How does 56 feel?

I am still coming to terms with how it feels to be on the wrong side of 50.

What I can definitively say is that being 56 hurts and it is a bit tiring.

But it is also filled with love and I have so many awesome things to look forward to doing in my 56th year so bring it on.

The celebrations kicked off at a Newport favourite hangout called Lovatt during an impromptu dinner with DD’s neighbours on Saturday night. I ordered the prawn and lobster risotto … yuuum.

The team at Lovatt even put a sparkler in my afforgato, which was lovely.

The dogs needed to have a sleepover after I had my impromptu champers and a pomegranate Margarita. DD was in charge of bedtime wees and I caught the B1 bus home, as I had breakfast and lunch planned in my local hood.

I met a lovely young couple at the bus stop – he was a carpenter and she was a nurse. I told them how I had to head home for birthday celebrations and they wanted to know how old I was going to be.

Eeeeek. Bless them, they guessed a numeral in the 40s and pretended to be surprised when I told them that I was turning 56.

They asked me how old I thought they were and I looked at them long and hard and said “23” and I was right!!!!

They were very shocked (so was I).

As luck would have it I was sent an Irish gift pack last week by a mob called Two Stacks who do Irish whiskey in a can. The kit included shamrock sunglasses … I was very stoked!

I wore them all through my St Patrick’s Day birthday!

I was a bit rattled by how old I looked in the photos … but I also look the spit of my grandmother and I love and miss her to the moon and back, so I consoled myself with the thought that it is awesome to look like her. Even if I’m on the wrong side of 50.

Sunday morning kicked off with St Patrick’s Day smashed avo on toast with my walking buddy Alice.

Then I had Mexican with the kids for lunch, including St Patrick’s Day guacamole.

And then I caught the bus back up to the Northern Beaches, where dinner was spent at a gorgeous spot called The Basin at Mona Vale, with gun barrel ocean views, pink bubbles and a seafood tower for two. Nice!

There weren’t any green cocktails, so I made do with a Japanese melon liqueur one, which was very delicious.

And now I am 56 and a day old and heading to Avalon headland for a double shot flat white to kick off another busy working week that concludes on Friday with the youngest turning 18!! It’s all happening!!

Hope you had a great weekend too.

Song of the day: Bruce Springsteen “Glory days”