In which I remember how to go out ...

Socialising hasn't been my strong point for the last couple of years, if a report was to be written about my social achievements (or lack thereof) it would be pretty damning. After suffering severe social anxiety I stopped going out at all. In fact prior to last weekend my last 'evenings out' were these -

My 'leaving the library' do

Look how thin I am!

Lou and Sam's wedding -

Me and gorgeous Lou

Me (in a red bow and bag shocker), Lydia and Alli

Me, Lydia and Hilary .... the first rule of Polka Dot Club .....

And my 25th Birthday -

Me (in a Mars shirt shocker) and Helen

Luke, Hilary, James and Lydia

Showing exactly how much of a shortarse I actually am

Over the last year I've been so lucky to get back in contact with my friends and this weekend I had a new 'socialising' challenge of Jo's hen night. I was super nervous as although I'd been seeing the gang regularly it was normally at Luke & Barry's (aka Party Central) so in a comfort zone. It was also going to be a bigger group that included people I didn't know. 

The afternoon started with tea at Bills where I indulged my inner Mad Hatter -

I believe the technical term is nom nom nom

Ladies what tea

After lining ourselves with tea and cake we spent the rest of the evening at Hudsons where we learnt the art of cocktail making. I made official photographer for the evening which actually helped the anxiety by giving me something to focus on. 

Here are my pick of the photos -

Firstly it's the girl of the night Jo looking stunning

The group propping up the bar

Me and Hilary getting a fit of the giggles after she tried to mix Bacardi with my arm rather than her cocktail ...

My Purple Rain cocktail - naturally I renamed it Purple Haze after one of my fave songs by Jimi Hendrix

Me, Hilary, Lydia & Jo with our handiwork

Hilary, Alli, Lydia and Holly

Me and Alli

Next up we made my favourite cocktail the Cosmopolitan (just call me Carrie Bradshaw)

Lydia and Hilary

This is my 'listening carefully' face

Concentration face #1 (plus one nervous looking barman)

Concentration face #2

Shaking it Taylor Swift style

V proud of my cocktail

Jo making her Cosmo

Me, Jo and our friends the Strawberry Daquiris

Jo and Lyds

Me, Jo & Lyds

The evening went pretty well I think, everyone seemed to be having fun when Alli and I left about half 10 to get home to our respective offspring (human in her case furry in mine). 

Quote of the evening goes to Hilary's "We're not lairy, we just get things done" and as Jeremy Clarkson would say "On that bombshell ... goodnight"

Love Jen

XxxX

Who Are You? (Who, Who, Who, Who)

I wanted to share some photos from Mum, Dad and I's trip to London to see The Who a couple of weeks ago. You may remember that we were due to see them just before Christmas but the show was postponed.

Because the show was on a Sunday it meant that we had the 'experience' of railway engineering works (to my non-UK readers railway engineering works are a national hate in the manner of our weather and running out of tea!). This meant that Dad got to experience the chop and change between buses and trains followed by the tube (I think he enjoyed the experience really).

Once we finally got to London we went to one of my favourite restaurants Byron Hamburgers in Greenwich, they have different restaurants all over London, each with a different theme.

Me and Mum in Byron

How pretty is Canary Wharf station?

An attempt at arty night photography whilst waiting for the DLR to the O2

Obviously the main event of the day was The Who. The day before I'd chopped my hair into a 60's style bob for the occasion and I can confirm it makes head shaking during songs v fun!

Looking the part with 60s hair, make up and a Henry Holland dress

The Who were obviously fantastic, they're one of the bands that Mum and Dad love and had never seen live and I was so happy to share that experience with them. 

Richardson family selfie!

We were quite far back so my pictures aren't great but here are a few -

Anyone who does their encore with a cup of tea in their hand is quite obviously a legend!

In fact we enjoyed the show so much that the next morning, over breakfast, Mum and I booked tickets to see them in Hyde Park in June! The support acts are the Kaiser Chiefs who I've always wanted to see, Paul Weller & Johnny Marr so it'll be like a mini festival!

We went back to Greenwich again the next day and had a wander around. I love the architecture of the buildings there, especially Sir Christopher Wren's Royal Naval College. 

Stunning

Mum and Dad trying to hurry me up whilst I was snapping photos

Through the arches

We went to the National Maritime Museum. My favourite part was a world map that kids (and er me) could run around on. There may have been a small incident where I pretended to be a Vulcan bomber  taking off from RAF Waddington, pausing at Ascension Island (which turned out to be next to the 'E' of 'Atlantic Ocean' after a little searching) and wandering down to The Falklands ....... 

Walking round the world

I survived the Bermuda Triangle!

Love these ships lamps

The museum is another beautiful building and that weekend had grounds full of daffodils. 

 

I normally try to end my blogs with a snappy send off but in this case I'm going to leave you with the advice: If you ever get the chance to see The Who then for gods sake go!

Love Jen

XxxX

Bete Noire - an awesome jewellery website

I want to share a really cool jewellery website called Bete Noire that I've discovered, it sells really cool and quirky handmade jewellery (check out Beth's bio here). As you know I love making my own jewellery (with far more basic techniques!) so anything quirky and different is bound to catch my magpie eye!

There is so much choice on the website I really was spoilt! There are so many different, cool ranges. Eventually, after much deliberation, I went for a necklace that I feel describes me well ..

Each item is custom made, you can select colours, chain length etc so it's worth noting that if you are ordering these as a gift for someone then it won't arrive immediately (although the finished product is well worth waiting for). There is also a custom store which has given me plenty of gift ideas!

I also loved the Unicorn necklace, Punk Rock earrings and Mad Hatter necklace .

You can find Bete Noire on -

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/BeteNoireJewellery

Twitter - https://twitter.com/betenoirecustom

Check out the site, it's well worth it!

Love Jen

XxxX