My 21st birthday celebrations (afternoon teas and posh hotels!)

I ran rather late with this post because my actual birthday was at the beginning of April, as I have ended up having a really busy month, and I'm also having some technological issues with blogging at the moment. I suck at technology... So as the post title says, I finally turned 21. No patronising age comments please, I have had just about enough of those from other mums I know and a few others, and it gets frustrating having to just smile and be polite about it because I actually find it really rude. Just because I'm not 30+ and married with a great job does not make you a better parent or person than me. Same goes for older members of the alternative subculture (umbrella term here) because unfortunately I have had similar encounters with them on occasion too. Anyway rant over. Another time maybe.

My birthday celebrations ended up lasting almost the whole week because I did things with my family, Rob's family and Rob pretty much separately. On Monday I worked, and Tuesday I went to the city of Bath to have afternoon tea in the pump rooms with my mum, gran, auntie and cousin. I had previously never been inside the Pump Rooms before, it was beautiful! In case you didn't know Bath is a lovely little city famous for it's Georgian architecture and hot springs, and the Pump Rooms are on the original site of the Roman Baths.

The table centrepiece with the balloons my mum gave to me. The black ones had my name on them written in glitter. Yay for glitter!

I will just say that whilst this chandelier  is amazing and I definitely  want one for myself, I did not particularly  want to be sitting  under it and the chain was thick with  dust.

My beautiful auntie and cousin, with that grand piano in the background. Yeah my family surprised  me by having him play happy birthday whilst our waitress brought me a chocolate  cupcake with "21" sparklers in it. The whole place was watching  and I  was so embarrassed!

Birthday tea room selfies. I'm  sorry.

Soo much foooood! It was amazing especially  the tiny chocolate coffee cakes and the tea, of which I chose the simple black assam. We also had pink champagne  and it was the most delicious champagne  I  have ever had. I drank most of the bottle on my own because  there were only two of us not driving but I definitely could of drank the whole thing on my own!

So after that little outing I had a dinner at home on Wednesday  and then on Thursday  (my actual  birthday) my mum took Reegan for the night  and we went to stay at a nice hotel in the country.

So the top photo is what you see as you drive towards Tortworth court where we stayed and the following  two are photos  of our room. We had no view because  the windows were so high! But the whole place was just sooo beautiful!

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I mean even with the modern  furniture,  the dining  room was enchanting, and that reception shot does no justice  to the experience  of just walking in and looking up at four or five floors above you. We had dinner plans in the restaurant but ended up cancelling them in favour of ordering two or three lots of room service and crap tv whilst drinking  champagne and just spending time together as grown ups. It was so nice to not be "mummy" and "daddy" for once and revisit the couple  we were before we became parents, it was a refreshing experience  for our relationship  and I think it did us a lot more good than I thought it would.

So all in all a very good week!

Liebster Award

Ok so firstly massive thank you to Lady Nancy at Retro Electric and The Curious Professor Z for the nominations! I highly recommend  that you check their blogs out if you haven't  already because  they are lovely  lovely  ladies  :)

THE RULES:

1. Post the award on your blog.

2. Thank the blogger who presented this award and link back to their blog.

3. Write 11 random facts about yourself.

4. Nominate 11 bloggers who you feel deserve this award and who have fewer than 200 followers.

5. Answer 11 questions posted by the presenter and ask your nominees 11 questions.

MY 11 NOMINATIONS THAT I LIKE AND YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY CHECK THEM OUT TOO BECAUSE THEY ROCK.

1. Decayla Von Corpse
2. Empress Bat's Journal
3. Friendly Fire
4. Gothic Flamingo
5. Heather's Wicked Wonderland
6. Linnea Maria
7. Matilda Marble Eye
8. Mourning Glory Designs
9. Ms Misantropia
10. Spookymomom
11. Vulcan Butterfly

11 NOMINEE QUESTIONS 

1. When and why did you start blogging?

I think it was around September 2013, because my boyfriend  and I were fed up of house sharing so we decided  to buy a caravan to put in his parents' garden to live in, so that we could save up to buy our own place. Before  we bought our beloved shack on wheels (RIP my first home) I  was trying to find out via the Internet  what it would be like to live in one and found there weren't  many people who had shared  anything like it, and those few who had were mostly male. Hence adventures  of lexington was born, I fell pregnant  accidentally two months later which meant we had to give up our caravan and the blog just sort of carried on growing.

2. With MP3'S and internet streaming, do you still buy CDs and DVDs?

Embarrassingly, I can be a bit of a dinosaur  when it comes to tech-y stuff. Aside from the apple way, I literally  have not the first clue how to download  something.  Plus, I really like collecting CDs and DVDs, and the same for books too. I like the way they look on shelves. I like the way you can visit  someone's house and learn things about them just from stuff sitting on shelves.

3. How would you describe your style of dress?

At the moment it's  definitely  more casual alternative  because I  just had a baby 8 months ago. Things have got to be practical  and comfortable so I  wear a lot of leggings and layers so that I can breastfeed  easily. Think band shirts and tartan. When I have the opportunity  to wear the clothes I  love the most it's  a mix of romantic, Victorian and Morticia Addams styles, I would say definitely dark and feminine.

4. What religion or philosophy do you ascribe to?

I have a real mishmash of moral beliefs and ideals swimming  about my conciousness, with definitive Satanic (Laveyan) and pagan influences. I think I probably  take a pinch of everything.  I have the triple moon symbol tattooed  on my wrist if that helps explain  anything. I like nature.

5. What are your favourite TV shows that are on the air right now?

Game of Thrones nut right here. I'll  watch almost any period drama, completely  head over heels for Ross Poldark at the moment and am rather partial to the history channel too. Documentaries only, none of that storage wars  crap.


6. What other hobbies do you participate in, besides blogging?

I take pilates classes, which I  love. I really enjoy cooking and I used to make novelty celebration  cakes when I actually  had my own kitchen. Same with crafts and sewing, I really miss it but our living situation  is very constricting in terms of space.

7. If you participate in the arts, which ones do participate in? Are you a hobbyist or a professional?

Not really. When I was a  kid I   wanted to be an actress, I took classes and starred in a lot of school plays and pantos, and my dear granny lovingly handmade every costume for me.

8. If a movie was being made about your life, which actor/actress would play you?

I have no idea. Although a lot of people used to say I  looked like that girl from spy  kids when I  was younger. You know the one with  the long brown hair and freckles.

9. Choose one: coffee or tea?

Nooooooooo! I have a caffeine  problem and I love both.  Though coffee more for the taste and if I feel like a snack, and tea is more for the occasion, sitting down to relax and enjoy.

10.  What colours have you dyed your hair? 

Pretty much all of them  I  think, I  am a serial hair-abuser.

11. Introvert, extrovert or ambivert?

All of them? It depends  on my mood. I used to be very shy before I  started working  in a bar when I  was 18, and although I still  have problems  meeting new people sometimes it has done wonders for my confidence. 

And finally my 11 random facts about me!

1. I have pale skin and freckles because my dad is Irish. My mum actually  has olive skin.

2. I don't  drive. Although this may be subject  to change  as my family are coercing me into taking lessons even though  I'm  terrified  of driving.

3. I have been living independently from my parents since I  was 16.

4. I studied  catering at college, but what I  actually  wanted to  do was floristry, which my mum talked me out of because  she thought it was a waste of time.

5. I got bullied at school.

6. Yep, I used to be emo. Woooooo.

7. My music tastes don't  fit in anywhere. I like a lot of things that have emotional  significance because  my mum would play music constantly in our house when I was growing  up. So aside from my metal head tendancies I like Prince and ABBA and Depeche Mode. And Nat King Cole.

8. I am actually  a really moral person. Maybe not in conventional  terms but if I feel like something  is or isn't  right then I will absolutely  not betray my own beliefs.

9. Ok deep breath nobody shoot me. I DON'T  LIKE CATS. My old child minder has this cat when I was little that was PURE FUCKING EVIL. Literally this cat was terrifying and used to attack people all the time, he would jump on you and try to scratch your eyes out when you were sleeping because  he wanted your  pillow. I spent so many hours lying awake and frozen  because that bastard cat was sitting on my feet waiting to pounce.

10. I swear too much. Such a potty mouth. It's  a terrible habit and I really need to kerb it now before Reegan starts talking.

11. Finally,  because bloggers almost never get to meet in real life there's something we rarely ever find out about eachother. I'm  5"7 and have huge feet!

Classic Georgian hair

It has been a busy couple of weeks for me, so I apologise for not posting much. I have had a lot going on and not really felt much inspiration to write, but all the things I have been up to have fortunately given me some interesting things to blog about :)

This past Monday I returned to work after almost a year of maternity leave, as the pay had run out and I wanted to keep my job so from now on I will be working monday evenings and some occasional cover shifts. I was really worried about leaving my daughter for six hours (gasp) but I actually really enjoyed it and I think her dad handled it pretty well being as she can be challenging in the evenings. Challenging meaning she screams herself hoarse if anyone but me is holding her. It's a bit heartbreaking but I suppose we will all get used to it eventually,  and I hope it will bring Reegan and Rob closer together.

Being at work meant that I could wear whatever I wanted instead of practical mum clothes, and I had big plans to wear nice makeup and hair too. But typically I woke up with a little stye in my eye that morning so I couldn't actually wear any makeup at all this week until it went away, so instead I decided to get creative with my hair. I ended up searching the web for period type hairstyles because I have been watching too much of the BBC's Poldark and Banished this past couple of weeks and am obsessed with all things georgian as a result. I came across this talented lady's blog which is completely full of historical hair styles worked into tutorials.  This lady must of spent a lot of time and effort on these and it really shows because you have clear step by step instructions with quality photos for each step, making tthem easy to understand and follow. All you need are lots of hair pins and some sort of curling tool also helps.

I think it turned out ok for a first attempt, I made some tweaks from the origional tutorial because I wanted a little hair to frame my face and I couldn't get the entire front section of my hair poofy enough because it's quite thin. i also ended up wearing a lot of foundation and a red lips, pale skin and rose lips to go along with the georgian look I suppose, just needs blush! What does everyone think about ye olde hair do's then? Anybody have any tips or styles they particularly love?