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.