Beholden

Yesterday (Monday 26th September) was the date of my 16th birthday. As well as gaining an extra year in age and lots of lovely presents which I am extremely grateful for, I also recieved the gift of realisation; of the beautifully wonderful friends and family I am so lucky and thankful to have.

I literally do not know what I'd do without them all.

I started celebrating my birthday straight after school on Friday the 23rd, with a small gathering at my house with 4 of my closest friends. We got all dressed up and went for a meal in Gorey where my Dad's house is, and everyone stayed the night.

The next morning we had a 4 hour shopping spree and lunch in town, where I was bought a beautiful Cath Kidston box bag and mirror by my friends! When they gave it to me I was literally speechless, and words could not have described how happy I was! After we'd bought nearly the whole of St.Helier (basically the 'city' in Jersey, but we just prefer to call it town!), we got the bus back to my Mum's house in St.Martin, and got ready for my second party with 11 of my friends. The night consisted of movies, BBQ food, music, and LOTS of dancing and making general pratts of ourselves on the wii, plus an additional bit of sneaky Russian dancing at 3am might I add.

So we didn't get much sleep, and all just about managed to wake up in morning, but it was well worth it. However, dealing with the messy aftermath of a party of 12 including myself isn't the most enjoyable thing to do when your eyes are desperatley begging for matchsticks to prise them open....

Monday morning saw the usual task of getting up for school a lot easier than usual knowing I'd have a few presents waiting for me! I was so grateful of the presents, cards and Facebook messages I recieved, they really made my day that bit more special. And after spending the school day in the company of my friends, I came home to my family where we had cake, and a lovely roast made by Mum. Even after sixteen years of it, I am still not sure where to put my face when people start singing happy birthday to me, I think you'll know what I'm talking about-those high notes always seem to prove difficult for even the best of birthday singers.

I'd like to finish this especially long birthday post with a an undescribeably big thank-you to all of the beautiful people involved in any way with my birthday, you really warmed my heart with your thoughtfulness. ♥

"You only have one life to do whatever you want with. In 100 years nobody will remember the stupid mistakes you made, so make a fool of yourself while you still have the chance because if you spend all your life trying to be the coolest kid around, you will never be happy with yourself."

Robyn x

A Literal Challenge...

On Sunday (18th September) I completed the Great North Coast Charity Challenge, which is held here in Jersey (just incase you didn't know, Jersey is a small 45 square mile island off the coast of Normandy, France). The walk was along the North Coast (in red on the top of the map), and was 20 miles long. We started at St.Catherines Breakwater in the east, and finished at Les Landes racecourse in the west.

It was the longest I've ever walked, and also my first ever long distance walk. It took me 7 hours and 20 minutes, just over a whole school day in which I'd usually be sitting down...
It rained for the majority of the day, so to save embarassment I'll keep the pictures of me sporting the wet rat look to myself.

Note to self: wear waterproof mascara if the weather is forecast rain.

Have a lovely week, Robyn xx

Olive?

Blogging about life and my growth as a person. I originally started this blog to count as one of my ‘skills’ learnt for my silver Duke of Edinburgh award, but also to keep a record of the things that are of interest and have happened to me, a bit like a scrapbook really, but one I can share with anyone who happens to come across it.
Olive: a shade of green. “Green is life. Abundant in nature, green signifies growth, renewal, health, and environment. On the flip side, green is inexperience.”
When people think of an adventure, the colour olive usually comes to mind- it represents camping equipment, walking boots, military uniforms, and the usual things taken on an ‘adventure’ as such. The colour olive to me also represents nature; a shade of green, general trees, olive trees and actual olives (which repulse me-they taste awful. Thought I should let you know before continuing). Green is apparently also the colour of inexperience. This is really quite suited to me, as things like camping are completely new and unheard of in my life! I’d like to experience the best things out of life, and to make it worthwhile, so thought that ‘D of E’ was a good place to start.
Personally, the word olive means a lot more to me than just adventures and the colour of my skin. Olive is my grandma’s middle name, someone who really means a lot to me, and one of the people who influences me the most. She is the one who has inspired me to get the most out of this one life-just hearing even one of the stories from her life makes me smile. How about jumping from a diving board of God-knows-how-high in front of a crowd of people, completely not intending to? Or living through World War 2, being ordered to search through military uniforms by German soldiers and finding a decapitated finger or two along the way? And not to forget falling in love with a soldier in true movie-like style.
I’d like my grandchildren to feel the same way about me when I’m not as ripe as I am now (sixteen, relatively new to life you could say). So here's to my beginning.
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." — Maya Angelou

Enjoy yourselves, Robyn x