Cath Kidston's 20th anniversary: A night of crafts and cocktails!

Quaint, comforting, homely and slightly eccentric, Cath Kidston is instantly recognisable, and one of those brands who feel like they've been around forever.  So I was more than a little surprised when I was invited to a party to celebrate their 20th birthday (only 20? Gosh that makes me feel old!).  

True to brand this wasn't just any old beers in a bar kinda shindig; instead we (myself and a gaggle of other fashiony web types) were given the chance to indulge our inner Domestic Goddesses with candle making and cake decorating (led by East London's very own Queen of Cakes Lily Vanilli)…all helped (or in my case hindered) along by some utterly delicious, dangerously potent cocktails!  

So here are some pics from the night.  Make sure you check out the animated Cath Kidston story at the bottom, it's utterly charming and uplifting, and is guaranteed to put a smile on your face!  

Nothing makes me happier than coordinating my cocktail with my outfit!

My limited edition 'Coming up Roses' mug ready to be transformed into a candle

Phoebe repping for xoJane UK!  

Carefully pouring my birthday cake scented wax (yes, it smells as good as it sounds!)

                                                                                         

Our cake decorating goodies

Lily of Lily Vanilli (yes, I was a little bit starstruck!)

My less than perfect icing rose (I blame the heat/ melting icing!)

                               

Ada with her very professional looking rose (jealous? Me? Never!)

Me looking smug...and tipsy (smipsy?) with my first cake

My quartet of cakes. Yes, I was going for 'rustic'

                                     

The #CK20 crew: Ada, Phoebe, Moi et Celeste from Exposure PR

The Cath Kidston story....

                                      

For more information on how you can get involved in Cath Kidston's 20th birthday celebrations and their limited edition 'Coming up Roses' birthday range (everything from crockery and handbags to the 'Coming up Roses' book - the inspiring story of how Cath developed her business - Sheryl Sandberg move over!) head to the Cath Kidston website....

Introducing the I’m fabulous whatever size, life’s too short, and who gives a fuck anyway diet

You may remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I’d had a croissant for breakfast every day (as in a different croissant each day…not the same one, thankfully times aren’t that bad quite yet)! Anyway, that was all part of my new I’m fabulous whatever size, life’s too short, and who gives a fuck anyway diet. I’m now happy to announce that last week I really hit my stride with this, and branched out from the croissant breakfast into…


Hermes-zing home-made flapjacks (or Flickyjacks as I’m calling them, as they were crafted by my soulmate Felicity Carter aka. Angel Jackson pr extraordinaire)!
They came in two heavenly flavours – ginger and my personal fave, chocolate and orange. I enjoyed them for breakfast for 3 consecutive days...what a lush!


Cupcakes part 1.
The first delivery came courtesy of the lovely ladies at Selfridges. They were from Lola’s (who are edging in to poll position as my absolute fave cupcakers in London). It took me approximately 5 seconds to make my choice…the red velvet had my lips all over it! For those wondering I can confirm it was utterly divine…..in fact it was beyond devine, for the 2 ½ minutes it took me to polish it off I was floating somewhere above my desk in cake nirvana.


Cupcakes part 2.
Hardly 24 hours later the courier room emailed to say I had yet more cakey delights awaiting. Thank you fabulous Harvey Nic’s for sending over your deeeelish goodies. The cupcakes were by Pudding Cook from the HN foodhall, and came in sticky toffee pudding and prune icing, Belgium dark and white chocolate with chocolate brownie pieces, Gingerbread and orange, Lemon and raspberry ripple, Chocolate dipped strawberry and Vanilla and marshmallow. Well, in all my cupcaking days I’ve never seen such finger-licking combinations, so, for you, my dear reader, I tried 3 of them! Now, I don’t like to play favourites, BUT, the sticky toffee pudding one had a gooey centre….so obvs that was my fave!


He-larious Harvey Nic's card...titter titter!


Krispy Kreme's
This week, I’m adding donuts to my impressive ‘no longer giving a fuck cos calorie counting’s shit innit’ repertoire. We all know that when it comes to the fried nut of dough there’s only one name you need to know about, so thank you Krispy Kreme for sustaining my ill-advised dessert-based-diet by sending me not one, but TWO boxes of your very finest. You’ll be happy to hear I enjoyed a classic glazed with a lemon meringue pie chaser - YUM!

To conclude (for those wishing to join my cakey revolution)….
Baked goods = good (it’s all in the name – duh)
Calorie counting = bad (maths is shit, ergo so is calorie counting – you see?)

I’m off for dinner in a Yurt tonight (don’t ask….I don’t even know what a Yurt is)!! So stay tuned for more foodie fun!