Ritzy Rosellas of Rowville

A selection of photos from Jan to May 2011

2011-05-29T12:41:00.014+10:00

Having lunch at Warrandyte, the first event of the year.

My 60th birthday afternoon high tea. Thank you dear friends for such a wonderful afternoon.

The renewal of Lady of the Lake's wedding vows with two of the best looking flower girls ever.

Grand Duchess Bow Jingles must own shares in a bling shop.

A pool party is always a lot of fun. Especially when the inner child in you lets you do silly things.

Wearing the green is a giggle on St Patrick's day.

2010-05-18T11:59:00.016+10:00

Eleven Ritzy Rosellas and one Ladybird made our way to the Red Hat Gathering for 2010 on Norfolk Island. We were met with wet, warm blustery weather and a gathering of the Bounty Babes on Norfolk. Never let it be said that a little rain and wind will stop a Red Hatter from having fun. The weather changed frequently while we were on the island but it never got cold. We had a very full program of activities to get through as well as a lot of sight seeing.
The day we flew into Norfolk Island was Dame Delish's birthday which we celebrated that night at dinner.

The Gathering was officially opened on Sunday night with a glam event held at the Governor’s Lodge Hotel. We met new friends and renewed acquaintances with old friends. The local girls put on a display of hula dancing and then proceeded to teach the Red Hatters. It didn’t take them long to get into the sway and swing of the hula. A great night was had by all and many of us woke with sore feet from dancing into the late hours of the night.

There were a variety of tours on offer to learn about the many different aspects of island life. We all went on a half day tour of the island with a quick lesson on its history. A delicious morning tea was held at the home of one of the locals. Some of us went on a tour of the convict settlement ruins; we toured gardens and farms, met the local artists and listened to bush poetry in a fairy tale setting. There was plenty of time for the Red Hat sport of shopping. A lot of shop windows were decorated in colours with signs welcoming all the Red Hatters. It was a frequent sight to see ladies adorned in the red and purple walking around the town carrying bags with all sorts of goodies.
We had a parade on the Sunday morning in wet weather but we still managed to put on a colourful show for the locals.

Every afternoon before our evening activity we met for drinkies on the deck outside five of our rooms. This was always a fun activity. We even had a picnic lunch on the deck on the last day.

On the Wednesday we all went to a luncheon at the Hillcrest Hotel which has magnificent views over Kingston and the Islands just off the shore. We all took part in an activity where we had to make a hat out of recycled items. There are some very creative Red Hatters out there. Some of the hats could have been worn to a race meeting. After lunch a group of us went to visit the monthly event of the open Government House. This is the third government house to be built on the Island and is the home of the Island Administrator and their family.

We had the opportunity to attend a fish fry on the cliffs over looking a beautiful beach at sunset. Unfortunately the weather forced us indoors. The food was delicious and the entertainment delightful. Some of our girls decided to get up to some mischief and create a pair of panties to throw to a very popular singer, Trent. He was a huge hit on the glam dinner on Sunday night. The firls go together to decorate a pair of large panties. When he was presented with this gift during a Tom Jones song he was laughing so much he couldn't sing. It was such a hit that everyone in the hall was howling with laughter as well.

On the night before the majority of us went home we went to the Convict night. The night was hilarious with jokes galore and lots of laughter.

Five of us attended a fund raising event for the local hospital. There was an auction of hand crafted goods and homemade pies which raised nearly $25000 for the hospital
re-building fund. On Saturday morning it was up at an ungodly hour of 5am ready to fly out at 8am. Once again Queen Shirl the Purl and some of her girls were there to wish us bon voyage. I don’t think there was anyone who didn’t have a great time on Norfolk Island. The Bounty Babes are already making plans for the Gathering in June 2011. I am sure once again there will be a flood of Red Hatters making their way east to visit the lovely ladies of Norfolk Island.

Celebrating Christmas over and over

2009-12-23T14:42:00.011+11:00

The Ritzy Rosellas have spent the month of December celebrating Christmas in different ways. We started out with the annual Victorian Red Hat Christmas in the Park. Forty five red hatters from all over Victoria got together to picnic in the Fitzroy Gardens. It was a cool day but this did not deter us from having fun.

We drank champagne, ate delicious food, met and talked to new friends, shopped (thank you Queen Rindercella) and played games. Queen Issy did a wonderful job organising the day for us.

Just as we were about to pack up a wedding party walked past us on their way to have their photos taken in the park. This was a perfect opportunity to have a unique wedding photo taken. The bride and the groom saw the fun in this idea and set themselves up to be photographed with a large group of red hatted ladies. Their photographer also thought it was great and snapped about 20 photos.

Our second Christmas celebration was our annual KK party. Thirty nine of us turned up to swap gifts and party. We played our version of celebraty heads. Each red hatter had the name of something to do with Christmas pinned on her back and with clever questioning had to guess the word. This game causes lots of screams of laughter.

Santa Claus made a visit again this year and met up with two of her elves.
Santa had a lovely time with the red hatters as they received their KK presents.

There were lots of oohs and ahhs as presents were opened. Everyone had a smile on their face as they watched each other delight in their gifts.

Our final Christmas celebration took place at the Stamford Hotel for lunch. We took up two large parties and provided a splash of colour for the other dinners. There was a variety of headwear worn at this event which caused quite a few giggles of joy.

We had a purple fascinator and flashing cocktail glasses on one of our ladies who will be celebrating her birthday at the end of this month.

Another red hatter wore a purple wig,

one lady wore her Santa Claus hat

and Lady of the Lake wore one of her theme hats.

We have all had a lovely time partying with our friends over Christmas and can't wait to celebrate with our families.
Merry Christmas everyone.

Happy Birthday to the Ritzy Rosellas

2009-11-11T10:15:00.004+11:00

Today the 11th of November is the anniversary of the registration of the Ritzy Rosellas. In other words it is our birthday. So on Saturday about 25 of us got together to celebrate our third birthday. The theme was "3 years old". Most of us chose to come dressed as 3 year old children with hilarious results. We had lots of dummies, dollies and a couple of tantrums. We had bubble fights and lots of lovely birthday food that would be found at a party for a three year old.
Party pies, fairy bread and little cocktail sausages all went down well with the champagne. There was also a party game, pin the red hat on Sue Ellen, the Esteemed Queen Mother. Duchess of Leisure was able to walk away with the winning prize. To celebrate our birthday we got on the play equipment in the back yard and had a group photo taken. It was a great day and our fourth year will be a very busy one as was this year.

Oaks Day Races Red Hat Style

2009-11-06T10:49:00.005+11:00

Thursday the 5th November was a very important day on the Ritzy Rosellas calendar, it was Oaks Day. This is a day when we get all glammed up and go to the horse races without the stress and having to deal with the crowding of attending Flemmington. We also have a lot more fun with our horse races than the real horses do at the real Oaks Day Races. The day started out with the necessary champagne and catch up with friends before getting down to the nitty gritty of horse racing. When the time came for our races
the six horses and jockeys lined up at the starting gate and then the fun was on for the young and the older. Once the starting whistle went it was chaos all round. The course was to go around the cherry tree but ended up hugging the poor tree so closely it was in danger. As the horses headed for the finish post there was a fall. One of the horses went a cropper and after much discussion was duly put down with a bubble gun and lots of laughter.Each of the winning horses and jockeys received a beautiful medal to pin on their chests and they then became a star in their own lunchtime. After a delicious lunch sitting in the sunshine still drinking champagne we had a final race and this time a jockey hit the turf and also had to be put down with the bubble gun. We had a sweep for the actual race and were able to cheer on our chosen real horse in the Oaks cup. On the day we were all winners as we had such a wonderful time.

Girlfirend Giggle Caloundra 2009

2009-09-08T16:56:00.008+10:00

On July 24th five Ritzy Rosellas headed off to Tullamarine Airport to take a flight to Qld for the annual Girlfriend Giggle. We were flying Virgin and made such an impression on the girls at the gate that they upgraded us to Virgin's version of first class and were announced and welcomed onto the plane.

When we arrived at our venue we were greeted with a sea of red and purple as 300 Red Hatters sat and watched a fashion parade. That evening there was a cocktail party complete with hula girls and Elvis Presley. It was a fun night made even more hilarous with our ride back from our dinner venue in a local taxi bus.

The next day we went on tour with other Red Hatters. Lady Nightingale, Queen Bubbles and Dame Delish went up into the Hinterland for some sightseeing and lunch.

Lady of Pleasure and Radiant Madame Chardonnay went on a shopping trip. We all came back after having a wonderful day ready to party that night.

After glamming up and having the obligatory five o'clock drinkies we headed off for our gala dinner. We certainly held our own in a room full of 450 very glamorous Red Hatters. We were lucky in that we shared a table with the same ladies that went with us up into the hinterland. There was a lot of fun and mischief.

On Sunday after a late start we had another exhausting but fun packed day. We took part in a parade, watched a concert, had a delicious lunch and then watched My Big Purple Undies performance. It was a fantastic weekend where we laughed until our sides ached, made new friends and met some amazing women. I know I am looking forward to my next big Red Hat event on Norfolk Island next year.