I wasn’t actually planning on having a birthday party this year… But when my gorgeous agent Laura asked me if I’d be interested in hosting an intimate dinner at Sokyo to celebrate my quarter centennial, I couldn’t resist.

Guests were selected from my nearest and dearest, Atty Mitchell, Thomas Townsend, Lana Kington, Ty McLennan, Teanne Vickers, Lola Van Vorst and RUSSH’s own Ella O’Keeffe and Kitty Callaghan, who joined me for an evening of belly laughs and very good sushi. Champagne and tight embraces on arrivals, arms held over head to invite outfit assessing twirls, we all took our places. Compliments, stories, gossip and wine paired to each course flowed freely. A true Taurean to my soul, being able to invite my friends to eat, drink and be merry on my account, I could not have had a fuller heart. Or fuller belly. My heart quite literally overflowed when towards the end of the night Ella emerged with a home-baked Funfetti cake – the same that she had made me on my 21st birthday and I wax poetic over each birthday since. Laura proceeded to cut it will a spoon.

At the end of the evening, my face hurt from smiling, my throat sore from laughing; we all held each other tightly one more time and proceeded into the night. Looking over the photos now, taken by my boyfriend Alex Wall, I can’t help but smile. I’m struck by the ways in which food shared across a table triggers such closeness; and the pleasure and honour I feel to have collected so many beautiful friends in Sydney over the years and to be able to bring them together for these special moments. A birthday I won’t soon forget, if purely for the head to toe Celine outfit I got to wear.