Sofa surfing, afternoon tea and a Sunday session!

Friday nails!

This weekend kicked off with a quick trip to H&M on Friday evening to check out their Conscious Collection, from which I purchased this neon yellow maxi dress, hoping it would form wedding outfit number three (number one and two already sorted!), followed by some advanced sofa surfing with Caroline, Liz, left over Easter chocolates and a cartoon-sized bag of cinema sweet popcorn.

I wish I was a model so I could wear this dress

As they say on the adverts, it’s good to talk! A good few hours of putting the world to rights and generally catching up with the girls, whilst stuffing my face with naughty treats, was the perfect end to the week.  But it just flew by and before I knew it I was snuggled up in bed playing Draw Something until dozing off.

late night Draw Something skills!

Saturday started with the longest lie in I’ve had this year (go me!) followed, sadly, by a fleeting trip back to H&M to return the yellow maxi dress. What looks great on a stick-thin six foot model, does not necessarily look great on me. In fact, it DEFINITELY doesn’t look great on me.
Back to the wedding outfit drawing board!



Macaroons!

Mr G was working (again) so Saturday night saw me snuggled up on the Humpriani Sofa with Katy, Riccardo (nothing like crashing a coupley night in!), curry, Jubilee-themed metallic macaroons, pink prosecco and My Week With Marilyn (hello Eddie Redmayne!) before a reasonably early night so we could recharge our batteries before an epic journey in to our capital city.

We set off at 11.30am for what would normally be a 60 minute journey, arriving a little before 2pm. Two and a half hours? Come on! I’m excited about the Olympics, but please, PLEASE let these rail engineering works come to an end!

Anyway, after a mammoth journey to reach The Sanderson Hotel we certainly deserved our Mad Hatter’s afternoon tea for Katy's birthday.

How excited could I be? Alice in Wonderland and afternoon tea? Two of my fave things ever! Not to mention the coolest barstools I've ever seen! We stuffed our faces with Wonderland themed patisserie, rainbow sandwiches and sampled more than our fair share of the cocktail list. The perfect Sunday afternoon.

We completed our day with a final round of cocktails (thank you Nicola) and an impromptu photo shoot in the funky hotel lobby.

We actually have no shame!

The Birthday Girl!

My wonderful boy then came to collect us from the end of the tube line, to save us the trauma of another two and a half hours of public transport hell, and my weekend finished as it started – on the sofa, with some trashy/tearful telly (welcome back TOWIE, sad to see you go Titanic) and belly full of naughty carbs!

Another big week ahead… which requires new nails!

DIY glitter tips!

Out and about: Mad Hatter's afternoon tea at the Sanderson Hotel

On Sunday we spent the afternoon doing one of my favourite things - eating cake and drinking cocktails, in a fabulous Alice in Wonderland themed (we know I love a theme) afternoon tea for Katy's birthday at The Sanderson Hotel.

Getting a Saturday atfernoon reservation was  very tricky so we resorted to a Sunday, which wasn't ideal, and even then we only had a two hour slot on the table. Also, it definitely wasn't cheap, but it was worth it for a once-in-a-while treat, if just for the themed menu!



Rainbow sandwiches

We kicked off with cocktails (one of each, so we could try them all), and then got started on our rainbow sandwiches whilst the waitress gave us the (rather strict) instructions on how best to work our way through the sweet delicacies!

First we were told to try the exploding hazelnut ice cream lollipop, a chocolate-covered dollop of ice cream on a stick! Ouchie on my sensitive teeth, but creamy and yummy!

hot and cold lollies

Next up, the hot and cold blueberry lolly. The instructions were to hold the sugar side against our tongues, for the “cold” sensation and then flip it over for the “warmth” of the blueberry side. I’m not quite sure how, but the temperature changes actually work!

Curiouser and curiouser!

After the rush to get to the lollies, we slowed down and took our time stuffing our faces with miniature scones, plain and fruit, slathered in delicious preserves and spoonfuls of clotted cream.

Mini scones

At this stage we felt that we had a bit more room for more rainbow sandwiches and so ordered another round (diet starts Monday, right?) and it was rude not to have a glass of bubbly to accompany them. I’m pretty sure it’s the law that if there’s smoked salmon on my plate, there needs to be bubbly in my glass!

Drink Me dessert mixture

After finishing our sandwiches, we tried out the “Drink me” bottle, which was filled with Passionfruit Jelly, Coconut pannacotta and Exotic Foam (basically exotic fruit mushed up!). The rules are (and they’re quite strict about the rules!), you drink it through the straw so that the flavours and textures don’t mix. Unusual but delicious!

Eat me Queen of Hearts mousse

After that we devoured the “Eat me” Queen of Hearts strawberries and cream mousse and finished with the “I’m late, for a very important date” chocolate and coffee layered clock, oh and maybe a round of lychee martinis to wash it down!

Chocolate and coffee Rabbit Clock

We completed our day with another round of cocktails (thank you Nicola) and an impromptu photo shoot in the funky hotel lobby.

Probably the most expensive afternoon tea I've ever eaten, in the shortest time, but to have a catch up with the girls, and some much needed chat and chill time, in cute little outfits, it was worth every penny!

Next up? Perhaps the Stephen Webster Bijoux Afternoon Tea at the Langham (a.k.a the girliest hotel ever)... but maybe I need to give my plastic a rest first!

The coolest bar stools, ever. Fact.

Easter weekend

This Easter weekend (and in fact the whole week) was a big one!

minty caramel nails!

After a fun-packed week of caipirinhas, The Hunger Games and a trip to Baumann's Brasserie I woke up feeling like I needed to sleep for another five hours on Friday morning. Instead I had breakfast with the boy who  Was heading out for the day, completed some chores, painted my nails (caramel with minty green accents) and then headed over to see Katy with a bag of gold shoes from which I wanted her to pick her birthday present. She's a tough present target, so I thought that if I narrowed down some options, presented them and then invite a final decision from the wearer was the best course of action in this shoe-as-present-based dilemma! 

home alone with a mini bunny and mini prosecco... dangerous!

Friday night was dinner and drinks and then a reasonably early night (1am) as I was up early on Saturday for a trip to The Sanctuary followed by some general mooching!

what happens when I'm left alone with the bunnies...

And the big day itself: Easter Sunday! The day that we celebrate the birth of the Easter Bunny, to Cadburys, in a cave? And there's something about a shroud... Maybe a shiny purple foil shroud? And an egg-shaped rock covering the entrance to the cave... That was guarded by fluffy yellow chicks?

a bunny invasion

That's the true message of Easter, right? Hmmmmm....

Useful Easter gifts from Germany!

Sunday started with brunch at my parents' with our family friends from Cologne. Nowhere does Easter like Europe, and so we did our best to replicate it in Essex. Big continental brunch, easter decorations and a mini egg hunt (even though we're all actual grown ups!). After that we popped over to see my inlaws whilst my family headed off to Battlesbridge Antique market and some riverside afternoon tea, before the rest of the family arrived for what we call "Mini Christmas". A big traditional family day: food, chats, debates, games, more food, bubbly, films and general Goodtimes before we collapsed in to bed.

Easter Egg Hunting

Monday started with another family champagne brunch  followed by a Girls vs Boys game of Trivial Pursuit... Which the girls won. As per usual! So that's 2:0 boys. Best of five? We then completed the chocolate egg dividing exercise (because the girls also always win at that, and we feel bad for the boys!) and then some chocolate egg trading before general food comas set in!

Jo sharing out the Easter Egg hunt spoils, with the boys.

After we whooped the boys I headed over to Hertfordshire to see Kim and the kids for tea, chats, cuddles, sticker book fun and a LOT of chocolate!

I then rounded it all off with a dinner of leftovers, a glass of prosecco, more chocolate and a film about the Easter Bunny (Hop!) some sofa snuggles with my boy!

A lovely, bubbly Easter weekend, in every sense of the word!

And now I'm on de-chocolate-ifying rations...

Out and about: Mooching at The Sanctuary

Today I mooched all day long. And I didn't feel even the slightest bit guilty. Not a jot.

I arrived at The Sanctuary at 11am in time for a small introduction at the official-looking check in desk, a locker tutorial, a few moments to strip and snuggle up in my fluffy robe and then little bit of wandering to familiarise myself with the various floors before my first treatment appointment. A full body aromatherapy massage.

I picked the "de-stress" oils as my body, particularly my back, were feeling incredibly tight.

55 minutes later I was feeling considerably more supple, and heavily chastised for scrunching at my desk, and not exercising my back muscles enough.

A drink of water and I was back wandering the corridors and floors again and I found myself at the exercise pool. Feeling a bit too "floopy" (to quote Phoebe Buffay) for anything as strenuous as swimming I grabbed a towel and stretched out in the sauna for a bit of heat therapy.

After that I took another wander and found myself in the Koi Carp Lounge which was full of big scoochie chairs, day beds and ginormous wicker arm chairs, squidged myself in to a chair, ordered a platter of picky bits (feta, olives, hummus, pate, bean dip and pitta) a cocktail that I think was called a Cosmopolitini or something (pink prosecco with a scoop of cranberry and vodka sorbet), grabbed my book and snuggled in for an hour of chill time with some yummy food and drink!

After all that exertion I was good and ready for my session in the Sleep Retreat.

That involved, shock horror, more chill time! A curved bed that vibrated in waves, headphones with calming, imaginative narrative ("you're standing in a beautiful garden, in front of a trickling fountain") intended to send you off in to a restful sleep. It worked for most people in the room, as the soft snores can attest, but for me when someone tells me to "clear my mind of all my thoughts" I start thinking about "what should I be clearing?" which leads me to making lists on my mental whiteboard, rather than wiping it clean. And I giggle. It was nice and relaxing  though, even if I didn't sleep.

I grabbed a pot of Earl Grey, some magazines, a blanket and did some advanced chillaxing back in the Koi Carp Lounge.

By then I was feeling well and truly rested, so I thought I should do something productive with my day, and almost booked a facial, but I decided I needed a new pair of converse more than I needed a facial scrub, and also, all the facial products are available in the dressing rooms, so instead I did a bit of swimming, loitered in the jacuzzi and sweated out all the week's cachaca in the steam room before a leisurely shower (loads of Sanctuary products available), a little bit of facial pampering with all the skincare products and I was back at the front desk, checking out for the day, a quick stop in the shop for some samples and then a wander back to the Tube!

Phew. What a tiring day!

Such a tiring day calls for Thai, The Voice, pyjamas, tea and Mini Eggs don't you think?

Na-Night!

P.S. I didn't use the swing!

Out and about: Baumann's Brasserie

I think I found a new favourite restaurant.

Last night I went for dinner at Baumann’s Brasserie in Coggeshall, Essex and it was rather lovely indeed.

Read about the owner, Mark Baumann here.

We booked a cheapie deal through TravelZoo for three courses and a glass of fizz on arrival and it’s clearly popular as we had a little trouble finding a suitable date for our booking.

On arrival they had no record of our booking, but had us listed for the following night, which was probably the result of a few rearranged dates. Either way, they found space for us (thankfully, as I’d gotten a whiff of the food and I wasn’t leaving until they fed me) and whilst we waited for our table we settled in to the big squidgy Chesterfields, surrounded by funky animal-print wingback armchairs and full-to-bursting bookshelves, to peruse the menu (see here) and the daily fish choices with our glass of bubbles.

We were shown through to our table we spent an agonising fifteen minutes debating the best food ordering strategy as there were about three options in each course I could have easily devoured.

After ordering our food and a cocktail we were offered some cute canapés, I chose a tiny smoked salmon “ice cream”. Yum.

Bread and dipping oils arrived and then our starters. I was torn between Camembert & sugared leek fillos, wild mushroom ketchup, mushroom dust, Hot smoked salmon crumpet, fennel & olive carpaccio, Two way duck – crispy & tataki, teriyaki toothpaste and Creamy spinach soup, stilton toasties, crumbled bacon

“Mushroom dust”? “Teriyaki toothpaste”! “Stilton toasties”? How to choose. In the end I chose the toothpastey duck which arrived with a little metal can of crispy duck on a bed of chopped spring onion and cucumber and a little pile of duck tataki… and a tube of teriyaki toothpaste! No joke. Proper Heston Blumenthal stuff! I took a sneaky picture as it was so cute, but, not wanting to look tacky, I kept the flash off! Super cute.

Some crappy, no-flash, photos of my genius food!

As a middle course, there were only two opnions so we chose one of each. A Bonfire sorbet, which was basically a hot chilli sorbet with popping candy crystals hidden under the spoon so when we dipped in, little tiny fireworks went off at our table. Too cute! The Butterfish cooked in chilli and coke was a super-tasty fish broth with little chunks of white fish served up in half a Coke can. Amaze!

For our main course we had toyed with various ideas but in the end settled on Ham wrapped fontaine filled breast of chicken, bloody mary tomato confit and Stoved venison pave, spinach gnocchi, redcurrant juices served with a colourful pile of fresh market veg and our choice of potatoes (we went for creamy spring onion mash). Deeee-lish!

Dessert also presented some choice issues with a list of the most delectable-sounding puddings. It’s probably one of the best, and therefore troubling, dessert menus I’ve seen in a long while. I can’t bear lists of fruit, mousse, possets and other “light” options, but it does make it easy to pick the one stodgy dessert without much brain fuction. Dessert, in my opinion, should be heavy, creamy, stodgy and worth every bite. So, when faced with such an amazing list, I found it very hard to choose. I made a snap decision and went for the Salted caramel chocolate sponge, custard & homemade marmalade and another glass of fizz but also took a good few bites of the Banana custard cheesecake, crushed raspberries & whipped cream. Next time (and there will be a next time) I’ll be sampling the Hot buttered cherries splashed with Cointreau, vanilla ice cream & baby meringues and the Baked honey cream, spiced ginger nut topping, Italian orange biscuits.

We finished off with coffees and homemade petit fours (white chocolate fudge and dark chocolate truffles) before heading home to lay very, very still to avoid bursting, Monty Python style!

Quick mention for the loos (as always), super cute, illustrated with kitsch French murals by Amanda Sheldrake and cute touches like  a "no peeping" peep hole. Obviously I peeped!

Super yum, super cute and super worth the argument over who’s on driving duty. Hoping to head back very, very soon. They also do afternoon tea and the town is so cute and pretty it'll be perfect for a girly day out!

The Hunger Games

I read kiddie books. And I am not ashamed of it. I watch the film versions of the kiddie books, repeatedly and I talk about them passionately. These are my thoughts on my most recent discovery in this genre: The Hunger Games.

Ok, so this is going to be long, and spoiler heavy, so, you have been warned, stop reading if you don't like spoilers. I personally love spoilers, I read spoilers on purpose. I Google episode descriptions of TV dramas, read plot synopses of films or sneak a look at the back page of a book before the end of the first chapter so that I know the ending. Only then can I concentrate on the actual storytelling, If I don't know the ending, I can't focus on the story. Or the way it's told. The one and only time I haven't known the ending before I read the story?

Harry Potter.

And  that is because Harry Potter is special. So so special. The Hunger Games will go in to my top fave books list (for now) but Harry Potter isn't in that list. Harry Potter, for me can't be defined by a list. Harry Potter wasn't a book. It was a life, a tool, a comfort blanket, an era.

So anyway. Yesterday I saw The Hunger Games with Laura. We waited a few weeks from the release date as we were so busy. This tells you something. With Harry Potter I queued through the night for my book. I sat up all night reading. I went to see the films (sometimes in fancy dress) the actual second it was released. I was happy to wait for this, so I don't have the Harry Potter passion, but I do adore the franchise. I adore it more than I adore His Dark Materials. Which is pretty damn amazing itself. I was so sad when they didn't make the second and third films. So sad. I was glad I waited though, as it meant that I could read all the reviews and take them on board and really focus on the finer details of the film.

I have to say I loved it. I cried. I laughed. I gasped. I cringed. I cowered. It was true to the book, but I was a little bit disappointed that not all of my favourite parts made it to the screen. I realise that it can't ever be like that because narrative and internal dialogue doesn't translate to the screen, without it being cheesy or childish. So with that in mind they did pretty damn well to make it work.

So, here we go...

What I ADORED

• KATNISS: Katniss, Katniss, Katniss. Good lord that girl is on FIRE. She took my breath away. The close ups of her firing the arrows in to the apples with the bowstring against her lip... I swear she made my body tingle. I love her.
• Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss: What a great find! Those tears she cries for Rue? The silent ones as she holds her. The wracking sobs as she sits wounded and alone in the forest. Those tears took my breath away. What a girl. And what a body. And her skin. Straight to the top of my girl crush list.
• Rue: What great casting. That little girl was stunning. Actually, I'm typing this on my phone on the tube and I just welled up at the thought of that scene.
• The finger kiss/salute: Tears. That is all I can say about that without crying all over again.
• Caesar Flickerman: What a dude!
• Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman: Amazing. That head turn and the smile? A. Mazing.
• The setting: The depictions of Districts 11 and 12 were fantastic. The montages made it less of a science fiction film and more real (more later)
• The "reason" montage they play at the Reaping: Chilling. That was a real life message. Not just part of the story. "Dear humanity - stop being so f**ked up please. KR Suzanne"
• Effie: I want to hate her but I actually adore her. I want to cuddle her and tell her it'll be ok. "Welcome, welcome". And her outfits? So Gaga!
• Cinna: Great casting. So pretty.
• Lenny Kravitz: Wow. Just wow.
• Haymitch: I love that we get to see how much he cares
• Peeta: I thought I was going to love him. But I adored him. He is just adorable from start to finish. He could have been annoying with his scared-angsty-shocked face at the Reaping, but I felt like it was ok. in fact, it made me love him, so it was more than ok, obviously. He was just the right amount of in-love with Katniss to make me want to hug him not slap him. And of course he's very, very pretty. Much prettier than in real life.
• President Snow: He was just the right amount of creepy and sinister, but seemed so calm, logical and sensible. A calm, logical and sensible crazy-mad dictator is the scariest kind of crazy-mad dictator. Don't you think?

What I LOVED

• Gale: I wanted to adore him though. He wasn't strong enough for me. He was strong, but I needed a bit more from him. I know, long term, he's about the "fire" but there was a bit too much whinge. He was, however, very very pretty.
• The Capitol: I didn't adore it. It wasn't quite as I imagined it, which is fine, but I didn't feel like we saw enough of it, and it wasn't real enough. It was a teensy but too CGI. Still great though. I hope we get to see more of it in parts two and three point one and three point two. In the meantime, check these links out: the "official" Capitol website and some Capitol Couture
• Seneca Crane: I love how he came alive in the film. In the book he was forgettable to me.
• Seneca Crane's facial hair: I don't like facial hair as a rule. But I love that facial hair.
• The cuts to the outside world: I think this tool worked well for keeping up the pace and intensity where the film couldn't cover the material in the book.
• The games makers, their HQ and their tools: Clever, very clever. I hated them as people/characters. But they're just doing their job, right? Makes me scared about real-life Games Makers. Anyone else thinking about Simon Cowell? Read Ben Elton's Chart Throb.

What I DIDN'T love, but liked (but I didn't hate)

• No bread!: Where was the District 11 bread? Where?!?!?! That was a defining moment for me. I was sad they left it out.
• The cave kiss: was a bit too awkward for me. But then again, maybe I did like it. Maybe that was true to how it was going to be for them, right there, in that situation? Maybe I should move it up...?
• The "Girl on Fire" outfit: I wanted more than that. Cinna would have given us more than that. Wouldn't he?
• Prim: I know she's meant to be a child, and a scared, damaged one at that, but in the book and in my head, she had more inner strength that they gave her in the film. When you compare her to Rue it's just silly.
• The Twirl: It didn't work for me. I wanted to see the finger twirl from Cinna and I wanted more reluctance.
• Where was the angst?: Where was the screaming to get back to Peeta when they "won" and they took them up to the hovercraft. I know he wasn't injured, and that part of the story had been cut but they could have added in a bit more angst. I wanted to cry a bit more here. A bit more realisation that she is starting to love him.
• The other tributes: I started to form a few hateful thoughts about some of the girls. I wanted to hate Cato more though. At the end where he loses it on the Cornucopia I started to feel a bit sorry for him. That was probably some good acting or screen writing, you know, making us realise that he's still a scared young guy after all, just trying to make his home town proud of him. But still, I just wasn't in love with that scene. I didn't want it to go that way. Clever though.
• The Cornucopia: I wasn't feeling it. It reminded me of the sound stages at festivals. A bit too normal.

What I hated:

• The Mutts: They just didn't have the terror factor that they had in the book. I know it's hard to translate that kind of stuff without lots and lots of explanatory dialogue. I'm not scared of monsters but I am scared of deep-rooted psychological torture. In the books those mutts tortured them mentally and physically, the mental torture was harder to bear.

And what deeply affected me (in both the books and the film):

• The way I actually lived Katniss' love dilemma: The way her thought process about Gale and Peeta also became mine. In the books I was Team Gale, in the film I was Team Gale at the beginning, blah blah, he's so pretty, blah blah. I also read all the stuff about Peeta not living up to the fan's allusions of him, Well... all of a sudden, I became Team Peeta. I was in fact Team Peeta throughout the Game, even with the wistful flashbacks to Gale in District 12 (suck it up dude. Stop whinging) and I thought "wow, I've really gone over to the blond side" and then just at the end when they return and stand in front of the crowd, BAM, there I was, back in Team Gale... or was I. I thought that was good. Very good.
• The scenery: It was science fiction enough to be completely un-real... but something about the scenery and the setting is just real enough to make it really, really, erm, real. In my head the post-apocalyptic future doesn't have woods and meadows. It looks like Judge Dredd's world, or Waterworld. It doesn't look so normal. And so I loved that it looked so normal. I don't read fiction about real life or about people doing things similar to my day to day life. I can see that on the news or in the papers. I like fiction that's properly fiction. About magic, about the past, about the future, about worlds that don't exist. But this? This was something else entirely. It made me think about current reality. Are we already in this "science fiction future"? Which leads me on to....
• The message: The message that deeply affected me all the way through the books. This wasn't lost in the film. The message wasn't forgotten in favour of Hollywood-isation. In my head this could actually be happening a few miles away. In fact, is it? (did that just go all a bit Inception there?) I work in Canary Wharf. I wear a lot of bright colours. I have a lot of unnecessary stuff. Is this the Capitol? Are we sending kids out to warzones to die so that we can keep a tight hold on our oil fields? Are we living the life of luxury whilst tiny, scared children are dying for lack of the basic human needs of nourishment and shelter? Are we watching people play out their deepest feelings on reality TV for our own enjoyment? Are there rooms full of "suits" sitting around tables, entirely removed from the real world making decisions about TV content, battle tactics, food distribution, the things that we see, do, touch, eat, feel, hear etc etc etc  in "real life"? Yes. Yes we are. Yes we do. Yes there are. This message is what made the books so deeply disturbing, but utterly intoxicating to me.

And there we go. A new obsession is formed. I literally can't wait until the next film comes out. I'll possibly have to re-read the books.

Maybe twice.

But, oh, before I go... Stephanie Meyer, KStew... would you like a cuddle?

Out and about:Barrio North

A Rio Reunion

for more images click here

I've been out and about a lot recently but I've been so busy (being out and about) that I haven't managed to write about any of the locations. I shall try to make a more concerted effort to do more reviews going forward! Scouts honour.

for more images click here

So, I mentioned a few weeks back that I was reminiscing about Rio Carnival and last night I caught up with my Carnival buddies at a Brazilian themed bar in North London, called, imaginatively, Barrio North. It's vibrant, it's colourful, the music is cool, the staff are fun and approachable, the decor is funky (a ceiling covered in upside-down umbrellas, bar lamps made of upturned ice/beer buckets, candy skulls everywhere, bill posters, witty graffiti, and kitsch "furniture" such as a caravan installed towards the back in place of a private booth) and the happy hour is great value for money. The decor towards the back of the bark where I suspect it gets very busy later on in the night, made me think of windows and covered alleyways and gave the bar a bit of an open air, street party feel. We weren't there very late (seeing as it was a Tuesday night) but apparently, at a point in the night the music cranks up, a guy comes along, removes the low-level tables around which patrons are crowded, magically erects high-level tables from flaps in the walls, and tells people "now, you dance".

for more images click here

Well. That's my kind of bar!

We met up during happy hour and so took it upon ourselves to buy all of our rounds before happy hour ended, resulting in a table covered in twenty caipirinhas...

economies of scale!

...and, alas, there is not much else I can tell you about that little trip!

It has a sister venue in Soho called Barrio Central that is, apparently, equally funky. So I'll be checking that out next!

A girlie weekend

Where last weekend was full of colour, this weekend, although also full of colour, was full of girls!

My Friday night humbug outfit

We kicked off on Friday night with a girlie dinner date to celebrate Caroline turning 30. We all got dolled up, and headed off to Zenxi in town for cocktails, fizz, Chinese food, cupcakes and presents!

Pre dinner cocktails

Saturday was mainly spent sewing my costume for Caroline’s big Story Book themed birthday party that night. I love a bit of fancy dress, and if I’m doing fancy dress, I do it properly – face paint, sewing, accessories, the works!

The Birthday Girl

On this occasion I was dressing up as Jadis, The White Witch from The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. I mentioned my costume inspiration here, but, due to unforeseen circumstances (i.e. me forgetting that I’m not a Hollywood costumier) the costume took a slight detour and I ended up re-using the corset that formed the basis of my Katy Perry costume from Katie’s 30^th in October.

Cutest ever cupcakes

Mr G got all over-excited (he’s probably the one person in the world that loves fancy dress more than me, so I’ve recently discovered) and dressed up as an Oompa Loompa, and I’ve been finding orange facepaint all over the bathroom ever since…. I know I’m from Essex, but still, I don’t want anyone thinking that’s my make up everywhere!

After a night of dancing, singing, stuffing ourselves with fairy tale themed cupcakes and admiring each other’s outfits, we rolled home, scrubbed off all our facepaint and I tried to comb out the backcombing and various “pouffing” products out of my hair (unsuccessfully) before collapsing in to bed. Fancy dress is so tiring!

Tinker Bell, Dorothee, The Frog Princess, Wilma, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood,
a Disney Princess and White Witch!

An Oompa Loompa and The White Witch - a good match!

Sunday morning we got up early, and did our best to make ourselves presentable (removing the last traces of face paint, we missed in the small hours and trying to get my evil witch/crazy candy floss hair in to some kind of human style) to pop back to see the house we’re in the process of buying. I was super scared that I wouldn’t like it as much, now that we’ve done the deed and committed to buy, but on seeing it again I loved it and I can’t wait to get the ball rolling and move in! Perhaps we should have facepaint and crazy hair themed housewarming party!

After that, we did a spot of shopping and I managed to pull together an outfit for the second of the three weddings I have coming up with a lucky spot in Warehouse, and then I took myself off home to get ready (my "Malibu Barbie" outfit of pink jeans, green shoes and a spangly jumper) for a lunch date at TheBlue Strawberry with my Luvvies… which, as per usual, resulted in us being ushered from the restaurant half an hour after closing time, at 7pm. Only the Luvvies can make lunch last until 7pm!

My Malibu Barbie Sunday lunch outfit

A busy weekend often equals lots of mess, and a fancy dress weekend means even more mess so this evening I spent a good hour packing up my dressing up box and sewing kit and returning everything to its rightful home, Mary Poppins style (how appropriate) before settling down to some blogging, a cuppa and some Sunday night telly (Harry Potter, Titanic, Homeland) while I wait for my orange-tinged boy to come home from work.

What a weekend! And to cheer me up about it coming to an end – a short week at work, a Hunger Games date with Laura and Game of Thrones starts Monday... YAY!

Unless I win the lottery...

... I will not be purchasing Louis Vuitton shoes.

Which is a shame as these babies from the SS12 collection are so pretty. They remind me of Fingermouse from Fingerbobs. Remember him?

Some Louis Vuitton lovelies

So, seeing as these are so far out of my reach, because I doubt I'll be winning the lottery anytime soon, I went and purchased the Next best thing (geddit?) from the high street.

My "Next" best thing

Not an exact copy (obvs, after that Gina incident) but close enough to add a bit of pointy metallic sparkle to one of my summer wedding outfits. See outfit one and two below, just outfit three to find.

Outfit one:
Dress from Warehouse. Hangover face (hidden) from Saturday night.

Outfit two:
Dress from New Look. Shoes still in circulation from the wedding.
Mess (not hidden), post-mail order delivery trying on cyclone!