My leaving party at a restaurant in town was wonderful, delicious food, a handsome flirty waiter and all my favourite office people, my admin girlies and the Swedish blond. I noticed and mentioned when the girls arrived that they were all dressed in a certain hue with matching accessories, make up and nail varnish. They were all in purple and had based my party on this poem by Jenny Joseph (which is already a favourite and a mantra for me and my friends of a certain age). The poem was inside this beautiful handcrafted card and the theme continued with my lovely gifts.
A fabby selection of purple toiletries and beauty products, I am such a sucker for these, constantly moisturising and now I have plenty of time for relaxing baths and painting my nails
A brilliant patchwork pin cushion, such a good idea that will really inspire me to get on with my own patching efforts 
The sweetest little hand knitted bag that though you can't see it here has a metallic thread running through the darkest purple stripe, I must ask Amy about that. I discovered when I got home that there was also 4op spending money inside, thank you.
A purple dahlia in a purple pot, that I am going to stand at the front door for now and a bottle of purple labelled Italian wineThank you all for my gorgeous gifts and for my meal, generous, adorable girlies it was so good to spend time with you last night, with no tears this time, lots of laughter, a bit of ranting, the perfect night out. I hope we can do this again soon, in fact now that Amy has put in her notice and will be leaving at the end of August I'm hoping everyone can come out to the country to celebrate at my house, and admire my Italian tan of course (more of our planned trip soon).
Incidentally, the expression purple patch, to have an exceptional good time in your life, may originate from the fact that Roman noblemen used to wear purple togas, those guys knew how to enjoy themselves too.
Congratulations on your retirement! What a lovely party your friends threw you. I took early retirment (no pension check until September 2009 though, so technically I resigned) and my reasoning was similar to yours...I need books, wool, good food and an occasional flight to somewhere new. I think my check will cover that once it starts coming.
ReplyDeleteI've spent some time browsing your blog and really enjoyed about your gardening, sock knitting (I'm trying two at a time now on two circular needles!)and time in Italy.
Diane (in Frosinone province)