Thank you for all your wishes yesterday, I was successful in my mission to celebrate all weekend and today I feel a bit more than one year older! When I left you on Friday, we were off to our primary school family fun night where we got together with a great group of friends for rounders and a barbecue. We’re lucky because one of the playground dads is MD of a well known wine company and so donates fabulous wine for the event. As you can understand, because the proceeds go to the school we all do our best to contribute by drinking lots of it! It was a great evening apart from the fact that Mr MC’s rounders team won and mine lost – but then he did have a team made up of all the dads and high school kids whereas mine consisted of one noble friend along with most of reception and year one – they made up for their lack of hitting the ball with their boundless enthusiasm and reminded me that organising small children into a team game is like herding cats!
Anyway here’s a pic with two of my friends as the sun was setting, I’m not sure why we all chose to wear white trousers when we knew we’d be sitting on grass and hay!
- White jeans: Zara (old)
- Blue long sleeved t-shirt: Gap
- Bomber jacket: Warehouse
- Necklace: Zara
- Silver ballet shoes (not seen): Boden (old)
And here is the first of lots of birthday cakes I’ve eaten, brought by my lovely friend (and photobombed by her son):
It was a brilliant start to the weekend although the next morning I slightly wished we hadn’t invited everyone (and their children) back to ours when I woke up to the devastation. Anyway it didn’t matter because I had a nice day planned with friends going to a Boden party, so I left it Mr MC and the boys to sort things out. I know I sometimes moan about living in the North but one of the good things is that because there isn’t a private school system, you get to know all kinds of people. This means that your children are at school with the children of doctors, plumbers, teachers, builders, farmers and … landed gentry… whose houses you get to go to for coffee. The Boden party was being held in one of these kinds of houses:
Honestly, amongst the oil paintings and antiques, the children’s school paintings are stuck on the walls with blue tack just like in any other home. I’m not going to say too much more about it now because it’s going to be the content of my next post but suffice to say, we had a brilliant time trying things on and deciding what to buy. We also had tea and cake outside:
…and admired the view…
….then stopped off at a country pub on the way home for a glass of fizz:
- Lace and linen t-shirt: Zara
- Necklace: Majorica
- (Worn with skinny jeans and navy sixties slingbacks)
Sunday was a quiet day for me but a big one for Mr MC who achieved his goal of a place on the British Karate Squad. I guess this means I’ll be seeing even less of him than I already do but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
And of course then it was Monday and my actual birthday – can you guess what I got? Yes – the suede jacket – eagerly egged on by you all I kept it. It was too hot to wear it but here’s a reminder:
NW3 Issie jacket: Hobbs
Mr MC had excelled himself by planning a surprise day out. We started off in Kirkby Lonsdale which is a gorgeous little market town great for boutique shopping, in fact it’s where Jamaica Inn was filmed if you watched it over Easter. If you’re ever looking for somewhere for a lovely, relaxing weekend away I can’t recommend it enough – there are 3 boutique hotels, a handful of really good restaurants, the shops as mentioned and a breathtaking walk to Ruskin’s View which was the poet and painter’s favourite spot.
The weather, which had been baking hot when we set off, suddenly turned as you can see (I’d been told to look smart by the way, hence the dress):
- Audrey dress: Boden (past season)
- Suede sixties slingbacks: Boden (past season)
- Lena Jacket: Whistles
- Bag: ancient Burberry – it’s the first time I’ve used this for years but I thought I’d try it out again. It still had little dinosaurs and cowboy figures in the bottom from when the boys were little which made me feel a little nostalgic.
What I didn’t cotton onto until later was that Mr MC was noting the things I stopped and looked at in the shops and then going along behind me and buying some of them…now if I’d known at the time…! So here are some of my little extras:
Unpolished silver necklace by Treaty
Umbrella by Noa (the heavens suddenly opened)
From the tiny Boots chemist – let’s hope it’s as miraculous as they say! There was also a big bag of fudge and toffee but that’s long gone I’m afraid.
Final stop was for a lovely gourmet pub lunch near Kendal: sea bream and more prosecco.
Then it was time to head off for tea and cake with the boys before Mr MC disappeared to karate training …it starts…!
Leaving you with a glimpse of the cheeky card from my eldest:
So, I’m another year older but hugely grateful for my friends, family, brilliant husband and now all of you lovely people that I’m getting to know through my blog. Back later in the week with dodgy selfies of things tried on at the Boden party (with a few priceless oil paintings in the background)!
