2 down 60+ to go

Our two year wedding anniversary was yesterday. Hasn't time flown! Being Melbourne Cup Day, we initially planned to go to dinner the night before, but circumstances dictated that we ended up going to dinner on the day instead.
I didn't think we were doing a gift exchange, I'm not sure why, its not like we talked about it. But M did get me something.


Picture the most romantic gift you could recieve.


Now picture something you actually really want.


They don't really match up do they? Perhaps your romantic gifts include flowers, chocolates, even diamonds.


Then you might ACTUALLY want a new stereo, a new knife block, a Mario Kart Wii........


YES! I Got Mario Kart Wii & 2 little steering Wheels!

BEST.

GIFT.

EVER.

Love you darling :)

(Anyone got an awesome {late} gift idea for me to get M?)

Wedding Q & A -Pt2

Hey PrincesseEmma!

Ding ding! Round 2 lol. This got out of hand in the comment section of this post so I've done a post.

Did you enjoy planning the wedding?
Umm, loaded question with many answers. Yes & no. In retrospect I did, but I didn't have a whole lot of a job I was doing at the time so I was able to surf the net and look for stuff all day, and sit on the forums (as above) all day. This was possibly a negative though as it meant I became consumed with the wedding. I enjoyed part of its but it was quite stressful. Which brings us to...

What was the most stressful part?

On the leadup to the wedding?
Guestlist- we ended up culling a few people that were bordering on friend/acquaintance lines, I handled it really badly unfortunately, I should have been upfront about it. It gets a bit messy and a bit sticky when you first get engaged you end up with lots of excited well-meaning (female) acquantainces that you talk lots of "wedding" to. As a result, come invite time you've talked heaps about your wedding to them, and its almost like you owe them an invite, when under normal circumstances you might not even invite them to your birthday. So we had a few friends like that who we did invite and they've never forgiven us. One couple will barely speak to me and be civil, the other two couples are tight lipped but polite. With the appalling behaviour in the aftermath though, we made the right decision.
Cars- I really wanted them but they were just TOO xpensive and we couldn't justify the costs because we had 10 in our bridal party. This still causes me grief.
Shopping for the best price for something you've already decided on. This gets so tedious and irritating.
Gift Registry wasn't stressful but it was possibly one of the most boring parts.

After the Wedding- The Photography. I was SO unhappy with the photography, we completely misread our photographer and his style and we didn't feel he captured us at all. I really wanted breathtakingly beautiful photos, and thats not really what we got. I know they exist because I've seen them. *sigh*
This is a personal pain though, because no one else seems to see it.

Did you feel different once you were married?
Gushy part!
I love being married I think its fantastic, and I defintely think it feels different in a positive way. Personally I feel its different to dating or being engaged even. Well, for me the engagement was just a transitional period anyway, we were only engaged for 8 months between question and wedding day.
The thing I discovered was most different was after we got married there was a sense of relaxation. Its hard to describe but I realised I'd just naturally stopped thinking of things in our life with a shelf life or finite in any way. And it literally didn't happen until after we got married.
Its this feeling that makes me horrified at the idea of people getting divorced, that gut-wrenching realisation that the other person wasn't feeling that way, and the idea of your cocoon of bliss being ripped away from you by the person you love.
I just feel an innate permanency with marriage, the feeling that this person will be there forever now, and you can always rely on them.
I don't know if others feel this way, but theres a beautiful finality to marriage I feel.

Wedding? What wedding?

This is a bit of a shout out to PrincesseEmma, a new reader who is a self-confessed wedding junkie. Any questions you have about weddings, mine specifically, feel free to ask in the comments and I'll reply. And any other regulars, if there's anything you wanted to know, or anything you want to ask in hindsight, feel free :)

If you're new to the site and want to have a gander at my wedding, photos can be found here

Sad face :(

*sniff*

I discovered this morning that one of the diamonds in my wedding band has fallen out.
:(

Honeymoon bliss

We stayed at The Shangri-La Fijian and it was lovely.

Very beautiful and tropical and honeymoon-esque.

Our first Day, sharing a beverage on our balcony. We bought Duty Free, 1L of Jim Beam and 1L of Smirnoff Raspberry Vodka. We left about 1.5" of Jim Beam and 2.5" of Vodka as we already had 4L preodered waiting in Sydney when we got home. (current limits are 2.25L per person coming back in)
View from our Room ^

Ooh the pretty sunsets we saw

My Cool Just Married Bikini.

Doing the Fiji thing and Drinking Kava. Which tastes like crap, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I don't believe this mouth numbing thing either. We had one cup this night, no numb. Two cups another day (within an hour) and no numb. Another cup another day, still no numb. Different brews, different strengths, no numb. Theres another pic with my drinking, but its essentially the same pic. This was at a Fire Dancing night in the Resort.

Cute concept. Pity they ripped us off. Wish we had a shot of the shop next door that did an even better job fleecing us. Think A sarong made of refined tree bark....

We went to the Adults only restaurant for our One week anniversary dinner. hah gave me this outfit for my birthday and it was lovely! The chap who took the picture did well as it was pitchblack in the viewfinder : )

Sleep! Who needs sleep!

I had the worst night's sleep last night. And when I did sleep, it was peppered with these weird wedding dreams. One of my dreams was that it was the morning of the wedding and we were all having hair and makeup done and it was the worst weather, pouring rain and slate gray skies, no hope of it clearing. So everyone's having makeup and hair done and I'm sitting there waiting and suddenly it;s like 11.30 and the photographers arrived and I haven't had anything done and he's at home and I'm not.....

I realised I was awake at one stage, awake and sort of tossing around, and my brain was absolutely racing with wedding crap, none of which I remember at all this morning, so I hope I didn't think I was solving the problems of the world at the time. It was like 3.30 or something and I do remember thinking, great, I was trying to get good sleep before the wedding so I don't look like some sort of hung over sleep deprived mess, and I'm lying awake. Bah.

The other dream I had was this bizarre psuedo world and I somehow was in this Coles-type store, except I was just standing there, a customer I think, and this guy asked me to get behind the counter and serve and I was pulling out this weird cigarette type clear drawers, and selling cigarettes and Nurtimetics makeup brushes. And the sky was some sort of weird lilac colour or something. It was all very strange.

Our House-is a very very very fine...Unit actually.

There's a chance we'll settle this Friday!

So that would sort of help with getting some things moved in. I should get off my toukus and start putting things in boxes!

This is an outside view of the building, I haven't got the other pics off the camera yet (grr) sorry.

66 Days to go!!!!

home sweet home update

They accepted our offer!!!
WOOOOOOOO
So now it's all paperwork and we will be the proud owners of a beautiful unit in Brookvale!!!!
Will post pictures when we have some for those of you dying to see : )
Wheeee!!!
Celebration Calippo's!!

home sweet home

We made an offer on a Unit! Just now! I'm really nervous now!! Eek!!

Wedding cars

I hate wedding transport. I'm so over it. Seriously, the range out there is immense, they're all really expensive and what do you really get on the day? A set of wheels and no one having to worry how many drinks they've had. Gah. Really I think all you're paying for is not having to think about any of it. The car arrives, it takes you to your man, and then it's all "la la la la la". But shopping for the right company to use it so tedious and exhausting. Bahhhh. But worrying about how to do it without these companies is just as big a headache. Which is why i've been putting it off so much..... Until now. less than 10 weeks to go now and I need to make it happen. That's if anyone will have us now. Grr. Why didn't I do it earlier? because the prices made me want to gnaw off my own arm. with my gums. for hours at a time.
Champers anyone?

It's ok-The wedding IS STILL ON

It's been a bleak blog free few days hasn't it? I've been sick since my last post, yesterday being the last of a string of days where I didn't feel like I was getting better. But thankfully I'm on the mend.
-----Amended-this post started on Monday-it's now Friday. Sorry, been very busy-----

But now we're back on track. So many things to update on! I know it's been a while, and everything is still on! There's been heaps happening actually.

• Boys suits! The boys went to the suit hire place and two of four GM and our Groom all got fitted for their suits. They looked so spiffy! *tear* And Mark did a complete about face and went for the full fit out, when we'd been talking about open collar shirts and no waistcoasts! Now we have both. We're going with a black wc for the GM and purple ties in the same silk as the BM's. The Groom will have tie, hanky, and wc all in the same fabric as my dress to match. : ) And HAH has kindly offered to make these all for us, which is brilliant as it will save us a bit.
• Went house hunting same day as the suits. Tedious and depressing. Wish we could just find the house for us : (
• Bridemaid's dresses! Lot happened on this front. We bought the silk in the purple and the black for them all. Isobel made up toiles (calico's) for all girls and invited them to come be fitted. Beeberino and Re got fitted and that was cool. We talked lots of dress : ) Got it all figured out now we think. So that was Tuesday and then Izzy was keen to get some lining so she popped into Town and bought it so she could cut the silk and lining at the same time. So now she's got Beeb and Re all cut out! So this weekend we'll fix them up for proper fittings in their dresses. Whee!!! It's all very exciting at the moment! Apologies for photo quality also, it's taken with my phone as I forgot to take my proper camera : )
• My dress! Movement on this front too, we went into the city and bought the fabric for my dress yesterday : ) No pics because of Mr Groom. But it was cool and I really feel like we're moving now.
• Invites and Stationery. Things rocketing along on this front too! We've decided on style and design and Mr Groom's cousin's husband is a printer and he's being absolutely wonderful by printing up all our bits and bobs. I'm really excited about the invites actually, I can't wait til we've got them all ready *Clapping hands together gleefully*
• Gift Registry- We started our Bridal Registry at Myer at Warringah Mall over the weekend and it was also, very tedious. Amazingly so really. I'm sure it's meant to be fun, but we didn't find it fun. They didn't have a lot of stock, because of their History Making Clearance, they were just that-clear. So the range wasn't fab. We went through for about three hours and then it had worn us down so much we called it a day. We wandered into David Jones after Myer actually and were hit with such choice! They had SO much stock in comparison to Myer it was almost Laughable. So now we're thinking of changing to DJ's, purely for the choice. Eca-Myer had no "fun" things! No Home Decorator style section!! Just function. : ( (have just tried unsuccessfully to upload a picture of a gift but it didn't work so you'll have to just imagine it.)

I think that's all for the mo.

94 days to go

Too sick to be interesting or witty Sorry.

aaahhhh kill me

the day is getting closer and closer now. You know the one I mean.

Moving day!! (Da da DA!!!)

Yes I am dreading it. I've only moved (all my stuff) once in my short life and I remember lying on the couch screaming "Never again!". Knowing of course that I would, but hoping that my love of the salmon swirl carpet and dinghy loungeroom would blossom into a lifetime partnership.
So we are looking for a unit at the moment with eye to buying and I can't help but try to spend as little time as possible in my own home so that I might avoid the inevitable roaming eye that thinks "how am I going to wrap that?" "do I really need to take my entire earring collection?" The answer of course being yes, I just hate having to consider the transport issue.......

How people got to me! ~IIII

It's that time of the week again! Ok well last week it wasn't that time of the week at all, sorry.
Moving on, this week our selections include

1. Girlspoke-which I was reading last week and left a comment on. Go Girlspoke.Their post today actually says that they've started a blog thats all about sex. I dare not read it at work so I don't know if it's funny or not.
2. Good ole Godawful wedding Crap, which the author, Riona, has since married and abandoned her blog. Lol. No but seriously the last post was titled "Blog? Oh right! blog!" Who can blame her really? It's sort of hard work being enthused about quirky wedding crap when you're finished planning your wedding.
3. Hmmmm this ones interesting. The Blog title description reads What We Have Here Is...
   "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from truth, and be turned aside to fables." 2 Timothy 4:3-4 ------A church planters run at applying practical Biblical truth and defending sound doctrine. So umm yeh. Some sort of religious blog. Not sure how they came across lil old heathen me.....hehehehe
4. A Japanese Google search for Elizabeth De Varga (hehehe see, proof she makes lovely gowns)
5. And someone looking for Yarmukle flowers (whatever they are). And if you came here expecting them, I'm sorry I'm fresh out....

On another note, I was reading something that says if you add this bit to the Google site address it will come up with "Your name" written like the Google Logo. hehehe. Searching now, when I find again, I'll let you know how to do it : )

Happy Friday everyone!

Today I have discovered two new sites I am enjoying.

Girlspoke is a funny blog written by a team of girls (strangely enough!) of varying backgrounds. For those of you at work though, there are some explicit images occassionally, so be ready with the minimise button! And they talk about sex a little, but hey, it's funny.

Flattire is a similar blog style with multiple authors, but by boys (*gasp*). Amusingly, somehow they took a picture of one of their butt-cheek's-cleavage and have submitted it to some sort of bizarre Boob-watch websites. In all fairness though, the pic looks a lot like Boobs. But I'll leave it up to you as to whether you want to view that sort of content by not posting the pic here.

my journey last night to Chatty Myer left me cold, empty and annoyed at the traffic. When I rang Sandler to enquire whether the Sandler "crystal" Shoes (featured on the back page of Myer's "spring" catalogue out now) came in white, and was subsequently told they did {by an extremely helpful lady at Sandler Head Office} I was worried they might look like Drag Queen shoes, being that in the white they are in patent leather. Now I know this is scary- because the concept is- and I was right. In white patent leather, cute wedges simply look like they're made for a man-foot. *sigh* so back to the drawing board with that.

Wedding bits n pieces.

I need to qualify that now don't I? I post about so much miscellaneous (hehe sp?) things we need to sort the chaff from the ......(other bit of the wheat?)
Moving on-
We're getting closer on the Stationery front. We've selected the colours from the printer *clapping hands* and the graphic designer [where's Erica when you really need her-England! LOL] has played with our designs and made them workable for them. At the moment I feel like we really need to focus on the Invitations, then I can worry about the rest. I swore I wouldn't be Mark's cousin and send them all last minute but now I worry we'll be addressing madly the day before! Lol.
So 100 days to go today and having mini-freakouts. Trying not to stretch my neck and shoulders in that "nervous tic" way of mine.....*chewing lip*
We may be one step closer to centrepieces. Got a picture from a company that fits what we were looking at doing.(just need a decision)
The other night we met with the priest to talk Ceremony (woo) and such. Mark was sick as a dog the poor love and couldn't even eat his favorite dinner (chicken schnitzels). He's got the flu. Worked out our readings and stuff.
Saturday we're going to Surry Hills to the fabric shop to buy the fabric for the bridesmaids dresses and for my dress *yay*. Izzy should be back in action this week so hopefully we power along with that and it'll be sweet!
Ummm, aside from that....there's a lot in the pipes....I'm going to Chatty tonight to check out a pair of shoes that fit the concept for my wedding shoes...good ole Myer!
Oh and we're going on Saturday next week to choose and fit the boys suits! That'll be fun, I'm looking forward to it actually. Unfortunately one of the boys will be down the snow so he'll go after we've been and we've decided on style and he'll just be fitted.
Umm And I think that's all for now.....

Celebrate Good times C'MON!

106!!!

Who am I GOING to be...?

Sort of disturbed to discover that when I google my full name now, there's not a lot there, something about someone in the UK with my name but essentially a non-event, and certainly nothing attributed to me personally.

But, when I google my new married name, she's already out there! Doing stuff! And she's considerably older than me, so she's had loads more time to be productive! She's an artist in the Hawkesbury Area, and she's been moderately successful by the looks of it. This is one of her abstract landscapes that I sorta liked. So now I feel sort of second hand already, and that's not even me yet! *sigh* And before you say it, I know it's a spastic thing to worry about. heehee. I do like the painting though.....