Twelve Things: July's Party

We were yet to make the most of our little flat in Brixton, so my birthday was a great excuse to throw a party. It's the ground floor of a Victoria terrace and we are lucky to have the run of the garden so a garden party was in order... but we do live in England after all. Good weather isn't guaranteed. True to form, rain was forecast and so the garden had to come inside.

To get inspired I started a board on Pinterest, and I loved the balloon installations and festoon lighting. Over the weeks before I collected jam jars to create hanging lanterns for outside, but the weather meant we kept them inside and instead we sipped prosecco out of them - how trendy! I'm still going to give the lantern project a go, but in the meantime they're fantastic as little vases.

Somehow a pink and yellow theme spontaneously emerged and it was seen in the cups and plates, flowers and balloons. I was up early on the day to get baking: lemon drizzle cake, rose and strawberry Victoria sponge, chocolate and raspberry and tea-infused cupcakes. Dan was in charge of the savoury goods: handmade pigs in blankets, sausage rolls and pizza fingers.

I had a great night and the summer is only half way through, so I hope next time we can get out in the garden and have a dinner party out there!

Looking back: in January I started to learn to swing.

In February we learned how to make pasta.

In March I sewed some curtains.

In April I planted herbs.

In May I started running.

In June I learnt to knit Fair Isle.

Lemon and Poppies

A birthday is a great excuse for me to get baking (although simply bringing in baked goods for my colleagues seems to be too at the moment!) For Louise and Mike's birthday I decided to bake a lemon and poppy seed cake, adapted from this Mary Berry recipe. I simply added the poppy seeds and a squeeze of lemon juice. The decoration was inspired by the Lovecrumbs Bakery in Edinburgh which I came across this week. Their flavour combinations sound magical and visually the cakes are beautiful. If ever I'm up in Edinburgh I'll be sure to go.

Back to the birthday cake, it went down a treat so I think this is a recipe to be replicated again and again!

The Cam

I fell in love with Cambridge a little bit more this weekend. It was my brother's 21st birthday celebrations so we descended on the city for a few days. We had a late lunch at The Free Press, walking past some gorgeous terraced houses to get to it from college, and then had a delicious three course meal for 40 in an upstairs dining room in Emma for A's birthday. Today we had a later breakfast of tea, coffee, orange juice and sausage rolls at Fitzbillies, a Cambridge and Stephen Fry favourite. We wandered around the city, through and past spectacular college buildings and seeing punters punt and cows graze by the canal. Idyllic!

Swiss Dolls

Yesterday was my 23rd birthday. The evening before I had a delicious meal with lots of my favourite people (not all!) and then I had a quiet "actual" day.  I popped and saw my grandparents in the morning and following my earring making, my Nanna had found me these gorgeous buttons that her sister, my great-aunt Joan, had bought on one of her walking holidays in Switzerland years ago. I'm going to keep these!

A few months ago I got chatting to a woman in a shop, who happened to share my birthday only she was born 10 years before me, and she said to me: spend your birthday with the one person who's special to you... and that's what I did.

Book Club

Friday was my birthday which was just another day at the office but with salmon and cream cheese bagel for breakfast and home made cake after lunch. Last night was the birthday outing and I had a great time here at The Book Club with a great group of friends from home, uni and work. It's such a good venue, with table tennis and pool but also cool design such as the lightbulb ceiling and random holes in the walls. Definitely go and try a Grown Up Lemonade!
Images from The Book Club

Tango Tango

I've just booked tickets to see Tanguera at Sadler's Wells in a few Sundays time. My friend Lauren and I are going to have a day in London to celebrate our 21st birthdays by having Afternoon Tea and then seeing this dance show. I love latino dance and culture, and we've both been dancers in the past, so I'm looking forward to our birthday trip!

Birthday Cakes

Yummm! These are the little cupcakes I made for my 21st birthday BBQ on Sunday - and they went down a storm. My friend Steph made me a couple of large cakes - lemon drizzle and chocolate with buttercream and raspberry jam. The one's here are lemon and poppy seed, banana and hazelnut with passionfruit icing and chocolate and chai spice.

The day was lovely, and had so much fun. I received so many great gifts, I obviously talk about my interests alot because they were all very "me"!

Ceilidh

So last night we had my aunt's birthday ceilidh/barn dance. Quite honestly I had such an amazing time! We were all dancing like crazy, parents, aunts and uncles, cousins, usually reluctant brothers included. I have always loved dance from a boogie out in the evening to my ballet classes but this was great to get eveyone involved. We had it in Farnham Castle but it would be perfect in a real barn at a wedding!

Dreaming of Summer

Tonight we are celebrating my aunt's 50th birthday with a ceilidh at Farnham Castle. A ceilidh is a Gaelic barn dance, so it should be fun night of dancing!

Last night I came back from Canterbury, a 4 hour journey which should've taken half that thanks to suspicious packages and changing trains. It was bitterly cold, probably minus temperatures. This afternoon I have been looking at our summer holidays from the last few years, pining for warmer temperatures. The picture above is of my friend Nicole when we visited the Alhambra in Granada back in 2008. I love Spain, I definitely want to go again this summer and bathe in the sun!

Five Today

Our beloved family dog Puck is five years old today! Don't you think he's the most gorgeous canine you have ever set eyes on?! I'm glad you agree! I was just about to take him on a lovely walk in the park... but the heavens have opened!
Photos by my brother Alex Dowle (except head on the decking, that's mine!)

Mein Geburtstag

I turned twenty on Wednesday!! I received a plethora of books...

and I was most excited to received Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin, I can't wait to get started! I've already made a 'thanks' stamp for thank-you notes!

During the day we went to the flea market again at Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium (with all the tennis going on down the road) and Mother Dowle, my friend Rachel and I got our mits on some bargains!

Leather belt 50p
Leather holdall £1 (Rach also got 2 bags for the same price - absolute bargain!)

All in all I had a lovely day and I'm looking forward even more to my bbq party on Sunday!

Sixty

This year we have some big celebrations in my family. On Thursday it is my maternal grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary and in September it is my Dad's and uncle's 60th birthday! Through the creation of cards and invitations, these gorgeous photos have come my way...
25th June 1949
Uncle Michael and Daddy Dowle