Coffee Morning

Today was MacMillan's World's Biggest Coffee Day and as usual a member of the Core Therapy Team (we share office space with the CT Team) took time to organise a coffee morning in our building.  Sue not only contributes a number of baked goods herself (She makes the best brownies) but comes in and sets everything up on her own time; she also sells greeting cards and other stationary products and contributes 25% of the sales to MacMillan. Often, members of both teams pitch in as well and bring in more scrumptious treats to add to the bounty on sale. Those who don't cheerfully show their support by partaking in the delightful cakes and coffee on hand after making a donation of their choosing.  

Last year I made pumpkin spiced cupcakes for the cause, however this week has been a busy one for me so unfortunately my contribution was only monetary this time round.  

It's not hard for me to donate money to such an amazing charity, however it wasn't so easy to turn my back on the beautiful cakes and cookies that were on display this morning (especially the chocolate brownies... I'm drooling just looking at them).

But I did.  

Sue, her mum and the team did MacMillan proud and I'm looking forward to finding out what the grand total raised was when we report back to work on Monday.

For any of you who may not be aware of who MacMillan Cancer Support are, or what they do, feel free to  check out their web page here.

The look on his face said it all

Once your ultra cool kid reaches the age of 16 it begins to get a little more difficult to impress them . I'm sure it will begin to get a little bit easier the older they get.  So when we asked Alex what he wanted for his 21st birthday we were touched that he wanted to go out for dinner with the Allenby Clan. He hasn't asked for anything else.  Ironically Natasha asked for a family gathering for her 21st as well.  Maybe it isn't so much the issue that they (like most young adults) are harder to impress. It would appear that our children (unlike a lot of young adults) seem to enjoy spending time with their family.  I'm not sure how that happened but we will take it. 

When I commissioned another cake from my friend I knew that she would do a fantastic job.  I had no idea that she would come up with such a 'super' creation from the few tips I gave her regarding Alex.  The fact that I chose the perfect cake designer (and that I know my boy and what he's into) was definitely proven the moment he saw his cake:  

 Alex - looking 'super' impressed

Happy 21st Alex :) 

I love this one of our three

Natasha and her lovely boyfriend Martin

We all seem to love a good get together; I especially enjoy seeing moments like these captured: 

(Thanks to a local Lincolnshire bobby)

It was a great night, full of good food and lots of laughs. 

If any of you live in the local Lincolnshire area, I strongly recommend the fabulous talents of Dee at 

Dee'licious & D'vine

(There is talk of SuperDry featuring this in one of their magazine publications which would be such an amazing bonus for Dee)

Andy and I made it to Paris last weekend so I will post about our Parisian adventure soon. 

It's Party Time

Well it's almost here: the weekend I have been looking forward to for many months now.  It's quiet and peaceful here this morning and I'm going to take advantage while I enjoy my coffee and get a bit of work done before things get a little hectic. 

I finish work at noon today and only  need to stop to have my nails done before going home and taking Molly on our last long walk this week.  Then it's time to get whatever packing I need sorted for tomorrow because Andy and I are both going to Paris on the Eurostar; ;it was touch and go in the week and I was beginning to get a bit anxious that I'd be going on my own.  I really can't imagine going to Paris without him and now I don't have to.  It won't be the quite the weekend full of 'l'amour' that we had originally hoped for (and not only because Andy isn't up to his usual level of stallion-like behaviour, but because mother nature has a bad habit of turning up for us girl's when we least want her.)  Bah...at least I don't have to bother packing uncomfortable underwear. Besides, it's wildly romantic to just be in Paris with the one you love.

However first we need to put on our glad rags to tear up the streets of Lincoln for our boy's 21st birthday tonight. We've got a huge evening of drunken antics planned to embarrass him in the way that only parents can... No, not really, we have much more class than that.  Well we don't actually but we can pretend we are a civilised family right? Honestly though, we are looking forward to a family gathering at Carluccio's for pasta, wine and cake and at least we aren't making him drive himself as he'd originally arranged with his sister.  We might not be in the running for Parents of the Year Award but we do think that a lad should be able to enjoy a few alcoholic beverages at his own party. Especially since he opted to celebrate with us.  We can't be all bad eh?

Today is also a momentous one for our Canadian Dawn (aka Longbottom) because she marries her best friend Steve in Niagara Falls, Canada later today.  She posted this photo yesterday and I only hope today is half as gorgeous for them:

Sunrise over Niagara Falls

Happy Wedding Day to one of the best girl's I've ever known.  I hope that she finds as much contentment and laughter with her husband as I do with mine.  

OK, this post is beginning to turn rather soppy so I'll wrap it up.  

I hope you enjoy your weekend wherever in the world you may be. 

September Soirees

Here we are, halfway through September already.  I just don't know where the time is going. One thing for sure, this month is one full of milestones.

My friend and colleagues, Alison and Jayne both  turn 40 this month; Alison will celebrate her actual birthday in Italy, however we had a little celebration of our own last weekend and commissioned this beauty from my friend Dee...

Beautifully made with love by Dee'licious & D'vine

We met for cake and champagne before heading for a fantastic Thai meal and a few glasses of wine.

Cheers Ali! 

f

 Me and Em enjoying a few cocktails :) 

The rest of the month looks something like this:

 Friday night the family are getting together at a restaurant in Lincoln to celebrate Alex's 21st (his birthday is on the 24th).   It should be a great night out but it seems like only yesterday we were celebrating his 18th...

(I can't believe he was even wearing his '18' badge)

Also on Friday our Canadian friends Dawn and Steve get married Niagara Falls.  They are honeymooning in Europe and on Saturday, Andy and I leave to take the train to Paris to meet up with the newly-weds. We can't wait to see them and spend time with them catching up and getting to know Steve a little bit better.   We connect with them on the Monday morning and will have the whole day and evening to explore the city, eat and drink wine together. I love that this time next week will we all be in Paris.

Andy had surgery a week ago today and although it hit him a lot harder physically than he thought it would, each day he is beginning to feel a little bit better. I'm sure by Saturday morning he will be fine to travel; we may not be able to walk as much as we normally do on city breaks but that just means we take more time out to sit in the cafes and parks drinking coffee (or wine) watching the world go by... 

My sister, aunt and cousin all celebrated their birthday's last week.  My dad will turn 61 on the 30th of this month.  

We would have had another milestone birthday to celebrate this month, as Andy's sister Claire would have turned 50 on the 28th if she was still with us; however are still going to gather at Andy's parent's house on the Saturday afternoon to eat and raise a glass in celebration of Claire's beautiful life. 

So it has been, and will continue to be, a jam packed month.  

Before we know it the Christmas season will be here and Andy and I will be bound for Halifax for a McDonald Family Christmas.