Celebrating in Style

Whenever there is a birthday, there is always a party. Whenever there is a party, there is always cake and alcohol.
Or if you are like me, you skip the cake and head straight for the alcohol!
This weekend called for just that, with Jason celebrating his 40th birthday at The Sanctum Hotel in Soho. Of course, we knew that everyone that is anyone was going to be there (Jason knows alot of people!), so we had the perfect opportunity to have a few drinks beforehand and get into the party spirit...

I wore jeans from Topman, Blazer from Zara (similar one here) and a plain white tee.

A tube ride of spontaneous dancing and singing later, and we found ourselves at The Sanctum. This has to be one of Soho's hidden gems that you have to go and experience for yourselves. From the decor, to the staff, everything was fantastic. Granted, the lift was out of order and we had to walk up five flights of stairs to the roof terrace, but even they were lined with signed photos of A-Listers who love the hotel too.
At the top we were greeted by a 40th birthday party fit for our friend, set in an intimate but stylish roof terrace! As we walked out we were greeted by the gymnasts from Spellbound, who were there performing their routines from Britains Got Talent.
Sod the gymnatics, have you seen those bodies!





Dragging our eyes away from those chiseled bodies, we made our way through and carried on with a night full of drinking and celebrating!









Of course, no birthday is complete without a birthday cake.
Wonder Woman style!







One of the biggest surprises of the evening came from Jason announcing that the lead singer from Living Joy would belt out a few of her hits for us to all get dancing to. For all of you who cant remember, all you need to do is sing this out loud...
'Here we lie all alone, am I dreaming?
Your heart's smooth, my soul is unbelieving.
Now you see the me and I'm a-feeling,
I'm a-feeling.
I feel your hands, your lips, the heat of your body.
Whisper you love me, you say you love me.
Please just love me down never leave me

I'm a dreameeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.'













We carried on partying into the early hours, until it was time to hit the road to Mcdonalds and onwards south of the river.



All in all, a fantastic birthday for a great person! Happy 40th Birthday Jason.
If you fancy going to The Sanctum Hotel for an event, visit their website where you can see more and make an enquiry. It really is a great venue and I would recommend it to all of you to stay, eat, or drink at when in the area!

My 24th Birthday. Day 3.

Falling asleep on the sofa with the fire raging is always a nice feeling, especially after a weekend that we have just had!

Waking up on a Monday morning to Poppy licking my face, however, was not as nice!

Poppy is a dog by the way!

With a weekend of alcohol, celebrating, eating and travelling, the final day was set aside for the most perfect cure for our now-worn-out bodies. A spa day. A whole day set aside to relax, unwind, and rinse out the last remaining bits of alcohol from our pores. There was only one place for this to happen...

The Aqua Sana at Longleat Forest.







Set right in the heart of Longleat forest, where phone signal doesnt exist and lakes and trees surround you, you immeadiately feel relaxed and ready for a day of pampering.

Once we were in and changed into our robes, we made our way through to the spa and straight to the water beds. With no cameras allowed, I had to sneak the Blackberry through.... Don't tell anyone!





Waterbeds are heavenly. So much so that we nodded off for an hour.

Or two!

By which time a dip in the outdoor jucuzzi was needed, followed by some lounging around in all the different rooms.







With each one having different aromas and temperatures, it was a great way to erase the weekend. Some of the rooms are 90% humidity, and some of the temperatures hitting as high as 80 degrees, but somehow we managed to stay in each room for quite some time. One of the rooms, which was a little different, was the meditation room. Equipped with heated sofas and a water feature designed to relax your body, it turned out to be a hideaway where we could lounge and relax for a while.




The Blackberry did not want to work well in the dark...

After a few more rooms, we headed out to lunch, which is by italian chef Aldo Zilli. The food was healthy, although the pastries not so!





Fortunately, we went on a day where the spa was quiet, and the only visitors was ourselves and a few others. Best days are a Monday or Friday, as this is changeover day for anyone staying in the forest, which means that they will not have booked into the spa.

No excuse to pull some poses for the camera then before our treatments!





Later in the afternoon, we had a couple of treatments booked to pamper ourselves a little bit more!  I went for the Elemis Urban Cleanse Facial, and a full body massage, whilst Lian and the ladies opted for the Decléor Madagascan Red Island Exfoliating Ritual, before hoping over for a Manicure.

If you are going to go with a partner, then they offer duel treatments too. We were tempted to have the mud bath, but decided against it!

With the end of our spa day drawing to a close, and us all feeling like we have travelled through a rebirth, we ventured out into the forest and made our way back to normality.





As one last final stop on the birthday weekend before travelling back to London, we snuck into the safari park. When you're home is right next to Longleat, you know the little roads that lead to the Giraffes!



With that, it was over.

Another year older.

My three day birthday celebrations came to a close, and we packed our bags and headed back to the big smoke with all the balloons and cake to hold another birthday weekend! Ready to go back to work another year old, but none the wiser! From having the big hoo-ha, to relaxing in a country pub, the weekend was exactly how I wanted it to be.

Next year its the big 2-5. I am already planning away!

My 24th Birthday. Day 2.

You can always judge how good a night out was by the way you feel the next morning.

Your body is tired and achy, your head is thumping and your mouth is drier than a nuns lady garden. Then you start to piece together the night before, in my case whilst laid in bed with Lian, before wandering into the kitchen to grab a much needed glass of water.

Last night was a great celebration, and from about 6am onwards everyone made their way back to the now messy apartments. However, being on a workers body clock and excited that it was my birthday, I was wide awake at 8:30am and had to have everyone awake with me whilst I watched my favourite Disney film...



Whilst everyone surfaced and made their way to the sofas, we discovered a few 'items' that had made their way back south of the river with us. A chinese resturant menu and chopsticks, a cocktail mixer, and a girl named Jackie to name just a few. (Okay, we know Jackie, but she can count as one!) Then we found this...


Apparently no night would be complete without heading to a massage parlour in SoHo, and taking the sign with you when you leave!

With the big hoo-ha last night, and the fragile state I was in, it was time to pack up and run back to the countryside for some family time. Escaping from the smog and bright lights of the big city to relax in the countryside with a nice glass of cider is the perfect hangover cure. Hare of the dog and all that.

Travelling in style was mandatory for us all...







After a couple of hours of driving and singing along to a bit of Whitney and Britney, we were back in the land of fresh air with a cuppa in hand and the family, once again singing happy birthday with even more (homemade) cupcakes.

I swear I am going to turn into a cupcake!

My mum thought the balloons should reflect that we live in a farmhouse...

Lounging around in the living room in front of the fire, we devoured the cakes and told everyone about the night befores antics. Opening cards and presents, the afternoon was perfect for the two party animals with horrific hangovers.

Having a birthday meal is a must, and the best part of being back in the West Country was the fact that we could go to a village pub for dinner, and fill ourselves to the point of bursting. With the addition of Amy, we headed to The Fox and Hounds in Monkton Farleigh. This old, traditional pub was the perfect setting for a quiet birthday meal with family and friends, and the food was absolutely amazing!

I was tempted to go for the home made steak pie, but opted for the duck leg.

Definately the best choice.

Desert was the homemade apple crumble, which was a fat persons dream, a calorie counters nightmare. The food was amazing, and the pub is situated en route to Bath, so if you happen to be in the area then stop by for lunch or dinner! They are open till late, and the staff were really accomodating.

With a few glasses of wine and a couple of vodkas, the food disappeared amongst the conversations, and we made our tipsy way back down the country lanes to the house to carry on with more cake.

By this time, I was too full of alcohol and food to eat anymore, so we all relaxed in front of the fire once again.

Only for me to fall asleep until the next day...

Ten Tips For Brighton Pride

Brighton pride. Probably the biggest pride of them all, which means that you would be a fool to miss it!

It is a rainbow-storm that is about to hit this traditional seaside, with street parties, rainbow flags and a pride park about to sprinkle a load of gay glitter all over the party-goers. For everyone who isn't from England, this is our Big-Huge-Gay-Bash of the year!

Think Lady Gaga meets Glitter Cannon mixed with The English Seaside.

Compared to other prides I have been to, this is probably the best around, so I will be heading down once again to get involved with the celebrations. Tweet me if you are going, it would be good to say hello to you all!
As Brighton has so much going on, and sometimes the feeling of 'where do I start?', I have 10 tips that will guarantee you have a great pride! So pack your wellies in you are camping incase it rains, get your pre-party alcohol stocks ready, and get ready to spend your Saturday at one big party!

1. The Parade



First things first. If you are planning to come down and stay in Brighton, then you NEED to catch the Parade. Setting off at 11am, this is going to be the parade of all parades. There will be floats, there will be hot people, and it will be busy! Make sure you grab a spot, or just join in and follow it up to Preston Park. Grab a spot along Grand Parade. With grass areas, you can grab a spot back from the crowds but still see the full parade. Then, you can join in the end and follow it up through Brighton to the park.

2. The Pride Park



This is where the party starts. Preston Park has been transformed into a Rainbow City, with 8 tents of music, funfairs and alcohol, you will be there for hours enjoying the atmosphere. It is open from 12pm till 8pm, which means you have 8 hours of absolute party party party.



Just be warned, once you are in a tent, you are in! If you need to use the bathroom, then you will need to leave the tent and re-queuing  is never fun! This especially goes for the bigger tents which hold 3000-5000 people!


If you haven't already, buy a ticket here. They are cheaper in advance at £17.50, otherwise you will have to pay on the door which could be costly!

3. Buy a Flag



Buying a rainbow flag is probably not on the top of your to-do list when you get to pride, but once you see everyone having one, you will want in on the action! There will be stalls in the pride park, and shops all around Brighton selling them.
Grab one, wave it like you just don't care, and support the LGBT community.

4. Pace Yourself

Pride starts early, but you don't want to be going to bed early. So pace yourself throughout the day. Start on a few drinks in the morning and slowly work yourself up to the evening.
Then, as night falls, crack out the shots and go for it in one of the many clubs. No-one wants to be in bed by midnight now, do they?

5. Hit up the Pride Street Party

This is an absolute must.
When I lived in Brighton, my flat was on St Jame's Street, which turns into a street long party from the bottom all the way to the top. With bars and music blasting out, this is the place to go inbetween the Park and the club. It can get pretty busy, and the music varies as you go up the street, so be sure to explore and see how you get on!



6. Let's go to the Beach, beach!

Brighton has a beach, so get on it.
If you need somewhere to go to finish off your own booze before the club, or for a breather from the partying, then the beach is perfect!
They will probably be alot of people on it, so make friends and join in with everyone.

7. Get In A Club



Okay, so you have traveled to Brighton, and queued for ages to get in a club, and get turned away because it is too busy. Not the ideal situation!
Before you go, have a look online at some of the clubs and see if you can get tickets to them. If not, make sure you get to the clubs early as the queues will be long, it will be busy, and last thing you want is to be wandering the streets trying to get in somewhere.
Clubs like Revenge, Wild Fruit, and Legends all have after-pride parties. Just click on their names to be taken to the tickets page for each!

8. Spot the TV Crews

Brighton Pride is one of the biggest prides, and most years there will be a TV crew filming some sort of news bulletin, or a new TV show. Grab your 5 minutes of fame and get on camera if you can.

9. Buy 4 drinks at the bar, not 2.



That doesn't need explaining. With it being manic, expect the bars to be queues upon queues. So buy a few more drinks so you don't need to go back. Afterall, if you meet someone then at least you can offer a drink (or receive one) without having to stand and wait for ages!

10. Enjoy Pride

Most of all, enjoy pride. Brighton is in it's 21st year now, and each year seems to get bigger and bigger. Enjoy, celebrate and have an amazing time.
Do things you might never do (like skinny dipping in the sea) and take pictures for the memory book. Drink until the sun comes up, and look back on it being the best day and night you have had in a long time!



And just remember to have phone battery, in-case you don't know where everyone is when you wake up the next morning, or you lose a friend in a club!

Happy pride everyone!