos of the Apollo missions and I’m excited to sit and look through it. I’ve always been obsessed with space travel and the moon landings so this is a book to treasure. Pause for Thought is from my best friend and I’m looking forward to dipping in and out of this one. Finally I got Barack Obama‘s memoir from my Mum-in-law and I’m very happy to have a copy of this one. It’s a very big and heavy book but one I’m keen to read soon.
RatherTooFondofBooks 
How lovely, very pleased to hear you have such good people in your life! And well done for all you’ve achieved! Tell me ypur secret for lising weight, since I seem to be really unsuccessful at that.
Happy happy birthday Hayley! Great stash, Bansnorama jumps out at me because I think it’s all intriguing but I’d love to read the Scofirld and Obama books too.
Thank you 🙂 I can’t wait to read all of my new books but I think I’m going to start with the Bananarama one, it looks like such a good read. 🙂 x
Thank you! I’m delighted with my new books, and the fact that they were all surprises.
My weight loss came from facing up to the fact that I’m an emotional eater and was eating biscuits late at night or when I was tired or fed up. I started by cutting that out and then I began eating breakfast every day (for the first time in my adult life). After that I reduced my portion sizes. Now I use a calorie counting app and I have a fitness tracker that tells me how many calories I burn each day so I can balance it. I’ve lost about 2lb a week most weeks. It’s helped that my husband is doing the same as me so we keep each other on track. I now only eat when I’m hungry, which is again something that is new to me but I feel so much better for it. We no longer have biscuits, crisps, cake or chocolate in the house and don’t miss any of it. I did feel really rubbish (headaches, nausea and very tired) for the first six weeks as I got used to the lack of a sugar fix but once I was through that it got a lot easier. I know this has to be a lifestyle change and not a diet, which has helped my mindset as I know the changes have to be manageable and permanent. I don’t want to put this weight back on (which is what has always happened in the past). It’s not easy though, is it? I’ve struggled with my weight ever since I was a teenager.
Thank you, all great and sensible suggestions.
A belated happy birthday!
Thank you 🙂
Belated happy birthday wishes Hayley and well done on your own achievements, that’s fantastic x
Thank you so much 🙂 x
Happy Birthday! Great collection. I’ve stiil got Barack Obama’s memoirs to read.
Thank you 🙂 I’m really looking forward to reading Barack Obama’s memoir, I think it’ll be a fascinating book.
Lovely birthday haul and Happy birthday for the other day. sounds like you had a lovely day xx
Thank you so much 🙂 It was a really lovely day. xx
Happy birthday and congratulations on your successes this year. I loved The Push, and hope to start reading A Promised Land soon. Enjoy your goodies and your upcoming year!
Thank you 🙂 I’m so keen to read The Push, I’ve heard such good things about it.
Belated Happy Birthday Hayley. Great gifts!! I’ve read Obama memoir..a really fascinating insight. Also The Push is a real page turner. Happy reading x
Thank you 🙂 I’m so pleased to hear that both of those books are such good reads, I’m keen to read them. x
I’m so glad you had such a lovely birthday! It sounds fantastic. You got some great books, too. I’ll be interested in what you think of them. I do like a good memoir, and you’ve got some fascinating-looking ones there.
Thank you, it was a lovely day. I love memoirs too and am really keen to read all of my new ones.
Belated happy birthday! Lovely arrivals! 😀
Thank you 🙂
Sounds like you had a wonderful birthday! Hope the coming year will be even better…for you and for all of us:)
Thank you so much, I hope that too 🙂
Happy birthday! Congrats on the weight loss. I’ve lost weight during the pandemic too. I’m not sure how much. I hope you enjoy your new books!
Thank you 🙂 I can’t wait to read all of my new books – I just can’t make my mind up which one to read first! Well done on your weight loss too.
A very Happy Birthday, Hayley:). I am glad that you had such a lovely day – and getting books for your special day is always a win! I’m so impressed that you’ve managed to lose weight, especially while in lockdown. I’ve not managed to do that during this last year AT ALL! I hope you continue to have a lovely weekend.
Thank you so much! It was a really lovely day and I’m thrilled with my new books.
I really needed to lose weight, I was so uncomfortable in my own skin and it was making me unhappy. It helps that my husband has also been working on losing weight so we support each other.
Happy Birthday! Birthdays are there for reflecting and it’s good to look back a bit and have high hopes for the future!
Enjoy your new skinny clothes and all those lovely books you’ve spoiled yourself with.
Have a good week!
Elza Reads
Thank you so much! 🙂 I’m really enjoying wearing my new clothes and reading my new books.
Happy belated birthday, Hayley! Lovely book haul, and congratulations on all you’ve achieved! x
Thank you! 🙂 x
Happy Belated Birthday Hayley. Congratulations on all you have achieved this year. I am sure you feel so much better and that makes it all worthwhile. Your bookhaul looks wonderful and I hope you enjoy them all.
Thank you so much! 🙂 I do feel a lot better for my weight loss and am enjoying having new books to read. x
Happy birthday! Mine was the week before last and like you probably, I hadn’t thought I’d have a lockdown birthday. I went for a run and had a nice quiet day – mainly book tokens for me as I had a lot of books for Christmas and my lovely friends know I like to have a book splurge later in the year, as well as two promises of tea out when things are better, and one promise of a trip to the new local indie bookshop as well as the garden centre to spend last year’s garden tokens! You have a super set of books there, very enticing!
Thank you! It sounds like you had a lovely birthday too. Book tokens are always such a good gift, I still have some that I got for Christmas and am saving them so I can treat myself later on. I love that you have some trips out promised to you, it’s always good to have things to look forward to.
Belated happy birthday, Hayley! What a wonderfully positive and uplifting blog post. Congrats on all you’ve achieved over the past year – and that birthday sounded great – music, books, a film, curry and wine – perfect! x
Thank you so much! 🙂 I feel like I’ve achieved so much in the last year and am in a much better place so wanted to share. My birthday was wonderful, I enjoyed every minute of it. x
🙂
Happy Belated Birthday! Such a lovely haul too.
Thank you 🙂 I can’t wait to read all of my new books. x
Happy belated birthday! What a lot of fantastic positivity! ❤ xxx
Thank you so much 🙂 x
I have been so excited to read Obama’s book. Unfortunately, I haven’t got around to it yet but I am sure when I do it will be great! Happy birthday!
Thank you! 🙂 I hope you enjoy Obama’s memoir when you get to it. I haven’t started it yet but I hope to get to it at some point this year.
Ooh interesting picks! Hope you’ll do a review of each, would love to know!
Thank you, I will try and review my birthday books as I read them. 🙂