Ming Bridges: Turning 20

I don't know what I was expecting, really.

Maybe to wake up smarter, prettier, more sophisticated with life figured out and a clear direction of what I wanted to do today as well as the next few days and months. Maybe. All I know is that I still feel like a little girl. A little girl who is now IN HER 20S!? How crazy is that! I guess having started working from young I've always felt older than a teen in some way - maybe I'm just catching up with myself. But anyway - its inevitable - no point dwelling over it - what will be will be. I'm 20. And I'm very, very happy. COOL.

BUT BEING 20 DIDN'T STOP BE FROM BEING A PRINCESS! But I'll get on to that a little later, hehe. ONCE AGAIN I've taken loads and loads of photos and meant to blog loads and loads and loads and just haven't gotten round to it. I have SO MUCH to tell you and SO MUCH exciting stuff coming up that I just need to start properly blogging again so I'm going to start here. Doing a big blog post about my birthday (to get me going again) and then if I have time I'll update you on some october happenings (in a true ming style mahooooosive post) or if I don't - leave you with the promise that I will continue doing shorter more frequent posts from now on! BECAUSE I'M BACK ON THE ROAD MY DEARS! But, again, more on that later!

Saved this dress up for a year to wear for my birthday, hahaha. I love the colour! I was SUPER DUPER lucky this year (an upgrade from spending my birthday working and ended it with me + coffee (my doggy, not the drink) + movie + takeaway to actually seeing the whole of my dads side of the family for my birthday! On 3rd of November (2 days before) we headed out into London Towwwwwn for some food!

HELLO KITTY WRAPPED PRESENTS FROM BIANCA!!! She really knows the way to my heart...

Hamish (my cousin) & Bianca (drop-dead-gorgeous sister)

PRESENTS WAHOOOOO

Bianca, myself and our instagram skillzzzz (and an obvioulsy VERY attractive piece of vanilla cheesecake heaven)

Blah - I hate flash photos but I love this photo Bianca got me of us so it's going up!

The next morning we headed out for my favourite meal of the day - brunch! I've (as usual) sussed out a huge list of breakfast places I've always wanted to hit in London so we went for what we hoped would be a pretty unique experience at Nopi!

My best friend George (who now looks like Chewbacca - alas, uni life), and I

And the post wouldn't be complete without some TOTALLY AWESOME FOOD SHOTS TO GO WITH IT!! (I did restrain before - err, minus the cheesecake - I REALLY DID!)

Smoked Salmon & Scrambled Eggs (NOT MINE THIS TIME I DECIDED TO VENTURE OUT, ENJOY GRANDMA)

Yummy French Toast

Welsh Rarebit? Tasted delicious though (wasn't getting away without a taste)

AHHHHHHH YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY Shakshuka)

I really need to stop it with my food obsession. Like, just a little. And the ranting. The Shakshuka (along with the big price tag) was worth every penny - Italian braised eggs, piquante tomato sauce and smoked labneh. However I have now invested in a cookbook so I can try this little concoction at home (a girl can't wait another year to have this again).

Ok now things get interesting..

Got on a plane, got to Singapore, and then used my points to join my dad to go to.. errr...

HOW PRETTY ARE THESE JACKARANDA TREES!?!

HELLO AUSTRALIA!! (Urgh so annoying - my whole post deleted at this point!!) I WAS SO SO SO HAPPY! For those of you who don't know, I am also Australian and was born in Sydney so it was amazing to be able to go for 2 days (yes I am suffering horrible, horrible jet lag) and see my family out here and these beautiful, gorgeous purple trees everywhere. So November the 5th, BOOM. Entered my birthday with a splash and then was whisked away by my sweetheart of a cousin with the promise of Champagne and Strawberry Tarts to 'The Tea Room' in The QVB.

From Instagram - Incase you missed it

Yes. So. Lucky.

Managed to make it through about 2 sips of the champagne, hahaha. They really fill it up to the brim! (Champagne lovers, take note)! It was wonderful - beautiful.

The 'blow out' shot

A quick change and we were ready to hit the town for a very, very nice family dinner. Again, this dress I've saved now for about, erm, 3 years? - Geez I need to get out more!

Stuart, Natasha and I

More presents!

Eeeeeek!

So yeah - we're a pretty 'big on food' kinda family. The table got this 'all you can eat meat option' that started off with a selection of beautiful tapas. The meat part was a bit like 'Carnivore' in Singapore if you've been - it's an experience!

Their version of Banoffe Pie

mmmmmmmm

And to top off the day - I reached 10K followers on instagram! Cool! I'm so happy that I managed to see so much of my family for my birthday - especially since the next few months are going to be pretty hectic from now on. Really so so lucky and very happy. I really want to take this time to thank everyone for all the lovely birthday wishes and comments that you've left me on twitter, facebook and so on. I wish I could reply to them all individually but believe me (BELIEVE ME) when I say I read every single one and they all contribute to the MAHOOSIVE smile that's now engraved on my face. :) <--- (a bit like this one).

Teeheeehee

Mum is going to kill me.

AND WITH THAT I LEAVE YOU WITH A BUNCH OF PRINCESS PHOTOS (Yes, maybe this dress is 4 years old.. I'm working through them all slowly, dresses have their moments and this one was perfect!).