The Beginning of My 27th Year…

I tweeted on Thursday morning about sipping green juice on the last day of my 26th year. It hadn’t really sunk in that I was going to be turning 27 the following day!!

I woke up on Friday morning (after a great rehearsal Thursday night for the Ashleyx2 cabaret) feeling like a little kid. You know when you’re little and your birthday genuinely feels like a more special, somehow magical day? Well that’s how I felt. Maybe it’s because I had started to celebrate my birthday all week with lunches, dinners and time with friends or maybe it’s because I’m feeling really positive about so many things in my life right now… regardless of why, I was a very happy gal. I made myself a yummy green juice and breakfast and hit up The Rooster for a delicious honey ginger latte to sip on my way to work. The girls in my department at work organized a lunch for 11 of us to head to Nami for sushi goodness

Holy yum sushi goodness!! Edamame, followed up with avocado rolls and cucumber/umboshi plum rolls. Seriously delish and the restaurant was gorgeous. My new coworkers are all kinds of awesome.

After work a group of my best girlfriends met up with me to take the GO train to Port Credit to head to Raw Aura for delicious raw vegan eats!Not only was Friday my birthday, but it was also chef Doug McNish’s second to last day at the restaurant. He recently accepted a job at the beautiful Grail Springs retreat & spa where he will be the executive chef. Despite it being a busy time for him at the restaurant, Doug did an amazing job of preparing incredible food for us ladies!!

I spent far too much time laughing and chatting with my lovelies to spend time on getting good food pictures, but I will tell you that everything was delicious. Between the awesome kale chips, avocado & mushroom tartare, pizza, sweet & sour noodles and everything in between, we were in raw foodie heaven. Doug’s raw food is really second to none. Grail Springs is lucky to have him!!

And dessert was epic. The lights went off in the whole restaurant and I was presented with a platter of desserts: chocolate banana cake, brownies, blueberry cheesecake, something with chocolate and mint and a piece of apple crumble. I don’t even know if I can pick a favourite, but I think that cheesecake and chocolate banana cakes were at the top of my list. It was a delicious end to an amazing meal with beautiful friends. I received some beautiful gifts and really couldn’t have asked for a more special day with some of my favourite people. We laughed so much that it made one of the women in the restaurant angry (well, that might have been my fault… I have a pretty loud laugh!!) and I loved that everyone was open to the raw food experience and each other’s company!! My friends all come from different places in my life but the conversation flowed between everyone all night. Amazing!!

Birthdays are often a time of reflection of the years that have passed as well as what is to come in the future. Looking back at all that I’ve experienced since my last birthday gave me a sense of accomplishment, but also made me really excited for what is to come. My 26th year brought a lot of great changes into my life and I believe that my 27th years is going to be a pretty great one. I’m thrilled for what is to come.

I’m so happy to have had such a special birthday and am just continuing with the excitement as Ash and I head towards the Ashleyx2 cabaret this Friday!! I can’t wait to share pictures and videos on the blog as it is going to be an incredible evening. Thank you to everyone who sent me sweet emails, blog comments and tweets for my birthday – you really know how to make a girl feel special!!