Halloween party

Gareth and I went to my friend Meghann's Halloween party last night. We had an excellent time. It was clear to see Meghann's passion for Halloween being American. She had gone to a huge effort cooking, baking and decorating the house. The food was lovely. I loved these puff pastry pockets filled with cheese and mustard and coated in paprika. They were so yummy. Also there was a dip called Ranch which is American. It was so delicious. Gareth loved the pigs in blankets which Meghann called Mummy Dogs. I brought along some pumpkin cupcakes decorated as spiders webs with white and dark chocolate. Meghann had also made pumpkin cupcakes. At the end of the night we swapped a few of each others. We didn't leave until after 2am. It was a great night. Our friends Miranda and Richard were there so it was good to spend time with them and also meet a few new faces.

Gareth and I had great fun dressing up for the party. I got a few bits and pieces in Asda for our outfits. I went as a witch and Gareth as a vampire. I loved my witches hat with the bright pink hair attached. I painted Gareth's face white with a few grey and black marks and some blood around his mouth. I went for a slightly white face with horrible yellow and green colouring.

Our first Anniversary

We went to Windsor to celebrate our first Anniversary. We couldn't believe how quickly a year had gone. We stayed in a lovely hotel, The Castle Hotel, which was on the main street and our view from the window was of Windsor Castle. Gareth had phoned the hotel and asked what they could do to make it special as it was our anniversary and when we arrived I was so excited to see we had been given a suite. We had a lovely living room with tv. It was nice to relax there rather than sitting and sleeping on the bed. It was a special treat. I had arranged for cupcakes to be delivered to our room and they were sitting waiting on our arrival. They were the love and kisses set from the Cupcake tree and they were so cute and delicious.

We visited the castle which was really interesting. We saw the state dining room being set up for a visit from the President of India with the Queen the following evening. We took a ride on the Royal Wheel, which is like the London Eye. We had great views to Eton and London. On the last morning we walked the "Long Walk" through the Great park. It starts at the gates of Windsor castle and you walk a straight path for 2.63 miles until you reach a small hill with a statue of Charles 111 on horseback. It was a beautiful walk part of which is a deer park. The views back to the Castle were great. We then walked back and I took this opportunity to take a few photos for scrapbooking. Gareth kindly posed for all my requested shots of him. I loved this one of him against the tree trunk with the Autumn leaves in the background. On our Anniversary we enjoyed a lovely meal and went for cocktails on our way back from sightseeing and shopping. It was the perfect Anniversary break.

A Layout of Woody

This is a layout I did at an evening crop this week. This was Woody wearing his Christmas collar last year. He looked so cute wearing it. The red and white fur on the collar really suited his black and white colouring. Amazingly he was happy to wear it. The paper used is the new Christmas collection by Bo Bunny.

Wales

We had a great time in Wales. It was a good drive over to Pembrokeshire on Saturday morning. We arrived around lunch time and spent the afternoon looking around the town where Gareth grew up. It has changed a lot since he left there 25 years. We visited his Gran and gave her the wedding photo. She was delighted with it and it was propped up on display immediately. In the evening we went for a meal with Gareths' parents. Sunday was the big Ruby anniversary celebration. It was held in this restaurant. We enjoyed a lovely meal. I had tomato soup, roast beef and sticky toffee pudding. There were about 35 people there so lots of faces I didn't know but people were very friendly and I got to chat to friends of the family from Wales. At night the closest family went to a hotel for a quiet get together and drinks. It was a lovely day and it was so nice to see a couple so happy after 40 years of marriage. This is the church where they got married.

Wales here we come

Tomorrow morning Gareth and I are driving to Pembroke Dock in Wales to spend a long weekend there. It is his Mum and Dad's 40th anniversary on Sunday and they are hosting a celebration meal on Sunday afternoon. Family and friends are all coming. It will be nice for everyone to be together. This is the town where Gareth grew up before his family moved to Southampton when he was 11. I have been to this area once with him and his family but am looking forward to seeing more of it and the area. We have a framed picture of our wedding to give to Gareth's Gran. I'm really excited about giving it to her and seeing the expression on her face when she sees it. We return on Monday so it will be a nice 4 day week at work and then we are off to Windsor to celebrate our first anniversary. Where did the year go?!!
I will post photos of Wales on here when I return.

Day off work tomorrow

I am so excited. I have had a boring week at work as my two colleagues who sit next to me have been on holiday and on a course so I have been a lonely little worker. I have had enough work to get on with but the days went so slowly with no one to pass time of day with. Now that the rain is off and we are having a beautiful sunny day I decided to ask my manager for a day off on Friday. He agreed so I am looking forward to a day when I can do what I want. At the moment I am planning to go for a swim, do the food shopping, prepare a nice dinner for my husband Gareth coming home from work, some gardening and most importantly some scrapping. We are going to London for the day on Sunday so it will be good to have tomorrow at home to get a head start on weekend activities.

Blog Candy at Inspiringinkin

I have left a comment on the website http://www.inspiringinkin.com/ about my favourite item in the new 2009/10 Stampin' Up catalogue. The draw of comments will be held on Sunday and the prize is a fantastic new stamp set Circle Circus and the most useful accessory of them all, the mat pack and paper piercer. The stamps would be so useful on cards and scrapbook pages. I will be hoping that lucky vibes come my way.

Southampton Papercraft Show

On Sunday my friend Meghann and I went to the Southampton papercraft show. I know this has been running for some years but this was my first visit to it. I bought some new American Craft paper and Autumn Leaves stamps from my friend Jeanette's stall. It was nice to see her as I had missed the crop last weekend with being away in Scotland. Meghann and I then got talking to Amanda and Stella from Stampin' Up. We fell in love with the products in the new catalogue. We read the catalogues while we had a seat and drink and decided on our orders. I am getting a set of cupcake stamps and a lovely eyelet, scalloped edge punch. I have the scalloped edge punch already and it is used so often. The stamps were prefect for me, the cupcake queen. We then took part in a make and take class with Stella. This was the card I made using new Stampin' Up stamps. The french script is a gorgeous background and the brown area is part of a medallion stamp. I'll keep this card until I have the prefect person to send it to.

Special moments with family

Last night Gareth and I went to Kutis Indian restaurant in Wickham with his parents. Yesterday his Mum finished full time work so Gareth and his Dad had organised this meal as a surprise for her. This is a restaurant Gareth and I go to regularly but his Mum and Dad had never been. We had a lovely meal and had our photo taken with the doorman.

During the weekend in Torphins my cousin Heather visited. She has recently moved to Edinburgh from Northern Ireland. We all went for a family meal on the Saturday night. Ewan was brave and had the Heston Blumenthal breakfast for pudding. One part of this was scrambled egg and bacon icecream. I think he thought he had made the wrong decision when the rest of us enjoyed creme brulee with a cinnamon doughnut and hot chocolate shot. Poor Ewan. It was lovely to spend time with Heather. We both enjoy talking about food and all the food we love!

Snooker in Southampton

The night before I travelled to Aberdeen Gareth and I went to see snooker matches at the Guildhall in Southampton. This was part of the premier league which travels around the country. We saw two matches, Stephen Hendry vs Marco Fu and John Higgins vs Neil Robertson. Sky were there and it was live on television. We got our money's worth as it went on late. It was a good night and we managed to get a few photos of the players during the post match interviews.

Scrapping with Melodee Langworthy

Jane, Mum and I had a great day in Alford at our scrapbook day. The teacher for the day was Melodee Langworthy from USA. We took two classes; travel and Christmas. Both classes were to make mini albums. We covered chipboard with lovely papers and then used Melodee's stamps to decorate the pages. She had examples of other mini albums she is teaching and they were gorgeous. I am going to use the travel album for our trip to Windsor for our anniverary and the Christmas one for this Christmas at Jane and Ewan's house.