the flip side....

today it is official, i am 40 years old. recently at uni they had a workshop about 'the legacies of 68'. it was supposed to be about how important 1968 was to world events, esp to the labour movement etc. i submitted an abstract about how 68 was important because it was the year i was born and the future of the labour movement existed not in the past, but no one laughed.

anyway, here i am, 40. people asked me over the weekend how i felt about it, and the answer is not really that bad actually. in fact, i feel kind of good. like im 40, you dont mess with me anymore. like seriously an adult. i mentioned before there seemed a bit of confidence that came with it, as though now its just not worth entertaining fools. i dont feel particularly grown up though, unfortunately. i wonder if i ever will! to be honest turning 30 was worse. life was a lot harder then, and it seemed a bigger jump from 29 to 30. there isnt really that much difference between 39 and 40 when you think about it.

and it is of course helped by the fact that i am still recovering from what turned out to be a fantastic weekend. there was a lot of running around and cleaning and organising to get ready for the party, which was also meant to be a housewarming for our new place as well. i have however, neglected to take good pictures - eg, i took pictures of my empty pastry cases but not filled in ones!
they had prosciutto, bocconcini, tomato and basil; cream cheese dill and smoked salmon, and the wanton wrappers (cooked in muffin tins in the oven) were full of a crab and celeriac remoulade (they were a little popular). i also made this ricotto mix (add anchovies, atichokes, parsley and chilli) stuff into strips of roasted capscium and thread onto a skewer with a pesto stuffed olive on the end! plus there was nigellas roqumole, modified to taste, a spit roast, home made rocky road (not by me) and a chocolate truffle cake to end all chocolate truffle cakes. there were party lights in the trees, a lot of knitting and knitting talk, a few tipsy people, and an argument about the meaning of 'bring your own' (some people dont quite get this concept). it was a lot of fun, and apparently it went well tho it is hard to tell when you are too busy to even taste most of your own canapes! i had lots of helping hands in the kitchen though thank you ladies xx

i do have a picture of the morning after:

and i have pictures of sean cooking a bbq breakfast to die for, but will not incriminate him without his permission!

and of course, i cant talk about the party without talking about the presents. i really was a very lucky girl - here is a group shot:

there are beautiful vases, an obscene amount of my favourite french skin care products (they are already in the bathroom sorry!), a heap of chocolate, and a rather large pile of gift vouchers from a certain city yarn store (i am going in on wednesday. be afraid, be very afraid). people were very generous and thoughtful. and none more so than helen, jane and george. i am pretty sure i cried when i rippped off the red celophane and saw this:

there is lornas laces, koigu, trekking, jade sapphire cashmere, regia silk and a small mountain of the most beautiful malabrigo! i couldnt believe it - so thoughtful and so generous. i have never handled any these yarns before, and the colours are perfect and i spent most of the rest of the weekend carrying the basket around and checking out patterns on ravelty! i will post pix of them seperately in my ravelry stash a bit later.

but wait, theres more! look at this and tell me what you see!

yes, thats right, a swift and ball winder courtesy of trent (who has decided he is going to go with the jo sharp in smoke rather than brick for the cobblestone). he was going to give it to me today (which is the official bday) but said i could have it if i found it. i needed a coathanger to get it down from the top shelf of the first wardrobe i looked in! i played with it last night, and wound up my jitterbug in vatican pie and also the yarn cakes baby alpacky so i can start the long lacey summer which i cast on last night:

but what is that little red thing i see there?! oh! look at that! its a sock box from michelle! i even think its the first one, and i cant believe how lucky i am! it has alreay been put to work, and i love it.
am i not the luckiest 40 year old in the world?!

k xx