Happy Birthday to Me! Warning: Glitter Overload!

On Friday the 22nd of June the whole Second Hand Rose family including Jasper the cat came together to celebrate one year closer to me getting wrinkles, complaining about teenagers and eating my weight in custard creams, actually I already do that. Due to the sun going on strike we were unable to go to the sea and play crazy golf (yes, I'm a hardcore partygoer), so instead we had to make other plans.
We decided to go bowling along with my 81 year old Grandma, who was actually pretty good. At first she was annoyed she had to give up her shoes, but then started to like them and was trying to hatch a plan on how she could keep those sexy two toned bowling beauties. When I mentioned we were going bowling I half expected her to turn up in her white bowling uniform, but thankfully she realised I meant tenpin bowling, I'm not that old.

















I picked up Mr.Boyfriend to come with us and the first thing he said to me was 'So I'm dating an old lady now then', yes ladies chivalry is officially dead. He did make up with it with the most amazing sparkly present and a gorgeous white rose, but I did still want to whip his arse at bowling. After a hilarious game and some very funny innuendos about the balls with my Grandma we then went home to stuff our faces.














     Mummy SHR had so cutely decorated the table and had made me an amazing Chocolate and Mango cake. It had three layers inside with fresh cream and Mango, cream on the sides with chocolate flakes and mango coulis on the top, delish! I then opened my beautifully wrapped presents and squealed at everyone of them.




















Here's what I got:

I love Marilyn Monroe and Doris Day, so I was very happy to receive those boxsets. Let the popcorn fuelled movie marathons drooling over Rock Hudson begin.

I adore British Pathe and was so happy when I found out by the lovely Lucy over at 1940's Style For You that you can now get DVD's of it. I decided to dip my high heeled toe in the Pathe water and get this one about British Fashion of the 1940's. I'm very excited to sit down with my knitting, a box of chocolates and watch this, yes I really was born in the wrong era.

My Mum also gave me an amazing suitcase type box with a beautiful pattern on, along with three gorgeous Barry M nail varnishes.
From my Aunt I got a lovely bracelet and I received two books from a fabulous family that I babysit for. I will admit I'm a real romantic tear jerker bookworm. Another family I babysit for gave me a big box of Hereos and a beautifully drawn card. I babysit for the best families in the world.

My Great Aunt gave me some amazing veggie jelly bears, which I was so happy about and have happily eaten them all reminiscing of those days 12 years ago when I stuffed my face with Jelly Babies. Basset's if you're reading please make them vegetarian, it will make my life a little bit more complete!

I was given a gift box called 'Yum at Heart' by Soap & Glory, which contains some Hand Food, Breakfast Scrub and a gorgeous apron, that makes me want to make some cakes just so I can wear it. I was given this by my amazing Chiropractor who I go to. She listens to all my gossip and woes every week as well so deserves a medal, or at least some cakes.

From Mr.Boyfriend's family I was given a beautiful red and purple scarf from China and a gorgeous purse, yes I know I do have the best in-laws. My Grandma gave me one of her fabulous envelopes full of lovely money, which I'm going to spend some on new CD's for the car. There's only enough of Doris Day I can subject Mr.Boyfriend to. Talking of my fabulous man he gave me the most amazing jewellery EVER! He found this gorgeous necklace and earring set in a vintage shop. It is truly beautiful and I'd happily wear the set every day, even if I was just going to Tesco's.

From my brother I got some money which I spent on some vintage goodies and the day after my birthday I dragged my sister to a small vintage fair and got these gorgeous brooches, that would make a magpie go giddy in his boots.

From my parents I got these gorgeous leopard print pumps from Daisy Street Shoes that are so cute and comfy. My main present from the lovely duo were these absolutely stunning glittery wedges from Schuh, that were shown to me by the gorgeous Laura whose recommendations will make me bankrupt one day! They are literally glitter overload and at 13 inches are surprisingly comfy. You can also get them as heels with a gold heel. Let me apologise to the poor man in the shop who I forced to help me decide and asked his opinion at least 200 times. He definitely deserves to be employee of the month.

In the evening we all went out to dinner at All Bar One, where you can eat some gorgeous food and drink some fabulous cocktails. Plus you get a shot of smarties with every hot drink, what's not to love!?

Altogether even though the sun decided not to put his hat on and come out to play, I had a fabulous birthday with my family, full of love, laughter and lots of cake.

Second Hand Rose
XxxX

A Second Hand Rose Christmas: Full of wrapping paper and lots of Pigs in Blankets (not literally)

Warning: This post is full of pictures and Christmas pudding. 
I know these Christmas pictures are a bit late, but I don't know about you all but I'm still a little bit in the Christmassy spirit. Watching Miracle on 34th Street over and over again doesn't help. The Christmasses in my house are always a laugh and traditional. 


Mummy Second Hand Rose takes on the role of Mrs Christmas and is determined to create the perfect family Christmas for us all, with new recipes from the Hairy Bikers every year and an obscene amount of mince pies, it is certainly a treat. 
Normally we go and sit on my Mum and Dad's bed, including the cat in the morning to open are stocking presents. The fact that we are all adults seems to be forgotten at Christmas. I think Mummy and Daddy Second Hand Rose are happy we don't wake them up at 5am anymore like we used to, the older we get the later we wake them up. Ten years ago it would have meant jumping on their bed and waking them up, now it means staggering into their room with a hell of a hangover. This year was different though due to my sister coming home from Rome for Christmas Day, I think she just didn't wanna miss out on Mummy Second Hand Rose's roast potatoes, trust me they are amazing.

So off Grandma Second Hand Rose and Daddy Second Hand Rose went to the airport while my brother slept soundly and I raced around finishing bows on presents. As I mentioned in my Christmassy posts I took on the full responsibility for practically everyone, Father Christmas seemed to have the week off. I got to sleep at 6.45am on Christmas morning and had Dad's Army to keep me company all night while I was wrapping presents. I don't normally leave it so late and the people that wrap their presents on the 1st December have put me to shame, but it was Mr.Boyfriend's birthday on the 23rd, don't get me started on that.

So this year once everyone had come back from the airport and we were showered with hugs from my sister, we all sat down to Christmas dinner. Well firstly I set the table which is always my job every year. If I leave it up to my Dad the cutlery is the wrong way round and it looks like a normal bog standard day. Well me being Mummy Second Hand Rose's daughter, I make it all Christmassy with a gold theme complete with gold bows and sequins and little gifts for everyone that our parents had bought which consisted of the amazing Lindt chocolate balls. I had eaten mine before the gravy was poured on any meals. 
Due to me being a vegetarian and my sister being a selective vegetarian ie. if there is something she fancies she will eat it, our Mum lovingly prepared three meals. My parents, brother and Grandma had the usual Turkey and pigs in blankets, while my sister had duck and I had a plate of Quorn pigs in blankets. All our meals were complete with gorgeous roast potatoes, scrumptious stuffing balls, huge Yorkshire's and lovely vegetables and gravy that would make Nigella quake in her boots. Every year I try and make my family do the crackers before the meal and wear the hats throughout it but they always refuse, for some reason they don't want to re-inact The Royle Family Christmas.

After we all stuffed ourselves with probably one too many roasties, we decided to have Christmas pudding later. So we all slowly went into the sitting room rubbing our tummy's to open some presents. When we were younger it all used to be recorded on video, but since we learnt to argue and are not as cute as we used to be it hasn't been recorded for a few years. This year I took on the role of being the camerawoman and recorded a whole hour of our Christmas, most of it was of our cat. Our present opening always takes a long time with lots of 'Aww thankyou' and cuddles from Mummy Second Hand Rose.
                                             
One of the presents I was keen to be opened was one of our cat's. I bought him a Father Christmas outfit which you must admit, he looks absolutely adorable in. I also bought him a grooming kit complete with different types of grooming brushes, a cat nip mouse, a new collar and a bowl. I glued gems on the front which spelt out his name, yes he is extremely spoilt.


All the presents for us were lovingly wrapped with bows by Mummy Second Hand Rose. Presents from our Grandma took about 10 minutes to open and some sharp scissors. She uses around a roll of sellotape for each present bless her, so she's one of WHSmith's most valued customers and is responsible of a sellotape shortage in the country.

After opening thousands of presents and I mean thousands we then had a gorgeous cold dinner of Mummy Second Hand Rose's bread which is a treat in itself and cold meats, lots of different cheeses and my favourite pickled onions that I could happily eat a whole jar of. We pulled the crackers this time and had the usual rubbish jokes, the sighs and me trying to swap my present for a decent one, because everyone needs a miniature pen that is even too small for The Borrowers to use. 


We decided to have the Christmas cake instead of the Christmas pudding which we saved for Boxing Day. I have now taken the fondant baton from Mummy Second Hand Rose and it is now my job to decorate the cake that we made in October. I let her cover the cake with marzipan and icing though because with my sweet tooth we probably wouldn't have enough left, plus she is the queen of covering cakes.


 Lets just say I spent a long time over the cake, cutting out hundreds of fondant stars, painting layers on the cake and trying to make bows on wooden spoons. I was pleased with the result, but it wasn't the picture I had in my head. I wanted to make a big bow but the last bit on the top was driving me crazy, so Father Christmas and his sleigh rescued me. All the compliments for it and the fact that Eastenders was on made me stop working on it on Christmas Eve.

After we stuffed our faces yet again we retreated to the sitting room and finished opening our presents and subjected my sister's boyfriend to the rest of our Christmas, poor bloke. At the end of the present opening we opened our stocking. My stocking along with my brothers and sisters stocking are always a treat, normally this is the only thing that my Dad contributed to. We always receive funny and absolutely useless presents that range from cures for burping to a reindeer that poos chocolate beans, lovely. My Mum took hold of the stockings this year and our presents were useful ones for a change. I got a cupcake book which is obviously a hint for me to make more and our traditional Lindt Father Christmas that we have got every year for as long as I can remember. I've eaten it all by Boxing Day for as long as I can remember too.

Father Christmas left stockings for my parents this year. The presents included a baldy buffer and baldy polish for my Dad and a willy soap on a rope for my Mum. I think Father Christmas is getting his own back for there being a half eaten pork pie left for him. Our cat had also been a good boy this year and he got a stocking full of a Christmas dinner for cats, some flashing balls and a little toy that he has fallen in love with, I think the cat nip in it probably has something to do with it.

In the evening we sat down to watch some Christmas tv with Chocolate biscuits and mince pies within arm distance. We had a great Christmas full of laughter, happiness and sausage rolls.

I got some really good presents this year ranging from earrings to fairisle leggings and some earmuffs to keep my ears warm due to my lack of hair this year. I got the Manolo Blahnik and Chrisitan Lacroix book that I blogged about here, Father Christmas is obviously a fan of my blog. I put a book recommended by Kathy B on my wish list called The Night before Christmas, which I now can't put down. I was given some Soap and Glory products, a Lush Magic Wand that makes a lovely bubble bath and the 12 Days of Christmas bath set recommended by Lucyy Writes, which has already given me many lovely hours in the bath, even if I do look like a prune.

I left a note out for Father Christmas asking him whether I could have some Christian Louboutin's or Jimmy Choo's, I'm not really bothered. I got a reply too, Father Christmas seems to have handwriting a bit like my Mum's. He said he struggled to get Christian or Jimmy to get their bums in gear to make me some beautiful shoes, but he will try and get them to make me some lovely ones for next year, I'll hold him to that.
One of my favourite presents was a peacock brooch that Mummy Second Hand Rose found at a market, its beautiful and already has a place on my fur coat. Grandma Second Hand Rose made me a little special frame with my favourite actor, Marc Warren in who I have been lusting over for years. It now has a permanent place in my room and I spend many hours staring at it.


A few days later I saw Mr. Boyfriend and carefully opened his beautifully wrapped presents. He has this nack in buying me the most amazing presents. Last year when he was trying to woo me he bought me the most gorgeous necklace which is so me, obviously his amazingness in getting me presents had no bearing on me becoming his girlfriend. He bought me an old fashioned style case, some gorgeous gold bangles and a beautiful butterfly brooch, so don't try to woo him ladies, he's all mine.


I had a lovely Christmas day and Christmas week spent stuffing my face and watching our normal Christmas feel good movies including Mr. Bean's Holiday, Up and Crocodile Dundee. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and got some fabulous presents, and enjoyed the hundred mince pies you ate as much as I did.


Second Hand Rose
XxxX