Happy Christmas

Joe the Christmas dog

Cheers! Hope you're having a lovely day and thanks for dropping by here throughout the year.

We're having a very low key day today. After breakfast we decided to go for a walk in Greenwich Park. We were joined by a few hundred dog walkers. This festive guy is called Joe.

As you can see its a bit grey but still a nice day.

Smithy is now prepping the turkey to a soundtrack of cheesy Christmas carols and I'm getting really hungry.

At Last

On the day of the wedding time behaved in a very strange way - speeding up, then slowing down to almost slow motion at times. I had expected this to some extent - everyone had said it all goes very quickly - it just didn't happen when I expected.

The preparations were very relaxed and leisurely, apart from some pre-exam like nerves from still working on my speech at the last minute I felt great. All the girls were chilled out and our make up and hair guy set up at about 8am and worked like a demon to get us all ready in time.

In the end we were ready early and had to wait in the bedroom for ages while the guests arrived. When we finally got the nod to head down, I was so impatient I was practically sprinting. Jo had been the one really keeping me cool over the past couple of days and said "er, Hels....aren't we meant to walk in front of you?!" Ah yes, you go ahead!

I don't really know what I was feeling during the ceremony. It was a bit sureal that it was actually happening at last, I was worrying about Smithy as he was as white as a ghost, and I was also quite distracted as bead after bead of sweat trickled down my front in the 30+ degree heat. At this point time slowed down and I felt that the ceremony took a really long time.
The setting was stunning. I tried to take in the details of people's faces and how cool everyone looked gathered in the rainforest glen surrounded by the massive gum trees. And listen to what the celebrant was saying and get my vows out coherently.

I'm pretty happy at this point, walking down the aisle together. Ready to get the party started.

All in all it went incredibly smoothly. The flowers were stunning, the food was sensational, the weather was perfect. I think my favourite part of the evening was sitting down to dinner and having a chance to draw breath and enjoy the amazing surroundings and see everyone around us having a good time. I think we had the perfect number of people there. Everyone there was very close to us, but any more and I think it would be too many to really speak to. As it was I felt like I missed out on speaking to people I would have like to spend more time with.

We had a great time dancing to our first dance "At Last" by Etta James, despite me forgetting most of the steps. Luckily I had a long forgiving frock.

I think I spent most of the night on the dance floor. I certainly felt like it the next day!

Thank you

Looking at all the photos of the wedding is bringing back such great memories. We are so grateful for everyone who was able to come and share the day with us. And of course so many other friends who have given us best wishes and the most beautiful gifts. I wanted to make some thank you cards in the same style as the invites. They turned out to be much quicker and easier to create as I wasn't writing any wording for inside. We will spend a cosy evening or two writing messages instead.

Party season

On Friday night we did a quick change in the work loos into sparkly tops and black trousers for our work Christmas party. Except for the one girl who attracted plenty of attention in sparkly hotpants and a black top.

The venue was a boat and we cruised and boozed on the Thames up to Parliament house and back. Most of our team was there and we shared a big table for the sit down dinner. It was a clear crisp night, making it chilly, but we remained on deck for a long time taking in Tower Bridge, the Tate Modern and other iconic buildings. The art deco style interior and the fantastic views outside made it a glamorous evening.