I went from glam to camping in one fell swoop.

I’m currently lying outside the house in Abbie the Campervan as both sets of parents are staying over after my 50th birthday celebrations yesterday.

I finally crawled out of the house at 1.08am and left the men to their whisky.

Craig calls me at 2am to say he’s just as happy with the couch…… awwww thank you for waking me up to tell me that darling….. to be fair, it suits me fine as Abbie can be a snore free zone 😂😂😂

Abbie is also 12.5°C inside. Of course my diesel heater chose not to work posting an error 08 code.

I’ve been on YouTube to try to fix it but none of it worked. I’m warm enough, fully dressed under our normal duvet and 2 blankets but the minute you move and expose any part of you to to the elements it’s freezing. My forehead is very cold… I should get up and get my hat. 😆

I didn’t really sleep at all. The silence is both wonderful and deafening. There is a ringing in my ears from the excitement of it all.

For someone who likes to sit by the side of the sea, away out on the rocks, away from everyone…. Yesterday brought a whole lot of socialisation…. Right out my comfort zone these days…. And yet, I had the best day.

I had my wobbles, there were a few tears, I felt uncomfortable in my own skin particularly because I was dolled up the nines which is just not me anymore.

Mums cousin Joyce gave me a beautiful hand made bracelet just before we headed into the village pub for a family afternoon tea…. She got a gibbering wreck of panic and a few tears.

The day started with a hair and makeup “appointment” with Claire next door. She very kindly helped get me ready with s minimum of fuss. I was all set to go home with pinned curls in my hair to unpin them and let the flowing curls cascade. Here starteth the stress 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️😂

I could not get the clips out for love nor money…. What seemed to be a perfectly simple operation, turned into a furious, swearing nightmare as they got stuck in my hair and I had to almost rip a few of them out. I panicked and made it worse. By the time I got them out, I couldn’t think straight enough to see the finished article. Craig was busy setting up so wasn’t there to help. Joyce appeared not long after and brought me back down to earth.

I just didn’t feel like me and yet…..it was me, just a part of me that had been buried years ago. Buried in messy buns, leggings and jumpers.

I teetered in to the pub on my ridiculously high heels. It’s been about 4 or 5 years since I wore them. Heels used to be my thing. They are not my friend now.

Quick interlude as it’s 7.49 now and I’ve been awake since 6.15… I can hear the dogs barking and I should head in to see who’s up. However, the wonderful silence of the Campervan is quite addictive. Despite my freezing fingers typing this, I’m reluctant to leave my newly found solitude…. 😆

I head in to the house at about 8.30am and Craig starts cooking the breakfast of champions. It soooo cosy in here.

So we had a family with a few friends for Afternoon Tea at 2pm with the rest of friends turning up at 5pm.

The afternoon tea was amazing. Check these cakes.

It was a good chance for me to relax into my new look, surrounded by family. It was great to catch up with everyone.

We’d no sooner finished eating than the 5pm wave arrived. Lots of hugging and kissing and chatting.

The Tartan Campervan Company and the little gift shop were very well represented!

Tartan always try to hand make a birthday card…. They excelled themselves this year and made one like a table top with a big 50 on it. It’s in the back of this lovely photo of the Crochet Hookers.

I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of people who turned up…. And the gifts that people brought…… the generosity was very humbling.

Not gonna lie there’s a few photos there that make me cringe soooo badly. I feel huge in them. There were old photos all over the pub and I honestly remember feeling huge as they were taken too. What a bad self image.

I had a lovely amazing red velvet birthday cake.

Everyone sang happy birthday and I tried to give a wee speech but didn’t get far without the tears creeping in. I was trying to talk about how much I appreciated their support. I’m not sure I got that point across?!

He’s awfy chuffed with himself!

Everyone was so very kind. So thoughtful.

Thank you to everyone who helped make it so very special and shared my day with me. ♥️

We ended up back in our house dancing (SOBER DANCING for me I might add….. 😳😆)

50th birthday party done and dusted!

So back to the generosity….. here are some of the flowers. Stunningly beautiful.

Look at all the gifts we brought back from the pub.

Here’s a very small selection of the lovely gifts I got.

I will not stop thanking everyone for a long time to come.

Thankfully we have a few days off now to recuperate. You’d think I’d realised I’d be shattered.

Christmas onesie on in front of the tv for the night. A far cry from last night.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️