For many years, my birthday also marked the First Day of Spring. This year, being a leap year, the first day of spring was not the 21st but the 20th.  Today however really felt like Spring – warm sun and windy weather.

Yesterday I received lots of lovely messages online from friends back home, and online blogging friends. Thank you everyone sooo much! It means so much to me! (And thanks for Facebook!)

I also got a host of lovely things from the BF’s family:

(Not shown: pyjama pants which are already in bed!)

Yesterday for my birthday, CW took me to see The Other Boleyn Girl in theaters and we went to dinner afterwards. The Printworks in Manchester used to be where all the publishing houses were, and now it’s got the theaters and a number of restaurants – we went to “Old Orleans”. I thought that The Other Boleyn Girl was a great movie, I definitely prefer the book, but I think that the movie was very well done. I really liked the cinematography – the shots of all the castles with wide-open skys to set the scene. All the actors were really good, I was very impressed with Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn. In case you are wondering about the historical accuracy, it is accurate – all the characters are based on real people – but there are some incidents that are disputed such as George’s sexuality, the ages of the Boleyn siblings, and the charge of incest against Anne and George. Check out the wikipedia article.

Today we went into town (Manchester) to go shopping and it was dead packed. I kept getting bumped into a walked into and once a kid ran straight into me and pushed me to the side, and kept going!

But when we got back I had a slice of cake and a cup of tea (in my favourite cup here at CW’s Grandparents’).

CinnamonGirl is having a contest on her blog – celebrating the first day of Spring with a mmmmalabrigo giveaway! Let her know I sent you and happy spring to everyone.

She also asks for fun, to share your favourite spring flower — I love tulips! We’ve had red and yellow bulbs in my front garden for as long as I can remember. I just think their shape is so attractive and the colours are so vibrant. I’d love to see a turqoise tulip! That’d be amazing.