NOW WE ARE ONE !

Well almost..

On the 25th July 2009.. Milly and Dottie put on their starched pinafores and smiles and opened the doors to their exciting new emporium.. otherwise known as Milly & Dottie's Emporium.
We have had great pleasure in welcoming visitors from far and wide, many who have shared our journey through this first year of enterprise
We would very much like you to join us in our 1st Birthday Celebrations this weekend... by putting on your best party frock and a fresh ribbon in your hair. There will be jellies and ice-cream, sticky buns galore, cucumber sandwiches and a delicious iced birthday cake with 1 pretty candle to blow out.

To celebrate our 1st anniversary we have a whole new exciting department to browse with the party occasion in mind.. 'Pass the Parcel' which has all kinds of everything to provide for your own vintage party.

Would you please join us in singing...

Happy Birthday to us
Happy Birthday to us
Happy Birthday dear Milly & Dottie's Emporium
Happy Birthday to us..

Hurrah !!

It's party time !!

Balloons. Blancmange & Blind Man's Buff

We're just going through the party list - streamers, paper chains, candles, cake, jelly, party games (need to wrap the Pass The Parcel), sweep the floor, blow up the balloons, iron the tablecloths and enjoy....




What's the betting we forget the invitations!

Wednesday Wobble

Oh no! We've forgotten the jelly! You can't have a party without a jelly... We'll have to go and ask the grocer, just like the advert tells us too.



Which flavour should it be?



Plain old jelly or jelly and custard? And what about the sprinkles?

Rolling Pins At The Ready...

Lots of food to cook today - we will definitely be baking the butterfly cakes, eclairs and cheese straws. We might be holding back on the rainbow blancmanges but love the sound of the individual fruit fools.

As for the cake we baked, well that needs icing but somehow the almond paste recipe using mashed potato powder doesn't sound that appealing ...

Bake Me A Cake As Fast As You Can...

So today we are mostly baking. You will find us amongst the sugar and spice and everything nice. If we find the candles it might be just be a case of having our cake and eating it too!

Walking Happily Ever After

Far too hot to be walking anywhere today of course, but this advert from 1950 brings back so many memories. If you have to go out for a stroll what could be better than in a pair of Mary Janes? Red of course!

A big 'thank you" to everyone who recently entered our "Jolly Good Read" Competition. We had a huge response and had great fun reading your suggestions, replying to your emails and jotting down book titles for us to read in the future. We were amazed to find that your book suggestions evoked so many memories for us both. It has been lovely talking to you via email about your books and having our rather addled brains jolted by books we really should have remembered to mention in the first place.
We felt it only fair to draw the winners out of a hat, vintage of course (we couldn't decide between my swimming hat or Dottie's shower cap) and three lucky people have had a bundle of books sent their way.
Our "Jolly Good Reading List" contains our favourite entries, books we have read, books we wished we'd mentioned and are now kicking ourselves for not remembering them in the first place and some we will definitely be reading in the future.
So, if you're stuck for some reading matter this summer, look no further:

The Diary Of A Provincial Lady - E M Delafield
Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
I Capture The Castle - Dodie Smith (Milly's cockahoop that this got a mention!)
Frenchman's Creek - Daphne du Maurier (or indeed anything by Daphne du Maurier says Dottie)
ABC Murders - Agatha Christie, you can't beat a whodunnit to get those grey cells working
A Room With A View - E M Forster
A Box Of Delights - John Masefield (new to us sounds very good)
Mapp and Lucia - E F Benson (Milly is kicking herself for not mentioning this)

And for childhood memories
Milly Molly Mandy - Joyce Lankester Brisley
The Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton
Famous Five Mysteries - Enid Blyton
Ballet Shoes - Noel Streatfeild (how could we have forgotten this!)
Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

Thank you all once again for taking part. If you find yourself in a comfortable chair in the shade sometime and feel like having a read of any of the above, please let us know what you thought.
Happy Reading!