Mum & Dad's 30th Wedding Anniversary Surprise Party

2016 marks a MASSIVE year for G n T - the year in which they celebrate their 30th Wedding Anniversary.

Despite Mum and Dad planning to celebrate just the two of them with a romantic (if a cycle tour counts) holiday in Sri Lanka, they weren't going to get away with it that easily. So Adrian and I decided to go big, with a surprise party. The planning started in January, a solid 11 months before the big day. However as is always the case, we definitely left the planning to the very last minute. The only thing we actually did before was send a couple of emails around requesting people to 'save the date' which were designed by Eden (look at some of her work here or you can buy her Missed Mothers book here) and send across old photos and their favourite memories.

After a trip to Costco, more than one to Lidl (for excellently priced Prosecco and non-branded pop), PoundWorld (plastic champagne glasses, and plastic cutlery and paper plates), Tiger (colourful bunting and congrats sign) and plenty of Amazon online purchases (balloons, helium machine) - the weekend had arrived.

Luck was on our side, with Mum and Dad heading off to a dinner dance on Friday night in London and Mark and Di doing the best friend duty and taking them off to the rugby (SA v ENG) on Saturday in Twickenham, so we had home all to ourselves to get all party prepped. I shipped in the event planners a.k.a Adrian, Eden and Nath. Friday night involved popping copious sponges in the oven, ready to ice in the morning. Saturday involved last minute dashes to the shops, putting helium in the balloons, decorating the house with banners and plenty of fairy lights and getting canapes ready.

We showered and got ready at 6pm with an hour to go before all the guests arrived.

I think the next moment has to be one of those to go down in history, as pretty much all the guests arrived at 7pm on the dot - go team!

Following a text with a 10 minute warning from Diane we made sure that all guests had a plastic glass of prosecco and a party popper in hand and we made our way outside and the car came into the drive and off the party poppers went!!

There were definitely a couple of tears in a few eyes and plenty of hugs and kisses and it was time to get the party started.

The Food
Terri's Veggie Lasagne
Steve's Famous Chilli and Guacamole
My Chorizo, Feta, Chilli and Veg Cous Cous
Tessa's Mini Quiches
Sandra and Jacqui's Salads

The Pud
Karen's Cheesecake
Alison's Pavlova
My 4-Tiered Chocolate and Vanilla Cake with Strawberries and Chocolate Cupcakes
Vicki's Gin and Tonic Cupcakes - Look at her Instagram page here 

The Drinks
Lidl Prosecco
Adrian's Homemade Punch
Dave's Kegs of Rebellian
& Whatever else was lying around

It was the best evening ever and it went on until the early hours of the morning, to be exact around 4am after plenty of cheesy hits including 'Oops Upside Your Head' and the 'Macarena'. Now I will let you enjoy the few select photos that were taken (thank you Bob) ...

Bring on the next 30 years of marriage Mum and Dad and we hope you are enjoying Sri Lanka!

xoxo

Hyde & Seek Adventures in London

The last few weekends I've been in London with family and friends 

The weekend before last I went in with my family to celebrate Mum's and Adrian's birthday! We got in early and were lucky to have bright blue skies so we walked along Southbank past the ITV Studio and the OXO Tower and then across the Millenium Bridge, past St Pauls and into the city towards New Street Grill for our bottomless brunch. 

Bottomless Brunch seems to be the thing to do, most of the time the food is great with all your brunch favourites; eggs royale or benedict, pancakes with bacon and maple syrup you name it but you can also pick places that just sticks to none breakfast related items and then of course comes the bottomless part; unlimited prosecco, mimosas, bloody Mary's or whatever the restaurant of choice is offering. We picked New Street Grill because it's not just about the breakfast (Mum doesn't like eggs), the food looked great and they have oysters (always a win). 

Yum yum yum! After a long and lengthy lunch we headed out and decided to pop into Heron Tower to Sushi Samba so Mum and Dad could experience the view.

Next stop Madison Rooftop, I had never been here before but had only heard good things and as for the view! Pretty perfect view of St Pauls.

Amazing day spent celebrating birthdays and exploring new places in London,

The weekend just been Nathalie and Jason (Nath's sister and her boyfriend) came to visit! We were lucky to have great weather again and due to an issue with trains we arrived in Paddington, so we hired Boris Bikes now known as Santander Cycles and cycled around Hyde Park stopping for an ice cream.

Around around 5 miles we were in need of some proper fuel, we walked from Hyde Park, along Oxford Street and through Soho to Covent Garden. We ate a late lunch at Fire and Stone and it was delicious, really recommend if you want a great variety of tasty pizzas. 

After sufficiently filling our bellies, we decided to walk it off and head back towards Waterloo stopping off at Rumpus Room at the Mondrian Hotel overlooking Southbank to quench our thirst before our journey home. Top tip, probably wouldn't go in on ripped jeans and trainers again it's kind of a 'posh'(ish) joint!

I literally love London, there are so many more adventures to be had and I'll definitely be keeping you updated with them all...

Xoxo

Thursday 10th March 2016

The most significant day so far and a day where from 11am I did not stop smiling. Do you get much better than that? Don't think so!

I'll tell you where it started. 11am (ish) I got called into a meeting with my manager and super manager and got told my contract would be ending and I would be made FTE (full time employee)! Hallelujah! Music to my ears! We've all (all the contractors) been waiting for this moment since January, so I'm sure you can understand what a relief this news felt like. At 12 a few contractors and our managers headed to Honest Burger to celebrate. We couldn't possibly stick to our normal lunch routine of gym and lunch at our desks on such an occasion.

I've never been to Honest Burger and it was so honestly good ('xcuse the pun) and we all had a shot of Bourbon ( Tequila was the original plan but unfortunately for some lucky or not so lucky for me this wasn't on the menu) and a cocktail. If you can't celebrate now then when can you. 

Not long after heading back to the office, our new 'Spring' Happy Hour commenced, celebrating Spring (please refer to my previous blog on my thoughts on this) with an in-house DJ, some seasonal drinks a.k.a Aperol and plenty of Easter chocolates.

I then received a call, I took it outside! It was my best friend since day one, she had just received her dream job as Cabin Crew with Virgin Atlantic! Amazinggg!

My day was getting better and better! We then headed to our local pub where we were bought celebratory shots. I didn't stay for long as I was meeting friends in Covent Garden for the Top Secret Comedy Club. Only costs £5 and you never know what comedians will turn up. Turns out it was my lucky day and my favourite comedian Jack Whitehall made an appearance. 

Literally my favourite day ever so I just thought I'd share it all with you. 

Xoxo