Nights out

[Ms Thrifty]

No goodies, but a great night out with OH and friends seeing Richard Hawley in Brighton. The support act (Lisa Hannigan + band, previously unknown to us all) was excellent, too - possibly the best I've ever seen, so I shall be looking them up, too.

Only downside was getting home so late and feeling groggy, but to be expected. Richard Hawley has been nominated for the Mercury Prize again this year; would be nice if he won this time.

[prettyxcool]

PXC and I are attending the Square Meals Venues & Events Show tomorrow - free lunch and we are both in the Canape Cup.

Not sure how I am going to survive tomorrow, I am going to help set up my company's stand at an IT Symposium Conference, then have breakfast, which is always very good, lots to eat, then to Square Meals, then back to the Symposium for the Gala Dinner!

Yes, what a day I had, all work and work and work, really as Beate says!

The Square Meals Show is proper work I'll have you know! After walking from stand to stand for hours your feet hurt, you carry too many things and you just want to go to sleep.

I ended up carrying all my goodies, and had to wear my huge balloon hat (did not know how huge it was until I caught my reflection in the ladies) on the Tube back to the gala dinner - thought it was the easier way to keep it from being crushed or burst in the jammed packed Tubes! Had lots of people saying great hat, and people were doing a double take as I walked down the street, I just told them I have just been to Ascot, which was not a lie as I had just been to the Ascot Stand!

The dinner was amazing which the Royal Garden Hotel do so well. For starters we had fishcakes with mango, then mains, was lamb with pea puree and parcels of french beans, and dessert was pannacotta with rasberries and cherries. There were graffiti art to entertain us and a singer who would rap about what you were holding up, and we had to find something unusual to hold up. Really funny and entertaining.

[prettyxcool]

Here's the amazing hat! Fit to be a judge at the Canapes Cup

[prettyxcool]

No goodies, but a great night out with OH and friends seeing Richard Hawley in Brighton. The support act (Lisa Hannigan + band, previously unknown to us all) was excellent, too - possibly the best I've ever seen, so I shall be looking them up, too.

Only downside was getting home so late and feeling groggy, but to be expected. Richard Hawley has been nominated for the Mercury Prize again this year; would be nice if he won this time.

Hope Richard Hawley does well, it is about time!

Went to a corporate event tonight. An amazing building with beautiful rooms and chandeliers made using light reflections. We were treated to some fab cocktails "French martini's" on arrival and scrummy canapes, in a room with floor to ceiling windows and beautiful floral displays, then ushered up the grand staircase to another breathtaking room with a fantastic mural all around the top of the walls, and a short video explaining the wonders of this elegant Georgian townhouse, there were more canapes, tuna, salmon, quails eggs, cheese sticks. After which, we were all invited down to the converted vaults were the party continued with bowl foods, macaroni cheese, ox cheeks and mash, crayfish and coleslaw, little hog dogs, and for dessert pina colada ice cream, nougat, marshmallows, truffles etc etc. I was so stuffed, on top of which the wine and beer flowed. We danced the night away with the smooth tones of Alex Banks and some jazz musicians. A lovely night indeed, and catching up with friends, some I have not seen since almost a year ago! Fantastic!

On the way out, we were given a usb in the shape of a pen.

[Beate]

Was that the Enlightened Evening? I was invited to two dos last night and didn't go to any.

[prettyxcool]

Yes, it was. I did look out for you. The place was jam packed, but still plenty to eat!

[MrD]

Managed to secure free tickets for STAND UP FOR CANCER (Channel 4 show 19th October) and THE AGENDA with Tom Bradby on (ITV Show 22nd October). Priority tickets - should be 2 great shows for different reasons

[prettyxcool]

Managed to secure free tickets for STAND UP FOR CANCER (Channel 4 show 19th October) and THE AGENDA with Tom Bradby on (ITV Show 22nd October). Priority tickets - should be 2 great shows for different reasons

Sounds good. Look forward to hearing about them when you get back!

I was invited to Stringfellows Angels in Soho last night. Really sumptuous venue, the wine and cocktails were flowing and lots of delicious canapes and meat kebabs. There were 20 Angels to entertain us! The event finished at 9pm but everyone was welcomed to stay after as that is when the club really opened, i.e. nude pole dancing, very tastefully and artistically done, I thought, and nothing more than you would see in a film! Would have loved to meet the iconic man, Stringfellows, but he slipped and hurt his leg the day before and could not make the event. We had Chris Quinten, ex-Coronation Street (Brian Tilsley), instead, who is the Manager there, doing the intro, and he promised if we took his card, he would arrange for us to meet the man himself, when he is next in the Club.

[canadian_turtle]

Went the one of the Mastercard Late Museum Nights last night (thanks to the awesome Valda), which was absolutely brilliant! I went for the company and promise of canapes but it was way better than that.

It was a private event being held in the Science Museum and because the evening had a flight theme we were welcomed by stewards and stewardesses and even saw a pilot or two. The first half hour was a drinks (the alcohol was not as good as last time, instead I got addicted to the non-alcoholic lychee spritzer, yum!) and canapes reception (some lovely food though I did miss the quail eggs and monk fish from the late night at the Natural History Museum) before we were whisked off for an evening of activities.

We were divided into 6 groups by ways of coloured wristbands and our first activity was an absolutely stunning Imax film called "Hubble 3D". We first saw a trailer for an animal film was was just stunning itself and the 3D was superb, the animals really came out of the screen and I just wanted to pet the cute baby monkeys. Not being a huge fan of space I was initially disappointed we didn't get to see that film but "Hubble 3D" was brilliant in its own way. A decent documentary and some absolutely mind-blowing footage from space that makes the audience realise how truly insignificant earth is in the grand scheme of things and how there must be more life out there than we realise. The film really opened my eyes and the 50 minutes just flew by.

After the film it was time for "first class" dinner which hilariously was a 3 course dinner served in airplane food trays. Much better food than I am used to though, must be what first class is like There was a cheese and pumpkin salad, rosemary chicken with potatoes and a dessert made up out of various chocolate mousses and a brownie. Yum!

The next activity we did was building our own little parachutes for Lego men. We had 5 minutes to do it and the time limit really made me freak out lol (we didn't even get a sample or anything just tables filled with paper, string and tape and we had to figure it out). When we were all sort of finished we were allowed to throw our parachutes with Lego man off a balcony (really far down!) and the 3 parachutes that stayed in the air longest won a prize. As mine went upside down I didn't win anything

Next was a brief presentation on flying helicopters by a real pilot before several volunteers from our group were allowed to fly mode plains through hoola hoops. It was hilarious! (the drinks helped). We had one crash and burn...

Finally we got a tour of the flight gallery by an actor/pilot who talked incredible animatedly and made what could've been a dull topic very interesting and engaging.

It really was a fab night - I had no idea aviation could be this interesting! Thanks to Valda for inviting me along

[Beate]

Was invited to Henry's WIQ tonight for a PA evening with food, drinks, music, goody bags and other stuff. Last time round there weren't many people so I felt confident that we would be within the first 150 people to receive goody bags - boy was I wrong. It was rammed, no goody bags left and there was a total scrum for the buffet - we managed a few bits and bobs and returned later just in time for the chicken wings - though how you are supposed to eat pasta without plates or forks was a challenge. OH loved it though and started bopping to the music. After an hour there was no food left and as I didn't fancy the long queue for a manicure, we went home but it was a nice hour with free food.