Wednesday 23 March 2016

What I Did Last Night

If, after reading this post's title, you are expecting something kinky or at least saucy, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. Because what I did last night was what I have been doing every 22nd of March for the past few years: throwing a cocktail party.
In 2015, I posted about my party here. That post contains clickable links to the party posts from 2012, 2013 and 2014 - just in case you want to compare pictures and look for what has changed and what has remained the same.

What has remained pretty much the same is the way my living room looks usually:



I had the day off and so plenty of time to do everything that needed doing without even the slightest hint of stress. 
Some cards and a present had already been arriving for the past few days:



The above flowers were delivered around lunch time, sent from one of my sisters-in-law from Yorkshire. My sister helped me do some last-minute shopping - stuff I can't get before, because it has to be fresh - and brought me these flowers in my favourite colours:



The blue flowers are called "Bauernbüble", literally "farmer's boys", because in times gone by farmers here often wore linen working shirts dyed this same shade of blue.



Preparations went smoothly as usual, with only a few phone calls to take. Nowadays, most of the people who can not be there for my birthday will either send cards, emails or text messages; there are only a handful left who will ring.



As usual, most of the party food was going to be made by my Mum and my sister. My only contributions to the buffet, as always set up in the Third Room, were these. By now, it was 5.00 pm - time to change into my brand new dress!



Actually, I had intended to wear heels, but the only shoes I could find matching the silver belt were flat ones. My downstairs neighbours were probably grateful!
You can't really see it in the picture, but the fabric of this dress is very tiny light blue squares on white. Something else you can not see is that I am wearing a silver ring with a light blue stone, and a silver necklace with a light blue stone. Of course (!) I was wearing light blue eye shadow, and a scent called Cuir Blanc (white leather). I really love this new dress and am sure I'll wear it often as soon as it gets warm enough outside.
Maybe the pictures I have nicked from the fashion label's website (comma) give you a better idea.

As every year, once my guests started to arrive, there was no way I could have (or would have) taken any pictures. But rest assured that it was a great evening; there were 18 humans and 1 dog, an amazing pile of presents (all of them great and much appreciated), lots of laughter, plenty to drink and hopefully enough to eat (after all, it was a cocktail party and not a dinner invitation).

Most of my guests had to work today, so the party didn't last quite as long as it would have on a weekend. By 1:00 am, I had finished clearing up what I did not want to leave until the morning. Today, I have another day off and spent the morning putting everything back in order. I did it all at a nice leisurely pace, with enough time to take pictures of my gifts table and the wonderful flowers:  





This blog post will keep reminding me of my wonderful 48th birthday, but I hope the flowers are going to be a reminder for at least a week, too.

33 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday dear Meike! I thought I remembered that your birthday was the day before mine, so I thought about you yesterday! How fortunate you are to have such wonderful friends and family to celebrate with! And your dress is lovely. You always look so stylish!

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    1. Thank you, and the same to you, dear Jennifer :-)
      I consider myself indeed fortunate for having such wonderful friends and family.

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  2. Happy birthday! What a lovely dress and you look great. Glad the party went well. You are so organised Meike.

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    1. Thank you, Maggie! Some people think being organised is just another way of being lazy - and it is true, because life is so much easier that way :-)

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  3. I wish The European Union would make it the law that everybody can have a paid day off work on their birthday - then in the so-called Brexit vote in June they just might get my vote. Once again - Happy Birthday! It sounds as if the cocktail party was another happy time for you.

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    1. Thank you, YP. It really was a great party. Everyobdy said so, and I think they meant it.
      I am having TWO days off - the actual day (22nd), and today :-)

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  4. What a lovely dress for a nice party, warm Birthday wishes to you.

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    1. Thank you, Blogoratti! We can really do with some warmth here... it is still rather cold, colder than what it was in December.

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  5. Happy birthday, Meike! The English for those blue flowers is grape hyacinths. They're very pretty, aren't tney.

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    1. Thank you, Frances!
      Yes, I like the grape hyacinths a lot, and they look perfect in that bouquet with the yellow tulips.

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  6. Happy Belated Birthday Meike! It looks and sounds like a great party and you looked lovely in your new dress.
    I adore 'Muscari', which is the blue flower you loved and I've often wondered if that's where the name Mascara came from as it's similar in shape. I have pots of it in my garden as it's my favourite spring flower. :)

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    1. Thank you, Karen!
      Mascara as in the stuff we put on our eyelashes? I always thought that's from the Italian word for "mask", which is mascara.

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    2. Ah, yes that makes more sense. :)

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  7. You look lovely in your pretty spring dress! Happy Birthday! We are having a cocktail party instead of a traditional Easter this year, "Black Tie." It is just my adult children and their significant others, my 13 year old son and I, and (believe it or not) my ex-husband. Your place looked so pretty for the occasion. I am starting to decorate a bit for our gathering (though I should really finish a thorough cleaning first!)

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    1. Thank you, Marcie!
      A cocktail party for Easter, now that sounds very nice! Don't bother too much about cleaning beforehand... there will be plenty of it to do after the party :-)

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  8. Wishing you many happy returns of the day!

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  9. Happy birthday! What a lovely dress, so fresh and smart

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    1. Thank you, Julie!
      The moment I spotted this dress at the shop I knew it was mine :-) And I am glad to report that the stain I made on it when a bit of tomato slipped off the slice of bread I was eating came off completely.

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  10. Beautiful and classically simple just as (like the arrangements going smoothly) I would have expected from you Meike. I'm glad that you enjoyed yourself.

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  11. Happy Birthday, Meike! You looked lovely in your new dress and your home looked beautiful with all the party decorations and lovely flowers. I never knew that those blue flowers in the bouquet from your sister were called "Farmer's Boys". In Hungary they are called "Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven", though I am not sure why. May you have a wonderful year of being 48 years old.

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    1. Thank you, Kristi!
      In Germany, the "Keys to Heaven" ("Himmelsschlüsselchen") are a different flower, of the primula family. click here for a picture.

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  12. I wish you many happy returns of the day, Meike! You wear that dress well, and I think the silver shoes were a good choice too. :)

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    1. Thank you, Monica!
      Shoes with a bit of a heel would have looked more elegant, but I felt fine in these, too.

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  13. Your dress is beautiful, and so are you! Sounds as if you had a wonderful birthday. I'm a bit late, but many happy returns of the day! xoxox

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    1. It is never too late for good wishes, Carol, thank you!

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  14. Very belated happy birthday to you! You look stunning in that dress and I'm glad you had such a great time. Also - your have some really gorgeous furniture in your living room. x

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    1. Thank you, Gillian!
      Yes, I really like those 1930s sideboards/cabinets, the 1950s armchair and the 1960s coffee table. Everything else is probably going to go during my room-swapping project :-)

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  15. What a lovely outfit. I am glad the party was fun as usual.

    What is your room swapping project mentioned in the reply above, by the way?

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    1. I am going to swap my bedroom and living room, and redecorate both rooms in the process. Also, I am going to replace the settee (never really liked the current one from the start) and probably change a few more bits while I'm at it.
      There are pictures of the wallpapers and wall paints I have chosen, starting with this post and the next 3 after that.

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  16. This is a fun, unique idea! I like the setup and the your dress! There's something so chic and beautiful about a white outfit :)

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    1. Thank you, Oluwaseun! In my "new" rooms, the next party will look even better - although I don't expect to wear yet another new dress then... unless I'll find one on my upcoming holiday :-)
      (Btw the dress is white with a very tiny pale blue pattern on it.)

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