Glasgow 2018

On Saturday after a really big brunch (which proved to be a rookie mistake later on), we went to see the People's Palace. The Palace sits in a park but the Proms in the Park was on so the park was closed.  

Largest terracotta fountain in Europe/world - not 100% sure

Inside there is large green house and cafe and a museum on the history of Glasgow.

And they had Billy Connolly's banana shoes. (I use the image of banana shoes at work to stay sane.)

They had some interesting exhibits on WWII and the living conditions in the tenements. They really crammed them into those houses. 

Not sure this would survive a bomb blast

View from the top of the green house.

We booked an afternoon tea which was amazing! We upgraded to add a G&T, which was so worth it. I have found Harris Gin, from the Isle of Harris. It seems destined.

Gin!

When we saw the actual afternoon tea, we realised at the mistake of having a good size brunch. (Next time we are going hungry. But they did give us a box to take away the leftovers so it wasn't wasted.)

Cake stand

Cakes.

Sandwiches (one level each)

And tea.

There was also unlimited tea, which we frankly didn't do justice to. And the tea menu was extensive - I wanted to try so many more.  I really love Glasgow!
We had plans for after but we could barely walk so wondered around a little (very slowly) before going back to Caroline's for movies and eventually the rest of our cakes. 

Great British Food Festival

Sunday, we got the bus to Chiswick House for the Great British Food Festival. The weather was not kind and rained to most of it but it was mainly just drizzle. And we are British so stuck it out. And after a glass of wine, it's easy to ignore.

Happy now.

Unfortunately until the early afternoon no one else thought the same and it was pretty empty. Though it did mean the food queues were short.

The band had a pretty small audience.

We wondered around a few times, got desert (they had GF crepes - amazing!), did some shopping, and enjoyed a really good G&T. 

We found somewhere to sit to finish our G&Ts and it turns out we had joined a cake competition and got to sample all the entries.  

The competition

Very happy about this.

We spent the evening in the usual way - watching films.
They left this morning :(
So I did some work this afternoon and then went for a run to cheer myself up. I love Bushy Park and there was some great wildlife out this afternoon.

Heron.

Baby deer.

Kerry's Birthday

Last weekend I went home for a long weekend. Mom and Dad were supposed to come up the weekend before but couldn't due to the snow and me being ill. So I went home last weekend instead. I spend Friday helping Kerry with revision for her exam which she happily passed and on the evening we went out to a smoke house for a combination of her birthday and celebration of her success.

I let Kerry do my hair and make-up - she is much better than me

Giant platter of food.

Because of the last minutes plans to go home, we couldn't get in anywhere for Mother's Day Sunday lunch. So Kerry and Craig cooked for us. It was lovely though they made the most unusual Yorkshire Puddings. They were more like Yorkshire biscuits. Not sure what happened. I forgot to take any photos as I was too busy eating and playing with the cats. :) 

This week Kerry and Craig came down Thursday night and stayed over on the way down south. So I got her a birthday cake. She was very happy with this. And then made her a birthday Pancake breakfast on Friday morning before they headed off. She managed to leave behind an full outfit but did remember to run back for the cake. So she has her priories set. :)

Minion Birthday Cake!!!

Christmas Tourist with Kerry and Craig

Kerry and Craig were in London over the weekend so we met up on Saturday for some Christmas tourism. They (well, Kerry) were looking for a sparkly angel Christmas Tree topper. So we tried to get to Harrods. Our navigation skills were questionable (we blamed a dodgy app) and we ended up in Carnaby (totally the wrong direction). But we did find choccywoccydoodah cafe and shop. The cafe was booked out but the shop was very cool.

We tried some of the cake and surprisingly it wasn't the best. I guess you go for the chocolate which was really impressive. After a sit down and a drink, we started some shopping. All window shopping but it was pretty.

Regency Street.

We eventually found Harrods. However London seems to have sold out of tree toppers. :( We tried Harvey Nichols later as well with the same amount of success.

Harrods.

So we started walking again. We wouldn't have had to walk so much but the tubes were ridiculous. You would think a weekend so close to Christmas they would stop playing around with the tube lines. But no.
We also tried to get Craig to try ice skating but he was not keen. Maybe next year.

Ice rink at the Natural History Museum.

It took a while but we made our way to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. It was rammed and just worse. Very pretty but mostly fair ground. I has hoping for more stalls.

Entering.

Rammed.

We did manage to get into one of the revolving bars.

:)

However some bits, mostly the Bavarian village, were very strange.

This was about 3 stories tall.

We gave up early when it started raining. And started walking again. We finally found a tube station that was open. And somewhere to have a drink. It was outside, under an awning but it was fairly dry and we could sit down. I did over 21,000 steps. My feet hurt. But worth it. Lovely day. :)

Kerry and Craigs Wedding!

This weekend was finally the big day. I drove over after work on Friday (I finally finished the course - Yay!). Most of the key players were already there.

We had a quiet night on Friday and were all in bed early. (I didn't get back from London until 1.30am on Friday morning so I was exhausted.)
Saturday morning started quite relaxed. Kerry had brought the ladies dressing gowns especially for the occasion.

Morning preparations. 

The hotel was beautiful. Kerry and Craig made most of the decorations themselves and it worked really well. I managed to get some photos before the chaos began.

Top table

The girls ended up in Kerry's room for a portion of the morning, chilling out.

Ready for the bride

We came prepared

Mom had been saving a bottle of Bollinger for this occasion. We didn't have much (we really didn't want Kerry staggering down the aisle) but it only seemed right to celebrate.

Champagne

The toast

Maid of Honour, starting as she means to go on.

Getting ready is not all glamorous! And we didn't plan the order of dressing correctly. Which required some interesting techniques to be deployed to correct these mistakes. (Usually that came down to me! Yes that is me under the dress.)

Sexy bride-to-be

Some sisterly duties are not very glamorous.

But it was all worth it! She looked absolutely amazing and so happy. 

Happy bride

Kerry and Craig go away in the campers often and brought Trevor (green in the top hat) and Doris (in her fetching veil) to join in the celebrations. They did look amazing and fun. Which king of summed up the whole event - Fun!

Camper van bride and groom.

And the cake was amazing. Not the usual wedding cake but perfect! And very tasty.

Cake.

Trevor Cake

Doris cake

A lot of cake

Very delicate

I didn't see Kerry walking down the aisle because I was sitting at the end of a row. But I did get to see Craig's face. She did look amazing and you could tell by Craigs face. (They both teared up. As did mom and dad.)

Groom sees the bride for the first time

Vows

Teary

Married!

The ceremony was only 15 mins long. After that it was photos, drinks and laughs!

Attacked with Confetti

With best man and father of the bride

And Dad hadn't really been drinking yet

Happy couple

All the brides maids

Family

I haven't had a big brother before but I imagine this is the sort of thing a sister should do. Instead of canapés, they had cupcakes. Kerry wanted to eat one but didn't want the icing so Craig ate it for her. And didn't think the photographer was around to witness this and record his method. He forgot about me.

To embarrass my new big brother!

Cupcakes!

The lunch was really nice and very posh!

Ready for dinner

As a wedding present I brought them some bride and groom bibs. They were partly a joke, but I also know how Kerry is. And they used them! 

Enjoying their bibs

The speeches were good. And fairly short. Mainly because all the speakers were really nervous. But they all did really well.

Nervous speaker

After lunch there was some time to relax and chat.

With the flower girl

friends

Mom side of the family

And then some of the evening guests showed up with their camper vans.

camper van invasion

The best bit was the chocolate fountain. I based myself in this room later in the evening. The chocolate was really good!

Chocolate fountain!!!!

The evening was also a lot of fun. Though dad chose a song for the father-daughter dance that made both mom and Kerry sob!

First dance

Father-daughter dance

With mother son-in-law

Lot of crying going on

It was also the birthday of one of the Bridesmaids. So she got a cake too! :)

Brides maid's birthday!

Page boy enjoying the song

My family enjoy a party

It was a very long day. even Kerry gave up with her shoes by about 10pm. Though the slippers were equally as cool in my opinion. (My heels got switched for flats at about 3pm - I don't do heels.)

The shoes got traded in.

Still going strong

The night finished at abut 12.30am and we were all very happy to go to bed. Well, some did continue it one of the rooms but I was done. Though there was time for some selfies beforehand. My cousin does like a selfie.

Cousin, brother-in-law and dad

mom and cousin

Cousin and me.

It was a fabulous weekend. Though driving back ... not so much. I was behind Kerry and Craigs camper and then Dad (who drove one of the happy couples vans). First Kerry and Craig pulled over. They hadn't broken down thankful (and surprisingly), just had to go back for something. Then 5 mins later I saw Dad on the side of the road. Thankfully he just couldn't get the radio to work! After that I figured I'd just leave them too it! Then I took a wrong turn and got a bit lost. We were all very happy to get home. And for an early night. :)