Hello everyone. I’m just dropping in to share my simple 50th birthday celebrations with you but, before I do, I want to say a huge thank you for every single one of your kind wishes. I felt buffeted by love from every angle on Friday. Whenever I checked my phone there were new messages from different sources and I read every single one. It was absolutely wonderful and I’m so grateful to everyone who took the time to share a moment of the day with me.
I took the whole weekend off which is very unusual for me – I usually spend the equivalent of one day working. This means I already feel very behind with my week so rather than writing a lot, I’m going to let the pictures do the talking. As you know, we had a meeting first thing on Friday so here we are in Cartmel just as it finished.
I’ll talk more about what I was wearing in Friday’s post. For now, I’m just going to tell you what we did. Mr MC had booked us in to Rogan & Co for lunch. Foodies will know that it is owned by the renowned chef Simon Rogan. It is a sister restaurant to L’Enclume (also in Cartmel) which consistently maintains its standing as the best restaurant in the UK (Top 50 Restaurants UK listing).
Simon has also been running the restaurant at Claridges and I suspect he has imported London portion sizes to Cumbria. By anyone’s standards this sliver of bream was a very delicious but very small main course! Mr MC despaired quietly until I reminded him that we were going out for dinner so really, leaving feeling very hungry was a good thing!
We were home in time for the boys coming home from school. I had saved my cards and presents so now I was able to enjoy going through them. As you know I had insisted that I wanted experiences rather than presents and some people were determined to work their way around that creatively.
A friend popped in with a chilled bottle of champagne which was an excellent idea so I opened it and had a quick 15 minutes with the shiny new Kindle that had replaced the one that was broken in the airport incident last Summer. Another friend followed with freshly made chocolates that needed to be opened immediately and a beautiful book – they know me well.
The boys had been amazingly thoughtful. The smallest had lovingly crafted a candlestick in his DT lessons at school. The eldest had sourced some photographic lighting that he felt would improve my indoor shots for Midlifechic. And the middle son rewarded me for our GCSE poetry sessions by asking the market chocolatier to make an Ozymandias inspired chocolate bar.
There were endless little surprises and kindnesses from all kinds of people and Mr MC excelled himself with thoughtful touches like the restringing of the pearls that my parents gave me for my 21st birthday. They have been broken for a long time…
…and the restoration of my favourite Mulberry bag. I used to use this all of the time when the boys were little until it became too battered. When he unearthed it, he found that the little toys that I used to keep for emergencies were still inside. So, as I unwrapped it, the boys each handed one back to me which was a very touching moment. I have put them back inside the bag where they belong.
Colin The Caterpillar cakes have always been a tradition for my birthday, this year Colin had a whole family just like ours.
At this point I had to rush to get changed so that we could go out for dinner. I had chosen to eat at the beautiful art deco Midland Hotel in Morecambe. We love it because the interiors were designed by Eric Gill (the chap who designed the font) and you can still see his beautiful stone carvings inside the hotel. There was time for a shot with the boys before we went in…
Bombshell Top (past season); Skirt (this year’s version); Shoes; Clutch; Necklace
…as always Mr MC was providing irreverent commentary as he was taking the photographs…
…and a very kind passer by even offered to take one of all of us.
I finally had a chance to wear the tulle skirt that I bought for my birthday trip to Paris last year. I couldn’t take it with me then because it would have filled a whole suitcase but now I’m glad I had something special for my 50th.
Bombshell Top (past season); Skirt (this year’s version); Shoes; Clutch; Necklace
I was laughing because this is what the boys were doing… the giant deckchairs are designed for photos but I’m not sure they’re intended for three boys the size of mine. Thankfully it survived!
This gives you an idea of why the restaurant is so famous, the sunsets are spectacular. I didn’t think we were going to get one because it had been quite grey all day but there was a last minute burst of light.
You can see all of the way across Morecambe Bay to the Lake District mountains.
Like most boys mine can find endless entertainment in any inanimate object…
So, we had a lovely meal and even the unadventurous middle son ventured away from ham sandwiches. We told them that they could have three courses and for once, nothing on the menu was off limits (we usually censor their options before they set eyes on things like Chateaubriand). The waiters made a discreet fuss of me – thankfully there was no mariachi ‘happy birthday band’.
So, I just need to say a huge thank you to my lovely husband for a simply perfect birthday.
As you know, we spent the rest of the weekend in Manchester. It doesn’t seem right to talk about the concert that we went to now but, in light of what happened at the MEN Arena last night, we feel particularly fortunate to have had such a carefree time.
Some of the middle son’s friends were at the Ariana Grande event so it all feels particularly close to home. Fortunately they are ok but my heart goes out to everyone who has been involved in the horror. Manchester is such a wonderful city, the people are so strong and full of warmth. What happened makes no sense on any level.
I just want to finish by thanking you again for each of your messages. There were a lot of them so I hope you don’t mind if I don’t answer them individually but please know that I savoured every single one. I’m going to leave you with one last shot of my birthday princess outfit because who knows if I’ll ever have the opportunity to wear it again. Have a wonderful week.
Bombshell Top (past season); Skirt (this year’s version); Shoes; Clutch; Necklace
Disclosure: ‘Simple 50th birthday celebrations’ is not a sponsored post
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