Under 110 Days to go ....

Oh ... My .... Gosh!!!

I can't believe its that soon .... I'm feeling pretty prepared though. Although, we've been sending invites out and have just realised that we forgot to put in there that its a cash bar and a dress code. I'm assuming the people will realise that it's an evening wedding and will dress accordingly, but one never knows......

<---- Look at this dress!!! I'm going to be dressing my little girl in that style for the wedding ... won't that be STUNNING! I'd post what mine is going to look like, but that would give it away to the groom who up to this point only knows the colour of the material. I think I'll keep that one a secret... The bridesmaids are going to look totally amazing, by the way ... can't wait to see the completed picture. I'm going to try scan in the snippets of material I have and see if the colours come out well enough to post here ... just to give you all an idea of what we're going for here :) Excitement, excitement!!! Lets just hope it all pulls together to be one heck of a successful event. Heaven knows its a life changing one for me. I can't wait to be able to officially call this amazing man my husband! *sigh* I think I may just post a few pictures of the ideas I have had over the last few months for the big event ... needless to say I won't be able to pull them all off, but I still think they're great ideas. And yes, I'd love to hear what you all have to say.

On a different topic, I heard a saying the other day that made me feel all "warm and fuzzy" inside...

"The best kind of revenge is success!"

Yup, I believe that is going to be my motto in life ... well, it kind of has been actually. I've just never put it so many words. I love the way that my happiness and success has totally pissed off those people who have been cheering possible failure on. To all of them I say "HA HA HA!" (followed by a tongue being stuck out .... as apposed to lifting both my fists and raising my middle fingers with a grin on my face).


Yes people, you've got it right! I'm a constant surprise!

Update on Bridezilla

Well it's been a while since I last updated you all on my shenanigans regarding the wedding and all other things pertaining to my life, so here goes.

My love and I recently moved to a new house. Yes, we moved from our little three bedroom town house to a big ass house! My space woes are finally over. At least until I've filled all the open space where we're presently nestled. It's a lovely four bedroom home with sea and mountain views. Double storey. Fireplace - great for this snow filled winter weather we've been having and entertaining. Large yard with jungle gym for the klingons. *Sigh* Bliss!

We've settled in quite nicely now - just have a few more boxes to unpack. Yes, it has taken some time to unpack actually ... I've taken my time and relaxed about it. No more rushing to get everything done. Which has been a helpful attitude considering I've been working my ass off at my full time job. Which by the way I'm enjoying thoroughly :)

So due to the move (which happened beginning of May btw) the wedding plans were put on hold for a few weeks. Once we were in and partially settled I started delving into that again.....

Task one .... find the material.

OMG

What a mission. A fun one though!

Jo and I decided to go through to Cape Town to search for the right material. We dragged the hubby-2-be with because we don't know the area very well and weren't sure how safe it would be. It was great to have him along for the day though! Finally managed to find the satin for the bridesmaids dresses ... a whole R220 cheaper per meter than what I was originally quoted. Yes, Bargain Bessy strikes again. That is where the luck stopped for the day unfortunately. We got taken for lunch at Beluga in Green Point by the hubby-2-be ... sushi and cocktails at half price led to it being quite a jolly occasion. I was UBER impressed with the service and the whole feel of the place.

After that we ended up going to Canal Walk to a material shop where I originally saw the colours and material I was looking for. I found my material, but they didn't have enough of it available! Most distressing to say the least. Anyway the lady helping me was very helpful and said she'd find out from their branch in Claremont if they had any more. And so the wait began.

A few days later I got a call from her saying they have all the material, so I went off to fetch it the following weekend and took it all off to the dress maker a week later. So at least that is sorted.

I've been trying to get quotes from two florists in Somerset West for the bouquets and table decor ... its been a week and still no response. I'm hoping they don't let me down.

Other than that I've started making the invitations ... and they look great! I might post a pic of them some time soon.

Oh ... did I mention the nightmares??? No I did not! Well let me tell you something - the nightmares have started. The first one came out of no where: me and my bridesmaids sitting in a room with me in a panic because we had 10 minutes to "get to the church on time" or the groom would leave. Problem was that my hair and make up were not done and nobody was around to help with it. That had me waking up thinking "omg I better confirm EVERYTHING!"

Dream two had me waking up in a cold sweat (OK maybe a warm one because my hubby-2-be is an UBER human version of a hot water bottle). There I am (in the dream) standing at the venue. Fireplace is roaring. Decor is amazing. I turn to one of my bridesmaids and say "its so stunning, can't wait for everyone to see it" and then I gasp and go pale and say "oh #@$% ... we forgot to send the invites!" Needless to say, I woke up from that and told Gareth we have to get the guest list sorted and send the invites asap!

I haven't had another of those dreams since I got organising again - its probably my minds way of telling me to jack up my act and get the proverbial ball rolling!

Anyhoo ... keep you posted...

xxx

Blog Facelift

Well, I've just decided to give my blog a bit of a face lift ... let me know what you think of it.

...and yes, I will be updating my blog shortly ... its been a while, old friend .... but fear not!!! I'm back and ready to blog up a bit of a written storm (if that could be possible with my penmanship)!

So ... be a bit more patient and I'll let you all know when its done :)

Mwah!
xxx

Just coz :P

Thank you Gin for sending these ... I had such a good laugh at how true some of them are that I am forced to post them on this blog .... enjoy :)

- More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

- Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong.

- There is a great need for sarcasm font.

- I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

- How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

- I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

- I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

- How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

- I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, people!

- Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies".

- What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

- Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

- I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

- Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem …

- You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

- Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

- I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

- "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

- As a driver I hate pedestrians and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate bikers.

- Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

- I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

- Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

- I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

- I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

Post 40 ...

Wow! I've just realised this here is going to be my 40th post ...

Yes, I just took a moment to "take that in".

Who would have thought that when I started this blog on 20 April 2009 that I would be here today blogging about my upcoming wedding! Back then things were different .... you'll have to go read it all from the beginning to catch up ... and hey, its only 40 posts (including this one) so its shorter than a magazine! LOL!

Anyway, back to the news ...

Friday evening the head of the Wonder Women Squad came to sleep over and we spent some time going through some ideas that I have and some that she found whilst browsing. OMG you've got to love these Wonder Women of mine! They are so amazing and I'm extremely happy I chose them ... and EVEN happier they said "OH HELL YEAH"!!! I love that they're keeping an eye out for little ideas and things that will really help a lot!!! You have NO idea how much that means to me...

Anyhoo, so we got up the next morning and went to one of the other Wonder Women's dedication of her child (almost like a christening ... but not, for those of you who don't know what that is). After this, we dropped the Groom at home and then dashed off to three different material shops to see if we could find exactly what we're looking for .... we didn't, but we has some options. I was then dropped back at home and then the Groom and I went to view a possible chariot ... no no no, not for the wedding ... but that's a different tale all together. We then went to meet the HWW (Head Wonder Woman) at Canal Walk with her Prince and we went to browse an store called Bride & Co. ... this was interesting indeed. Who knew wedding gowns could be THAT heavy!!! Thank god HWW was there! I would possibly have broken something ... either in the shop or on my body. Now the only drawback of this place is that all their sizes are American. And with all the big arsed people you see in that country, you'd expect them to have human sizes available in their store, but apparently there is some sort of starvation plan for brides over there that we have yet to discover. Needless to say, I will hopefully be at least half a Backstreet Boy lighter by the time I get to the Big Day.

I did see some stunning things there though and as we crammed ourselves into a spaciously small dressing room (spot the sarcasm?) with a few poofy, heavy dresses and no aircon, the reality of the fact that I'm actually trying on wedding dresses hit me. I'm getting married .... again .... (another "take it in" moment) ... and no, that's not a "omg" moment in a bad way ... that's a "sigh and smile in happiness" moment. Anyway, the dresses. Wow, who makes these things!!! As HWW held the dress open, many poofy skirts cascading over the minimal floor space, I struggled to see the carpet. Lifting my chubby thighs over the waist area of the dress while trying to get into them - all this whilst contending with the hysterical laughter from HWW - it was pointed out that once you manage to loose all the weight you want to before your Big Day, you put it all on again once you put the dress on ... yip ... they're THAT heavy! God willing I don't loose my boobs through the "minus-half-a-backstreet-boy" process, because that may be the only thing that will keep a dress like that hitched up on my body. That and perhaps some strategically placed superglue. But hey, it was a total hoot and loads of fun.

After that we toddled off to the main mall and HWW took me to a delightful material shop. And there it was. The materials. The colours. It was perfect! Some of the stuff they had in there was insanely expensive, but the material we looked at was not too bad at all! Now its just a matter of taking it with me when we go see the dress designer we have an appointment with at the end of Feb. I hope he's the one ... I just want to get it sorted out.

As for photographers, we're still having to make a final decision. One more person to see and then hopefully at the end of the week we can say "we choose you!" ... It will be a relief because I just want to get as much organized as soon as possible so that I can enjoy the smaller things like the decor and spending more time with my WW.

Anyway, the Klingon's have arrived, so I'm going to let you get back to your normality too ...

Ciao for now :)

......and the list goes on ....

So the engagement party is over and it was fun and relaxed. It was great to have our friends and family there - thank you so much to all of you who came and celebrated with us. Thanks to those who had the decency to pitch up after RSVPing ... and to the rest who didn't pitch after saying they were coming - at least we know who to invite to the wedding and who not! LOL!

I haven't had time to download the photo's of the evening yet. Danielle and Raechel played the roll of official photographers. Danielle used my camera and Raechel hijacked her ouma's camera. They seemed to have a ball with it all. As soon as I've done the download I'll probably load the pics onto Facebook and maybe put a few on here too :)

My Wonder Women were fabulous once again. The took lolly-pops and put little tags on that said something along the lines of "Thanks for being here...." etc. It was so thoughtful and very unexpected. They're setting the bar so that if I'm ever asked I'll have to out do them! So word to the wise my dearest Wonder Women ... be careful what you dish out ;)

Things are moving along slowly where plans are concerned. I've ordered a key accessory for my outfit and it is gorgeous! I found it on a website called Pretty Cute Things. Take a look and see if you can guess what I chose ;) ... that excludes The Wonder Women and The Groom as they already know. I should have this key piece by the end of this week :) ... *excited grin*!

Tomorrow evening I've made an appointment to go see a photographer friend of mine who gave me a quotation to do the wedding. She was one of the few that actually got back to me too! I find that hard to deal with ... you know ... the "we're-friends-so-she-won't-mind-if-I-just-take-my-time-to-get-back-to-her" thing that most people you associate with do to you. What the heck is that about anyway?! As long as the others don't go all postal on me when they find out they've lost an opportunity, so be it. I know this friend would do a sensational job of capturing my special day ... and she's available too ... which, lets face it, is a major point to take into consideration.

I've also managed to book the make-up artist who will be making us all look drop-dead gorgeous on The Big Day. I have heard great things about her work and she comes highly recommended. So all hopes of making me look decent on the day will rest on her shoulders!

My guru of a beautician (who is also at times uber sadistic depending on what tools she has at her disposal at the time ... and yet I always go back for more ... *shakes head*) has given me the number of the dress maker she used for her wedding last year. Hopefully when I get around to speaking to him ...... hang on ......

.......
.....
.
technology ... man you've got to love it!

Just spoke to the dress maker's assistant and now have an appointment for 27 February at 9:30am .... now to send a quick mail out to The Wonder Women to book them. Hope they're all available, but if not I'll go anyway and take them later when they're all able to go!

Ok, the list .... what's next .... oh yes! Next on the list is the "Save The Date" goodies ... but before we can send those out we have to finalize the guest list .... I say "we", but I actually mean The Groom and the Future Mother-in-law need to finalize their side of the guest list. We have a certain amount of people we can invite and no more than that or the venue won't hold us ... so we have to try stick to that. It does mean we'll end up not being able to invite a few people we'd like to have there. Hope they understand.

Once the guest list is sorted out, then we're going to send out the "Save The Date" goodies ... which will give the guests time to sort out whatever transport and accommodation needs they may have to be sorted out before they even get the invitation :) ... clever hey :) (she says as if she's the first to come up with this concept! Pfffttt!)

Oh yes, and the other thing I managed to do was speak to my hairdresser about doing the hair for the wedding. She is an absolute goddess when it comes to doing hair and has won an award for her up styles. She's also giving me a good group price, which is very helpful. I've also booked the superwoman who will be doing my "cake" ... and no, I'm not going traditional with that either!

I'm getting excited!!!!! Could you tell?

Bridezilla & The Wonder Women: Mission 001

Mission Log 23 January 2010

Our first mission was today.

We all converged at Head Quarters. All except one who was almost taken down earlier this morning by the evils of General Migraine. As Lady K's luck would have it, Captain Myprodol was at her side and her recovery was swift.

While she was recovering, Lady A and Lady J accompanied me to a potential maker of suitable robes. Needless to say we shall keep looking.

Once done there the two Wonder Women were dropped off at HQ to meet with Lady K while I travelled swiftly to my torture session. It would seem that the trio had much to discuss in my absence. I dare not ask as I fear it may be too much to even consider what plans they may have!

We met up again at the future Hall of Celebrations hoping to eat and be merry while planning the final mission which is only nine months away. Unfortunately we are unable to feast there as the Hall was being prepared for another team's celebration. We did some reconnaissance so that our plans could be put into action more effectively. And then we were off to find sustenance to regain our strength.

It has been a very successful day with many an interesting word spoken. Our team is a strong one. A team to be reckoned with. Already the friendships are strongly forged.

I shall report again soon. For now, I must attend to more planning.

M.