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I'm leaving today. Well, not really but soon. The thirtybythirty celebrations will continue with a proper holiday. I am off to Nyew Yoyrk! Soon! Whoop whoop! If you are a seasoned visitor to the Big Apple or indeed a bone fide New Yorker please do feel free to suggest places to go, see and eat.

Home, sweet home

Back in Blighty and boy does the temperature tell me I am home.

Managed to catch a flea market in the last day in Roquetas, bit pricey but some nice stuff (mainly toy prams and typewriters).
 

Did buy this lovely little Venus Perfect Pencils tin for a song though.

If we took a holiday...

Not sure this really counts as a holiday but for the purposes of thirtyturningthirty this is as close to holiday as I'm going to get so here's a few days worth of Item 26 - Holiday.

I'm visiting Jonathon and Brother Joe in Roquetas de Mar (Little Rocks of the Sea), which is where J's teaching job is. Roquetas de Mar is quite a smallish town on the south coast of Spain with a bit of an industrial feel, mainly due to the large plasticos (green houses) which surround the area. 

The nearest city to Roquetas is Almeria (The Mirror of the Sea) which is a beautiful place, full of Moorish history, winding streets and a working port, sort of like a mini Valencia or Malaga. We've taken two trips to Almeria over the past few days. On the first visit we took a stroll around the main streets, visited a gallery (owned by a bank - novel?) and a hike up into the hills where there's an old fort, The Alcazaba. The Alcazaba is a mighty impressive structure, it tells of centuries of feuds between Muslims and Christians, the castle has Islamic architecture with geometric patterns and structured gardens, similar to the Alhambra, with lots of ancient christian graffiti and crucifixes carved in to the walls. The second trip was to visit the Centro Andaluz de la Fotografía, which is a bit of a hidden gem, where we saw a retrospective of Édouard Boubat's work and Tim Parchikov's Suspense.

Almeria also has a a Zara, Pull and Bear, Bima y Lola :)

Yep, when Santa's not filling sacks and hopping down chimneys he's having a few jars at Malaga's Beer Fest.

Jonathon had a long weekend at the beginning of the week (the Spanish like their public holidays, which by me, is no bad thing) so the three of us decided to take a road trip to Malaga (pics above and below), stopping overnight at my nan's flat in Arroyo de da Miel (near Benalmadena). The trip started out brilliantly (note the can of Alhambra and some lovely potato crisps for the drive), we ate too much lovely food and drank too many mojitos, and got louder and louder with each establishment we drank at having a really lovely time until the night was dampened slightly by the theft  loss of Jonathon's phone and wallet. (If anyone reading this knows Jonathon, you will also know this is not the first time he has lost his phone/wallet. It's certainly not the third or fourth time. It's probably not even the ninth. And let's not kid ourselves, it won't be the last. But of course, it wasn't lost this time, it was stolen, right Brother Joe?). On the plus side of things, it did lead to a ride in the back of a Spanish police car and an hour wait in Malaga police station (at 3am) while J filled out forms and explained that a a poor beggar woman had taken his belongings. (To be fair to J, she did try and put her hands down his jeans.)

Back to Roquetas and whilst J's at work me and Brother Joe have rest of the working day to ourselves to wander the town. The best thing about Roquetas de Mar has to be the Chinese shops. They are amazing, imagine Poundland, Wilkos and the corner shop having a one monster, giant baby . Full of, well, just stuff really, aisles and aisles of stuff. Stuff that's probably killing the world in its production but is fun and colourful and is absolutely vital to own when you're in the store. We didn't buy any of the novelty bells (below) but we did buy a hole punch (needed), a pencil case (always needed), toothpaste (yep, definitely needed), plastic make up bags (necessary for flight home), novelty tweezers (probably necessary) and tomorrow we're going back to buy an orange tortilla frying pan* for Helga (vital). 

Last night was salsa night and I'm pretty much up to speed now with the blogging. We ate until we hurt but it tasted soooo good, even if we say so ourselves. 

*Not just any old frying pan, no. These babies are two frying pans together, allowing an easy flip for even cooking on both sides. Genius.

Wanna pizza this?

Not too much to say, films, pizzas and friends. It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday night. More of these please chums.

Seven Mile Stare

Next up, a gig.

The night of 17 Oct was spent at the Head of Steam watching Seven Mile Stare, which includes a guitar playing gent, friend and husband of a very fine London chum, Mr Christopher Chatfield. The band were very good, all grungy and Pearl Jam-like. Mrs Georgina Chatfield (nee Arnold) and Chris mistakenly came up a week early for this gig so happily spent my actually birthday celebrating with me.

No such thing as a free lunch?

Well, there's certainly no such a thing as a free (full English) breakfast either, as we found out on our first ever visit to the shiny new Tilley Stone. With the fryers broken, no veggie sausages, no alternatives and no warning (as we were greeted at the door) of the low stock levels for just about everything, we were sorely disappointed with our opening (complimentary) meal offers for Gateshead's very own Wetherspoon pub.

Meals (and venue, generally) aside this Sunday brunch was by far one of the best breakfast outings in a long time having spent it in the company of the lovely Mel and Charlie, who were only just back in Blighty after a year of living in New Zealand. It was very nice to have them temporarily 'home' before they set of for their new ventures in Scotland. 



Ps

Dear J D Wetherspoon,

Please note for future reference. You cannot make up for hash browns, sausages and fried eggs with an excessive amount of butter in the mushrooms.

Thank you.

Happy Drawing

A drawing party with lots of strangers and children. The Big Draw, organised and hosted by Set of Drawers and included as part of the Design Event programme, was, well, a bit of a success, really. 

We had tons of people turn up, from toddlers (with guardians, of course), to teenagers, students and old folks, groups, couples and families, all ready to join in with our drawing party on the theme of Happiness. In one room, we covered every surface in paper (including a table and armchair) and asked people to draw on it all, or make something to wear out of paper, or draw their face for the rogues wall or decorate a cake and then eat it. It was super fun (even with a hangover).

Don't Blow Your Jets Maaaaan*

The one I couldn't tweet about. One for the Cool Cats.

 

Needless to say there were bongos, berets and some baaaaaaad poetry.Thanks chums, I had a blaaaast.

*title totally stolen from the stylish Mrs Swaddle, as were most of the pics (thanks Jessimouche and Craig - I stole lots of pics from you too x)

Design Mart

Not strictly on my list at all (unless you count it as item 19) but I wanted to give a small shout to Design Mart, as not only was the preview a very nice event but it was filled full of really rather wonderfully clever, north east design folks who (mostly) also happen to be chums. The Design Event opening (held at BALTIC) was also teamed with a swift bit of tea and couple of glasses of the good stuff with my wee brother and his lady friend. All in all, a nice night. Here are some of the things I enjoyed from the show. 

Coffee Table by Afid Design, Matt Sewell Badge by Cottonwolf and the very lovely BALTIC

Everyone likes a list

Eeeek. I’ve been a bit bad on the blog updates lately*. I’m back on track now though and as you’ll see I have a whopping 10 new posts coming up. They’re listed in chronologic order (which in blog land is back to front, naturally). Hope they make for some happy reading.

Before posting thought it might be worth a quick look at the list again. See, there has been *some* progress, even if it is item 19, again. And again. And again.

1 Pyjama party and 24hr filmathon
2 Mad Men evening
3 Spa day
4 Afternoon tea
5 Manicure
6 Come as you are dinner party - informal, bring a dish optional
7 Murder mystery
8 Picnic at Beamish
9 A gig
10 Sewing party
11 Baking party
12 Drawing party
13 Bike ride
14 Cinema trip
15 Karaoke party
16 Pizza party
17 Shopping trip
18 Girly night out
19 Gathering of chums for good times
20 Board game night
21 Trip to the seaside
22 Star gazing at Kielder
23 Victoria tunnel
24 Trip to the theatre
25 Cheese and port night
26 Holiday

27 Afternoon roller skating
28 Bowling
29 Halloween mask making think I’ve missed the boat on this one. Maybe not.
30 James Bond themed night at a very cheap and nasty casino

Special apologies and thank yous to Miss Marie Nixon and Mister Tom Higham for Twitter peer pressure prompts. #welldoneyournudgeshaveworked #thankyou

Happy birthday, I mean engagement, I mean birthday.

Ooops I missed a post. Yesterday was my actual birthday and what an amazing day it was! Not only did I spend it with some wonderful chums, my man and my parents (briefly) I was given this amazing cake in the shape of Helga (the Laravan), I drank prosecco from 11am until midnight (swapping occasionally for a glass of shiraz) and was given so many beautiful gifts from so many generous friends that I had an entourage to carry them.

Even more exciting, it turned out that I got to celebrate more than turning 30. My toyboy of eight years proposed at breakfast, all old fashioned-like on one knee. What a lovely and totally unexpected start to the day and the most amazing present I could have imagined.

To celebrate we put at out a call for an impromptu 'come as you are' lunch party (finally some achievement - item 6) at The Town Wall in Newcastle. So many lovely chums turned up to wish us well and celebrate me getting old. We're so lucky. We’ll be having an official engagement party in December when J gets back from Spain for the holidays so we can celebrate with those who couldn’t make the birthday/engagement impromptu lunch time gathering. 

Touch Down

Woohoo!  My man’s back for some thirtyturningthirty celebration. Best present ever. Happy Birthday me. 

Move along please...

...nothing to see here. No major updates today I'm afraid. Although I have been planning for the event I promised to talk more about in the last post. And I did myself three bunches of flowers to make up for under-achieving. Wish I'd put flower buying on the list.

Actually that's not strictly true, I did achieve against item 19 (again) this morning when I popped in to Baltic and was given a beautiful birthday prize (which will remain unopened until the big day), wrapped up with cheeky Swedish gnomes and a lovely gingham dalahast. It was given to me by an old friend who I haven't seen too much of lately so a coffee and a long overdue catch up was a welcomed addition to the list and a lovely way to start the day.

What's the plan, Stan?

All major celebrations have been on hold today. For two very important reasons. Firstly, I have been scheming for an exciting 'getting chums together for good times' event plan* (see, I told you item 19 was going to get a few shouts) and secondly I've been tidying. Now, although tidying may sound like a rather dull thing to include in my blog about exciting birthday frivolities, tonight's tidy session has been a very important one. For those that know me (I'm guessing that most folks reading this do) you'll know that my toyboy** is currently located a few thousand miles away, working hard to become a primary school teacher and that he's due back at the at the end of the week. It'll be almost a month since we saw each other in person and nearly six weeks since he left our little north eastern home for the warmer climes of southern Spain. Well, the tidy up's for you, J.

 

It's not that there hasn't been some 30turning30 highlights today, as there have, like tea and teacakes and a mini shopping trip with Ms Katia Stewart (and a new dress purchase, but shhh, let's not mention that on skype tonight. It was in the sale). And anyway, it's not all about the big things. The little things can be just as happy-making.

*more on this later - it's going to be good (I hope).
**this is typed with some sarcasm JMD - don't kid yourself, you're fast catching up.

Blue Monday

Ha! Caught the 3 October. Just. Now to write something.

Monday. The start of the working week. Thankfully hasn't hindered the birthday excess - a trip to the Tyneside with two of my oldest chums, Ms Kurc and Mr Astley saw to that...

Today I ticked off item 14 and repeated item 19 (there'll be a lot of repeating item 19). The film, a cheery little number by notoriously upbeat Von Trier had us in stitches. Melancholia was beautiful - captivating from the first scene and thankfully much less harrowing than his other films. The soundtrack and visuals reminded me of The Feast of Trimalchio by AES+F. I could write about this film lots (I have and then deleted it. Then wrote something else. Then deleted.) but I won't as I'm no film critic (despite a degree in it) and more importantly, it's late and I'm meeting a friend for an early pre-work coffee so will need to be up first thing. Whispers in the office today suggest Day 4 may involve a trip to the Turkish Baths *or* a dance class.  No need to decide now though - time to get some sleep, which hopefully won't involve dreams of fast approaching blue planets or Beethoven.

Diner-ing out

Oh dear, today I have the fear. Anyone who's ever written a blog must know, the second blog post is anxiety making... with the first one you know exactly what you're going to say. With post two you feel the pressure of people watching. Let's hope I don't write the equivalent of a second album flop.

Day two of by birthday extravaganza certainly hasn't been a flop and there's still plenty of it left. Sunday October 2nd started with a cheery phone call from my lovely friend Ms Melanie Iredale (literally, having slept through my alarm). We were meant to meet for Afternoon Tea (item 4) but due to bad planning (on my part) we moved it to breakfast. Which then ended up being brunch but actually just turned out to be lunch.

Thinking we might still get a breakfast we settled on The Stateside Diner, or as Melanie knows it better the Break Up Cafe (due to its upbeat decor and 50s soundtrack. Who could possibly leave room for sadness wolfing down a stodgy peanut butter milkshake?). Alas, we missed breakfast by minutes and settled on the cafe's only two veggie friendly options, pictured above. As we munched on our burger and fries I recounted tales from the previous evening (item 18), which was spent with pals drinking whisky and ginger in the warm night air outside The Cluny. 

Melanie's all about films, so whilst we slurped our milkshakes I picked her brain about how best to execute item 1. At the very same time a facebook update from another lovely chum suggested hosting the filmathon at her studio. Taking this as a sign (it clearly is) I'm very keen to pin this plan down. Firstly, because the studio in question is, bar none*, the best studio I have ever had the privilege to visit (and let me tell you, I've visited a lot of studios) and secondly because Mel suggested (and offered to sort) VHS (yes, retro) and a projector. Plan? Plan. I couldn't be more pleased. This all coming together. 

* Supanaught's studio comes a close second, but mainly because of the Ercol chairs and the Jimi Coat stand.     

Happy October Everyone!

It's here, the count down to my turning 30, the big 3-0, three zero, thirty.  

I'm officially (almost) a grown up. It's a biggy and anyone who knows me knows I'm just a tad age sensitive*. So, to see it through and keep smiling I'm going to totally over indulge. I'm going to do something, for me, everyday, no matter how big or small, indulging in 30 celebrations throughout October and this wee, time limited, blog is going document the whole greedy process. 


Today is October 1st, a Saturday, which means I get to spend the whole day doing nice things. Which is, of course, exactly what I've done :) 

First off a trip to the hairdressers. A colour, massage and a manicure later, I am a different woman. A telephone call to my most dearest friend and within the hour we're having an impromptu lunch and planning the big thirtyturningthirty. Now, although I've known I've wanted to do the thirtyturningthirty project for quite some while now, distractions all over the place mean I've been a bit pathetic with the planning. I have a long list of things I *want* to do but there's no plan. None. Whatsoever. Which adds a new dimension to the project, a strategy if you please, of having to do the whole thing a bit spontaneously. The draft list looks like this...

1 Pyjama party and 24hr filmathon
2 Mad Men evening
3 Spa day
4 Afternoon tea
5 Manicure
6 Come as you are dinner party - informal, bring a dish optional
7 Murder mystery
8 Picnic at Beamish
9 A gig
10 Sewing party
11 Baking party
12 Drawing party
13 Bike ride
14 Cinema trip
15 Karaoke party
16 Pizza party
17 Shopping trip
18 Girly night out
19 Gathering of chums for good times
20 Board game night
21 Trip to the seaside
22 Star gazing at Kielder
23 Victoria tunnel
24 Trip to the theatre
25 Cheese and port night
26 Holiday

27 Afternoon roller skating
28 Bowling
29 Halloween mask making
30 James Bond themed night at a very cheap and nasty casino

Tea and cheese on toast with the wonderful Mr Astley, and only hours into the task I have already ticked off item 5, put out a call for item 18 (for tonight) and set a date with a venue for item 19. We're on a roll....next update tomorrow.

*not helped by a certain toyboy who has, since we met 8 years ago, promised, every birthday, to send me a With Sympathy card when I hit 30.