Truly Madly Vintage & Homemade Fair

On Saturday I decided to pop into my local town centre to visit the Truly Madly Vintage and Homemade fair, I knew there would be some fellow bloggers there, some I had met before and some I hadn't, so I was keen to meet the person behind the blog.  As well as this I also picked up some pretty little things as well : ) 

The bloggers in question here are Rose at Victoria Rose who I had met before and Victoria from Florence & Mary, it was so lovely to be able to meet the lady herself, especially as we don't really live that far apart.  They were sharing a stall and I picked up this little beauty from Rose, I saw them at the last fair I went to and regretted not getting one, I have since been looking at them on her Facebook page and just couldn't resist the temptation any longer, it looks almost good enough to eat.

I also picked up this pretty necklace from Sparrow & Nightingale. 

And these cute little covered buttons, not sure what I am going to do with them yet, but I'm sure I will find a use for them, which I bought from Princess Crafts.  She is arranging her own fair in Braintree in August, so if anyone would be interested in having their own stall do get in touch with her, I'm sure she will be pleased to hear from you.

I have also been shopping in the local charity shops again : )  I just can't help myself, and can never seem to come away empty handed. (sorry for quality of lighting in these photos, I just realised I hadn't re-posted these and so have just taken them again)

Not bad for a weekend hey!

~ Gem x

Virtual Coffee- An Evening Of Burlesque

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I was feeling a lot worse then I was expecting to feel, but onward and upwards I say.  The tooth has now been removed and I am well on the road to recovery.

A while back I had seen this advertised to be shown at our local theatre, almost immediately I bought 2 tickets for me and James to go, and I had been looking forward to it ever since.

The time came on Friday night and as you can imagine James was rather quite looking forward to the evening ahead, secretly so was I, well let's face it I wouldn't have bought the tickets otherwise.  Well we were not disappointed.  It was a great show, with quite a bit of variety as well.

Piff the Magic Dragon - A magic act, obviously and the only male act, he bagged himself a show to be part of there didn't he!

Wow this girl could really hula, it puts my efforts to shame, it was amazing.

And then there was the burlesque.

This girl was fantastic and probably one of my faves, although she did come across being a little bit moody, but my god this woman could play the piano and she could move, her dance routine was brilliant, she had me mesmerised.

I loved this act, she used a lot of comedy which didn't seem as obvious in other acts (well not to me anyway)

These are some of the girls, the cast changes from show to show, I believe there are around 20 of them in total.  The costumes were gorgeous, the dance routines were fantastic, the girls were all really pretty and it was certainly a tantalising show that didn't leave much to the imagination.  

I will be honest, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the evening, but I am glad I went, you know me, I like to try things that I wouldn't usually try and will always give something a go, life is too short not to, I am a firm believer of living life for the moment and taking every opportunity that comes your way.  I was impressed, it was very good and I was surprised at the audience it had attracted.  There were definitely more women than men and quite a lot of OAP's, I first wondered if they knew what they were in for but they all seemed to have a great night and that is what it is all about at the end of the day. 

They are currently touring the country.  I would highly recommend it, although don't get seats in the front row like I did, you do get picked on, much to my embarrassment, James was not fazed though when he was picked on by the host of the show he told her and the rest of the theatre that I was his sister - You can imagine the look he received from me for this one, ha ha you have to laugh though, the cheeky little bugger, his sister, honestly, why would you go to a burlesque show with your sister!!!!!! Typical guy hey, this sure proved that they think down there and not up there that's for sure : )

More information can be found about where they will be performing on the website which is where I got all the pictures for this post, as you weren't allowed to take photos during the show, for obvious reasons. 

All in all it was a great night and worth the wait to go and see it.

~ Gem x 

P.S Thank you to everyone who has entered my giveaway so far and good luck to you all.  I have now reached 50 followers!!!!!  Thank you so much, and welcome to my new followers.

Giveaway Time

(Giveaway now closed)

What a scorcher it has been today, I felt like I was abroad on holiday, it was lovely.  I will be keeping you posted on what I got up to this weekend over the next couple of days, but for now I wanted to let you all about a giveaway I am holding.

It is my birthday coming up soon and in August I will have been blogging for a whole year, it has gone so quick and it is the best decision I have made in a long time, I have enjoyed every minute of it and have met some amazing people both through the net and face to face.  Thank you to all my followers, especially those who have been with me since the beginning and welcome to all my new followers.  I love reading all your comments, they make me smile every time.  So the giveaway.

I have opted for a girls night in theme, but will keep the actual items you will be receiving as a little surprise, who doesn't like surprises, right! 
All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is:

1. Be a follower of my blog, new or old (let's see if we can reach 50 followers)

2. Leave a comment on this post and for each person who comments I will add your name to a pot

3. I will put your name in again for each of the following also:

  Blog about the giveaway (1 additional entry)

  Pop it in your side bar (1 additional entry)

  Tweet about the giveaway (1 additional entry)

  Mention it on Facebook (1 additional entry)

Please let me know if you have done any of these so I can check it out : )

Here's the button you will need for your sidebar.

Giveaway closes Sunday 10th July and the winner will be announced Monday 11th July.

Good luck everyone and thank you again for following, I really appreciate your support.  Hope you have all had an amazing weekend, I will begin telling you all about mine tomorrow, while I will be feeling sorry for myself after my visit to the dentist : (

Love Gem xxx

Father's Day

It seems like it was ages ago now, yet it was only 4 days ago.  We knew this year father's day would be hard as it would be the first one without my Grandad, although I am sure he was still there with us.  As I have said before my Grandad was a very keen fisherman.  He would be fishing at any opportunity.

Always the comedian, he could always make us laugh.  I miss that.

He even went when he was ill, we think this must have been his last trip fishing, he became so weak after this, and I know he was desperate to go again.  One evening my Dad lay with him on the bed (he was bed bound for about 4 months at the end) the 2 of them pretended they were fishing and lay there casting out their rods and lay there talking about what they had caught - strangely enough, they didn't catch anything : ) but they had a laugh.

We were so pleased that he kept his sense of humour right till the end.  So back to the fishing.  There was one lake in particular where he used to spend a lot of his time.  In his memory and for Father's Day we arranged for a bench to be placed near his fishing spot and we went to see it for the first time on Sunday.

This is the view of the lake from the bench, you can see his fishing peg on the right.

He would have been so pleased.  Now we know part of him will always remain where he loved to spend so much of his time.  He had a lot of friends that also fished at the lake, so this is something they can enjoy also.  I'm sure I will be making plenty of visits here in the future and in a way I will be able to feel close to him.

The first family photo since March.  I will be honest, it still doesn't feel real, it doesn't feel as though it has happened and I know this will probably be the case for quite some time.  It has taken me ages to write this post and even now just before posting I am finding it hard to see the screen where my eyes are blurred from tears.  I miss him so much, and will miss him for the rest of my life.  But I know I am lucky, many people live their lives never having known their grandparents so I am grateful for this opportunity, but it doesn't make it any easier now that I have lost him to this cruel and evil disease.

I love you and miss you Grandad and I hope you are catching plenty of fish, whilst you are fishing in heaven.

Love Gem xxxxxx

Late Virtual Coffee

Hello, I'm here, sorry I'm late.  My posts are still very few and far between at the moment, I apologise for this and hopefully blogging should be back to normal again very soon.  The truth is I have been in a bit of pain recently with my tooth, it has been agony.  I have been to the dentist and have been told that I have an infection under the tooth, which has caused it to wobble (I feel like a kid again with a wobbly tooth, I wonder if the tooth fairy visits adults?????) Well, I have to go back again on Monday to have the tooth taken out, I am not looking forward to that.

Anyway we don't want to be discussing this over coffee do we.  Instead, I hope you don't mind but I wanted to show you some new clothes I have bought.

I have a few things to share with you so I will split them into numerous posts over the next couple of days.

The sun has finally started to shine after hours and hours of rain, lets hope it holds out for the rest of the evening for us all to enjoy.

Love Gem xxx

Virtual Coffee - Anyone For A Sleepover?

If I were really having coffee with you today I would invite you round to mine for a sleepover.  We could make an evening of it, DVDs, chocolate, popcorn, you name it we can have it : )

When I was younger I used to love sleepovers, whether it was a friend staying at mine or me staying at theirs, they never failed to keep us entertained with endless nights spent gossipping, playing games or watching films.

So for today's coffee I thought I would show you around my room.

I'm quite lucky to have quite a big room, lots of space and plenty of storage : )

I love the picture of Marilyn on the wall, James' Mum bought it for me for my birthday a couple of years ago, I have never fallen out of love with it.  I also love the beautiful dummy my Mum bought me more recently

My magazine rack filled with crafty magazines

Thrifty bottles with my orchids from Ikea

A close up of the recycled bottle (not great quality, always difficult to take photos with light streaming in from behind, sorry)

My pretty rose scented hearts hanging from the drawers at the bottom of my bed (bought from Avon Cosmetics)

I picked up the birdcage from Matalan I think and the small heart shaped tea lights from a local market, I just couldn't resist them, they are all soooo cute.

Another purchase from Matalan and my home made tea cup candle : )

My little rose scented chicken to hold my wardrobe door open of a morning when I am getting ready, I love the floral pattern - I picked this little chick up from The Range.

I hope you enjoyed your little view of my world, we will have to arrange another sleepover real soon, I have had a great time : )

Thanks for coffee,

Love Gem xxx