not well

spent most of last night in agony with stomach cramps and throwing up. Jess was a comfort in the small hours bless her although she steadfastly refused to move from the bed to help stop my legs from seizing up. There are always limits to her cuteness.

I made it to work this morning in a dopey state, Sally was also feeling ill and we were both late in. I only mde it to about 11 though and had to come home. I felt bad, especially as Sally wasn't good either but when I realised it was only 10.30 and I had to last another 6 hours I very nearly cried.

so I came home and went straight to bed, only waking up half an hour ago. Boy do I feel better. not perfect but much more human.

I'm off for a bath and probably another sleep.

still bored and fed up...

grumpy

bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up
bored and fed up

repeat to fade

this one is my favourite though!

 

ps - wedding photos

think I forgot to say, the link to our wedding photos is here - we have the originals without the logo proof bit so if anyone wants a copy please shout, there are some lovely ones of friends and family (and luckily a few nice ones of us too!)

another year over, a new one's just about to begin

Morning, (just)! Well thats another Christmas over, a nice relaxing one, with Christmas eve at rach and Andy's then returning to our house on Christmas day for a quiet afternoon/evening jsut the 2 of us. Wearing cracker hats when there's just 2 of you seems a little wierd! Then back to mum and dad's yesterday for the usual Haigh chaos of 17 people round a table fighting over the sausages.

Lots of nice pressies, the usual vimto/burgular alarm/liberty bodice conversations, dad falling asleep, carrot and swede mash, lumpy custard and great company.

This time last year we were on a bus to heathrow ready to catch a flight to Hong Kong and then New Zealand. This month is going to be a little tough, remembering where we were each day last year, but we will try and be positive and remember the great time we had rather than be depressed that we are not still there. It was the most amazing month and I long to be back there with no real responsibiltiies and only the open road, the 2 man tent and the never-ending supply of New Zealand wine available. ah......

To keep the spirits up we have plenty to keep us amused, mainly the prospect of clearing out the house of all our clutter in an attempt to make it look live-in-able and sellable. That will take some doing. Also we can plan the next holiday.... probably Canada.

thanks to Rach for this link....

Tinker and Andy celebrate Christmas in their own individual way

few more

Ah christmas with the Haigh/Roberts/Ellis/Payne clans went well, with the usual suspects doing their usual thing. dad fell asleep on the sofa within minutes, cats sat on thigns they shouldn't, lots of wine was consumed and everyone had a good time. Excellent....

OMG

Pauls off climbing today so I have some time to myself. i have wandered about for a bit listlessly but I'm still so damn worn out taht i think after a bit of internet surfing I shall go and lie by the (very cold ahnd very small but perfectly formed) pool. If you're body is telling you to stop, and you don't actuallyu HAVE to do anything, then I think it's an order worth obeying.

In Chiang Mai

It's lovely and warm here and the hotel is really sweet. We've spenmt a lot of time these past 2 days sleeping, both due to jet lag and also becuase we're both under the weather. The flight over wasn't too bad although I fewlt sorry for the people areound us as we were coughing and sneezing our way throught the 10 hours. My nose has finally stopped dripping but I've lsot my voice in usual style. Give's me an excuse to make Paul do all arrangements (not that I usually need one).

Yesterday we did the Wat tour, there are 300 plus Wat's in Chiang Mai, we made it to about 6 before giving up ("Wat-eva"). Then we went up a mountain (in a taxi noit walking) to see a bit temple.

Last night we wandered round the night market and avoided buying stuff, today so far I have stroked tigers and checked out orchids.

So far so good!!!!

Children in Need

How come its ok for the old codger Terry to continue to present but Gabby Roslin has been replaced by newer younger models of Fern and Tess. I like Terry but theres a principle issue here. :-(

Youtube...what a great way to waste time...

Bit of nostalgia here.... ahhhh to be young again.

ah Dawsons Creek reruns, just what the doctor ordered.

Am feeling pants, throat is sore and my head hurts. hey ho. I've taken the day off to try and get myself back on track, as I really don't want to be ill next week when we jet off on hols.

with better news, I visited the Hague earlier this week, and flew back via Skipol airport. Oh boy, there are LOTS of miffy related things to buy in that airport, I was in Heaven!

jess is sat on my lap. This is a big deal as Jess is not a lap cat and when she decides to be a bit traditional, you want to make the most of it, Only problem is I have lots to do, her timing is impeccable.... She's never keen when you are sat watching TV . hey ho, at least I can reach a keyboard....

I have a bit of a bath obsession, which is wierd really because I'm not one to spend hours soaking in them, but I do love the freestanding ones. One day, when I'm grown up and have a big house, I'm going to have a posh, roll top, free standing bath - possibly one of these - they are great!

photos from photographer came back and they are lovely. You can see them here should you so desire... we have them all on a CD so if anyone wants one (there are some lovely ones of friends) then jsut let us know and we can email it over. Sarah gave us hers the other day and there are also some fab ones there. We just need to gather the best together into one album - so if anyone has any other good ones then we'd love to have a copy :-)

I think this one is my favourite

oh la la literature...

Managed to appreciate a little bit more of the literature festival this week. When I'm old grey and retired I'm going to spend my life "doing" festivals.... edinburgh, hay on wye, cheltenham.... it woudn't be a bad life....

anyway, I digress. Managed to squeeze in a little bit of Dave Gorman and Stuart Maconie. Dave was excellent in nhis usual way, if a little "tortured" on the issue of his use/love of mathematical charts to highlight his points. Whilst I accept that he lives with his life on a daily basis (obvious point) and therefore may get a little sick of the over-emphasis on his use of charts by enthusiastic interviewers, the bottom line is that many of his fans are bascially geeks who also like pie charts and venn diagrams. We all agreed that he was a little bit too critical in this issue. I'm a big venn diagram fan me. They are a great way of describing things, visually if possible, but even in speech, they get the point across really well. Can't help it, just love'em.

After listening to Dave's speech I was amused to find this book on Sunday which I had to buy Paul. Dave, I'm sure, wouldn't be as amused, but it cracked us up.... I heartily reccomend it to any music lovers out there.....

Stuart Maconie was saturday nights entertainment, his discussion on the "north" was typical Maconie... intelligent, articulate, sharp and very very entertaining. Great guy, you just want to be his mate and hit the pub with him for a quality evening of witty banter and stories of the Clash and Edwin Collins..... :-)

Keane's new album...

it's good but they do seem to have absentmindedly ventured down an 80's cul-de-sac.

I'm well aware that I need to read the popular press etc with a healthy dose of cycnicism, but sometimes it really hits home how they manipulate and distsort reality for a "sellable story". Last night I attended a Cheltenham Literary Festival event with Russell T Davies and John Barrowman. It will a really entertaining hour and an half, with some very funny moments, laid back chatter and some ceriously camp comments which hopefully went over the heads of many under 16s in the audience.

During the Q&A session (I think) there was mention of Prince Charles being asked to have a cameo in Dr Who, which he turned down. This has since been mentioned in the press (see here - this is a toned down version from the report earlier today). Trust me, I was there, it was a JOKE. we laughed. The concept of treason didn't occur to anhyone in the room.....

so whats been going on...

well Married Life (capitalised of course) is great. Didn't think it would feel any different really but it does. It feels, well, more permanent I guess!

First two weeks of married life (post honeymoon) were spent mainly apart, with me working away in Spain for 8 of the 14 days, but this week I have been home all week and its been nice to return to a bit of normality.

We've had all our pressies delivered, we've tried to write lots of thank you cards (and failed!), we've spent today painting the kitchen blue so that the crappiness of the the current decor didn't let down our new kitchen equipment.... its been a ball.... (actually we don't really do the whole DIY thing, so whilst it now looks lovely, it wasn't a barrel of laughs....).

What else has been going on....? Hmmm, well we watched Grizzly Man on DVD last weekend, We watched it because Paul took the opportunity whilst I was in Spain to hijack the film list on LoveFim - dammit. But I actually really enjoyed the film, which was odd, disturbing but also really intriguing. So if you haven't watched it, I recommend it....

'Tis done

we had a great day, the sun god was kind, everyone was great and pitched in, I didn't spill red wine down my dress (well not till later on!), Paul looked fab, I was shaking lots and way WAY more nervous than I expected to be, Dad did his embarrassing speech as required, Paul and Matt also did great speeches, we got nicely merry and boogied on down, and spent Sunday in a relaxed way catching up.

Honeymoon was full of catching up on much needed sleep, and also a bit of relaxing, as well as a puncture and an unintended 15K hike (must remember to take map/torch/directions/rucksack and husband who knows the way next time)

the return to reality is slightly softened by the knowledge that it;s only 10 weeks till honeymoon number 2 - whew!

hopefully this will be my lsat 5am post because after tomorrow (tomorrow?! Yikes!) there shouldn't be anything for me to lkie in bed awake about. Cos it's all happily ever after from then on isn't it..... (isn't it??? but thats what happens in the films?!)

Sarah and Karen came over last night and we caught up over a chinese takeaway which was great. It was lovely to see Karen after so long, although it felt like only yesterday once she arrived!

The living room is awash with boxes, all labelled up for different people to take to different places. I need to write some instructions on the reception decorations, or I could just let someone else worry about it and see what happens!

Tomorrow - I mean today - will hopefully be fairly calm, but then again there is a bit of organisning to do. need to pick up suits etc, do a bit of faffing with printing stuff, buy some books for the honeymoon (oooh how romantic!!) pack... oh and a massage which will be nice!

so, here goes.....

sofas....... i remember sofas. i used to lie on them. in another life.

email from paul this evening:

Film 4 tonight:

7.00pm The Wedding Planner
9.00pm Just Married
10:55pm Running Scared

The last one isn’t related, but it made me laugh…!

so less than a week to go....

can't believe how quickly time flies, and knowing that in a weeks time it will all be over (apart from the week off - oh joy!) I have mixed feelings. I have enjoyed the run up to the wedding (much more than Paul!) in that I enjoy organising and don't generally get stressed about the little issues, but have fun with the instead. but then again, it will be nice to focus on something else for a while, possibly buying a house, reacquianting myself with a fitness regine (!!), thinking about excuses not to have kids etc etc. I'm worried that the day will go by in such a blur that I won't remember any of it, but you can't stop time (just like you can't control the weather) so I will simply aim to enjoy what I can, and hope the photographer does a good job of recording the feeling of the day so I can look back and remember with a smile.

Work has continued in it's hectic-ness, with a trip to Italy last week. nice place to visit, if only I had had the energy to enjoy it. My hosts looked after me for one evening but the second day I had to plead knackeredness and retired to the hotel with a linding headache for an early night, not a bad thing considering the Italian TV has not got a lot going for it! Next time I visit I fully intend to take a weekend and visit the sights of Turin. But at least I was able to buy Paul a present of parmesan (or whatever its called) - how romantic! (I also bought some VERY expensive earrings at the airport!!!)

Friday night I was exhausted after a long day of travelling but had already arranged a night out with work people, which ended up being one of those nights where you could have easily called it off and spend the evening on the sofa but you force yourself out and have a really good evening. I work with a really good bunch of people and the diverse group that came out to wish me well really meant a lot to me!

Sat night was meeting up with Fraser and friends for his 40th bash in Slimbridge. held in a lovely YHA hostel, sadly not long for this world, I was sorry to have only been there on the Sat night but I had needed to relax and get my sanity back after such a hectic few days. Managing to filll a 56 bed hostel full of friends was testament to how popular and loved Fraser is, and I cn only hope to have such a similar bunch of fab people about me when I hit that milestone.

So tonight, I spend my final Monday as Ms. Haigh in the delightful Premier Inn in Denton, Manchester. i doesn't get much more exciting than this. This time next week, I'll be married and in France. Can't say fairer than that can you really!

in the words of eric clapton....

It's four o'cloclk in the morning......

actually its half four now, but it was four when I got up. I didn't drink enough water yesterday (too busy) and my eczema was driving me nuts so I gave up and got up. I went to bed pretty early last night as my head was pounding after such a busy (but fun!) day.

So it seemed like Amy and Tim's day went well, they both scrubbed up very nicely and looked really happy. there was mountains of food and drink and everyone had a great time catching up which was lovely. It was great to see Eric/Malcolm/Heather/Rosemary etc and also Mad and Rob and poke Mad's bump, which she said has finally started to arrive. I will being seeing another bump tomorrow (today?!) as I am off up to Birmingham to escape Paul;s stag do in Cheltenham, and going to see Karen. Somehow I have ended up going with Kaz and Sarah to see singlaonga Mamma Mia at the cinema. Yikes!

People keep asking me if I'm stressed about the wedding. I'm not, although it would be nice to have the time to be! One thing that is bugging me is the fact that people keep telling me that I'll lose lots of weight in the last few weeks with stress, when in actual fact I'm putting it on because I'm travelling away with work and eating in hotels and not exercising at all. but in my attempt to try and improve things I am drink lots of water. And I mean LOTS of water, which also means I am spending most of the working day on the toilet and not actually getting much work done, Blimey this is like a never ending circle!

ouch...

We went cycling from Bibury today, (lovely place, you forget how many nice places there are so close to home). We did this route, amd my bottom is now a little sore, but all in all it was a lovely, wedding-talk-free day.

Now back to reality, what did I do with that table plan???.......

it's four o'clocl in the morning.....

can't sleep. my own fault for having a long nap in the afternoon. But hey, that's what you can do when you are on bank holiday weekend! Have bided a bit of time looking at laptop sleeves and will probably play a bit on facebook too, although I've lost the will on most of facebook apart from keeping up to date on people's status info.

It's lashing it down outside so the plans for a cycle ride may go awry in the morning, not to mention the fact that I will probably be knackered. Maybe I'll look up some gloucestershire cycle rides online for inspiration.

What did people do before the Internet when they had insomnia? (count sheep I guess....)

best laid plans....

well after a slightly frustrating time trying to find a campsite for this weekend, I gave in and accepted that perhaps a weekend at home wouldn't be a bad idea. I flew to aberdeen wednesday night and arrived back about 7pm last night so was delighted to have a curry cooked for me by my husband-to-be and then lie on the sofa watching Seabiscuit (which was quite good!). I'm now lying in bed typing this with the delights of 3 empty days spread ahead of me.... oh the bliss.

Paul took delivery of his new shiny bike yesterday (after about 2 months research of course) so I think today's achievement may be cycling into town, and then tomorrow we may feel slightly more adventurous and head out into the Cotswolds. Tomorrow is No Wedding Day, where conversations have to completely avoid any talk of weddings or honeymoon. Today, however, there are quite a few things that I intend to strike off the list of things to do....

plan for next 3 weeks....

Work late reorganising office for a move in middle of Sept
Fly to Aberdeen
Work in Aberdeen
Fly back from Aberdeen to go straight to camping in peak district (no campsite current free!)
Come back, buy wedding related stuff
Go back to work, have make up trial
Work late reorganising office for a move in middle of Sept
Drive to Rotherham via friends for cuppa
Drive back from Rotherham to have hair trial
Attend Amy and Tim's wedding
Go to Karen's to avoid being in Cheltenham on Pauls stag gathering
Lie on sofa
Attend HR manager meeting
Fly to Italy
Work in Italy
Fly back from Italy
Go out with work people to celebrate wedding and someone elses leaving
Attend 40th birthday bash of Mr Fraser
Attend some birthday thing for Liz
Monday to Thurs - try and chill
Fri - stress out
Sat - get married

Bring on the Yurt....

always take the weather with you

no reason for the post title, except that the weather can't make its mind up today. ONe minute it rains, the next its sunny. still the garden is happy.

we've had a nice relaxed, if somewhat alcoholic weekend. both evenings have been spent just catching up with friends, and the days have involved a little shopping (wedding related of course) and cleaning (the house was in a disgusting state, and still aint great - but getting better. I'm writing this to give me a quick break before I return to the duster and hoover).

we're managing to get the final bits and bobs sorted out for the wedding. Still have a few people to chase for invite replies, bought our wedding rings last weekend which was fun, and have sorted table decorations (finally!).

so, just have to get through the next 5 weeks without putting on too much weight, which, with all the travelling I am doing with work, may not be the easiest challenge. I've gone for the approach of drinking loads nad loads of water to try adn help my skin and stop the eczma which is really doing my head in on my hands. only problem is i am spending most of the day on the loo! :-)

i've lost the will to live. It's raining, I'm on the sofa and I can't move.

not good.

my first ebay sale

how exciting.... I placed a dress on ebay last week after having spoken to a few people who often put their old clothes and junk on the site. It sold at a decent price and all is good. Dont think I will manage to pay for the wedding this way but in the time of the credit cruch, every little helps....

Bridesmaid number two

 

I'm hoping there will be a serious lack of chocolate cake on my wedding day.....

 
Sally and Adam during the annual visit to the lovely cottage last weekend, the sun shone, the sheep bleated and we did a bit of moth watching. all good fun

 
Jess having a hard day at the office

so very tired

don't know why I am so tired on the basis that my life is pretty darn simple compared to many peoples. It's been another wedding-plans filled day, with shopping for lovely wedding rungs and the meeting of the bridesmaid this afternoon. i wasn't too fussed about the wedding rings, on the basis that its not as sparkly as the engagement (and , as paul pointed out, I haev to help pay for the wedding ring!). In fact it was a lot more fun taht I expected and I did end up getting a sparkly one cos the plain ones were, well, plain frankly! Paul, after a lot of hand-wringing, chose a lovely ring which really suited him, only thing being it cost a hell of a lot more money than he intended but, as i pointed out, it will be the only jewellery he ever wears and we both intend for him to wear it for the rest of his life. So compared the the ridiculous amount of money I am spending on a dress I wear only once, it's fine! (still cost nearly 3 times mine though!!!)

aaaaaaaaaaargh

I'm getting married in 6 weeks. I should probably be a bit stressed about it now, but I;m not. I am, however somewhat stressed about my job, the amount of travelling I am haivng to do and am being expected to do in the next 6 weeks and slightly concerned as to whether I'm going to fit in my dress due to the vasy quantities of weight I am piling on due to hotel food,.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh

new facebook group

I'm thinking of creating a new facebook group, a new religious cult and possibly a new political party, based on the fundamental principle that PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO EAT SWEETS IN THE THEATRE.
Come, my friends, join me......

we;ve been filling in paperwork on the wedding, which vows to take, which readings to have etc etc. we left it a bit too late, and we have to get the forms in this week, and really weren't in the right frame of mind the other day (it's hard to discuss the exact words you want to to express your love and commitment to each other when you've just been bickering!).

Still we think we've cracked it, gone for mostly classical stuff which I hope isn't too dull, but hopefully fits in with the feel of the place.

Other wedding stuff going ok, invites gone out and some replies have come back in. Meeting hairdresser next week, dress fitting next week and meeting at the hotel too, its going to be busy. bridesmaid dress one will be in prodiction soon I hope, bridesmaid 2 dress bought the other weekend. Hen weekend coming up next weekend too.

Only real problem is trying to find the time for all this as work seems to be about to go mental with the need to visit Aberdeen a lot, plus visits to Holland and Italy expected in August. I'm feeling exhausted just thinking about it all....

so Gordon Brown is telling us to stop wasting food. gee, good to know he's focussing his key leadership skills on the important stuff and telling us things we don't already know.

pesky cheerleaders

we had a fab weekend down in Brighton and manged to catch some sun on the saturday, and also caught up with some friends too. We'd planned to camp and had details of a couple of campsites, only problem was there was a cheerleading competition on in Brighton which meant it was a little difficult to find somewhere to stay. so we ended up in a famers field, with funning water but sod all else! The good bit was being able to have a roaring fire on the Fri night, you really can't beat sitting round a fire with a bottle of wine and a packet of jaffa cakes. Even makes up for the lack of toilet facilities!

one more thing....

Had to order a name badge for when I do CIPD events, and thought it would be sensible to get one in my married name. First time i had to actually type it... Wendy Ellis. Wooooooooah that looks really weird.

need cash please!

I finally got my lardy arse off the sofa and started a bit of training for the race for life - which is less than 2 weeks away.... oops. When I asked Paul if he thought my latent fitness would get me through the run he had trouble replying due to laughing so hard. So I figured a little too late is better than nothing at all and did a little bit of running yesterday and today. I ache, but thats good I guess as it shows its working.

So.... the point to all this is to raise cash for cancer research, and I'd like to take the opportunity to remind you once again to SHOW US YOUR MONEY - you know its too important an issue to ignore. :-) click on the link to the right of this post...

Malvern Challenge Cotswold base seemed to go well, we were asking the kids to mime guide/scout/cubs/brownie badges (old and new) which kept us entertained, and the weather, whilst very windy, was dry - so all good.  Few photos on Flickr

oops guess I got a bit carried away

illaminating stuff

I have spent a fair few hours sorting out the malvern challenge base, with cutting and pasting guide/scout/brownie/cub badges for the kids to try and mime to each other.  I have to admit I did get a bit mischievous and add in the really random old ones such as Scottish folk dancing, basket-weaving and language for the deaf.  not having been involved in the movements apart from hanging on the Sagga-esque edges I was a bit gobsmacked at some of the new badges the guides did - chocolate badge???  party planner???  I'd have done so much better if they had been in existence "in my day"  (god did I really say that?!)  but I guess we all have to move with the times.  It will be interesting to see if we get Wii-expert badge or facebook addict badge in the near future....

 

Anyway, I digress  from the real purpose of the post which is to explain the reasoning behind my new No. 2 addiction (behind Miffy). I wanted to create laminated badges so that when it pisses it down with rain tomorrow (as it invariably does at the MC) then the game doesn't fail on the basis of soggy materials.  But I couldn't get the laminator at work to perform and was off work today so didn't manage to figure out why in time.  I had a back up plan but actually saw a laminator in town for £14.95.  What a bargain.  I have always had a bit of a thing about laminating - no idea why, so now find myself a proud owner of one!  bring it on, I am going to become laminator queen.  there's going to be signs all over the house  "please clean up after yourself" in the kitchen, "please put the loo seat down" in the toilet.  ooh the possibilities are endless......

my cats

don't you just love them :-)

cooking fun

today I made biscuits cos I was feeling ill and it cheered me up.  luckily I had to hand a packet of "make your own dalek biscuits" kindly given to us by Sarah for easter in place of the traditional easter egg.  I  also found some exciting new biscuit cutters on ebay.. I love ebay, it was made for obsessive people like me.... 

 
do I look like a pro or what??? (ok so if I was a pro I'd be doing the "OK" sign, but I was actually waving for the camera!)

8 days and counting...

not drunk alcohol for 8 days. to many this would not be an issue, to me this is an achievement on a par with those of Sir Edmund Hillary, Captain Cook, Ellen Mcarthur etc etc. me? hyperbole? moi?

anyway, a good weekend despite the lack of alcohol. we went for a lovely meal at the hotel we're getting married at, checking out the menu for the wedding. Luckily (as its too late to back out now anyway) the food was all lovely and the service seems to have improved.

then on Saturday we headed up to Liverpool for Amy's hen night, which involved lovely food, good music and some memories! headed back to Cheltenham on Sunday and enjoyed the afternoon in the sunshine -fab

hens and gardens

spent a nice weekend with friends at Amy's hen night, then returned home to spend the afternoon sorting out the mess that was my garden. it looks pretty damn good now even if I say so myself.

I've not been drinking this week in an attempt to reduce the calorie count. I've turned into a grumpy old bitch.

slightly worrying!

needing inspiration, motivation and perspiration

I've got the Race for Life in about 6 weeks time. I'm getting married in 3 months time. I can't be arsed to get off the sofa and I keep craving chocolate. This is not a good sign.

I did manage to go for a short run earlier but I'm still craving chocolate. I thought I might try and give up wine for June, but then I changed it to "for the next two weeks"- at this rate I'll be lucky if I last until the 3rd of the month!

waking the dead

I like it, I really do. I like the fact that they all talk over each other in meetings just like in real life, and that Boyd is a bit of a wanker boss but also very funny in moments.

BUT

god this series is SOOOOOO depressing, and if they have one more situation where there happens to be tucked into the victim's overcoat a random seed pod of a herb which was only grown in great yarmouth between the years of 1962 and 1977 that will amazingly lead to the killer, then I will throw my laptop at the TV

yay! bargains galore!

after spending this morning in my oants and bra being mesaured for my dress (a very sobering experience, must get back on that diet) I then found a pair of perfectly reasonable wedding shoes in a charity shop for £2.99. Not bad! :-)

go on.... buy carrots

i'm a big fan of carrots and munch away each day at about 11am on my orangy goodness. so I will be joining in the fun and games on the 15th, along with lots of other facebookers with too much time on their hands.

warm and sunny

life seems so much more positive when the sun comes out! we've jsut been for a wander up leckhampton hill and enjoyed the sunshine. i'm relaxing on the sofa for a few minutes before meeting Ms Day for a bit of retail therapy.

Wedding planning is boring.... real life is much more fun.

friday. phew

scuba.....part 2

well i managed session 2. i coped with the entry where i had to walk into the pool with the kit on, and i managed to breath without my mask on, and only gulped water once when I couldn't use the snorkel. so all going ok.

i shall make paul come with me to a pool at the weekend so I can practice the snorkelling bit as funnily enough that was the bit I found the hardest, that and climbing out of the pool!

it's pauls birthday this week, and we also have the delights of the bank holiday today. two excellent reasons for going to the pub on a sunday night. however i'm regretting it now as I had far too much wine and I should learn that I am getting too old for binge drinking.

happy bank holiday

saturday morning, 3 days off, no major plans and the world is looking good! We could possibly do some worthwhile stuff like wedding things, cleaning the house, planting things in the garden. However I have a sneaky feeling that we'll fritter it away pointlessly and look back on monday night and wonder what we did to fill the time. ON the basis that the next few months look as though they may be seriously busy I don't think thats such a bad thing.

Work is pretty busy but not necessarily in a bad way. We've been bought by another business which throw the remit of my role a little into question, but I won't be out of a job... in fact these things always bring more work.

I need to get on with arranging a few wedding things, we have most of the major stuff sorted but things like gift lists (yay!), DJ's (of the music kind) and suits for the boys are next on the list.

I had my first Scuba diving lesson on thursday which was great fun, it was nice to be learning something new for a change, sometimes you get a bit staid in life and it was nice to test that part of my brain that doesn't get used too often. I ache a little today from using muscles I don't normally use, and I really need to work on clearning my mask, but it was all good and I'm quite excited about being able to dive when we are on holiday, lets just hope I manage it (and not throw up on the boat!!)

I really need to get off my arse and do some running though!!!

London

we went on our what is now turining out to be annual trip to London. well if you can count 2 years in a row "annual", we intend to make it a yearly thing anyway.

we went to the tower of london, and were blessed with fantastic sunny weather. we went to see Les Miserables which was, as always, excellent. Two amercians were sat next to me when I was at the Tower discussing the fact that we have a Queen and a Prime Minister. They couldn't seem to get their heads around the fact that we have 2 rulers. "It would be like having two George Bush's" - at which point I cracked up and left them to it. god what a thought.

its hard not to go overboard when planning your wedding, 26 bridesmaids, more flowers than a garden centre, wedding favours encrusted in diamonds...

we're trying to keep things simple, however in our own particular style, we've gone a bit overboard on the honeymoon......s

we want to head to Thailand but having previusly visited we know that its best about November time. and we don't want to go straight back to work after the wedding, so we're having two honeymoons!!!

The Thailand trip we have yet to plan but we know thait'll be fab. We weren't too fussed about the week after the wedding, but I'm now really excited about it. We've got cheap flights to Marseille and will be spending a night there in hotel, then 3 nights here.... before a couple of nights somewhere else in the area WOOHOO BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!

i'm going diving, should be fun. lets hope i breathe right

aching muscles from gardening
runny nose from terminal sniffles
flowers ordered for wedding
workload piling up as usual
cats bringing in mice to the house
27 dresses at the cinema


is it friday yet?

why is it...

when men have to carry/pass you your handbag they carry it at arms length like it has some strange disease?

curses...

dammit, it's 2am and I can't sleep. thought it was bad enough being jetlagged in Hosuton, but its even worse having it back here.

I've played about on the internet, looked at buying pointless things for the wedding, searched on sites to give me some ideas for cakes, and pratted about on facebook for a wee while. but I've run out of things to do now.

ho hum

dobedobedo

what else can I buy online?

I really am so very bored and tired! I'm in Houston this week - its nice and warm and the shopping is cheap, but the downside is .....
not sleeping in my own bed, not sleeping much after 5am, feeling sleep about 7pm, having to put up with crap US TV, (GOLF channel??? what kind of country is this???), missing my man, feeling like I should go to the gym but frankly not being arsed, having to watch Dolly Parton sing about 'Jesus and Gravity' of Fox (???) etc etc

still at least theres a good book and Dr Pepper.

;-)

note to self...

when flying somewhere, don't wear pink miffy socks under your boots in case you have to take your shoes off at security.

I've been told my blog isn't altogether that clear on dates. so if you're intersted the wedding is on.....

13 September 2008 at the Hare and Hounds hotel in Westonbirt (crap website, they are redoing it at the mo!) with a reception in the same place. The ceremony isn't till 4pm so people should have plenty of time to head down and get themselves sorted and have a wander round the arboretum or Tetbury if they want. Its a lovely hotel, not particularly cheap though. Lots of rooms and best booked either direct saying that you're a guest of the wedding to get a small discount, or try the best western website/customer service line as they also seem to have the rooms cheaper.... if people want to book further afield, there are some lovely B&B's/hotels in Tetbury which is a short drive/taxi away.

I'm trying to be good on this "good" friday. i have cleared a large amount of tat to take to the charity shop, filled 3 bags of paper to recycle (curse my magazine obsession), am defrosting the freezer and have every intention of even hoovering later on.

then I shall collapse on the sofa and watch crap TV

I went to the wedding show at the NEC today with mum, paul's mum and his sis in law. it was a good laugh and not too stressful, and I ordered my dress that I tried on last week a the local shop, adn got it with 20% discount, which was a big saving (in that, lets put a 'saving' spin on the ridiculous amount of money I am spending on something I will only wear once method of justification....).

So it was fun, and worthwhile. however I am now pondering on the rest fo the organisation adn trying not to get stressed out. luckily I have most of the easter weekend to myself as Paul is ona stag do Fri - Sun so I can get my head around some of this stuff.

In other words, the good news is I have a dress even if I have no guests, stationary, flowers, photographer, DJ, outfit for paul, swans, chocolate fountain, vodka ice sculpture, just married love hearts, magician, tiara, underwear, present for the usher, wedding singer, brass band, ring, going away clothes, veil, readings, accomodation list, music list wedding cake, speeches, place cards and toastmaster. AAAAAARRRGGGGHHH

three steps to heaven....

dad's been clearing out again.... and you konw what that means, boxes on the doorstep to "sort out".

The good news is that I found a load of diaries I thought I had mistakenly given to a charity shop - bring on the memories of my drunken student days.

PLUS we found my Mr Mister album and the first vunyl album I ever spent my hard earner pocket money on.....

Showaddywaddy...


Wow I have such taste.

I'm off to the NEC next weekend to the Wedding Show. I'm a bit scared to be frank, however 2 things are encouraging my attendance...
1 - my mother in law and sister in law (to be) are really keen.
2 - the dress I found on Saturday will be for sale with 20% off (and at that price 20% is a LOT of money!)

so, despite my initial reservations I shall get into the spirit and throw myself headfirst into the experience and see how it goes. If I end up with frilly white umbrellas, skywriting from aeroplanes and singing waiters then it'll be the NEC's fault. lets hope they have a 28 day cool down period to allow you to come to your senses and cancel.....

ps - date is 13 Sept 2008.

the joys of saturdays, i'm sat on the sofa playing on the laptop and watching ER. how do people who have kids cope without these slobby saturdays?!

and so the first of many cheques get written....

we're on our way to the hotel this evening for discussions... very exciting, if only I weren't so knackered and longing for an evening on the sofa. I took my friend Clare to the hotel on Sunday, and we had a bit to eat and a good nose round the place and I still really liked it which was a bloody good job really. The food was good and it was super-busy as it was Mothers day so we decided that was a good sign.

The wedding dress shopping was good fun, although not helped by the bottle and a half of wine which i drank on the night before. the trouble with weekday abstinence is that I go mad on the Friday night. Anyway, the very first dress I tried on is the one that has stuck in my mind, but I am off to repeat the experience with mum and sis this Saturday so we will see what transpires then. There was one dress which I refused to even come out of the dressing room in, but I did give my "helpers" a quick flash so they could piss themselves laughing. I also tripped up on the "stand" due to my hungover state, so didn't really come out of the whole experience as a 'lady'. I've been told I should really order the dress by the end of the month which is good, I work better to deadlines and to be frank whilst it is good fun, I think you could possibly go mad and give yourself too many options and be right back at the start in terms of deciding on one. I could have a few though.... maybe one for the ceremony, one for the meal, one for the evening do, one for lying on the bar at the end of the night, one for ..... OK perhaps not!

On other preparation matters the issue of the invites has arisen. Paul;s mum is really good at cardmaking and has offered to make them. I'm happy with that option although my own mum is worried about the amount of work. but I have no plans for major frills and frippery so it should be a relatively simple option... well I HAD no plan, until I found a site that sells lots of card making stuff and I had a great time ordering some stuff to play about with. can't wait for the postman to deliver!!!!

change again

yep, mind changed. don't want to drag it out so we're going for 4pm, and will make sure we party into the small hours!

cheers for the comments guys, and thanks for the congrats Si...

have possibly/probably come to opinion that an earlier start will be the option we go for. it;s not our ideal, but this whole compromise thing is key, and it's the location we like and we have no desire to wait another few months just for the sake of a couple of hours. It may seem drawn out but as long as we tell people in advance, and most people will be staying at the hotel anyway i guess, so they will be abel to have a break during the day. at the end of the day, it's what we want that matters and I don't want to feel short changed by it all going too quick.

but then again this could change.... who knows!!!

so... the question is...

whats better, an early start 12 noon? or late start, 4pm? answers on a postcard pls

turning into a bridezilla

i promised myself that I wouldn't turn into a bride nightmare and get stressed out. I thought I was quite a chilled out person (well people often tell me that) so I didn't really foresee too many problems..... apparently not.....

I had always imagined getting married in a church, not because of the religion thing but simply because thats "what you do"... but with paul and I this causes a bit of a problem. This issue came up on our holiday when we were having a "hypothetical" conversation and Paul confirmed that, being a catholic, he would not really feel comfortable getting married in a Church of England church. I have to admit I was a bit stunned, not having really given this much thought (stupidly), however on reflection I could understand his point. However my equal point was that I didn't really want to get married in a catholic church, mainly for the key fact that I wasn't a catholic, but also( if I am being completely frank here, and in danger of coming across seriously shallow) I believe that us C of E people nicked all the nice churches in the restoration....

so civil ceremony it is to be.... I got my head around it pretty quickly - I do think that I'm a pretty reasonable person and can amend my plans ok if necessary.
So, we get home, he asks me to marry him and we're good to go...

after a fair bit of internet searching and treking round places we seem to have found a venue - I knew it when I came out with a big grin, plus have a possible date.

then comes the problem.

I come home last night and Paul tells me that the only time a registrar can make on that day is 4pm. The only other option is another saturday about a month later at 12 noon (which we can't be 100% sure the reception venue is free until monday although it was free when we spoke to them a week ago).This is not what I have imagined.


So I cry, then a cry a bit more cos I'm mad at myself for crying about something so pathetic and I'm worried that I;m going to spend the next 6 months crying over stupid things and turn into one of those brides-to-be that cause men to be put off asking their girlfriends to marry them.

Anyway, today I think it through calmly, consider the pros and cons with my friends about weddings that start at noon (too long, loads of hanging around, but at least you get a good day for your money) vs weddings that start at 4pm (late so less time but no hanging around). I come home to tell paul I'm ok with the 4pm start, and he says he's ocme to believe that a 12 Noon start would be fine. aaaaargh. this is all too much hard work!!!!!!

at least we agree on the honeymoon............

bloomin' eck it's cold out there..... makes me just want to hide under the duvet and wait till summer.....

we're making a bit of progress on the old wedding planning front....I think....

and a wee bit of progress on the porridge front too. I had some this morning and quite liked it. I think the trick is to not have too much, and have some nice jam or berries. will report any more exciting porridge developments as they progress.....

sunday morning

It's 9am and I gave up on the fight with the cats to let me have a lie-in and got up. It's very icy out there but nice and warm inside the house, however it seems a lovely day for a walk so I may crack on with the (many) household tasks for the day and head out there this afternoon for some fresh air.

Given my increased waistline following NZ, and the required return to fatbusters this week, I tried some porridge again this morning to see if I could stomach it. I do this fairly regularly ( well usually on an annual basis at Sagga camp), in the hope that someday I will grow into a fully fledged adult and actually like it. It is, after all, a really good way to start the day as everyone always tells you. But yet again I pretty much spat the stuff out as it tasted like wallpaper paste. Clealy no a grown up yet then..... ho hum back to the crunchy nut cornflakes.

ANYWAY I blether..... what I wanted to tell you was that if you haven't seen the photos of NZ yet then they are on the side of the page on the flickr site, but the better ones are here, courtesy of Mr Ellis (the better photographer)

update

so i think without realising it I was under some kind of test to see if he could put up with me for 5 solid weeks.... seems I passed anyway as the day after we got back from our travels the lovely Mr Ellis asked me to marry him and I said yes. Woohoo!

We were having a wander round Colesbourne Park which opens for a couple of weekends in Feb to show off their snowdrops, and it was bloomin cold so I was wrapped up in all my warm coat, scarf and hat so didn't feel at my most attractive, but luckily that didn't seem to put him off.

we went up to the jewllery quarter in birmingham and bought a rather nice ring so now its all official! wedding mayhem ahoy......!

chocolate speaks louder than words...

valentines day. its all good!

i need to write some more but I have a bottle of wine and some chocolate to attend to.

But in the latest romantic news Paul and I got engaged last week and I now have a lovely sparkly diamond ring - I've decided I quite like diamonds....

will blog more soon.....

photo progress

have chucked about 80 photos on flickr without much time spent on explaining them. hopefully I may get around to that at some point but unfortunately I had to return to the real world today and earn some cash. dammit

back home

i'm back. have lots to do but also nothing to do. wierd feeling really. will try and download a few photos but it may take me a while,. trying not to be depressed, it was a great holiday and 2008 will be a good year I'm sure so I'll keep smiling and start on the washing!

its been busy but fun, with predominantly lovely weather although we experienced gales like I have never experienced before in wanaka, with the wind billowing up over the lake and throwing itself against our poor little tent, which held up well considering. at 4am I told Paul we were staying in a backpackers that night, which we duly did!
we walked up to a viewpoint of the Rob Roy glacier yesterday which was fantastic, the scenery really does take your breath away.

we're now in Te Anau and putting into place plans to visit some of the various areas around here, although today it is just too darn hot to do very much at all. weird, considering I have just been looking at pictures of snow and flooding in gloucestershire on the bbc news website ;-)

still aching

well my bones are still recovering from that Tongariro experience but it was all worth it. after a thrilling day in wellington, of shopping and laundry (it's not all fun and games you know) we caught the ferry over to Picton and are now camped in a lovely holiday park, kitted out with BBQ area, internet and spa/swimming poool. it's not quite like camping at home!

depite my aching limbs we are going to head off for a day walk tomorrow round Queen Charlotte area, not sure exactly where but there are a few options and sadly, we only have one day to fit it all in otherwise we'd love to do the whole thing. But hey, more adventures await and you can't stay still for too long otherwise work might find out where you are!

The current plans involve heading down from here to Blenheim to taste some of the local produce (i.e. wine), then heading to Kaikora to commune with nature (whales and dolphins), then "hopefully" with good weather we will do the hot air balloon trip outside christchurch which I bought paul for christmas. we have moved our booking for the Routeburn track which is a 3 day hike down south to give us a bit more time to head down there, but after than who knows! We fly back up to Aukland in a couple of weeks and then have about 4 days up north again before heading home atthe end of the month.

We spent last night in a YHA hostel in Wellington which was perfect for our needs, although I am really suffering from a stiff neck, which started on the morning of the Tongariro crossing, so in fact I was achign before we even started walking. I think it was worrying all night before if I could actually do it... so a night in a real bed was very welcome although it didn't actually seem to do much good so it's back to the old lilo again tonight.

anyway, thats it, you forget how nice it is to have unlimted internet access, theres nothing like a timer clicking down to stifle those creative blogging juices so farewell one and all......

Well so far we have -

Met a Kiwi (bird as opposed to people)
lazed in the sun
Bathed in sulpherous and smelly water
Got sunburnt (of course)
camped in some wierd and wonderful spots
celebrated new year with a bottle of wine of the beach and then fell asleep at about 9.30pm!
Drove the wrong way down a one way street
Got a ticket for driving the wrong way down a one way street! (in our defence - paul was driving and I was "navigating" - it wasn't very clear at all!)
Hung out with sufers in Raglan - NZ's answer to Newquay
Abseilied 100 metres down a rope to see some glow-worms and then climbed a 30 metre vertical ladder up (which was the scariest bit!)


Today we walked the Tongariro crossing, in other words round and up and over a volcano. It was a 17K, 8 hour journey, and it was my idea?????? sun must have gone to my head.