A Wedding

I'm still merrily attempting to catch up on all the stuff I haven't blogged about recently. Here's something fun that happened: my Dad got married!

This is how me, bro and sister in-law occupy ourselves when waiting for the ceremony to start.



T'was a lovely, relaxed sort of day, very much in the spirit of the happy couple who are health-food shop owners and practice all sorts of alternative therapies as well as being into Buddhism and chanting and suchlike (well Janet does the chanting, Dad tends to scoff at it!) . They're a right pair of hippies. As you can imagine, a huge white wedding with a million guests isn't really their sort of thing.

They had a lovely ceremony in the local registry office with an intimate bunch of family and friends and then off we all trouped for an absolutely amazing meal at a local Nepalese restaurant. I think all the guests ate their own bodyweight in curry. I certainly did.



Check out Janet's headdress! She was a bit worried everyone would think it was too wacky but I think we can all agree that it's brilliant, yes? Not in the slightest bit traditional but very her. Created by Tracy Caroline Lewis - her Facebook page is fab!




My outfit was the backup plan. I'd intended to make a dress and I did, but as you may have seen in the blog post about it, things didn't entirely go to plan and there was no way I was wearing it for the big day. So instead I plumped for this green number which I adore but have oddly only worn once or twice.




Dress - random seller on Amazon
Blazer - Warehouse via Oxfam
Bracelet - shame on me, I can't remember. H&M?
Frog heels - Irregular Choice

The Wedding

Prepare yourself for many photos. Amazing days in amazing venues demand them.

The wedding was held at the Hillbark Hotel which is quite ridiculously beautiful inside and out.

Gem's mum is a florist and an absolute artist with flowers. Aren't they stunning?

You know what I liked best about the day? Not the venue or the style or the beauty of it all, though they were all pretty impressive. It was the fun that shone through everything. Ken and Gem are really perfect for each other and they have exactly the same sense of humour. Some weddings might have been ruined by silly faces in the photos or everyone wearing fake moustaches or the bride's nan heckling during the speeches but I can't imagine this one would have been complete without all of those things. Maybe there were a few tears - it's my big brother getting married, I'm allowed a sniffle! - but mostly there was lots and lots of laughter. Perfect.

Yay, Mum and Ken. I love both of these photos so I can't choose between them.

You all saw what I wore in my last post but as I've finally managed to get the picture of my face uploaded without the evil black eyes, here I am! Ahhh, the power of MAC. I really must learn how to do the flicky eyeliner thing by myself as I flipping love it.

Me before getting frocked up:

Me and the mothership, both frocked up in the photobooth. I want a parasol.

Me, 'tached up. I suit them! It's really freaky.

Clearly genetic though. This is my Dad:

So that was the wedding. The most excellent of excellent days.

The bride and groom are now off honeymooning in Vegas and Mexico, the lucky devils!

#BeMoreDog

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past few weeks, you can't have avoided hearing about O2's Be More Dog campaign. The tv ad is brilliant and the associated social media campaign has been equally fun with bloggers being sent off all over the country on a variety of exciting pursuits.

It all started with two locked boxes and one question. Did I want to be more dog or be more cat?



Despite being a massive crazy cat lady I succumbed to the lure of the unknown and the promise of excitement and thrills. I chose dog. I immediately regretted it. My dog experience was high wires and combat fitness, both of which would have made me sick, not excited. I'm odd - heights don't scare me per se but if I don't have a solid surface under my feet then I'm Little Miss Fainty Vom. High wires are my idea of hell.

I was in luck though. They were kind enough to rearrange it for something I could do and so this past weekend saw me crossing the border into Wales and going karting (or Cartio as it's known in Welsh. Much more fun!)


They go so fast they are a BLUR. Or I have a crap camera on my phone. One of the two.

I'll be entirely honest with you here: I was terrified when I got in the kart. Partly cos those seats aren't designed for ladies with hips and I had the horrors I wouldn't fit in it, but mainly because I was terrified I would stack it into a tyre wall and die horribly. The whole point of the experience was to challenge yourself though, so I swallowed the fear and hit the accelerator pedal.

My nerves were swiftly overtaken by WTF-ery when the kart wouldn't start. It then broke down three times on the first lap. I was too busy thinking "Oh FFS, this is typical" to have any time to be nervous. In the end, a man came and blew in a tube which magically fixed things. Clever eh?

Stats would later reveal that it took me 3 mins and 33.9 seconds to complete my first lap. Not an auspicious start. Once the kart was finally working I proceeded to zoom my way around the track, somewhat hesitantly at first but eventually picking up a bit of speed. It was still chuffing scary. I'm not a naturally fast driver and I must have had a terrified death grip on the steering wheel cos christ, did my arms ache the next day. But it got more fun as I went on and in the end I was doing some spirited wheel squealing round the corners and going much faster than I ever thought I was capable of driving.

Yes, I got overtaken quite a lot at first (I was racing against lads who'd clearly done it before and were much better than I was) but the important thing is that I DID NOT CRASH.

Fastest lap time in session 1: 35.713 seconds
Fastest lap time in session 2: 33.456 seconds

Woop! The important things to note are: a) I got better (I was tons faster overall in the second session), b) I didn't crash even though pretty much everyone else did, c) I successfully overtook someone and d) I came THIRD in the second session. And not even out of three. Out of SEVEN. Plus I beat my brother (he crashed, haha). Woohoo!!


The big loser.

Maman

Today is my Mum's birthday.

Cross-stitcher and crafter extraordinaire, amazingly fast hiker, lover of American crime shows, excellent holiday and road trip companion, full of all sorts of esoteric knowledge, excellent spider catcher (but slug loather), very funny lady and fellow short-arse in the family: she is a tiny little package of awesomeness, generally clad in at least one lilac thing. If she has one flaw, it's that her feet are too small and I can't steal her shoes.

Want to see some splendiferously vintage photos of her? Of course you do!

No idea where the shop is but it looks interesting...

Rocking the ombre look way back in the day.

Startled by my Grandma's quite amazingly pointy collar...

I have no comment to make on this one. It just makes me giggle.

Check out the COAT! If only she'd kept that for me... She still tortures me with tales of the lilac suede platform knee high boots she used to have.

Beautiful lady.

Moving onto the present day, she's still beautiful, even if she won't hear it. Look Mum, it's on the internet now so you HAVE to believe it.


Did I mention she's awesome? And very fond of larking around, as in this photo where she is pretending to be a Roman centurion marching down Watling Street at Richborough.


Love you Mum.

The Small Things

I would quite like to kick life in the face at the moment. Preferably whilst wearing steel toe-capped boots. It's been a tough couple of weeks - stressful and tiring and full of death, grief and an assortment of petty annoyances.

At the risk of sounding either completely trite or like an utter Pollyanna, sometimes appreciating the small things really does help make a difference and put a smile back on your face. Things like going for a walk with your family:

Larking about inside a restored canal boat:

Walking around a bend and discovering that quintessentially English thing, a cricket match:

Having a drink at a canalside pub:

Eating Yorkshire Mixtures:

Playing with the brother's kittenses. They've got so big!:

And generally being silly:

Weirdly, I think I quite suit it.

My Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful time over the past couple of days. My Christmas was a little different to usual as various people were in other places but it was just perfect. So peaceful and stress-free, full of delicious food and drinks, fun with the family and many presents. Boxing Day was very much the same, although with fewer naps on the sofa.






Do forgive me sounding like a massive brat - I know I am thoroughly spoiled. But here are my presents.


I got books! Many many books! Look at them all! The only slight problem is that I'm going to London tomorrow and then Newcastle and need to pack light, so I'll have to leave all the lovely hardbacks until January.


Pyjamas, how I love thee.

Glam accessories. The scarf is super big and cosy and will be worn an awful lot. And how fab is the vintage handbag please? I was extra excited to see the tag inside.


Crafty stuff. The knitting books scare me a little, I must admit. I will master it though.


Best. Mum. Ever. She knew I'd been bemoaning the lack of nice jewellery holders out there and tracked down these beautiful hand turned wooden ones for me.


Things to pamper myself with

Shoe related things! The Sellotape dispenser is just genius. No-one's going to nick that from my desk at work!!

Lovely Christmas stuff.

A grey version of my beloved H&M suede elbow patch jumper and lots of lovely jewellery. I think the Oddsocks one is particularly inspired.



Lisa knows me too well. If it's cat related or green, she will buy it for me!



And a mug jumper! I love having crafty friends.

A variety of green things.

My bro and I always do the silly presents thing. We pick our own main present (hence the ring) and then let silliness reign. I am now the proud owner of a monkey and he is sporting some Goonies socks. Oh yes.

And my presents from Dad. Oh he did exceedingly well. Greatest boxset ever, a giant parcel of Lush goodies and a snuggly red hoody amongst other delights.


But I'm not quite as self centred as all that lot might make me seem. The important thing is that all the presents I bought for people seem to have been very well received. I like to hope that all the effort I put into thinking of present ideas paid off. Here's Dad, very chuffed with his new tshirt (he's a Buddhist btw).

And my brother got engaged! Bless him, he's quite the secret romantic.