Partymarth & More

Apologies for the absence, I have had a touch of bloggers block over the last few days, most unlike me, I think I have recovered, it's pouring out of me now.

I know some of you wanted to know about the party, please don't be cross with me but I did not take photos, no, not one! I intended to, I even placed my camera behind the sound system, ready to pull out and snap away, but it all got too busy, I seemed to be preparing right up until the doorbell rang, heralding the arrival of the first guests and then things got pretty chaotic from that point on.  Everybody seemed to have a great time, MG's curry went down a storm, those that were not quick enough missed out but were assured by the people that were quick enough, that it was delicious (we will make more next time, good curry is hard to find in France!)  I stuck to my guns and drank Indian tonic water until I could not stand it any longer, after the food and everyone was settled I got stuck into the wine and caught up very rapidly with everyone else.  The volume on the sound system was gradually turned up and there was lots of dancing and jumping about. The party finally wrapped at 6.30am, all in all a pretty good do, the recovery process took two days. Now we have cut our party teeth we will definitely have a Midsummer party outdoors and I promise to take photos!

 I was honoured to be awarded the Stylish blogger award from lovely Fly in the web over at French Leave and also from super stylish Jeanne-Aelia Desparmet-Hart over at Through the French Eye Of Design.

You know how it goes I have to reveal seven things about myself, bearing in mind I have done this before I now have to think of seven more things that you don't already know, that hopefully wont bore you to death.
  

I am very short sighted and should wear corrective lenses all the time, however I am very vain and only wear my glasses when absolutely necessary, this has led to some embarrassing incidents over the years, like going up to the wrong person and kissing them etc. I have tried contact lenses but don't get on with them at all and I have also considered laser eye surgery but I am a bit squeamish about it.  Over the years I have got used to and quite like seeing the world as an impressionist painting although it would be nice to have the freedom to buy non prescription sunglasses.

(This is not me canoodling with Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet!)

When I was a teenager sometime back in the eighties I got jobs posing for photo stories in teenage magazines such as Jackie, My Guy and Blue Jeans.  I got paid five pounds an hour, which seemed like a fortune at the time, far more lucrative than a paper round.

Don't be fooled by the smile, he wants you for lunch!

I am not the sort of person who is normally afraid of things, however I do have an irrational fear of sharks, I adore swimming in the sea, usually the Mediterranean around the French coastline, where I don't think there are sharks but you never know! I always swim out to the edge of the sectioned off area where the buoys are but then I start thinking of sharks and swim back really quickly to the shore.  I know sharks are really important for the eco system of the sea but with their beady eyes and ugly mouths they give me the creeps.

 I am no Albert Einstein, I have always been hopeless at maths, I used to get so frustrated at school because I just did not get maths, I can add and subtract but that's about it, I can't see numbers in my head and still use my fingers to count, I am always asking MG the formula for things on the calculator as I cannot seem to retain the information and pre mobile phones would always misdial numbers.  I saw a program about dyscalculia  which is a form of number blindness, similar to dyslexia, I am convinced I suffer from it, I should take a test.

I would have loved to have worked in the film industry which is very difficult to get into and extremely competitive, I am particularly interested in production especially casting and location.  I have often read a book, and thought that would make a fantastic film and then proceeded to cast the characters and think of suitable filming locations. I am sure it's not as simple as that, you would have to deal with agents, lawyers, contracts, budgets, accountants, insurance, caterers, transport, logistics, councillors, mayors, police, and in certain instances diplomats, presidents and royalty and I would imagine you have to be very ballsy, I think I will stick to casting books, I am quite good at it, often they have been made into films and been cast with my first choices.

I always have a good book in my handbag, you never know when you might need it.

Rufus Sewell is my latest crush, he stated recently: "My favourite things are just wandering from place to place, going to cafes, taking photographs. My favourite day is a happy accident".  A man after my own heart, Ahh Swoon.

That concludes seven things about me, I am supposed to pass this onto seven other bloggers but as this award is doing the rounds and I have lost track of who has done it and who hasn't I pass it onto all the bloggers whom I link to who have not already done it.

Party Update

This was the picture I used for the invitations

I mentioned in an earlier post that we are having a party, some of you wanted to know more about it, so I thought I would give you an update.  We have been wanting to have a party for ages, we have been living here for nearly eight years and have been invited to lot's of fabulous parties thrown by others, time to give something back.  Ideally we wanted to have a party in the Summer, I have always fancied throwing a Midsummer night party,  I envision a balmy evening, Chinese lanterns and twinkling night lights in jars bobbing elegantly from tree branches, guests swishing about in their Summer finery, glasses of rose in hand, plenty of Mediterranean style food, and good conversation and laughter until the next mornings sunrise.

Due to various reasons this has not happened, then we were going to have a New Years Eve party but some friends threw one, so we went there instead, Burns night which is tonight was mooted, but it's on a Tuesday, no good for the workers! Plus, where would we find Haggis?  Not really a French thing and you can't have Burns night without Haggis.  So finally we decided to have a 'Beat the January Blues Party' which is being held on Friday night, from 8pm, the invitations have been sent and mostly, responded to, around thirty people will be descending on us.

The preparations are underway...

Cleaning, I have been cleaning the house like a mad thing, MG rather unfairly stated that the house only get's a good clean when we are expecting guests! Bloody cheek!  So untrue.  Nothing has been left untouched, I even cleaned out the fridges and the freezers.

Lighting, MG is the self appointed technical director, he loves lighting. Strange things have been going on outside, the entrance courtyard will be adorned with coloured spotlights, illuminating trees and shrubs.  On the inside, there will be muted lighting and hundreds of candles and night lights, carefully positioned to avoid fire!

Music, we have thousands of tracks on the i phone, which can be hooked up to the amp and speakers, however I wanted to do a party play list, some good friends recently told us about Spotify and now I am totally hooked, you download it to your computer, and basically it will find any musical track you can think of and you can create as many play lists as you want, free of charge!  We had some holes in our music collection that I wanted to fill and the other evening I created a six hour party playlist, I had so much fun listening to tracks I have not heard for ages, I ended up having my own private party, dancing about, drinking wine. The other great thing about it is guests can choose anything they want, they just tap the track or artist onto the laptop and, hey presto!  The technical director has ordered a special lead so it can be played via our amp.  I have chosen some very upbeat stuff, starting demurely at first, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, all the way through just about every decade and genre finally ending up with early house music from the nineties, this will be for the party hardcore who will still be dancing in the early hours.  We have four spare bedrooms at our disposal, one has already been claimed!  They will all be made up, as I have a feeling they may be needed, this party could go on all weekend!

Food & drink, MG (who is an excellent chef) wants to make two different curry's and a tagine so this will be the main course, for the starters I will do a couple of huge salads; tomato, shallot and feta cheese and also wild rice with artichoke hearts and palmiers,  there will be loads of bread an extensive cheeseboard and for pudding; bread and butter pudding and a huge fruit salad, I think someone mentioned they were bringing home made eclaires, yum!  There will be of course lots of wine of all colours, plenty of spirits and mixers and beer we are thinking of offering everyone vin chaud as they walk through the door but this has not been decided on yet.

Abstemious, yes me, I am the hostess after all, normally at parties I get a bit overexcited and guzzle red wine like home-made lemonade on a hot day, the results have been known to be rather embarrassing not to mention the dreadful hangover the next day, so I will be just drinking a very large tonic water with a splash of vodka for flavour and won't be hitting the wine at least until, all the food stuff is out of the way!

 Outfit, I saw this mini dress in white and black over at lovely Penny Dreadful Vintage it was on sale from Asos reduced from £75.00 to £30.00, I ordered it in black, it's arrived, I have tried it on, it's perfect, I will be wearing it adorned with many strings of pearls.

I think that's about it, I better get back to it, I have lists of things to do.  I wish it could be logistically possible for you guys to come, consider yourselves invited!

 

A Quick Hello

A very short post today, I have loads to do, we have decided to have a party at the end of January and the house and garden desperately need some attention, I am going to have to fight the urge to sit at the computer and blog.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

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