22

22 today!

I shall be having a Spanish themed birthday party in Barcelona city centre today. I think we'll probably find a nice restaurant later on and drink nice wine before the madness and excitement of the conference tomorrow and Tuesday. Don't want to overdo it in my old age. 

Back to Catalunya

Is it slightly excessive to visit Barcelona twice in one year? 

Probably. 

Today i am lucky enough to be jetting off to my favourite European city for a whistle stop trip filled with excitement. It's my birthday on Sunday, so i plan to spend the day enjoying the last of the summer sun, whilst stuffing my face at the food market. 

On Monday and Tuesday i am attending the AGI 2011 conference, which has some fairly massive names in graphic design speaking. Very very excited. Hopefully i'll come back feeling hugely inspired and ready to launch straight back into project work.

Build a Rocket Boys!

For the Man Candy's birthday i managed (with the help of a well connected friend) to procure some tickets for the Elbow gig in Manchester last Friday. The entire crowd seemed to visibly fall in love with Mr Garvey a thousand times over, his voice was fantastic.
This was the set...

The Birds

The Bones of You

Lippy Kids

Mirrorball

With Love

Neat Little Rows

The Night Will Always Win

Great Expectations

Grounds For Divorce

The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver

Puncture Repair

Some Riot

Weather to Fly

Open Arms

Encore

Starlings

Station Approach

One Day Like This

21

21 today.

I am having the lovliest of days. Two best bits include my brother flying home from Switzerland to surprise me, and the Man Candy's present...a trip to New York! I am a very lucky person. A very lucky person that is about to go and eat a large birthday meal.

Have a fantastic weekend xxx

Birthday Salts

Flavoured salts i made as a birthday present.

Lemon & Thyme

Garlic & Rosemary

Black Pepper, Chilli & Ginger

I got the containers from Habitat and made the labels with hessian, and stamped the letters onto card. I didn't use a recipe for the salts, i just had a morning of trial and error. If i've learnt one thing, it's that a little bit of garlic goes a long way.

9 to 5 Part 5

This is my final '9 to 5' post, thank goodness. Early starts are not my strong point. Thought i'd leave you with my preliminary birthday list...

9 to 5 Part 1

All this week i will be doing my best impression of Dolly Parton. I'll be at a desk, answering phones, in charge of a pc and looking busy as a way of helping out my Dad (who's receptionist has gone on holiday). Despite having to concentrate on avoiding double bookings and overseeing emails, One's mind does tend to wander. Today i have been musing over what sort of birthday celebrations i'd like. My birthday's not till October, but it's a big one so i'm allowed to plan this far ahead. Below are a few ideas for my imaginary birthday party.

Start the day with a cold sunny walk in the woods, wrapped up in hats and gloves.

Have a picnic brunch with hot cups of tea and baked potatoes and lots of salady things and cheese. Birthday cake for dessert.

birthday cake bunting, excessive or necessary?

The house will be filled with balloons and flowers, and i will take a well earned nap on a very comfy sofa...

...and wake up just in time to get ready for a huge birthday tea in the evening. Lots of fizzing drinking items in nice glasses and towers of cakes and all things tasty.

Pretty Packaging

 A flatmates' birthday is cause for celebration, and an excuse to wrap things up prettily. The card i bought had a beautiful 4 tier sponge cake on it, filled with cream and berries. I decided to have a go at copying it, with interesting results, and burns.  I've had to use wheat-free flour so the sponges haven't risen as much as i'd hoped but i think you get the general idea.

Pretty Packaging

I think i've had more fun wrapping the Man Candy's birthday presents than buying them or giving them to him. Because they're fairly distinctive shapes i only used tissue paper as the main wrapping paper, didn't see the point in drawing out the process of guessing by using opaque paper. The ribbon is from an art supplies shop called Fred Aldous (worth a look), and i created the tags on illustrator to get a bit of practise in. More birthdays please, so i can make things look pretty.