29/09/2026
โจ 40 SHADES OF FABULOUS โจ
A massive Happy 40th Birthday to our wee Edel ๐ฅโค๏ธ
Itโs funny how life worksโฆ someone walks through your door one day as a customer and youโve absolutely no idea that years later theyโll be your right-hand woman, a friend and basically part of the family.
And thatโs exactly what happened with Edel. โค๏ธ
Anyone who knows her will know why we call her our wee pocket rocket. About 4ft nothing, moves at approximately 400mph, ridiculously hardworking, fiercely loyal and nearly always smiling. ๐
Her entire outlook on life can probably be summed up by her two most-used phrasesโฆ
โAww sure, itโll be grand.โ
and
โIโll do that right now.โ ๐
And to be fair, that pretty much covers every possible situation in Purple Velvet. ๐
Over the years there have been early mornings, late finishes, crazy busy days, hundreds of cakes, plenty of laughs, questionable nights out and far too many occasions where Iโve started a sentence with โEdel, I have an ideaโฆโ โ words she really should have learned to fear by now. ๐
But somewhere amongst all the Purple Velvet madness, I gained a friend too.
Our friendship has gone far beyond work. Edel has been there for the brilliant times, the celebrations and the laughs, but sheโs also quietly been there through some of the harder times in life. Never making a fuss, never needing to be asked โ just there. And that means more to me than she probably realises. โค๏ธ
Looking through all these photos, there are so many memories and so many different chapters of life mixed in amongst them. Who would ever have thought that the wee woman who once came in as a customer would end up becoming such a big part of ours?
And now somehow sheโs 40.
Although with the energy levels of a toddler left unsupervised with a box of Purple Velvet cake โ and the height of a 12-year-old โ we may need to see photographic ID before accepting that. ๐๐
Edel, thank you for the hard work, the loyalty, the friendship, the laughs, the madness and, most importantly, for always being there when it matters.
We are so lucky to have you as part of the Purple Velvet family, and Iโm even luckier to get to call you my friend. โค๏ธ
Hereโs to your 40s โ plenty of cake, plenty of laughs, plenty of adventures and hopefully slightly fewer Hanโlins ๐คฃ
Happy 40th Birthday, wee pocket rocket. ๐๐ฅ
40 shades of fabulous and still absolutely IDEAL. โค๏ธ
