Its been a while....

.....since the day I stepped from Miss-dom into Mrs-dom. I look back on the day with such happiness. It was the day I had hoped it would be and I am happy for it to remain as that one day, encapsulated in time. Our honeymoon however, well I long for that every day, to feel the warm Rio sun on my face, to be sipping that first (of many) raspberry caipharinas, to feel as special, as I did during that month. I look back at the pictures and realise that during those four fabulous weeks I was the happiest I have ever been - completely in love, completely at ease with the world (and myself) and having the biggest adventure. I guess its not such a crime to long for that.

Probably wasn't the wisest move to begin a blog in the days leading up to getting married....hello! I was just reading so many helpful, touching, funny bride blogs that I wanted to join in. Inevitably our wedding took over, then our South American odyssey, then getting head back into work after being away, then quickly finding the house we wanted to buy and forging ahead with that.

Anyway, I find myself once again scouring the blog world; lapping up intelligent female comment and wanting to particiapte.

Our very talented photographer Lyndsey Challis with a brief to take a perfectly lovely photograph and "well....umm...make it blurry and fuzzy with warm tones and make it look old and umm....you know". And she did. I love this picture. I feel uber-glam - which is definitely not my every day look.

Looking forward to seeing a preview of Driving Miss Daisy at The Wyndhams this weekend with my Ma. Its got Vanessa Redgrave in it and everything, I shall feel very cultured and grown up. Bear (the husband) will be off meanwhile at an offshoot of the Oktoberfest (in Hackney?!) attempting a stein or two. If the sun continues to shine I'm sure it'll be great weekend. And then the countdown begins to our trip to New York.......

Back to the over airconditioned office now......brrrrrrr.....

Tomorrow Tomorrow.....

Tears, nerves, butterflies, tears, nerves.....you geddit?

Lovely day. Snow stopped falling, everything looks like Narnia. Our venue which is Hogwarts-esque at the best of times is magical. And everyone can get here/has got here! PHEW!

I can't believe how emotional I have become in the last 24 hrs. Even a glimpse of something wedding related...a shoe, an order of service, parents having an organisational conversation.... most things will set me off. I wrote a speech. I can't detail it here yet - will dissolve again.

People I love today - my Bear (for hand holding, waking us up by laughing in his dream this morning (aces) and a card full of beautiful words for us), my sister (for antique candlesticks, being a general Santa's Helper and family Trivial Pursuits where I had a whoopee cushion as a buzzer!), my mum (for cooking all day for days to feed new family after the wedding) and the lady who painted my nails today (for being an ex-card dealer/roulette wheel spinner in a Mayfair casino - cooooooool job!).

Wish us well for tomorrow. Its a big step. I think we're ready.....1-2-3...jump!!!!

xx

Delish

Vietnamese food - one word - delish. We headed to Mien Tay in Battersea  - the place was packed and really buzzy. It was BYO but they didn't charge any corkage. It was so reasonable - a feast for four (and I mean a FEAST) for £40. Bargain. Plus we went with some new friends - she was my old spin instructor and is just one of those women I wish I was more like and her husband who I had not met before. Bear had not met either of them. It turned out to be a perfect first meeting where everyone had loads to talk about and it was just easy. Love nights like that, love new friends like them.

Happy sigh. Tonight must stop having fun and start pre-honeymoon ironing. Unless the ironing fairy has got there first........

An Award

I am brand spanking new to blogging. You can see that by my 4 posts. However, I have been greedily reading and loving a number of other lovely ladies' blogs for the last few months. I have been made to laugh and cry and have loved the insight into other's lives. The first blog I found was mysparethoughts and I was hooked! So think of my joy to find that the lovely Mrs mysparethoughts had left me and my little blog this award. I would like to pass this award onto the following bloggers who all have very interesting things to say. Happy Wednesday.

peonies and polaroids; seeds and stitches; this girl is; dreaming of an aga; for the easily distracted; just putting it out there; color me green; what possessed me; conversation pieces; super duper things; anna and the ring; le-petit-oiseau; wellies and vogue; cloud fishing; rockstar diaries

Hope all the links work as they should - first timer to this bit of technology....

The Verdict

Bright sunny morning to you. Went to see the wildly funny Bill Bailey last night - and the verdict - ACE! A man who can simply stand on stage and raise a laugh. His Tuesday audience were up for a good night and in no time at all he had us singing along to California Dreaming - singing harmonies, singing double even triple time and half time, which was hilarious. Highlights were a section on horns, nuclear physics and James Blunt. Go see if you have the chance he's on at the Wyndham's Theatre in London until 8 January 2011.

Marvellous.

But, I'll tell you what, pigging tired. All this socialising the week before getting married is a bit crazy. Did anyone else find that your friends/family all want to meet up "for a quick drink/bite to eat/show before the big day"?  I'll be the same afterwards, just with more time and energy! Anyway, its lovely to be so in demand (even for this short time) I just hope burning the candle at both ends doesn't leave me snoozing in front of the registrar! Out for Vietnamese dinner tonight with some friends - "we just have to take you out before the big day.."

AND AND AND*

AND - sod the new recipe, I have a wedding to plan! In my dream state my subconscious has clearly been fretting quite hard over the planning of this wedding, far more than my conscious mind (setting myself up for a fall somewhere along the way....) So this weekend I took some decisive action to deal with the wedding nightmares - however implausible the dream, there always seems to be an underlying message.

A small selection below

1. Nightmare: no one has sorted out cash to pay the musicians etc on the day and no one else volunteers to go to the cash point for me, so I have to drive to the nearest cash point to get it myself , in all my wedding finery. Moral? GET CASH = done.
2. Nightmare: all guests stranded (in Aberdeen? wedding in Bucks so a bit odd) as hubby to be didn't book coach to the venue. Moral? Nag h2b to book coach = done.
3. Nightmare: Realising on the morning that I hadn't bought any bridal shoes and the only ones available being one turquoise and one pink in a local shop (we drove to local shop with my BM's baby tied to the roof rack - what?). Moral? TAKE SHOES HOME TO MUM'S = done this weekend. Along with passports for honeymoon, wedding rings, order of service/menus and BM's dresses.
4. Nightmare: A chap called Kevin Sacre (Jake in Hollyoaks who I once had a teenage thing with) walking around my parent's house on the morning of the big day with a tool kit telling everyone that none of it mattered anyway as I wasn't going to live past the end of December. Moral? Erm, less cheese/wine/class A drugs before bed (kidding).
5. Nightmare: running around on the morning relalising that I hadn't sorted a table plan or place cards - but the frightening bit being that I kept telling myself it was a dream and pinching myself only to not wake up and therefore continue to think it was reality - an odd Inception-like situation. Moral? Write place cards = done, this weekend with help of my lovely sis. I say help, really it was her looking at my table plan/guests saying "if you could have your dream wedding who would you invite", me big fat glare, her "oh, of course this is your dream wedding".....thanks.

But all in all for, quick calc, 13 days to go I feel reasonably calm. Can anyone tell me, is that calm before the storm? I am finishing work on Weds lunchtime with wedding Saturday - is that enough time? Any pitfalls to watch out for? I am d-readful at taking advice/heeding warnings but will try!

My first commenter, was this enough "AND" for now?

*AND, Susan Sarandon has a tattoo that reads ANDAND around her arm meaning A New Dawn A New Day. When discussing what, if anything, to have inscribed in our wedding rings I suggested those letters. It was met with "that's a bit gay isn't it". So we didn't. But I still like it.

Oooh oooh oooh

I LOVE that I genuinely forgot to mention in my post that I am getting married on 4 December! In 24 days no less! The Wedding (trying to always say Our Wedding, but it has inevitably (?) morphed into The Wedding) seems to be at the forefront of my mind for most of my waking hours* at the moment, so it really was a fantastic and freeing feeling to not have blurted out I'M GETTING MARRIED in my first post. So, I did it in my second, barely 5 minutes later, that's still a result to me! I can think of other things!

*also those hours I am asleep, but those mad wedding dreams probably deserve a post all of their own