The mad month of October

If your family is anything like mine, it seems that certain months of the year tend to have everything happen at the one time. April for example has two family birthdays and a wedding anniversary. It looks like October will be our new busy month!

October is home to my birthday, our pending wedding date, Mr. Ree's favourite holiday, Halloween, and the month that he proposed. 

It got me thinking about all this wedding related madness. Recently friends of ours got married and the one piece of advice they gave us was not to leave things to the last minute. Get everything sorted, booked and done as early as you can. I thought we were doing pretty well sorting out the venue, photographer and videographer. But I haven't even looked at flowers, bridesmaid dresses, hair, make-up etc. So much planning goes into a wedding, and the devil is in the detail!

Anyone who knows me, will know that I'm the most 'un-bridey' woman ever. I never dreamt of my wedding day, sighed over Cinderella's horse and carriage or acted out wedding ceremonies with friends. So our aim for the day was to keep things simple, fun and very 'us'. 

One thing I've already learned is to play your cards close to your chest. Some people have an idea of what a wedding should be about. But ultimately  it's down to the bride and groom. What they want their day to be about, to celebrate their love and celebrate with their nearest and dearest. If people plan to spend the day bitching about the centrepieces or silly trivial things then that's their issue. I plan to be having as much fun as possible with my new husband and enjoy the day we've planned. 

Ultimately, that's what any couple wants on their wedding day. 

Spring forward!

We are now entering Spring, the beautiful time of year when flowers are budding, baby lambs are born and so much of nature is regenerated into new life. I actually prefer Spring to Summer as a whole, although the Summer evenings are wonderful and laid back, something about Spring is so magical. The freshness in the air, it's almost like an air of excitement with everything buzzing with the anticipation of what's to come.

Hand in hand with all things fresh and spring like comes the spring cleaning! I cannot wait to start putting fresh flowers in my home again after the evenings of snugness and candles that Autumn and Winter bring. The pops of colour and the smell of fresh flowers is fabulous. There is something almost therapeutic about de-cluttering the house, cleaning it and leaving it smelling fresh and looking like a room from a magazine! I firmly believe that a bit of de-cluttering is good for the soul, although it can be pain in the arse getting the 'get up and go' notion to go do it, but it is worth it!

With the fresh spring afternoons, I've become inspired to bring the dog for a walk down the country roads, there are new smells that I can take in so one can only imagine what he can smell with his super sensitive dog nose! One of my most favourite things to do as a child was to go for a walk with my Grandad and sister, bringing his dogs through the woods, picking flowers and asking Grandad 101 questions about "What's this?" "Is this poisonous?" "Why are the dogs sniffing that tree?" One of our favourite spots was the Bluebell woods near his home, which blossomed beautifully in the Spring. I can still remember picking the flowers, smelling them and wondering why, if they were Bluebell flowers, why they didn't ring when I shook them. Ah childhood innocence!

OK..

Anyone who knows me will know that I tend to lean towards the kookier and odd things in life, but these little critters are heartwarming.

Now I don't think I'd go down the road of having a black wedding cake, but something about these two just makes me go "Aw!". Sure if you can't be creative on your wedding day, when can you?

As busy as a bee..

I will hold my hands up and admit it. I have neglected my blog, not for the first time, nor the last (knowing me!) But I have a very valid excuse.

At the moment I'm up to my eyeballs planning a wedding, my wedding actually, well our wedding. So far we have sorted out the venue, colour scheme, budget, and just last week I chose my dress. I tried on a grand total of three dresses, a modern day Goldifrocks!

I may shop 'like a male' but it's efficient!

Even for me, this is a record. I don't "do" clothes shopping, I've never had an interest, fashion isn't a factor. It's more "Do I like this?" and it either ends up coming to the till or back on the rack it goes. It's not for lack of trying, in the past I have tried to keep up with fashion. I even had a pair of tracksuit bottoms with popper buttons all up the side, I wonder if they'll ever come back into fashion?

Anywho, I expect there will be a lot more wedding talk mixed with general nerdiness in the coming months, brace yourselves ladies and gentlemen, it might get bumpy!

Lego rings ftw!

Mr Bean related nostalgia

Remember Mr. Bean? Rowan Atkinson's bumbling character who got up to all kinds of mischief? My favourite episode was the Christmas one, the nativity scene relocating, the turkey getting stuck and of course, Teddy getting new eyes.

Who didn't love Teddy? A keen eyed friend of mine spotted this online, so it is now possible to have their own teddy, eyes and all!