Red Velvet and a few Wallies

Still no proper internet at the new flat but I miss writing here so much that I put some pictures onto a memory stick and brought it in to work so I could write a little in my lunch break.

A Where's Wally?* themed birthday party on Saturday night at M's brother's house. I made Red Velvet cupcakes (from my trusty Hummingbird Bakery cookbook) to take, as I thought the red and white colouring would be appropriate. They turned out rather well actually, much better than the first time I tried and made the mistake of using natural food colouring instead of artificial, resulting in a pale imitation rather than the deep, deep red the sponge is supposed to be.

Two buses to Dalston, with four of us dressed in red and white stripes. Glasses made of pipe cleaners and the awkward feeling of walking into a room and finding that someone is wearing the same outfit, but magnified because everyone was. Flowing mojitos. Dancing and dancing in the ground floor living room. Fingers stained until the following evening by melting Space-Invader shaped ice cubes that had been dyed with food colouring (oh the randomness of the memories that come back to you the following day). Trying to be cool, because we were the younger sibling's friends at the older one's party, failing so so miserably. One pair of red Hobbs heels splatted with cocktail, one pair of treasured vintage earrings lost in the midst of discarded plastic cups and empty bottles. Waking up and berating myself for being so careless. Two taxis home as we had to leave the first down the side of St Pancras Station whilst two of the passengers got out for air. Finally crawling into bed at 6am (cursing the British Summer Time clocks going forward), and not emerging until 1pm Sunday afternoon, which I hate, because then half the day is gone.

But all absolutely worth it, because it was a fantastic party.

* I believe our Wally may be a Waldo to all you American readers