Tuesday 14 February 2012

Half Term Blog...BAFTAS, Fishworks, Wedding Dresses & A Nasty bug!

Saturday
BAFTA PARTY EXCITEMENT!

I haven't had a chance to blog since Saturday morning's snoring rant - as I've been sooo busy! So much to catch up on.....

On Saturday morning I got a text from my lovely auntie (who is a Make Up Artist in the film industry) to say that because she had been nominated for a BAFTA (for Harry Potter), she had tickets to the pre-Bafta cocktail and canapé party at Asprey (a REALLY posh & expensive jewellery store in New Bond Street, London) and she offered the tickets to me and my Mr, as her and my uncle were going to the actual awards ceremony and didn't want to go to both! How amazing, it was certainly an opportunity we couldn't turn down, but as it had just been sprung on us, we didn't have a chance to pack suitable clothing! So we nipped into town and bought Liam some new trousers, a shirt and a tie, and he borrowed shoes from my little brother. I on the other hand had packed a vintage-style tea dress to wear over the weekend with leggings and uggs (which was from Tesco! hehe) and so I just bought tights, and then borrowed heels and a handbag from my Mum! 

I was pretty nervous, as I had to be prepared to pretend to be my auntie! I was nervous that they'd catch me out or that I'd have to lie (which I'm useless at!) but luckily, it all went really smoothly, and all we had to do with flash our ticket, and we were in. Before we went in we spotted our first star! Gok Wan walked past us just round the corner from New Bond Street - he was carrying loads of posh shopping bags! :-) 

This was our ticket (which unfortunately they took off of us when we got in there!)....


The place was absolutely stunning - there was a big purple carpet lining the street entrance to Asprey- and rails of people lining the streets waiting to get photos and autographs from the celebrities. It felt amazing walking down the carpet with all people cheering and flashing cameras etc - I'm pretty sure I was the only woman there wearing F&F from Tesco - hahaha!!! 

When we got in there attendants took our coats, and we were handed glasses of champagne from a waiter. The building itself was stunning, like the poshest & classiest department store you can imagine, with lots of glass and a huge spiral staircase. The shops stock was all on show - the most beautiful jewellery, watches, handbags, homeware, art, and furniture. The price tags were phenomenal! One of the necklaces cost £310,000 - I just cannot imagine who could warrant that amount of money on a necklace!!! 

Said necklace....

It was so awesome to be able to wander around and look at everything. There were lots of rooms in the store, and each one had a different theme - one was taken over completely by Hotel Chocolat - and you could just help yourself to as many of the choccies as you wanted (heaven), another was taken over by The Savoy, they had set up a cocktail bar, and they were just to die for - our favourite was called The Green Park and it tasted amazing! Lots of gin and basil and lemon - yum! I really liked them and drank about 2 or 3, considering that I barely drink alcohol shows you how nice they were. 

Savoy Cocktail Menu...

It was so surreal being able to just walk around and help ourselves to food and drink free of charge. Liam certainly made the most of it, and probably drank half of London's cocktail & champagne supply ;-) hehehe - he had such a lovely time, we both did. 

The Food - now this most certainly deserves a whole paragraph all to itself! The canapés were absolutely to die for - at some points we were literally following the waiters around to get some more - delicious wasn't even the word! Here was what we ate....

- Fillet of beef with béarnaise dipping sauce
- Poached quails egg on a Melba toast with a black truffle mousse and truffle shaving
- Smoked salmon fillet on rye bread with a mustard cream and dill garnish
- Mozzarella and tomato dressed with lemon, all served on a ceramic appetiser spoon
- Small welsh rarebit squares served with a grilled tomato garnish 
- Deep fried calamari (we didn't actually get to try this one, as we kept missing the tray! :-( ) 

All the food was absolutely exquisite - and considering I thought I didn't like truffle, or salmon, each canapé was seriously delicious! 

We spotted loads of famous people - it was amazing being in a room full of every Tom, Dick and Harry from the film-tv-showbiz world - very surreal at times, especially when I walked up the spiral staircase and came face to face with Gary Oldman and John Hurt! We also saw Jonah Hill, Zoe Ball, Emelia Fox, Stephen Fry, and Liam quite literally bumped into Claudia Winkleman! Lol. He also talked to Jonah Hill, congratulating him on his Bafta nomination, and telling him he should have won it for his film Superbad! Liam was much braver than me when it came to talking to the famous people, I think it was probably alcohol-fuelled confidence, but good on him! 

Unfortunately photography was totally banned inside the party, however people were taking pictures by the giant Bafta, so we joined in, and I sneaked the cocktail menu into my bag, and took a sneaky photo of the beautiful fresh flowers in the marble-clad toilets! So, here are the few pictures we did manage to sneak....

 Liam with the giant Bafta!

 Me with the giant Bafta!

The stunning flowers in the loos! 

The whole night was magical and such an awesome experience, we felt so lucky, and were so grateful to my auntie for the tickets! 

Unfortunately, Harry Potter didn't win the Bafta on Sunday for the make-up :-(  However, excitedly, my aunt and her team are also up for an Oscar at the end of this month for HP, and I'm so, so hoping that they get it! She's had an amazing few months jet setting to LA for various Oscar-related dinners etc, and she's worked so hard over the past 10 years on HP that she so deserves it! 

So what an exciting time Saturday night was for us! My back hurt a huge amount, which was frustrating, but I took lots of painkillers, and luckily, the party was only a couple of hours, and wasn't a really late night, but trust me, a few hours was more than enough to wear heels with my back as it is! 

Sunday
THEATRE & DINNER IN RICHMOND

On Sunday me, my mum, my twin sister, and Liam went to Richmond for dinner, and to the theatre. I'd booked the tickets as a Christmas gift for my Mum and Sister, we saw 'Over the Rainbow' which is the life story of the singer Eva Cassidy. The music in the show was outstanding, as was the voice of the lady playing Eva - she was so talented! 

Before the theatre we went to our favourite restaurant in Richmond, it is the most beautiful fish restaurant called Fishworks. The food is absolutely top-notch, and very good value for money! 

This is the restaurant (I love it, its so beautiful!)



And here is what we all scoffed....

STARTERS:

Me - calarmari 

Mum - bread and taramasalata

 Liam - Scallops

Jojo - Prawns

MAIN COURSE:
We all had their house special - beer battered cod, chips and homemade mushy peas and homemade tartare sauce! Yum! 

DESSERTS:

Jojo - Sticky Toffee pudding

Mum - Eton Mess

Me - Lemon Tart

Liam - Creme Brûlée 

It was all absolutely outstanding, and it was lovely to have a scrummy dinner out as a treat - needless to say, I was over on my calorie count! Hehehe! 

Monday
DRESS FITTING AND GOING HOME

So, on Monday, our final day in Surrey before returning home, we went for a wedding dress fitting! Liam and my brother went to the pub over the road from the dress shop and me, and my four fab bridesmaids went to the lovely Yasemin's Gown's in Horley. I was so excited about seeing my dress again, and seeing the bridesmaids in their lovely dresses. It felt amazing putting my dress on and I know 100% that I've chosen the right dress. It was really cool for me to put the dress on and be told I've lost two dress sizes since the last time I was there and was measured for the dress. I am now at my lowest weight before I will need adjustments to the dress - which I'm happy about - I'm excited that I'm achieving my goal, slowly but surely. And its cool that come the end of June I will need to have the dress made smaller. 

This was also the case for my lovely twin sister, as she too has lost weight, so it will be adjustments for the two of us! Exciting. 

My cousins Vicky and Shai looked absolutely stunning in their dresses, and they fitted perfectly, as did my best friends dress, Carmi. They seriously all look so stunning, and I'm so looking forward to seeing them all dressed up on our big day! 

I also chose my tiara, it is stunning, and exactly what I had in mind. So that is another big tick off the to-do list! 

I cannot wait to see Liam's face on the big day when he finally see's us all in our dresses etc - I really hope he'll like my dress especially!  

After the dress fitting we all went for some lunch and then me, Liam, my sister and my little brother got the train back to Bedford, as they've come to stay with us for part of the half term holiday this week.

At midnight, Liam gave me my Valentines/2 year anniversary/1 year engagement anniversary  presents, and i am so spoiled, and he is literally the most thoughtful man ever! He bought me a gorgeous silver Valentino Tweetie necklace made by Alyssa Smith, my favourite jewellery designer, it is just stunning, and I love it so much! He is one of those rare men that actually listens to you when you make hints and say what you like and don't like! Lol. He also bought me this awesome booked called 'How to Knit your own Cat' full of the cutest knitting patterns! And he had made some engraved knitting needles for me, which says Lucy & Liam, 2 years and the date we got together. What a cutie! :-) I was so touched, he knows me so well, and I just love him completely. (Mushy stuff nearly over, sorry!) I bought him an exclusive chocoholics Green and Blacks box, absolutely full to the brim with every flavour of their chocolate! :-) He is a major chocoholic, and I wanted his Valentines gift to last ages, so that each and every time he fancies some chocolate he can go to the box, and enjoy a treat! He seemed really pleased with it. :-) 

Weirdly, just before bed I started to feel a bit weird and icky....

Tuesday
A NASTY BUG

I woke up today feeling totally awful! :-( And within about 20 minutes of getting up I had been very sick! I have felt really ill all day, sick, dizzy, hot then cold, goosebumps, that horrid mouth-watery sick feeling that you can't shake, its been awful! I ended up in tears! And was sick again at lunch time - I just bloody hate being sick. Yuck! It must have been a bug I've picked up, as I've eaten the same as everyone else here, and they're all okay. So its been a nasty day, and I spent all afternoon and eve just vegging out trying to feel better. I managed to eat some water biscuits tonight and I've just been sipping at water, and sooo hope that I feel back to normal asap. I hate these random bugs that you pick up. I spoke to my mum and she said at least it will help with the weight loss, haha, so I guess there is always a bright side! :-)

Omg, this is the longest blog I've ever written! :-) Hahaha its because I've had such a busy time and not had a chance to sit down and blog it all out! So one giant one it was! 

Over and out 

:-)

Lucy

xxxxxxx