Grandad's 80th birthday

cutest picture ever!

   

   

   

 

Last weekend, we had a rare family gathering to celebrate my granddad turning the grand old age of 80! Even though my sister and I and our respective partners were the youngest by a quite a few decades, it was so much fun and great to see relatives that I haven't seen in years.

 

My grandparents were so cute and put on the nicest spread of finger food from Waitrose including fresh dressed crab and prawns, tortillas, chicken wings, cold meats and more, followed by mini cakes and pastries, profiteroles, fruit salad and my grandma's homemade boozy trifle. There was plenty of alcohol flowing too which I think the younger ones of the group enjoyed the most.

 

They had even thought up some party games which allowed everyone to mingle, relax and have a good laugh. There was guess how many coins are in the jar and how much they totalled up to - which I won! (a box of chocolates in case you are wondering) and guess how much the weight of the cake is and a small quiz to end. It was something everyone could get involved with and was just so cute and thoughtful! Lastly there was a free raffle where everyone got a prize including mantlepiece clocks from John Lewis (Matt got this and loved it!), aftershave kits, scented candles, bottles of wine and more. There had been so much thought put into the day and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and laughed lots. To top of the day, my great uncle had written two poems about my granddad which were so lovely and speeches were delivered that made my grandma cry!

 

It was a wonderful day and I'm so pleased I could celebrate with everyone. We had another birthday party in the evening for Matt's friend in Tooting which was great fun too, but was quite different to my granddads as it was a house party and then onto a club called Infernos (although I don't think anyone made it to the club in the end!) Two birthday parties in one day knackered us out but they are one of my favourite things! What have you been up to recently? xxx

Turning 21 | Part 1 |

Last Sunday it was my birthday and I turned 21!! Although it is quite scary to be properly in my 20s now, I'm also really excited to start the next chapter of my life. I had the most amazing of weekends which I will remember for ever, so thought I would share some snippets of what we did on LML as this is kind of like an online diary for me as well as a place to rave about beauty. I felt so lucky, loved and happy the whole weekend and it really made me cherish having such amazing friends and family. Part 1 will focus on what I did with my family.

We began the weekend by having cocktails at the American Bar in the Savoy hotel and then we met up with my sister, her boyfriend and Matt and had a pre-theatre dinner in the Riverside restaurant there. It was so sweet Matt met me with some pink Moet and flowers :) Needless to say, the food and service was impeccable and it was an amazing treat to begin my birthday. After dinner I got presented with a plate decorated with some handmade chocolates and lemon macaroons which said happy birthday that was a lovely touch! We then got taxis to the theatre where the show was, which was meant to be a surprise, but my Grandma let slip earlier in the day (doh!) that we were going to see Phantom of the Opera which was so exciting as I have always wanted to see it. The show was fabulous although I wasn't expecting it to be so scary (I screamed twice :|) My mum and dad even bought me a mug afterwards as I collect mugs from places I have been and being a massive tea drinker I find I can never have enough! 

On the Saturday I had all my family over for a pseudo-Christmas lunch as Matt couldn't be with us on Christmas day and I love everything to do with Christmas! It was amazing, we had turkey and beef with all the trimmings and we even had my Grandma's homemade Christmas pud for dessert. We watched some baby videos of when I was first born which was rather embarrassing and had tea, birthday cake and turkey sandwiches in the late afternoon. I also opened some early birthday presents from my grandparents and extended family and felt so lucky. I'm not going to list everything I got as personally I don't like to do that, but I have included a few pictures of some special gifts that you might be interested in (also see my instagram!) 

The next day was my birthday and I opened my first present in bed - a bag that Louise also has! I then went downstairs and opened the rest of my presents from Matt and my parents with some Bucks Fizz. Matt was so thoughtful and got me 21 gifts arranged into three boxes which were colour coded - pink, gold and blue - each which represented a different area of my personality. It was so thoughtful and lovely I felt so lucky! My favourite present was in a Tiffany box - he put a set of keys to his flat in there which was really romantic! He also got me something to keep for ever which was a Tiffany pearl bracelet that is so beautiful. In the evening we made our way back to Birmingham for the best concert of my life - to see Trey Songz!!! I've loved him for years and to see him so close (we were right by the barrier) made my life!! I didn't get too many good photos as I was too busy screaming haha.

Overall, it was such a memorable and perfect weekend!! Part 2 will be what I got up to with my friends :) xxx