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.