Rest of Birthday presents and Kiki's invitation to play

We got back from holiday last night and after unpacking and settling in a little, we set up Kiki's remaining presents. 

Butlins Birthday

As we were away for Kiki's birthday, we took some of her presents with us to leave out for her in the morning.

I took wrapping paper, but forgot sellotape so left them unwrapped.

Like she cared, she was happy to get straight in to playing. She especially loved her little dolls' house from her Uncle and Aunt.

Birthday Card Craft

As part of my promise to myself, I am trying to do more crafting again. I needed a birthday card from my good friend's birthday today, so I made it.

Here it is:

Here's another two showing the decoupage:

What do you think? Please let me know.

Happy Birthday Fran, we love you x

Birthday Afternoon Tea @ The Queens

For my birthday my friend and I booked Afternoon Tea at The Queens Hotel in Leeds.
It was booked through a Living Social deal, so cheaper too!

The building does look quite impressive and it was nice. The staff were friendly and happily changed our teas to cold drinks for us.

The food was nice, four individual finger sandwiches, (salmon & crème fraiche,  ham & course grain mustard, egg mayonnaise, and the compulsory cucumber one).
A warm scone with strawberry jam.
A selection of home-made cakes and pastries, (fruit tart, banoffee, almond tart).

We weren't rushed, although the bar area was very quiet, it was a midweek afternoon.
Overall, a great time, I'd go again.

eBay Birthday Bargains

I have used eBay for lots of things, especially whilst pregnant and since for baby related things. I mean some things are ridiculously expensive and only used for such a short time. 

For example, when I was pregnant I bought a load of second hand muslins dirty cheap, OK so they weren't white anymore, but a boil wash and a packet of Flamingo pink machine dye and I had cheap funky muslins. We have had lots of compliments on them too!

I have bought and sold quite a lot of clothes too.

So I often have a look on baby related items, just in case. I wanted a parent handled trike for Little Lady's birthday, I really liked the Smart Trike but it was too expensive for us. I looked on eBay and managed to get a Hello Kitty Trike, a toddler slide, and a bundle of Fisher Price, Toys R' Us, etc. toys from the same buyer for £19! 

What a bargain!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Although Kiki's first birthday isn't until tomorrow, daddy is working, so we decided to make the most of the weather and have a barbecue.

The Little Lady was spoiled rotten and has so many new beautiful clothes. In fact they fill half of her wardrobe (and its a full size one, not baby sized!). Some of them are so gorgeous, I admit to being a tad jealous.

I am grateful to our friends that came to make Kiki's first birthday so special xxx

Top 30 things to do before you are 30

I recently hit the 'Thirty' milestone with some discontentment. I say hit, I actually slammed into it!

I not sure why it upset me so much, I had an inkling it was coming for the last, well thirty years!

I got the usual cheery cards with the 'On this day', 'What was popular in 1979' and 'by now you should have...' quotes and verses, so along with a sudden feeling of overwhelming oldness, I felt  unaccomplished as well.

Having only ticked ten or so of the boxes, it set me thinking about what I had actually done and what I had pledged to do by the time I was a proper grown up. 

I will start with an apology, I still have not managed the grown up part, but here is my top thirty list of things I think every geek (or person, you decide) should fulfil by the time they reach the big 3-0:

1. Worked out your Geek Code and used it somewhere, blogs, websites, T-shirts, etc. If you have not done it yet or have forgotten, instructions and details http://www.geekcode.com/ 
2. Started a blog or website, with regular updates, usually from your mobile. Maybe even linked all your social media sites...
3. Traced your family history and found nothing of interest. Sorry but 'Who do you think you are?' have dumped celebrities for not having interesting enough ancestors. Why should yours be any more exciting?
4. Got a tattoo. You obviously get extra points if it's your geek code, a computer symbol or a Sci Fi / fantasy character.
5. Gone to a Sci Fi and / or Comic Convention, only counts if you went in character.
6. Have scowled and / or scorned your IT support for being incompetent, yes muttering under your breath counts.
7. Corrected a Sales Advisor on specifications.
8. Have queued in line for hours for a new release, e.g. game console, game, latest gadget etc.
9. Have wrote to a games and / or gadget manufacturer to offer advice and improvements.
10. Have taken something apart to see how it worked, bonus points if you put it back together and it works, even with that extra bit still in your hand!
11. Built a working robot.
12. Built at least one computer.
13. Invented something, even better if you actually physically made it.
14. Pledged to write a book, must of thought of a title as a minimum though.
15. Made a home movie with a plot and script, I'm not thinking the bedroom variety!
16. Developed your own photographs.
17. Designed and worn your own clothing.
18. Owned a binary watch and been able to read  it.
19. Taught someone else to read it.
20. Learnt an instrument and wrote a minimum of one song.
21. Formed a band and spent more time deciding a band name than rehearsing, and no Singstar and Lips don't count!
22. Taught someone over 70 to use technology, grandparents and Facebook don't count.
23. Learnt another language, extra kudos for Elvish and Klingon.
24. Held a themed dinner party, for example Star Wars, Bond, Gaming, complete with guests dressed in costume, themed menus, etc.
25. Completed at least one scary as hell adventure, skydive, bungee jump.
26. Gone to the cinema alone, and enjoyed it.
27. Had a Star Wars versus Star Trek argument for longer than five minutes.
28. Owned a Lightsaber or any collectables from WoW or any games.
29. Done punctuation and grammar guerilla attacks, (corrected posters, billboards, advertisements with a black marker) or corrected your boss.
30. Been named in High School Yearbook (or equivalent) as person most likely to work for Microsoft.