a 90th birthday tea party

Yesterday we threw a tea party for my Nana in honour of her 90th birthday (which is actually today)! A neighbour of hers just so happened to be caterer, specialising in tea parties so all the beautiful tea cups and tea pots, (as well as all the food) in the pics were provided by his company Foodsmiths. Oh my god there was so much food - finger sandwiches (including the best cheese and onion ones I've ever had), scones, sausage rolls, quiche, meringues with cream and raspberries, plus three different types of cake (apple, chocolate orange and, my fave, raspberry red velvet)! Many of the guests at the party were little old ladies (friends of my Nana obvs), who really don't eat v.much so there was plenty for me, Mitch and my sister to guzzle. And guzzle we did along with Prosecco and later, plenty of cups of tea. My friday and saturday nights were rather boozy and revolved around watching the World Cup so the tea party was the perfect, chilled out conclusion to the weekend. Hope you all had a good one too.

new beginnings

So here we are. Welcome to my new little plot on the world wide web.

You might notice that the change isn't all that massive (header style etc) and, as I mentioned in my note to my old blog, I've not got any plans to alter the content - yup, I'll still be wittering on about my weekends, what I'm making and the books I've read - and so the biggest change is the name. Halfway Here kinda relates to that feeling, fairly common in people in their 20s (and 30s, Mitch informs me), that there's not enough time to do all the things that we want to do before it's too late (whenever that is). Last summer I had a bit of a massive freak out about time pressure - get married, buy a house, see some more of the world, progress career-wise, have a baby...? After talking it through with Mitch, real life friends and internet friends, I calmed down A LOT. Their thoughts and advice led to some excellent points: try not to worry about the future, you can plan things meticulously but a lot of the time plans change. Instead, focus on the now and all the great stuff happening to you in the present. Although I try to remind myself of these wise words, my mind has a tendency to wander off and worry about things way down the line (where will be living in a years time? is a constant). And that's why I'm Halfway Here. I'm attempting to re-train my brain - less worry about the future, more time for the present. I'm slowly working my way back to now and getting the most out of what each coming week has to offer; there's so much good stuff going on and I want to take in as much of it as possible :)

end of an era

Beard Today Gone Tomorrow,

Over the last couple of months or so I've been thinking about us and what kind of future lies ahead. Since April things haven't felt quite right on here. It doesn't feel like me anymore - the title isn't working for me (do I have a beard? am I someone's beard? - no to both but it's all a bit confusing) and the design feels waaay too cluttered. You were named and established at a different time in my life and, though it's sad to say, I think I've out-grown you. We've had an awesome three and a bit years together but it's time to let you go. I've no intention of deleting you and you'll be pleased to know that I'm in the process of moving over all your old posts onto my new blog (which will be ready soon)! Yes, I'm not giving up blogging (as I bloody love it) and the new space will feature much of the same type of content, I just need something a little more simple that reflects me right now. I know they say 'always pick your blog name carefully' and no-one likes change, but hey, I'm feeling positive about the name-change and more importantly, it'll feel like a place I want to log-in to and update. Plus, apparently bloglovin do this handy thing where they swap all your followers over for you so no-one need miss a thing! (Stay tuned, I'll be trying it out rather soon.)

Goodbye BTGT, thanks for being my first little corner of the internet, it's been ace :)

Annie
X

PIXIES @ Field Day

Yesterday Mitch and I headed to Victoria Park for Sunday's edition of Field Day. I had but one solitary goal: to see Pixies perform live. I think it's fair to say that I'm a pretty big fan but before yesterday, I'd never seen them live and had kind of written it off as a, 'that'll never happen'. But there in East London, surrounded by fellow Pixies fans, amidst cigarette smoke and flying red stripe cans, beneath one of the most spectacular sky scapes, a dream was realised and it was awesome. Wave of Mutilation, Gouge Away, Debaser, Bone Machine, Mr Grieves, Here Comes Your Man, Monkey's Gone to Heaven and of course, Where is My Mind? to name but a few were all there. Within half an hour of them playing I'd heard 5 of my all time favourites. So, so good. Plus, it was a gloriously warm and sunny day, I drank craft beer and ate churros which all amounted to a bloody fantastic Sunday evening. Hope the sun was shining where you were too!

at present

★  Reading: The Martian by Andy Weir. I really wasn't enjoying this very much at the start but the story has certainly picked up now that I'm over a third of the way in. It's got me hooked.

★  Watching: Game of Thrones and not a lot else really. I've not spent many evenings in recently so my tv/series watching has been slack.

★ Eating: Scrambled eggs & beans on toast. I have no idea why but I seem to craving this a lot at the moment. Oh yes, and scotch eggs.

★ Drinking: Mostly water, moderate amounts of white wine (summer's almost here!) and the tastiest beer I've had in aaaaages: Anchor Saison. At 7.2% though, I can only manage two of these bad boys in an evening.

★ Wearing: I dug out one of my all time favourite tees which I haven't worn in forever on account of it actually being a little (read: a lot) too small for me, but whatever, I'm wearing it now (that's it above) :)

★ Feeling: Happy – the sun is actually out and it's warm outside; sneezy – damn you hayfever!; achy but energised – I went to Zumba on Monday and then played badminton on Tuesday, both were very fun but having not been to the gym in 3 months my body got a bit of a shock; slightly stressed – only 10 weekends stand between now and the wedding and there's still quite a few bits to do; a little smug and very relieved – I went to the dentist for the first time in six years (v.bad Annie) but thankfully she said my teeth were looking good.

★ Looking forward to: Summer! (obvs), but, in the more immediate future: potential dress fitting on Saturday followed by a night out in Kings Cross and then it's Field Day on Sunday where I'll get to see the Pixies!!! Much excitement.

cross pattern baby quilt & a weekend in essex

That was probably one of the best weekends ever! Not only was the sun shining but I spent two very different but bloody marvellous days in Essex. On Sunday we had a converging of mine and Mitch's parents at a lovely pub called The Cricketers. I was told that it was something of a big deal food-wise and it was! I had the most delicious pie (alas no pictures as I was too busy stuffing my face). If you happen to find yourself driving around the stunning Essex countryside near Clavering, I highly recommend a visit, although you may need to book in advance, it's a v.popular place.

On Saturday, a small group of uni buddies and myself journeyed to Leigh-on-Sea for our v.good friend's baby shower and to meet her (very) new baby! Her sister did an excellent job of decorating the house and laying out the cutest spread (baby carriage eggs!). I really wish I'd taken more pictures as it looked amazing. And the stars of the afternoon? Well it goes without saying, he was unbelievably adorable and my friend looked fantastic; it was really hard to believe she'd only given birth two weeks before!

A few people were wondering why the baby shower took place after the birth as I think "traditionally" (are they a tradition? I know nothing) they happen while the mother's still pregnant... Any-hoo, I think having the shower after the baby arrived was perfect – we got to meet the bubba and lavished Lauren with gifts. And talking of gifts, I managed to finish the baby quilt just in time! I seem to be making a habit of doing things at the last minute. Here's the finished blanket...

It's a pretty simple cross pattern which was actually v.straightforward to construct. Saying that though, I think I went about it the wrong way – joining long vertical strips rather than doing sections at a time – you can see that some of my points don't match quite as perfectly as they should.

The simple construction and cross shape meant that I could have a bit more fun with the quilting, trying out different designs and patterns etc. I quilted it all by hand which is what I prefer to do anyway; it's a nice break from sitting at the sewing machine. Fabric wise I just raided my stash which, for the first time in a long time, is now looking rather pathetic (I'll just have to do some fabric shopping - it's a hard life). I didn't have enough blues so I threw some greys into the mix. It was a bit of bugger to plan out but who am I kidding, I really love the planning stages and working out how all the colours will fit together.

I was super happy to find the fabric for the backing. They're little VW beetle-like cars which was perfect as Lauren got given an original beetle for her 21st whilst we were living at uni. The fabric was from Fabric Rehab but I actually bought the last 1m - talk about lucky!

The last thing I wanted to mention was the label. I know it's nowhere near perfect but my embroidery skills are definitely improving (too bad I failed to get a non blurry picture of it though)! I really love making baby quilts, not only do they  take about two months to complete (and that was me taking my sweet time) it's proper lovely when the person they're intended for really likes it. Lauren did so I was v.happy indeed :)

Hope you all had fabulous weekends too!