21st Birthday Presents

My 21st birthday was this Monday, the 20th January. I didn't do anything, just like I haven't for the last four years, but did have Chinese and Indian takeaways with my family. It was our first time having Indian, and it won't be the last! Already craving more onion bhajis and chicken shashlik.

My sister really treated me, and most of the stuff in the photo is from her. I'd wanted the Fred Perry Aubrey trainers for a while, and was going to buy them full price a few months ago. I don't like the brand, but really liked the shape of the shoe (I feel like a clown in normal trainers). The best part about them is that my sister only paid £20.25 instead of £45! She also bought me the Pacifica fragrance set, the heart shaped bowls, the owl mug, The Great British Book of Baking, Wotsits, Quavers, and gingerbread men. You may have seen the owl mug in my Currently Loving post, but that was for a friend's birthday, so my sister bought me my own. I love the heart shaped bowls, and am going to use the smaller ones for jewellery. I also love Wotsits and Quavers, so that's why she bought them for me!

My parents bought me the Hotel Chocolat slabs and gave me money. The giant slab is a Christmas one, so was in the sale for £4.80 instead of £16. There was then a problem with the parcel, so Hotel Chocolat sent a replacement and gave my dad a refund, meaning it was completely free! The eton mess one was full price, but sounds delicious.

In the heart shaped bowl, you can see a silver trinket. Inside is a necklace that my nanny Mary gave me. It was my great nan's, and she received it for her own 21st birthday. It's definitely something I'm going to treasure!

My other grandparents gave me the large heart photo frame, the 21st mug and bear, and more money than I ever expected to receive. I was so surprised and thankful.

My auntie, who's only a few years older than myself, bought me the No7 gift set, an Accessorize scarf, a handful of face masks, some jewellery, and some body sprays.

I still have some gifts to receive from a friend, but I'm so thankful for everything I've received so far. Here's to being 21!

Throwback Thursday

Seeing as it's my nanny Mary's birthday today, I thought I'd show you a few photos I have of us together! I've put them in chronological order (I only know the order because I get bigger in each one!), and the last one shows me smiling very enthusiastically... There's probably more of us somewhere, but I only own these three myself. I'll ask her if she has any more next time we're visiting!

August Update!

Well, the Summer is over and I'll be heading into my final year of university this month - Crazy! This Summer hasn't been amazing, but it's been a lot better than last year, where I was ill for most of it.

In my last update, I said I'd emailed my lecturer about a dissertation idea and was waiting for his approval. He approved it, thankfully, and I've been doing a little research in preparation. When I say little, I mean little. I only have a list of narrowed ideas and a few references at the moment, but I'm planning on finding more before I go back.

It was my blog's 4th birthday on the 3rd August! I made cupcakes to celebrate, which you can see in the birthday post. 4 years is a long time. I wonder how much longer I'll blog for? Could be a year, could be another 4. Who knows?

It was also my sister's 18th birthday on the 18th August. I made her a cake (above), 30 cupcakes, a giant cookie, and chocolate sheep. It was a lot of work, and the cake didn't look perfect, but it tasted delicious. I was so tense when it was being cut and handed to people because I just wanted them to like it! It seemed to have gone down well, but they could've been lying, you never know! It tasted great to me, though, and I'm my biggest critic.

I got my hair cut as well. 6 inches taken off and now I have shoulder length hair! It's the shortest I've had it in years, but I'm liking it. I'm tempted to go shorter, but I want my long hair back for graduation (if I survive the next year, that is).

I had an issue with my modules for year 3, where they'd given me 2 for semester A and 4 for semester B (instead of 3 and 3). It was just my luck, but it's been sorted now! I'm doing 2 compulsory dissertation ones, 2 compulsory English ones (my major), and 2 optional media ones (my minor). These optional ones are in photography and marketing. I've already done a photography module, which I enjoyed, but I've never done a marketing one. Hopefully I like it, but I'll just suck it up if I don't.

The 31st August was the day in which I'd had Jessie for 4 years. I can't believe how fast it's gone! And I've just remembered that I got her the same year I started blogging (and the same year I finished GCSEs and went into A Levels). I posted a photo on Twitter of Jessie sleeping with Jacks (one of our cats. He's the same age as Jessie, so he's only a kitten in the photo himself) just a few hours after we'd brought her home. So cute.

Now, I'm going to bathe the dogs and make a crumble with freshly picked apples (not at the same time. I'm not THAT talented!). I'm also going to be upgrading my phone today, which I'm excited about! The rest of September will consist of meeting up with some friends and starting year 3 of uni. You'll probably hear all about my days on Twitter anyway (where I also post lots of photos of my animals). How was your August?

Affordable Treats is 4 today!

My blog is 4 years old today! I made these cupcakes in celebration (instead of getting an image from the internet like I've done for the past 3 years!). They didn't exactly go to plan, but they still taste nice! I can't believe I've been writing on here for 4 years. It seems to have flown by, but at the same time, it feels like I've been writing a blog forever. I don't know what I'd be doing if I didn't have this hobby and the community it comes with. I've been given so much support from you guys, blog wise and personally. Thank you to everyone who has ever read or commented, and thank you to those who've had endless conversations with me on Twitter. Let's see if we'll get to 5 years!

20th Birthday Presents

On the 20th January, I turned 20! I wrote a birthday post, like I do every year, and showed you my delicious birthday 'cake'. Thank you so, so much for the birthday wishes! 

Here's what I received. I normally tell my parents what I would like and they buy it. Although this takes away the surprise factor, I'm guaranteed to like what I get. This year, I asked for 10 books. Look at them! I'm so happy. After I've finished my current book, I think I'm going to read City of Bones. My sister bought me the fox cushion, the giraffe money box and the Tinker Bell pen. Again, I chose the fox cushion and giraffe money box because my sister wanted to make sure I loved my presents. My friend bought me the hedgehog cushion, the 'l' bunting, a Malteaster bunny and a load of Parma Violets because she knows how much I love them! I was so surprised and happy to see that she'd got me the hedgehog cushion. I really wanted it, and my sister was actually going to get it for me, but we decided on the fox one instead. The last photo shows my new cushions, along with my owl one, sitting on the bed. My sister bought me the owl one for Christmas 2011. I think they make perfect gifts because they're not something you would want to buy yourself (seeing as they're £15+), but they're still something you would love to own. Although they're more expensive than your average cushion, you've got to look at them gifts, and as gifts, I think they're well worth it.

It's my birthday!

I've turned 20 today! For me, this birthday is the important one. Not only am I no longer a teenager, but I've turned 20 on the 20th. I'm not doing anything today though, apart from revising. My parents don't get paid until next week, so at the end of the month, they're buying me the 9 books I really want and taking me out for a meal. I'll show you my birthday presents, along with the books, in a couple of weeks :) I'm not a fan of sponge, so prefer not to have a standard cake for my birthday. A couple years ago, I had a triple tower cheesecake birthday cake, and this year, I decided on a pavlova. As well as this, my sister got me some apple crumble and lemon meringue cupcakes. I know they're sponge, but cupcakes are different! For one, they provide just the amount of sponge I can enjoy, two, they have deliciousness on top, and three, they're ever so cute.

I was happy to jump into the next year of my life during my teens because it meant I was growing up, but now, I don't want to grow up! It's scary. I'm just going to keep being myself and doing what I do though. Age is just a number, after all!

Update - More photos of the pavlova:

A cheesy birthday present

I turned 19 on the 20th January (I kept my birthday quiet on the blog this year). For my birthday, my sister bought me this t-shirt I wanted from ASOS. It was originally £18, but I think my sister bought it in the sale for just £9. I love t-shirts (and cheese!), so have already worn it a few times, and I can see myself wearing it a lot.

Shop!

The photos aren't of great quality because my camera was running out of battery!

It's my dad's birthday tomorrow. He doesn't like presents, a fuss and has everything he needs. I decided to get him a jar and fill it with his favourite sweets, wine gums. I also couldn't resist putting Jelly Tots on top!

H&M extra small dress, £14.99. This photo doesn't do the dress justice at all! I didn't have time to put it on though as my camera was flashing at me. It's high waisted. I don't want to wait until the Summer to wear this so I think I'm going to pair it with tights and a cardigan to wear now.

Asda black cardigan, £12.50.

Asda necklace, half price £4. I was going to buy this last week but didn't want to spend £8 so when I saw it on offer it went straight into the trolley.

x

Birthday Cakes and Presents

My day has been pretty standard. I'm going to celebrate in a few weeks and go for a meal with a few friends :)

My triple tower cheesecake birthday cake! Banoffee, strawberry and blackberry. This is now in pieces!

Chocolate cake for the people who didn't like cheesecake. There is only a little bit left! I have a piggy family you see.

Now onto the presents:

I didn't receive a lot but I don't mind. One of my friends bought me my first helium balloon! She also got me the cactus (10th one!), necklace in box, socks, cake and badge!

My other friend bought me the Urban Decay Sustainable Shadow Box :D

My sister bought me the Blue Nose Friends spider teddy (So cute!) and another one of my friends bought me the husky.

My nan gave me money for a provisional.

My parents bought me a camera: Fujifilm 14mp JX530. It's not a professional one but it's the biggest present they've ever bought me and it takes decent photos :)

x

Happy Birthday To Me!

It's my 18th birthday today! I can now use dating sites and enter scamming competitions (Not that I want to, it's just nice to think I can if I wanted!).

I'm not doing much for my birthday, just having a Chinese with the family.

I have a triple cheesecake tower birthday cake (I like cheesecake!) (Top layer: Banoffee, middle layer: Strawberry, bottom layer: Blackberry. I thought I would have two berry ones as the banoffee will be so sweet.) and a large chocolate cake for the people who don't like cheesecake so I'm sure I will be eating cake for the next week!

My nan also made me these:

Caramel slices! One of my favourites :) They were made in her bakery but she made them herself.

I will be posting either tonight or tomorrow showing you my cheesecake birthday cake and the pressies I have received :)

Last but certainly not least is you lovely lot. I wanted to get to 500 blog followers by my 18th and I have well and truly surpassed that and am now on 509! In the last few weeks (Even before I set the target) I have gained over 30 followers! So hello to you all! I hope you stay :)

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog :)

x

Happy Birthday Affordable Treats!

Today my blog has turned 1 years old!

*Cheesy speech approaching*

I want to thank you all each individually for following, reading and commenting on my posts. Whenever I see a new follower or comment I can't help but smile.

If I could give you all a hug, then I would!

I love the support that comes with blogging; if I'm down, you cheer me up, if I'm happy, you are happy with me.

And then there are the people who regularly comment and have conversations with me on Twitter, just like a friend would *Hugggggggggg!*

Thank you :)

xo

A few more...

Here are a few more presents I got for my birthday which I forgot to include in the last post. More chocolate - yum!, watermelon purse with two lip glosses, manicure set and a cute little pot.

I've just got back from my birthday 'party' which was really fun, although I didn't win at bowling! but I did have the whole of the restaurant sing happy birthday and a large chocolate cake :)

My Birthday!

It was my birthday Wednesday (20th January) and I was 17 :)

My sister got up at 4am to make me a birthday cupcake and breakfast - how sweet!

Tomorrow is my birthday 'party' where me and 18 friends are going out for a meal and then bowling because I haven't been in years!

Here are my presents from friends:

Lots of goodies! There's two mini cheesecakes because my best friend knows how much I love my cheesecake lol, a hugeeee hoody because my other friend knows I love them, a bottle of Irish Meadow (Same as Bailey's but with a different name) and lots of other stuff which you can see :)

Here's some close ups of a few presents which you might not be able to see from the photo above:

How cute are these Accessorize stickers?

Lovely necklaces :)

5 pairs of earrings and a ring. The ring and three pairs of earrings are from Accessorize - my friends know me too well.

A close up of a pair from Accessorize which I loveeeeeeee!

A cute chocolate monkey!