Sunday morning, up with the lark...

Brian woke me at 8am, the morning after the night before. He seemed as fresh as a daisy, heading out to treasure hunt or dive or some such thing involving water. "You're off your head" I mumbles as he cheerily waved me goodbye and I reluctantly got up, I thudded downstairs, on the hunt for water and after aimlessly walking around for a few minutes, went back to bed for an hour or two.

The party was wonderful. I spent most of the day ferrying children to sleepovers, buying items required for all the different events of the day and night, picking up balloons, setting up cakes etc, etc. When it came down to it, I had approx. 30 minutes to get ready and it was a mad dash to get to the party in time.

The garden was filled with hundreds of candles and the tables and chairs set up on the lawn sparkled with the lights reflecting off water bowls filled with floating waxed balls, lit up like Christmas trees. The sound of happy chatter and the chink of ice came from every direction, and the light breeze with the smell of autumn and the rotisserie barbecue was in the air. The bar was set and lined up along it was rows and rows of mojitos and French martinis. The singer, resembling Dean Martin, started to perform his rat pack and swing numbers, belting out tune after tune as we sang along.

It was a cold, clear night but the outside heaters helped and I made sure I had a nice little cardigan to match my outfit whilst Brian, being much more sensible, had worn thermals under his suit and sat there, drinking and eating with a smile on his face all night.

My friends, Ricky and Irene really seemed to enjoy themselves and they had a dance and a cutting of the cake in memory of their previous wedding 25 years earlier. Near the end of the evening, we ventured back inside and were handed glasses of Amber, a liqueur made with my favourite malt whisky, Macallan. It tasted just like the Schneken cakes I made last month, what with the pecan and maple syrup flavour and I stopped after just one, which was difficult but I'd had my fair share of French Martinis and didn't want to be carried home.

We left sometime after 2am, even though there was still a good few folk partying into the wee hours. It was a great night and one that they will remember, I'm sure.

I unfortunately didn't take too many pictures but the food was rotisserie chicken and pork, stuffed and marinaded in, amongst other things, sweet chilli and olives, fresh salads with tomato and mozzarella, honey mustard glazed sausages, baby new jersey potatoes and lovely cheesecakes. Delicious.

This morning has been spent rounding up the kids, tea at every location, a few paracetamol...for the cold I have of course, what else......

It will be fish and chips for dinner tonight, despite it being Sunday and we shall all return to normal in the morning.