A 50th Birthday Celebration

(No idea why this post is showing on today's date, this was originally posted 12th May 2011)

WOW, what a busy weekend that was.  I still feel as though I am recovering from that one.  This weekend my Dad turned 50.

Of course we had to throw him a surprise party, and boy was he surprised ; )

There was around 140 people all there especially for him, it was great to meet family I have heard loads about and still not met, yes I know I am almost 24 and still not met all of my family, my Dad has a lot of cousins.  There were people there that he hadn't seen for years and I know my Dad was really pleased to see so many familiar faces.  He even said to me at one point during the evening, everywhere I turn there are people that I know, hahaha 'of course you do Dad it is your party you old fool!'

His cake was amazing (although may I add I am not a Spurs fan myself, or even a football fan at all for that matter)

We let off 50 sky lanterns for the occasion as well, it looked really good and just added that special touch to the evening.

It was an evening we will be talking about for many years to come I'm sure.

Monday which was his actual birthday saw us to London for the day for an absolutely fantastic performance that evening.  We had tickets to see Shrek The Musical.  Well let me tell you this, book tickets to see it for yourself, whether you have children or not it is a MUST see production.  I loved it and can't wait to go back to see it again, it was hilarious and by far the best show I have ever seen.

I'm staying with my Nan tonight to keep her company, so I'm off now for a cuppa and natter before bed.

Night all,

Love Gem xxx

Graffiti

This is something pretty different to what I normally write about but I just had to post this.  This really made me smile.  I have no idea how long it has been there for but I know it has been a while.

I'm talking about this.

This is a photo heavy post but I just had to share it with you.

The trail goes on for ages.

There is so much talent used for these pieces.

What I really like though is how it has been expressed in this way rather than on the side of buildings.

Is it art?  What do you think?

I'd say it is.  It takes some talent to be able to create work like this.

I've no idea how many people it took to create all of these pieces or how long it took to finish it all.

I will be keeping my eyes open to see if there is anything else like it in the area.

I can't imagine that this would be the only space that they have created.

Each board is different than the one before.

A few familiar faces.

Some not so familiar.

But all brilliant in their own way.

There really were so many pieces there so I will leave you with the rest of them.

Not at all bad hey!

Love Gem x x x  x

The Cherry On Top

I am a sucker for a tea room, I love them.  The only trouble is there just seem to be so many and not enough time to try them all out.  One in particular that I have liked the look of for some time is Cherry On Top in Chelmsford.

I went for lunch there with my parents to try it out.  It looks very welcoming from the outside with pretty trees outside the door way and lovely big windows.

Once inside I was still impressed with the overall feel of the place and how it had all been decorated.  I especially liked the fresh flowers on the counter to brighten the place up, although I was not at all welcomed by either of the two members of staff who just continued with their conversation, completely ignoring us.

We chose a table upstairs as when we arrived there were no vacant tables downstairs, which was a shame as downstairs does seem a lot nicer.

I ordered the afternoon tea, it just had to be done.  The scones were still warm and tasted very fresh, it came with butter which seemed a bit strange to me, usually you just get the jam and clotted cream which would have been sufficient enough.

I can't help but think this place is really lacking in a lot of things though which I find such a shame for somewhere with so much potential.  The staff were rude and there was no atmosphere in there at all, even though it was fairly busy.  I feel that perhaps some soft ,music playing in the background would have made quite a bit of a difference.

The presentation wasn't up to much.  I must say I do like the miss matched china which could have worked really well here.  Everything just seemed to uniformed if you get what I am saying.  All the chairs and tables were exactly the same which did make the place flow nicely but there was something just not quite right.

I will be honest, I won't be visiting again, but there are still plenty of others in reach that I am still yet to try :)

~ Gem x 

Bank Holiday Camping

I'm back.  I had hoped to have blogged quite a while ago but I had miss placed my laptop charger and so was unable to access my photos.  Still I have it now so that is the important thing.

Over the Easter weekend me and James went camping.  The weather was pretty rubbish and it was very cold so we only camped for 2 nights rather than the 3 we had originally planned.  We were lucky to have had some nice weather on Friday, it is just a shame that it couldn't have lasted all weekend.

We have stayed at this campsite twice before and will no doubt be staying again in the future.  It is in such a brilliant location, the owners are lovely people and it isn't too far away from home for us to travel.  The campsite itself is on a working farm.  I love going there in the spring just to be able to see all the calfs and lambs :)

The other thing I love about camping is being able to have a camp fire.  It certainly warms up those cold evenings.

We cooked a couple of meals over the fire.  My favourite of the weekend was a sausage casserole.

It was lovely eating dinner outside by the fire watching the sunset.

Then as darkness surrounded us we lit up the gas lanterns and gazed up at the stars and the huge moon in the night sky.

On Saturday we made a visit to Rye.  It is a beautiful town with endless things to look at and numerous antique shops too :)

Weather aside it was a lovely weekend.

How was your Easter weekend?

Love Gem x x x x