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!

Christmas Partying

A good work Christmas party has to involve an open bar, fancy dress, and those moments that will be spoken about the next day.

Fortunately for me, I had the following day booked off. With a Christmas party set in the heart of Soho, it was obvious that I was going to head out clubbing afterwards, dressed in my outfit that began with the letter E (my company is going through the alphabet, I am already planning F), and then pass out on the night-bus home only to wake up in Peckham. 15 minutes past my stop!

I blame the open bar that was clearly calling for me to consume as much alcohol as humanly possible.

A drunk Egyptian is always a fun sight in the heart of Soho, right?

With everyone in their outfits, we headed over to The Player in Soho. An underground cocktail bar that did not disappoint, and I would recommend you all to go to if you need a venue for some christmas drinks, or after work cocktail! The Goonies on old fashioned television sets, 1970's style lamps and 100 people in fancy dress.



The bar staff were great, and were able to accommodate any request. They even made a special home-brewed cocktail for one couple, which obviously left them worse for wear. Luckily, the canapes that came out helped them sober up slightly!

In the words of Miss Burke... there's an Elephant (or two) in the room!

Even our lovely HRH Queen Elizabeth made it out to celebrate!

An Etch-A-Sketch, Envelope and Eighties girl...

The winner of the best fancy dress went to the Emergency Exit!

Having the Empire State Building as an outfit was genius.

At the end of the night, the lights came up, colleagues unlocked their lips and realised who they have been kissing (standard party procedure!),  and we ventured out into Soho. A few of us moved onto another club, before me and Vitor jumped on the bus back home.

That's the great thing about having a friend live round the corner from you. You can nod off and they will wake you when you get to your stop.

Unless they fall asleep too and you both wake up in Peckham! Well, that is what google maps said when we had to find out our location! If you ever happen to fall asleep on a bus, don't do it dressed as an egyptian or 80's clubber - the looks you get are horrific!

The only way I can describe the next day is by this...



How was your Christmas party? Drop a comment below and let me know where you went, and if you ended up a little too far from home too!

x

My 24th Birthday. Day 1.

The best thing about birthdays is that you can make those 24 hours as big as you want, or as little as can be. Some people like to have a small, family affair with minimal fuss, whilst others like the have the big, glittery party with 100's of people around them.

For me this year, I sat somewhere in the middle. I wanted a bit of a hoo-ha with everyone around me, and then be able to run away and have the small family affair when I was feeling very fragile the next day. Luckily, living in London and having my family in the west country was the perfect excuse to make this a 3 day celebration.

I might aswell make the most of it whilst I can, this only happens once a year!

Of course, no birthday should be celebrated without the best friend coming down to celebrate it with you. Lian, who I mentioned earlier in the year, was found in a bar in SoHo on Friday evening, having a few cocktails in preparation for the first day of celebrations on Saturday.

Waking up with a slight hangover on the Saturday was probably not a great idea, but with a trip to our Portugese friend and a few red bulls, we were ready to get the party started with a few pre drinks at mine, alongside a group of friends...

Joe, Ryan, Myself and Gareth

A couple of friends, Dan and Charlie, came up from Southampton

Me and Sham.

Lee and Ian







I decided on a white shirt from River Island, and black skinny jeans from Topman. The blazer you see later is from Zara. Lian opted for a FCUK dress.

No birthday is complete without a birthday cake. The guys from Southampton brought a fresh chocolate cake, which in a room full of gay guys and a tiny girl, was placed back in the fridge until tomorrow.

Only kidding, I don't do waiting when it comes to cake.

Anddddd a bottle of bubbley too!

Once the pre drinking was over, we headed to Soho and straight to one of my favourite clubes, The Shadow Lounge. As a club, it is always a great night out, the staff are friendly, and you can usually spot a couple of celebrities in there.

I had a booth organised which for a birthday night out, on pay weekend, is a god send! If you are having a bicelebration, get in contact with the club as they will organise something special for you. They have all different types of packages, and the dress code is to dress to impress.

Some of the guys who came out definately impressed.

With buckets of champagne and wine, cupcakes and a waiter to save the queuing, the night was one of the best nights I have had in London...

Again, any sort of cake should be kept away from me. These disappeared within seconds, only for more to appear on the table!

As the clock hit 12, everyone broke out in a good old Happy birthday sing song for the birthday boy.

From Brian Downling dancing on the multi coloured floor, to singing the You Been Framed theme tune to Lisa Riley in the smoking area, the night was amazingly messy. As the lights came up, we made our way out into the cold, wondering what to do next to keep the night going.

Some of the us ended up in a massage parlour, others jumped on rickshaws around London, and a few others headed for a chinese and more alcohol. I was past the point of remembering to take any pictures, so you just have to imagine 14 drunk people let loose on Soho after a alcohol fuelled night out.

It was like letting a group of small children lose in a sweet shop and saying to them, 'do what you want!'

Slowly and drunkenly we all made our way back south of the River Thames, retreating from the messy night we just created whilst the sun came up.

Oh how I was going to feel fragile the next morning....