Dusting off the cobwebs

It seems like an age since I've updated this blog but it's been a busy few months!

Since t'wedding day in October, I've been adjusting to life as a newlywed. Which, for me, basically meant talking about our wedding in the past tense, sporting some new jewellery and trying a new name on for size.

Then of course there was Christmas which was lovely as we got to spend time with family and friends and also indulge in the full and jam packed food pyramid. (Spoiler alert: I ate all round me, paté, cheese, various meats, candycanes, chocolate coins.. Nothing was safe!)

Source: DeviantArt - jessijones

We also kicked off 2014 with a new family member! My niece Fia was born in January and it's safe to say we're all besotted with her. Babies bring such excitement into a home, especially when it's the first grandchild on my side. Mothercare didn't know what had hit it!

February brought my sister-in-law's fabulous 40th birthday, which was filled with family, bubbly, memory filled photos, balloons and not one, not two, but THREE delicious cakes. (All of which I sampled - ahem!)

Source: Grabzon.com

I noticed that all these exciting and happy times had a common ingredient.

The involvement of friends and family.

Let's face it, good news is wonderful and as human beings, we love to share our good news so others can share in the joy. The fact that I could text, sending direct messages on social media, call and email all those I hold dear made all of these experiences even more special. It also made me reflect on how lucky I am to have that support network to chat to in good times and bad. As the Beatles once sang "I get by with a little help from my friends", and I'm sure I'm not the only one who does. 

Catching up!

This poor blog has begun to gather dust! But I have an excuse to be fair.

I've only gone and got married! Yes really :) If you'd like to read all about it, simply click here.

In the last 11 days, I've got married, went on Honeymoon and celebrated my birthday so it has been all systems go!

As you can imagine, I can see the funny side all over the place and am on an absolute high. Today I'm going to write about the importance of family and friends.

We always knew that we were blessed with great families and loyal friends, but it really hammered it home on the wedding day when we were literally surrounded by our nearest and dearest. All there to wish us well and celebrate our big day with us.

We had family surprise us on the day with a Piper, a sweet table and some pretty awesome dance moves! In the run up to the day, we had so many friends and family approach us asking if there was anything we needed help with, which really meant so much to us.

When we realised what an amazing support network we had, it made the task of planning a wedding and ensuring it all went to plan seem a lot easier. On the day itself, we relied on our wedding party and parents to sign off on last minute details, so I can definitely vouch for the joys of delegating! All we had to do was ask someone if they'd mind doing a quick job for us and it was done. This completely took the stress off us and we could then relax with our guests. By the end of the night, everyone had said that it was such a fun relaxed day, which was a joy to hear.

We were so impressed by all the staff at the hotel too. The timings went off without a hitch, the food was delicious and both the band and DJ were amazing. The hours flew by whilst we celebrated with everyone. It was unlike any other day we have spent on this planet, and one that we will treasure for the rest of our lives.

Ringing in the New Year with Wedding bells!

Happy New Year everyone! Hopefully the hangovers are starting to ebb away and hopes and plans are being made for 2013.

This year should be an exciting one chez Ree as this is the year we are to be married. We've been slowly but surely putting money aside but this year is when everything comes to a head. I like to write about positive things on my blog or try to put a positive spin on things, but as most people know, wedding planning can be stressful.

Must remember to remain calm..

With this in mind, I decided to start a separate blog for the wedding related ups and downs. Let's face it, stress and positivity don't tend to hang out in the same crowds. It's called Lisa Ree plans a Wedding. Check it out and let me know what you think. Any feedback would be welcome!

Wedding madness has hit

Last week I blogged about being the most 'unbridey woman' ever. Mere days later I found myself shopping for ring cushion material as I couldn't find anything that we liked. All the ring cushions I saw were either white satin madness with lace and ribbon or rustic faux vintage chintz.

Is this how Bridezillaism starts?! A ring cushion here and centrepiece ideas there?

Ribbon wands - No, I've never heard of them either

I have to admit, Ebay has made a me a little confused about wedding planning. If you type 'wedding supplies' into the search bar, the regular things such as favours and guestbooks pop up. Delve a little deeper and there's a subsection for tulle, aisle runners, planning aids and card holders.

Although my inner bride might be ready to emerge for air, I can't see it going as far as card holders and doves.

I'm not having doves... Honestly.

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. 

Time is flying by!

What a busy few weeks! I've been so busy out living I haven't had time to blog about it!

So as you know, we've recently moved to 'The Big Smoke' and to be honest, I'm settling in much quicker than I thought I would.

Work has been keeping me busy, but you know what they say: 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and Jill a dull girl!' It's been great being able to catch up with friends, have cocktails after work, dinner plans and lots of catch ups.

I thought I'd miss the green fields of the country, but city living is so fast moving. You get caught up in the hustle and bustle! You're never short of things to do, which is so refreshing! In one week, we went to the cinema, IKEA (Mm... feeding IKEA addiction!), had dinner with a friend, cocktails and snacked on sushi for lunch.

Time is hurtling by at breakneck speed, so much so that it's only recently hit me that in just over a year's time, I'll be a married woman! I haven't had time to suss out flowers, bridesmaid dresses or booking hair and make up trials. It's all taken a back seat in the toing and froing of moving boxes, going to work and having a social life! I guess it's like anything, it's all a balancing act, so let's give this juggling a try!

Does anyone else think of this music when juggling is mentioned?

Warning - Rant

Alright, I will hold my hands up. I am a spelling freak. Not only that, but I can be pretty finicky about grammar. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

What brings me to write this blog post?

Well, as part of my new job, I'm using the internet even more than before (less lolcats and general nerdiness being downloaded sadly) so I've been accessing a lot more websites than usual.

It has been an experience. Some of the grammar and spelling errors on all kinds of websites are unbelievable! Whatever about the old school dancing baby style graphics and broken links etc., I'm talking about basic grammar and spelling here.

Although spotting things like this on Facebook puts my teeth on edge, it's a social media site where people engage with each other, not a spelling bee.

But surely on a business site, you'd think there'd be someone there to proofread things before it was put on the site?

Personally it puts me off the page or company, one particular wedding supplier actually used a capital letter for each word, which completely put me off. Can you imagine if they made wedding videos?

'The Beautiful Morning Of June Sixth When David And Laura Became Man And Wife At The Church Of St. Paul.' 

It hurt to type that.

Luckily, the folk at the Oatmeal have put my irks into a fun cartoon. Full link here.

Yes, I know I'm a complete and utter nerd about this, but it grinds my gears! In short, try hitting F7 to check your spelling and grammar. Go on, it feels good! 

Fussy, moi?

The wedding plans are in full swing, oh yes! The dress has been bought, photographer booked, we've almost settled on a venue, DJ sorted etc.

All was going swimmingly, until I started looking into getting  a videographer. "You'll regret not getting one." echoes in my mind from several wedding forums. So I start pricing around. On one particular site, they have 52 suppliers listed nationwide. I looked at each and every one of them and liked a grand total of 6. Showed them to my betrothed and we narrowed it down to two. TWO!

To be fair, both myself and himself are media trained in different fields, so this was bound to be a minefield from Day One, but we've seriously restricted ourselves here. But hey, it's "Our Special Day"*

What I found shocking was the difference in price, we saw some technically awful wedding video samples. White balance being off, out of focus shots, dirty lenses! Basic things people! And I will now sit on the inner Bridezilla.

Yet this doesn't reflect solely in the land of weddings. Shop around people,bargains are to be had. Check out sites like pigsback.com, livingsocial etc. You'd be surprised what's to be had if you're lucky.
 *Tongue firmly in cheek

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!