A Mad Hatters Tea Party

So… down the rabbit hole we went… To a place, like no place on Earth, a land full of wonder, mystery and danger! Some say to survive it you need to be as mad as a hatter!  We emerged in a World that was topsy turvy, drank whiskey (or champagne rather) from tea cups, ate cake that was so colourful it glowed from the inside and partied all night in a World of Wonderland!  And yes we may be mad, bonkers, and completely off our heads, but let me tell you a secret… all the best people are!

So to celebrate the tremendous event of turning 30, (I never thought I’d reach it ha!) I decided to have a party.  It wasn’t a decision I took lightly, it took lots of thinking about before actually doing anything about it.  It all started back last year some time, in 2011 I went to see Take That with my lovely friend Corin and what an amazing show they put on!  They did the song ‘Shine’ which ended up as a mad hatters tea party type thing on the centre stage culminating with Mark Owen riding a giant caterpillar into the stage with talking clocks, white rabbits and all sorts of merriments.  At the time I thought nothing of it, but one rainy afternoon watching the DVD with my step daughter, thinking about my mums surprise 50^th birthday party that we were organising for her, a light bulb pinged in my mind and the idea for a Mad Hatters Tea Party was borne! 

I of course consulted ebay before I thought of anything further (love a spot of shopping!) and spoke to my Mum about my crazy ideas.  The party in itself was an absolute god send with the surprise party for my Mum going on, as I was actually able to talk to my Mum about the party I was organising and not feel like I was keeping anything from her.  In actual fact, when the day of Mum’s surprise party finally came round, she even questioned me as to where all the teacups and pots were at her party and if I was even having a party!

The main theme for the party was of course going to be Alice in Wonderland, topsy turvy and crazy as you like; which is then what got me started thinking about cake.  Do I really want to do a buffet and feed everyone? We had a hog roast for mums party which was marvellous, but did I want to go down that route?  No, I wanted a cake and I wanted a cheese cake, no ordinary cheese cake, but a 5 tier wedding style cake made out of different cheeses!  Yes… welcome to my imagination! 

(The cheese came from Lyburn Farm... http://www.lyburnfarm.co.uk/ check them out for locally produced cheeses.  The chutneys came from https://en-gb.facebook.com/thriftcottage check them out too! Fabulous service from both)

Sat talking one night at Wine O’Clock and Kat (my friend for many moons) was just as excited about the party as I was and so we made the decision for it to be a joint party and share all the fun!  Or hard work, however you look at it anyways!  My birthday is 13th, Kat's birthday is 25th so we picked a date in the middle for a Very Merry Unbirthday indeed!

Now the hard work really started, we needed props and lots of them, we needed cheese and lots of it, we needed sweets and lots of them.  I set about shopping for tea cups/saucers/plates/teapots with the help of Lauren and Mr B.  We visited charity shops far and wide in the Hampshire and West Sussex area and turned my lounge into a junk shop!  I did borrow some tea pots from Lauren’s mum, so that gave us a good start too and a start to filling up my mums spare room as well. 

Crockery wasn’t the only thing I purchased, we also managed to gain a large collection of posters, flamingos, playing cards, giant cards, party signs all manner of things as I'm sure you can probably guess!  Kat and I also set about making things, flowers for the tables, hedgehogs for the flamingos, miniature crochet sets, roses half painted red, I love a trip to Hobby craft me!

So between Kat and I, we made hundreds of flowers, lots of table props, emailed lots of pictures to each other, got given some wonderful donations and made some cracking finds!  I was even given two large frames from a friend of mine, which I dutifully painted, cut, stick, pasted and coloured in, to make feature stands.

On to costumes, I knew right from the start I wanted to be the Queen of Hearts and Barney wants to be the Mad hatter, so of course I set about ebay again looking for some bargains.  My family, work colleagues, friends and anyone else who would listen heard a great deal about the costumes, and well the party come to think of it!

So the big day dawned, I for one was glad of everything to be moved from my lounge for a start, even if it wasn’t for very long!  My lovely friend Penfold came and helped us do some loading and unloading after Mr B most gracefully did his back in.  We spent hours washing, drying and packing (crockery), loading and unloading (boxes), prettying the hall up and generally knackering ourselves out!  We managed to only break two tea cups in all of this process, which by my thinking is bluddy amazing! 

Everyone made a wonderful effort, most people came in the most wonderful Alice in Wonderland costumes or mad hats and we had a lovely party.  Barney and my cousin Trudi organised the most amazing cake (Trudi made it) which just went perfectly with the theme and my crazy ideas. 

My Mum helped out so much, before the party, during the day setting up, doing all our make up, picking up the cheese, doling out welcome drinks in tea cups and helping me to clear away as the night wore on.  My Mum was amazing and I couldn't have done any of it without her, so thank you Mum xx

We had help from a few other people towards the end of the night, the hall was slowly packed up into Barney’s van and it all looked like it had never happened!

Wonderland was a lovely place to visit, I hope those of you who came had fun and I’d love to go back there soon xx

TTFN Sammy xx

P.S.... There are loads of pics on facebook, I couldn't add them all here, plus I wasn't sure if everyone wanted to be splurged across something that isn't facebook! xx

The Other Side...

Well, its been a week and I feel…. No different ha! See 30 wasn’t anything to be scared about now was it?!

I had a fab week turning 30 and did loads of wonderful things, which I won’t bore you with too much…

Barney, my mum and I visited the Harry Potter studios in Watford and it was amazing!  Anyone who gets the opportunity, you must go.  Even Barney enjoyed it and he doesn’t like Harry Potter! The stuff they made, the way things were made, the things they used are just unreal.  Although it now has put me in the mood to watch all the Harry Potter’s all over again which predictably, Mr B is not too keen on ha!

I took my cousin, Theresa, to her first ever concert/gig and we went to see McFly! There were amazing, so good live, so much energy and such a brilliant night.  There was a split in age, half our age and half 13 ish year olds, so we weren’t the only oldies there.  I'm pleased to say Theresa enjoyed herself as much as me, we finished the evening off with some cold chips in the wind tunnel that is Guildhall Walk and Barney came and picked us up and delivered us home safely!

We had a lovely day at the Meon Valley golf and country club in their spa, having luxurious treatments, lots of lunch and a little drop of wine to boot.  We’ve been there a few times now, and it is expensive, but well worth it if you have the time and money for a special occasion.

Thursday I had a whopping great tattoo added to my leg!  I didn’t expect it to be as big as it is, but I love it, it is just brilliant!  I told the tattooist what I did and didn’t like, he drew it up, 4 hours later and… tadaa!...  I know it is not to everyones taste and I'm pretty sure my dad won’t talk to me for weeks, but y’know!  I paid for it with some money Nanny left me, so it is Nanny’s last birthday present to me and I'm sure she would’ve loved it!

Friday…. Well, we fell down a rabbit hole, emerged in a World that was topsy turvy, drank whiskey from tea cups, ate cake that was so colourful it glowed and partied all night in a world of wonderland!  That however deserves another post, and I will write it I promise!!

TTFN xx

The Big 3...0...

So I went to WW last week and lost 2lb, I was dead chuffed as that is my holiday weight off and a smidge more and I'm now the lightest I've been in an age, 11.5lb altogether.  It may have taken all year, but I've bluddy done it!  This week I didn't manage to get to WW, I got terribly drunk at an Ann Summers party and slept through it, oops!

This week is proving quite difficult, its the last week before I'm 30, the last week of organising before my party and the anniversary of when my Aunty died last year.  I've been out walking, not been too bad, but no idea as to how I've done as I didn't weigh this week (drunk is not attractive!) so need to try and be ultra good this week if at all possible.

We have signed up for the race for life, Theresa and I, so will be hassling people for sponsorship soon I'm sure....
http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/SammyandTheresa
But for now I've downloaded the couch to 5k app and will keep you posted!
Now I know lots of people turning 30 this year and some that already have, and lots of people who are so freaked out about it they are going to hibernate!  I must be one of the only ones who is not worried at all.  I feel a bit impatient to get to 30, even for the last few years and not just the last few weeks, like 30 has been waiting for me.  30 feels safe and comfortable, not scary and something I want to avoid.  I wonder if this is because I don't have a biological clock ticking of when I need to have children by? Or get married by, or buy a house etc etc? Maybe that's it? (Not that I am blaming this for everyone, as I am sure everyone has their own reasoning)  Or maybe its because my husband is older than me and 30 doesn't appear that scary? 

Whatever it is, its bluddy marvellous!  30 will be wicked I am sure and to top this off I'm being tattooed and I'm having a Mad Hatter's Tea Party (which deserves a blog post all by itself, so watch this space).  I have a whole week off work, to spend with family and friends, doing loads of wonderous things I wouldn't do normally.  We are going to the Harry Potter studios (where it was filmed), seeing McFly (Yes I am still 14), having a spa day with my Mum and Sister, getting inked as a last birthday present from my Nan and of course partying the night away with my friends and family.

So this week I will mainly be cutting, sticking, painting, glueing and carrying on getting ready.  I'm trying to keep posting pics to a minimum, but I can tell you that the house is a bluddy tip and full of Alice in Wonderland related thingy majiggers!  See you on the other side!

Ttfn xx

Busy, busy!

Well I've been a little busy of late, which is of course, an understatement!  I am planning a massive party, a celebration of reaching 30 at long last.  I am having a joint birthday with my friend, Kat.  We have been friends for about 26 years now, so it's definitely a fitting tribute for our 9th anniversary of being 21!  We've had mums 50th in February, a party, a day out and a day at a beauty spa to boot.

Next came a long awaited and well deserved holiday! We went and stayed with Lauren's nan in West Africa and had the best holiday for a long long time.  Luckily the Barcroft holiday curse only saw us have our cases searched by customs on the way back and me managing to get a dose of shingles!  It's the first time I've been away since everyone died last year, and I was wary of leaving my family who I talk to daily, but I managed 12 days with no phone, telly, t'internet and survived!

Back at work now, sadly my secondment in lettings has ended and I am back in customer services :0(  It's not my most favourite job, but still I try to smile and keep the mantra "I am grateful to be employed and lucky to have a job" going whilst searching for a new one! I'm certainly not ungrateful to have a job, but you know when you've done 8 hours a day and truly believe you haven't enjoyed it at all and you're never going to get those hours back? Yep, time to take stock and stop wasting my precious time and life feeling like that!

Now the weight watchers has slipped a little, I've missed a few weeks but still lost when i went back, put on 2.5lb last week (post holiday)and have been struggling to get back onto it. But I sit with fresh determination (after sleeping through the meeting today) and am ready to write a list of goals and rewards. Y'know.... Lose x amount get shoes, type of thing.

My first 7 lb I treated myself to a new shellac nail varnish, I haven't reached my second 7lb just yet, but simply ave no rewards planned.  Barney is helping with encouraging me and said he will buy me a pair of Laboutin's (sexy shoes) for 2 stone, but I'm not sure 2 stone is enough?

So.... Any thoughts, suggestions, tricks to keep me on track? I am pen and pad poised ready!

Ttfn xxxx

A long line of firsts....

Well some of you know, but for those who don't, we had a pretty rubbish year last year.  We lost two very close family members to the awful disease, cancer.  My beautiful Nan had survived bowel cancer a few years before, but was diagnosed with Myeloma and secondary bone cancer in March last year and sadly lost her battle on May 22nd 2012.  Nan's sister and my beautiful Aunty Lyn was diagnosed with lung cancer in February and sadly lost her battle on May 6th 2012. 

They were diagnosed together, went a bit doolally on all the morphine together and planned to have a joint funeral together.  They didn't manage the joint funeral, Nan sadly didn't make it to Lyn's funeral and died the following day in the early hours of the morning. 

Lyn's funeral was a lovely service, the sun shone madly following on from Morecombe and Wise's 'Bring me sunshine' on the way out of the crematorium.  Everyone came back to mums to see nan while the children all played in the garden on one of the hotest days of the year.  Nan had lost her marbles completely, but I think she had a good last day.  One of the last things she said to me was that she could 'listen to this all day'.  She meant the people chattering in the kitchen, drinking to toast Lyn, the children running around playing in the garden and people taking it in turns to come and sit with her and talk to her.

Nan's funeral was held on Nanny Pennick's birthday, which was again a beautiful day.  Nan and Lyn skipped out of the crematorium together to 'Bring me sunshine' just like in Lyn's dream.  We held a big party for both of them, with cake, balloons, bubbly a dj and of course our best party frocks.

All of this has been so hard to come to terms with, grief is a horrible thing.  I know it happens to everyone, but it's just rubbish.  I think as a family we have coped very well, but it takes a while to settle into a new way of life.  Time isn't a great healer, but it certainly helps you adapt to a life without them and adapt to a new kind of 'normal'.

They say it takes a year and a day before you can start grieving because there will be 'firsts' all through that year. The 'first' birthday without them, the 'first' Christmas without them, the 'first' anything without them.  We're slowly coming up to the 'first' anniversary of everything that went so awfully wrong last year, we're approaching the dates they were diagnosed and will be approaching the 'first' anniversary of them leaving us too.

I can't see that after the 'first' year has passed it will get easier, most of the time I can't see a day that will ever be easier and this last month I have struggled quite a lot to be honest.  We've had Mum's 50th birthday, we held a surprise party that they both would have loved, we've had Mum's actual birthday, which understandably all my Mum really wanted to do was to spend the day with her Mum and I'm busy planning my 30th birthday which I would love dearly for them to both be at.

It is hard, but we struggle on, we try and support each other and for that I am eternally grateful.  I'm not looking forward to the 'firsts' that are approaching, I guess none of us are.

I am very grateful that I have this great family and network around me and we all help to support each other, even if only by an occasional text.  We may all be going through the same thing and have down days on different days but we're all going through these 'firsts' and I guess we have to make the most of them.  So chin up, best breast forward and lets do what Nanny would do... When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping!

TTFN, Sammy xxxx

2013.... It is my year!

Well I have been rubbish with the dieting AGAIN!  I guess it has been Christmas and New Year, but before that I wasn't too good either! I am back to 'unmentionable' stone 7.5, I guess the only saving grace is I haven't gone back up to what I was, 'unmentionable' stone 10.5. BUT today, after encouragement from a school friend, Donna, I have gone and joined a Weight Watchers group. I know, I know, a Sunday how fabulous is that. And a Sunday morning to boot!

Barney has come to WW with me, he is now packing more weight than he wants to, so we're back to encouraging each other. And yes I will urgh in his direction when he gets to gold as he has so little to lose, but I will also be very pleased for him, even if he does (which he most certainly will) reach gold before me.

The group is massive (well was today anyway!), the leader seems really lovely, there is lots of online support and I've come home feeling curiously positive for once.  I must admit, I had difficulty in answering the questions the leader posed to me, 'So you've dieted before, why didn't you succeed? And what will make it different this time?'  I think I answered truthfully, if in short.  This time I am determined. 2013 is going to be my year.

Barney and I have both ditched the booze for January.  We drink far too much, wine and cider are my downfall and cost soooo many points! So a month off should gve us both a good boost.

So 2013..... No New Years Resolutions as such, but I am 30 this year, 13 is my lucky number, I have determination and spirit and so so want it.  I'm so fed up with being fat and bubbly, I want to be slimmer and bubbly. 

I am looking forward to making friends with all the lovely ww group I met today, who made me feel welcome and glad I went, the online group are busy doing the same as well - so thank you all.

I'll keep you posted.....

Sammy xx

Absent Friends...

So I've been radio silent, it has been Christmas so I guess I can use that as a little excuse, but my apologies.  I hope you all had a lovely time celebrating with friends and family, drinking too much and eating too much (all diet bets are off currently!)

Christmas in our family was a lovely few days, a pub and curry night Christmas eve, Christmas day we were all at my mums and my lovely friend Rachel joined us too. It should have seemed very empty with a missing person like a hole in the wall and to be honest I was really dreading it, but it was actually ok.  Although we all missed Nan, I did actually feel like Nan was there, just in the other room, so maybe she did come and visit us and to see what presents we had got, who knows.  I even managed to start reading again.  I haven’t read since just before Nan died, I don’t know if it is because my imagination is zapped or the thought of being on my own in my head is unbearable, but I have just not been able to concentrate enough to read a book.  I have started with a book I have read a millions times and intend to re-read the whole series (Jilly Cooper – The Rutshire Chronicles, starting with Riders, soooooo much better than that 50 shades sh*t!) and it’s actually ok, I am managing.

So… As we are fast approaching new year, I guess we ought to think about what this year has bought us and what we may have in store for 2013.

2012 has been pretty rubbish to be totally honest, I've lost my dog, my Nan and my Aunty; but it has also seen the marriage of my sister and her partner, the birth of my niece and of my cousin’s little boy, so it hasn’t been all bad.  I am also sure there are people out there who worse has happened to.  I am very thankful for all the good things and all the things that haven’t gone wrong, but I still can’t help but look back on the last year as a massive trial; well, it certainly hasn’t been easy anyway. But we have survived, all of us (even after the end of the World on 21/12).

New years eve is booked at mum and dads as it is every year, no party as such; they just operate a ‘we’re not having a party, but you’re more than welcome to pop in - we’ll be drinking’ policy.

So 2013, what have you got for us? I have booked a holiday, a festival, a massive place in fat club and an alcohol free January, but what else?  Anyone got any good plans???  I don’t have any new years resolutions as such, just aims; but one thing for sure is I will be raising a drink to absent friends.  To those we lost in 2012 and before, to those we miss dearly and would love to see again…. We love you and Cheers xx