Getting our Geek on!

As part of my birthday celebrations, I'm having a night out tomorrow with friends. My good friend Gemma, came up with the idea of dressing 'Geek Chic' which I instantly agreed too! 

I'm really excited & having checked with the bars that we're all ok to dress up & most importantly wear our trainers (for comfort & style) we are all pretty much set! 

I have the converse (complete with diamantès to add to chic aspect!), the braces, the geek glasses & t-shirt & not forgetting the frilly socks. I'm set! 

As with most themes or fancy dress the fun is in seeing everyone else's interpretations so I can't wait for tomorrow night. 

Post coming up next week with plenty of photos! 

Some highlights

So this weekend was the long awaited 30th birthday celebrations & they certainly lived up to all the hype. I was spoilt rotten & had the best weekend. 

I'm sure I'll post in more detail about it all but just thought I'd share some of my highlights from the weekend. 

It all kicked off on Friday with a quite remarkable work birthday, photos of my face covering the office with balloons & presents, oh & not forgetting the cupcakes with my face on them! Amazing work by Gemma & Alex! 

Then on Saturday it was the C Party for my family & close friends. As posted before everyone had to come as something dressed beginning with C. The party was a huge success & we had all sorts, crab, crocodile, convict, cat, chefs & even a crayon! Not forgetting the winner of the best dressed, my friend Sam who had actually made a cruise liner which he was dressed in! Amazing. 

I went as a champagne bottle & although I didn't get any votes for best dressed, thought I looked pretty good. 

A good time was had by all & it will certainly be a party we'll all remember. So nice seeing all my family too & them all making such an effort for it. Not forgetting the wonderful presents I was treated too. 

On Sunday (my actual birthday) we had breakfast at the arches in Southend & I opened my presents from mum, dad, EJ & Ash. I was completely overwhelmed by some of the amazing gifts with the highlight being a card signed personally by the Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho! And a letter from John Terry wishing me a happy birthday! As a massive Chelsea fan it doesn't get much better than that! 

For the rest of the day it was off to watch Chelsea at Stamford Bridge with my sister. What a brilliant game we saw too, first game of the season, Jose's first game back as manager & the best atmosphere I'm ever experienced at the bridge. Just amazing. Another highlight was a birthday message for me in the big screen at half time which was pretty cool. 

With such a memorable weekend its hard to pick one stand out memory but one of my favourite things was my youngest cousin, Amelia, deciding that despite her dad being a Man United fan and her mum an Arsenal fan, she is going to follow in mine & my sisters footsteps & support Chelsea! She was even singing the song at my party. Needless to say we've now got her a little Chelsea t-shirt to kick start her support. One day maybe she'll be joining us at the bridge & cheering in the blues.

Thank you to everyone involved in making my birthday so brilliant & for all the messages, cards and gifts. The celebrations don't end until this Saturday when we have geek night with my friends. That should be a messy one! More to come on that! 

Wow!

Work birthday's literally rock! 
So after my post yesterday about work birthday's I can safely say I am not at all disappointed this year.

As I drove into work this morning I saw my face in our office window & knew instantly the girls had gone to town! 

They had covered a whole wall with photos of my face & decorated the office in my favourite colour - blue! I still can't stop smiling. 

I have cupcakes with my face on, giant balloons & even a few of my favourite things, planes & football! 

And to finish it all off a photo of me & Frank Lampard!! You just couldn't make it up! Sorry Christine, I've borrowed him for the day!

With lunch at Prezzo still on the agenda & I'm sure plenty more surprises to come this weekend, I'm a one very lucky soon-to-be 30 year old! 

Massive thanks to Gemma & Alex for being such wonderfully thoughtful work colleagues & friends. x

Work Birthdays

Most people that work in an office will have the tradition of celebrating your birthday with your colleagues. You get the desk all done up with balloons, the collection goes around the office for your present & they all turn up at your desk singing Happy Birthday which is the most embarrassing thing ever (well until next year when it all happens again!), generally you also have to spend a fortune bringing in cakes for those who only put a pound in your collection but it's 'the done thing'! 

I count myself very lucky, as whilst working for my company, I've had some really quite memorable birthday's over the years. My favourite was probably the year when I was the only person with the keys to the office so I had to help my colleagues put my own balloons up, in return they made me a crown & sash to crown me Queen for the day! I had surprises arriving all day long & we actually got a lot of creative work done too. 














With my work birthday tomorrow, I'm looking forward to what lays in store for me, if anything! That could be awkward couldn't it. You turn up expecting balloons and a fun atmosphere & actually don't get anything!! 
I'm sure my colleagues & friends, Gemma & Alex have it all under control. 
One thing I know for sure we are doing is the customary lunchtime drinks which this year will be at our new favourite place, Prezzo! And with one opening up across the road from our office, it'd be rude not too! 

Clean Freak!

For those who know me, you'll know I'm a bit of a clean freak, this borders on OCD. I get it from my dad's side of the family apparently, my aunt is a stickler for cleanliness too. 
I have pretty much always been like this. My mum has never had to tell me to clear up my room, in fact when I was little I used to enjoy it too and often would do my sisters clearing up. 

When I moved out a few years ago, no one had any doubt that I'd have trouble keeping my house immaculate. I'm certainly not afraid to get the hoover out at least a few times a week (at least)! In fact cleaning items were first on my list of must haves for the flat. 
I've since moved back home with my parents and I'm pretty sure they are secretly pleased they have me to do the housework at least once a week. They're also quite clean people so the house would never be in a mess even without me I just get very OCD about it. 

My pet hate is going to bed with cups left out or papers on the floor, it doesn't take long to pack everything away. 

I've also got a bit of a name for myself as the clean one amongst family and friends too and I often wonder if people hate inviting me round in case I criticise? I actually don't have a problem with other peoples mess & really am not that critical, although I do sometimes see others homes and just want to help them by getting the duster out! 

With my family party being held at home this weekend, my parents and I have spent the past few weekends making the house look spotless. Those parts of the house that don't normally get a look in, touching up the paintwork on the main doors, cleaning the skirting boards, dusting down the cobwebs from around the outside windows. For me it's been a heap of fun but I'm sure my parents wouldn't agree. 

It'll just to so nice to have all the family see our home looking so good. 

Tomorrow afternoon/evening I'll be making the inside of the house look equally as spotless, moving the furniture around & cleaning behind and around everything. 
Is it really bad that I'm actually looking forward to this? 
I never see cleaning as a chore, if I'm in the mood and have my music to listen too, I'll clean for hours & be very thorough about it too. 

No more diet...

...well not for this week anyway. 

I'm sure I've mentioned it once or twice but it's my birthday this weekend. It was always my intention to diet until my birthday then stop. I know that I've lost a lot of the weight I set out too and overall I'm feeling happy with how I am now looking but should I go back to how I was eating 8 weeks ago? It just doesn't seem right for some reason & I certainly don't want to put the weight all back on. 

From this Friday I can eat whatever I feel like over the weekend, it is my 30th after all. Then I have a big night out with friends next Saturday so plenty of bad food & lots of alcohol then but then what? 

It feels wrong to go back to what I used to eat. I'm thinking that this diet has almost become second nature, more of a way of eating & less a diet. 
Now that I'm at the weight I set out, I'll probably not take it as seriously but whilst I'm enjoying the Slim Fast diet now, I think it'll continue.

The 2 litres of water is absolutely something I'd like to carry on, maybe not being as strict with myself over it but I already can tell my body is feeling healthier for it. 
My general feeling is that I'll see how I go, if I fancy cereal I'll have it, if not it'll be the shakes. If I want to treat myself to a nicer dinner, I can but won't go crazy. As my running is also increasing in distance and intensity I don't think the odd cake will kill me either. 

I actually don't fancy too much of what I used to have, a lot of this diet is about moderation. I have the Lindt Lindor chocolates, one or two of those a day won't make me obese so why not treat myself to them, just no need to eat a whole family bag of revels in one sitting (I actually could but I won't!)! 

 

I'd be interested to hear if any of you have also been on a diet and how you incorporated it into your life after the actual diet ended. Or do people just stay on one lifelong diet? That seems a little dull. 

I'm sure I'll be writing more about how I get on but for now I'm going to enjoy the weekend ahead and especially my trip to Prezzo with the girls from work on Friday! Pizza & Rose here we come!  

Party Planning

With my 30th birthday just days away, I'm in full party planner mode! 

I decided that I'd really like a 'gathering' with family and some close friends. We decided to hold the party at my parents which meant being limited on numbers especially as we have such a big family. So I'm also doing a separate celebration with friends - a 'Geek Chic night', more on that another time! 

All good parties need a theme & we came up with the perfect one 'C' Party. Fancy dress is generally the key to a good, fun party so the idea for this is all guests come as something beginning with the letter C. 

With it being a family party I wasn't too sure everyone would get into the spirit but having had lots of texts & calls over recent weeks, I am really excited to see everyone's costumes. 


To keep in with the C theme, I decided the decorations, invites etc.. would have a Caribbean feel. I got these invites made through Vistaprint - with a week turnaround I was able to send them out with plenty of notice. 

Unfortunately, I had to change the date of the party so for a small cost, I also got some change of date cards made in the same style.  

I brought most of the decorations from eBay as they really are so cheap, especially if you're only going to be using them once it's perfect. 
The garden is going to be turned into a Caribbean party with a Limbo, Giant Jenga & Twister to get everyone involved. A lot of stores where looking for £40+ for each of these but I managed to get great deals on-line. 
We have ordered helium balloons from Sancto in Southend so am excited to get decorating the house. 

There will be plenty of cupcakes & cocktails - keeping with the theme too! 

Being a very organised person, a lot of the fun for me is in the planning and preparation. I have a whole schedule for next week which I'm chomping at the bit to get started on. 

With food & drink yet to buy it's going to be a really busy time but I just can't wait. And seeing all the costumes and having a memorable night with the family & friends will be the highlight! 

Would be great to hear your thoughts on the perfect party?