Back in London (home)

We arrived back in London from our wedding and honeymoon extravaganza on Monday night. With all the suitcases and various handbags and plastic bags of bits and pieces to get inside, we were both too distracted for any of the carrying over the threshold stuff.

Steve walked in first. “I thought we had tidied up before we left?” he said sounding very confused. I followed him in and had to admit it was a bit like the scene from the yellow pages add (in Aus) where the girl thinks her neighbour’s flat has been broken into and ransacked when in fact it is in its normal state.

Most floor areas were covered with clothes, papers and in my study all the books, papers and other items (rubbish) I couldn’t bear to throw out from my desk at work which I had cleared in a huge hurry the day before we left. At least we had thought to chuck out any perishable food before we left. (Unlike the time we went away for four days to return to the rotting chicken carcass Smithy had been making "stock" out of, still waiting on top of the stove!! iyeee)

Spending the first day back from such an amazing trip cleaning the house was not very romantic but surprisingly effective in keeping the post holiday blues at bay. The blues are bad but its really the insipid watery winter light here that gets to me. See photo above taken at 2pm today (although it could have been anytime all day). Ooops - whinging already!! Noooo!

But I admit, part of me is glad to be back (home). It has felt a lot more like home here since we took the plunge and bought the house earlier this year. There has been more of a sense of at least semi-permanency (sorry Mum!) and I think we will feel even more settled now.

When we flew off, me armed with my master wedding spreadsheet and Smithy with his list of people he wanted to go drinking with, we were full of excitement. Not just about the wedding but having over three weeks of holidays all in one go. It worked out perfectly having two weeks beforehand to recover from jetlag and recent work stress and enjoy the lead up to the wedding then a week afterwards for a bit of a romantic getaway.

While Steve continued on from Brisbane to NZ to catch up with family and mates for a few days, I stayed in Bris to get going on preparations. Important stuff like hair and make up trial, a final dress fitting and of course the second Not-Hen's.

We put on our best frocks and joined the cool young things at the Cru Bar. It was a bit tamer than the London girls night as we didn't end up at a heaving nightclub. But we were still kicked out of the place in the wee hours with champane cocktails fueling about 5 conversations cutting across the table at once. We had a lot to catch up on! Here are some of the gorgeous girls...



Some more pics over at flickr here.