Getting festive

It's the 1st December. It's time to get festive!

If I hadn't just spent the weekend in Amsterdam with the family, we'd have spent Sunday morning at the garden centre picking our tree. I'd have then spent the rest of the day putting up our decorations with cheesy Christmas tunes playing, Mr G would have cooked up something hearty in the kitchen for us to eat in front of a festive movie (though we've already ticked off Love Actually, Elf, Home Alone and Home Alone 2 - oops!) while our fairy lights twinkled in the background.

Instead, the decorations are going up here on Saturday and at my Parents' on Sunday. It's going to be a long week, walking past the boxes of baubles piled up in the hallway every day #PoutyFace

In the meantime, I've been sorting out all my events and outfits. My house may not be Christmas-ready, but my diary and my wardrobe is:

It's going to be a busy one... get ready for outfit posts!

 

P.S. I'm on Florence Finds today with gift ideas for your best girls, check it out!

Looking back and forwards (part 2)

Happy New Year!!!!

I hope your hangovers aren’t too bad, and that you have lovely/exciting/chilled out/hangover-curing plans [delete as appropriate] for the rest of the day. Thanks to my man 'flu I don't have a hangover... but I do feel rough. Thankfully not as rough as I did this time last year. Yeuch!

Following on from my NYE post about what a great year 2011 was (apart from NYD - obvs!) and how I have high hopes for 2012 I thought I’d make some new year resolutions and reflect on the ones I made last year.

And seeing as they’ll now be posted here in cyber space, rather than hidden away in the back of my diary, I can be held accountable for ever more. Well, until New Year’s day 2013, that is.

2011 Resolutions

1. Eat “clean” healthier food (always good after a month of over-indulgence, train-home fast food and morning after hangover-curing junk).This one gets a tick, if you exclude December, and the nine days I spent in Rio
2. Drink less alcohol (again, always included, but particularly applicable after my painfully embarrassing NYE antics last year!). This one also gets a tick, seeing as I abstained for about two months, and reined it in significantly thereafter, with only a few minor slips. I also lost a stone in de-bloating! Score!
3. Live tidy and de-clutter my life/home/mind. I think I get to tick this one too, I removed about 80% of the cr*p in my bedroom when we re-decorated it. I gave about six bags of stuff to charity shops, sold a lot at a boot fair and set up an eBay account. Go me!
4. Make plans happen. I think I get a half tick. I started renting out my vintage china, I set up this blog and I did lots of research in to possible plans and business ideas with my Vision Buddy, Laura. Watch this space in 2012!
5. Save money. Save money. Save money. Again I think I get a half tick. I didn’t pay off all of my debt, but I cleared my student loan, I cleared more than half of my other debts and I managed to pull together a respectable savings pot, despite spending about half of it on holidays! Well… if I can’t have a holiday, what’s the point in saving…….
6. Exercise more. Yip. I think I get a tick for this. I may have stopped going to yoga at the work gym, but I got well in to the Zumba game. It tailed off toward the end of the year with all the events going on that clashed with classes. But I do intend to get back in to it
7. Be nicer to people and rise above rudeness/bad service/commuter attitude. By this I meant less snarling at below-standard service industry staff and walking away when they slap me in the face with their incompetence. I’m not going to lie. I did not achieve this. I may have yelled at a bus driver the other day, when, in the pouring rain he was incapable of grasping my desired destination, over charged me for the pleasure of half a trip and then told me I was in the wrong for not announcing my required stop in Polish
8. Make some career plans. Erm… well. Let’s talk again next year
9. Learn a new skill. Well – I learned to blog, I learned to Zumba and I learned to make cake pops. Are they skills? If so, I get a tick. If not, whoops!
10. Get glasses. Hmmmmm. My bad!

2012 Resolutions

1. Drink less (and when I do drink – keep it classy. Bubbles and high-end cocktails only!)
2. Eat healthier food
3. Spend more time at the gym
4. Take up yoga
5. Save money
6. Clear the last of my debts
7. Create a lovely family home (after buying a new one that is)
8. Throw lots of parties (in above mentioned family home) and be the Hostess with the Mostess* 
9. Be creative: make things, design things and (god forbid) cook things
10. Travel more, including within the UK and Ireland (at Christmas we get a new geography puzzle every year and it took me seconds to put together the world one and the one of the states of the USA - the counties of GB? well over three hours and even then it was mainly due to space and shape, not geographical knowledge!)
11. Aim to achieve a higher level of domestic goddessness (i.e. the lowest level there is!)
12. Spend more QT with my loved ones
13. Grow my hair (is this a resolution or a goal?)
14. Learn to Tweet
15. Say “no” more
16. Donate blood again (or attempt to. The last few times they turned me away due to anaemia)
17. Be ruthless with my wardrobe editing (I do not need everything I own)
18. Make better career plans and decisions
19. Be generally happy, grateful and more positive
20. Endeavour to make those around me happy, grateful and more positive

Ten more than last year. Let’s chat in 366 days (2012 is a leap year, yes?) and see how I did

* surely it’s not possible to be this hostessy with the mostessy in real life, with real life money, and real life time? But if it is, I shall undertake to be so. What an amazing blog!

Looking back, and forward (Part 1)

As I mentioned in my little post about Time, I had a LOT going on in 2011. Back on NYE 2010/11 I went through my iPhone diary and every month had something so exciting to look forward to, and I do love a little Year in Review on New Year’s Eve. So here you go…

 

2011 in brief

• I had some exciting guest post opportunities with some lovely wedding and lifestyle blogs. I was rather proud of myself. I only hope I get to do more and more as time goes on! Check out my self promotion here

I was rather pleased with some of my summer outfits and winter ones

I did some serious stamp collecting in my passport. A trip to Rio for carnival kicked off the year, completing my goal of visiting every continent before turning 30, followed by a grand tour of Europe over the rest of the year with trips to Paris, Lake Como, Budapest, Istanbul, Athens and Santorini, not forgetting some trips in the UK with weekend breaks to Bath, the Cotswolds and Knebworth.

An abundance of special birthdays - 18ths, 21sts, 30ths, 60ths... and there are more to come. Hooray!

January (a particularly Australian-themed month)

 

•  My birthday! Australia gets particularly excited about it and gives the whole country the day off on the anniversary of my birth…
• Also about eight other birthdays, so this was a month full of parties. One particular birthday was my baby sister-in-law turning 18. Special indeed!
• Oh, and Katie Jane popped in, from Australia, to celebrate Lucy’s big day
• Our family friends also popped in, again from Australia, so we could meet their baby boy Oscar. He’s too cute!

February (some detox downtime)

• Engagement parties and Valentine's Day. Love is truly in the air!

March (the biggest party on Earth)

• Carnival in RIO baby! IT.ROCKED.MY.WORLD (but broke my body)
• Murder mystery birthday parties (themed on a wedding...heaven)
• A gorgeous baby girl got christened.
• Essex Fashion Week - totally chavtastic but I loved it! My first taste of the TOWIE world!

April (more party time)

• Easter - celebrating Jesus' the ever living with chocolate and lay ins! Go organised religion.
• A zillion bank holidays and birthdays (just like lambing season!)
• THE ROYAL WEDDING!!!! www.mademyyear.com. We had a big old party at my parents’… afternoon tea, vintage china, big hats, flags and bunting. So much fun!

May (getting started)

• Family wine tasting at Vinopolis
• More bank holidays
• And more special birthday parties
• One of my besties came home from travelling. Yayness
• I started my blog. My very own little blog. A lovely little project that, so far, I’m rather chuffed with.

June (my tour of Europe commences)

• Trashing the Dress/Rocking the Frock/Getting Down in the Gown in London Town (check it out here) Thank you Jasmine Jade Photography!
• The Mother Ship turned 60 and en masse the Hale-Griffith-Harveys whizzed off to Paris pour le Weekend. Mais oui mais oui. Ladauree Macaroon anyone?
• A gorgeous London hen day with afternoon tea, treasure hunts, rooftop champagne and bistro dinner. Lovely. I dedicated this post to the very special Bride.

July (wedding season starts)

• Take That made a million girls/mums/grans cry. But I was not one of them.
• A wedding in the Cotswolds, however, made me sob buckets. For days! A great day Liz and Tom. I heart your style.
• The Duke of Essex Polo – I got my fake tan and legs out to re-acquaint myself with the TOWIE crew. (I was also secretly hoping some MIC crew would slum it and show up so I could meet them too, and so I overcame my aversion and fell in love with TOWIE's reality/unreality TV competitor)
• I said some emotional goodbyes to Harry, Hermione and Ron. Totes emosh.
• But most importantly, this month - Blue Baby Sones arrived (aka Luke Thomas Sones). He's my god daughter's Baby Bro, my bestie's second child, he was much awaited and longed-for. He's such a little dude! (also, he almost shares a birthday with Ollie, my other little mate - good timing Kim and Caroline!)

August (even more party time)

• No carbs before Como - the Matthanach Nuptials. A gorgeous weekend in the Italian lakes with great food, great friends and great scenery. Great Times. Except for the Limoncello. That was less great...
• The Hale-Davis clan take over Knebworth for Robert and Em's wedding. More great times (aside from the riots causing a disappointing lack of sleep). Also the last of my wedding outfits went on show!
• Chelmsford chucks a massive party - V Fest. Named after me! Fanks. This year however, we didn’t bother attending. All of a sudden I felt too old.
• Lots of east London Goodtimes for more birthdays and another bestie flew home from travelling. Girls re-united. So happy!

September (more stamp collecting)

• The Hale-Griffith-Harvey tribe made like the Romans and invaded Istanbul, Athens and Santorini (may require fact checking with Baby Bro). A fortnight full of antiquities, cocktails, sunshine, amazing sunsets and my family (minus a few faces that had to stay home)
• 24 months since the joining of me and the mister... we're doing well! 
• Kim turned 30 – we celebrated in style, with LOTS of cake!

October (crazy-good weather)

• Fancy dress central with more 30th birthdays, a 21^st birthday and a Bug-tastic hen do in Bath
• AUTUMN TELLY SCHEDULE! Staying in is the new going out, although, the weather was so lovely there was lots of going out as well.

November (or should I say Mo-vember)

• More afternoon tea with the girls, a bit of Burlesque at Proud Cabaret with my work girlies (amonst other nights out) and some grown up, coupley dinners and speakeasy cocktails.
• Mr G grew a Mo for Movember. hmmmmm
• And then let the X Factor/Strictly live show parties/pyjama nights in begin...

December (let the festivities begin)

• A reunion with the Como Chicas got me thinking about holidays again...
• ...so it was lucky I had a foggy, but festive trip to Budapest with the girls planned.
• Of course there was the usual Christmas countdown and Christmas celebrations (during which I received some outstandingly lovely gifts)
• Mr G and I get to spend our first NYE together for years
• Planning began for mine and Lucy’s 30th BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!

And so what does 2012 have in store?

• The 30^th birthday party year continues – including my own celebration and Mr G’s.
• The Mr and I will move house. We will we will we will.
• A two week road trip on the west coast of the USA is almost finalised. Schweeeeeeeet!
• Four weddings, and counting, in some fabulous places – Ireland, Blenheim Palace and a some great memories will be re-lived as I return to the setting of mine and Kim’s big days. Fingers crossed for no funerals.
• The Diamond Jubilee – cause for a party and some red white and blue theming?
• The Olympics – well, it’d be rude not to re-use all the red, white and blue flags and bunting…
• I’m hoping for another girlie weekend break and possibly a weekend away with the Mr after a hard summer of Olympic overtime.
• 
  
  More special cocktails with special people!

And then who knows… watch this space!

Happy New Year everyone, I hope you enjoyed 2011 as much as I did and that you also have some wonderful things to look forward to over the coming months.

Wishing you all health, wealth and happiness for 2012

xoxo