The One About the Wedding...Part 2

Next day we had quite a lazy start, with M meeting up with the groomsmen for breakfast at Little Chef which was next door, whilst I had some extra time in bed.  Then, I started getting ready, first with the shower - which I nearly had a panic attack about, because the previous evening I'd had a shower and it was fine.  Wednesday morning and there was no hot water.  So I'm stood there in a towel, and telling M to ask the boys if I can use their shower (they were in the room next door to ours), when he comes back and says it's ok, one tap is the pressure and one tap is the temperature!  Well why didn't they put a set of instructions up on the wall for those of us that can't cope with complicated things???  Anyway panic over, I was able to concentrate on getting ready.  And despite having had plenty of practice with twirling tongs previously this time, I just needed a helping hand from M!  (One of these days I'm going to work out something else to do with the tongs rather than just twirl it and have my hair hanging loose - but no-one else at the wedding had seen my hair like that before, so it looked like I'd made an effort, and I know M likes my hair all twirly - he calls me curly top!)

The wedding was due to start at 2, but A wanted to get to the venue for 12ish, so we got there miles before anyone else, and sat in the sun.  

M and I took ourselves off for a walk around the grounds, and found a really lovely kitchen/rose garden where everything was in bloom.   

The staff had been getting things ready for the wedding, so there were outdoor games dotted around the place, so the boys had a game of tennis with some plastic rackets and a soft ball - in their brand new suits!

 Things started to get more interesting when the other guests arrived.  And it was fun to people watch to see what people were wearing, and how the girls had done their hair.  (Does anyone else do this, or is it just me?)  M kept going off for secret best man duties - nothing too exciting I don't think, just helping to move some tables and chairs!  Then at about 1:50pm we were allowed into the barn (which had been beautifully restored) we were allowed to go and take our seats.  As the partner of one of the best men I got to sit in the second row at the end, and had a really good view of everything!  The flowers that had been used were so so pretty, all in pinks and dark purples.  They had soft music playing as we waited, with the words 'going to the chapel, gonna get married' I'm not sure what the song was but it was light hearted and fun.

Then the curtain closed at the back, the music changed, and we were all asked to stand.  N's sister J (one of the bridesmaids) came in first with a little flower girl (who must have been between 1 and 2 years old), who didn't seem to want to be there, as she kept shouting for her mum, poor thing.  But she kept hold of her little basket with the confetti in and didn't spill any.

 Next up were two more bridesmaids M & D, all of them in dark purple strapless dresses that came to just past their knees, with matching shoes, jewellery and hair do's.  Did I mention that the first bridesmaid J was 7 months pregnant?  Well you could hardly tell with the dress, as it suited her so well!

 Then, in comes the bride, which is always the best bit I think, when she first sees the groom at the altar (is it still called an altar if it's a civil ceremony?), and when the groom first sees the bride.  

She looked lovely with her hair all up at the back with a stunning hair grip on one side.  The dress wasn't too fussy, which is just like N to be honest.  Of course there were tears as she walked down the aisle, and through the ceremony too, but the service was lovely, and they had a reading from Captain Corelli's Mandolin by a close family friend.  And then... they were married.

 And we all went out into the sunshine for photos, drinks and canapes (although these were quite tricky to get hold of as they went down so quick!)  There weren't as many professional photos as we thought there would be, a few shots with the bride, the groom and the family (including the bridesmaids as they were the brides sisters), and none with the groomsmen.  We were quite surprised as there were so many spots arounf the grounds that they could have had some stunning photos as, including the hidden garden we'd found earlier, but they had obviously planned in advance that they would rather spend their time with their guests.  The bit between the ceremony and the sit down meal is always the bit of the wedding tha I like the least.  There is always a lot of waiting, and you always end up eating your meal at a very starnge time (and as I'm sure people already know - I get very cranky when I'm hungry!)  But at half past 4 we were directed into the other part of the barn for the main meal.  It had been decorated with fairy lights around all the dark beams, with sprinkles on the table, and matching purple and pink flowers around the room.  As M was best man, he was sat at the top table with the bride and groom, and I was sat with M's friends from uni, who I know quite well, and had a laugh with.

 The bit we were waiting for though were the speeches.  First up was the brides Dad, who was so endearing, and kept being interrupted by his wife in case he forgot anything, who shared stories about the bride that I'd never heard before, and told us how A & N first met!  Then the groom's turn came along, and he read his pre-written speech from his phone, but unfortunately lost his place and had to stop at one point.  It didn't matter though, it just gave the speech and the day some more character.  Finally it was the best man's speech.  M had helped C write the speech, and although I had been asked did I want to read it, I declines saying I'd rather hear it for the first time at the wedding and not ruin the surprise (I think in hindsight if I had read the speech in advance - I would have told them to remove quite a bit of it!) Anyway, C was on good form though and made a joke of when the mike stopped working properly and sounded like he was rapping!  There were quite a few risky jokes and innuendoes, and something about the magic round about that I haven't been able to get out of M!

After the final speech we were all sent outside for coffee and biscuits whilst the staff cleared the tables and chairs away ready for the dancing.  The newly married couple had their first dance, and then encouraged the rest of us to join in.  

It was really hot and stuffy with all the dancing going on, so we decided to head outside and play a game of croquet!  It was really good fun, the others were a little tipsy (I'd offered to be the designated driver to I was still fully sober!) which made it very silly, with people just hitting the ball madly rather than aiming for the hoops!  The day ended with a big send off for the bride and groom thought an archway that the guests had made, and they went off out into the night together to a song about New York - which I can't remember exactly how it went, (and they aren't even in New York on their honeymoon, they're off on an island somewhere!) but it was a big band type song and it really suited their departure.  All that was left to do was to get the boys into the car and take them back to the Travel Lodge.

It was a fantastic few days, and it was great catching up with everyone.  And if you've made it this far with everything that I've written I'm impressed! 

The One About The Wedding...Part 1

Last week M's best friend A got married, it was a mid-week wedding in Suffolk (and not Surrey as I kept telling people!)  M, along with another friend C had been appointed best man.  The boys decided between them that as C was more comfortable doing public speaking, he would do the best man speech, and M would arrange the stag do.  They went to Bristol a couple of weekends ago with just the closest friends from Uni (6 of them altogether) and had a very busy few days with go-karting, clay pidgeon shooting and nightclubs!  (A, having two best men, also had two stag do's, the second being just a day out to Ascot races and another night club out with all his other friends from London, which was arranged by his brother-in-law to be).

We went down on Tuesday, (in the car - far better for Eddie spotting you know!) and made it in really good time, despite the weather trying to slow us down with a torrential thunder storm!  (Eddie's spotted were in the 30's - not all the names could be seen, and none of the fancy trailers were seen from the TV series (did you know there is a series on Channel 5 at the moment all about Eddie Stobart - its fascinating to watch)).

Anyway...We were booked into a Travel Lodge as that was the closest (and the cheapest) place near the venue.  It was somewhere to stay, it had a decent bed, a TV, plenty of space to hang things (and an iron and board for the morning when all the boys needed to iron out the creases of their brand new shirts of yet taken out of the packets!)  We literally dumped our gear in the room and went off to meet the groom and all the other men at the venue, where the family had rented out a large seven room cottage in the grounds for the duration of the wedding.  The venue was stunning, with lots of grounds and completely secluded from the outside hustle and bustle of daily life, and because it was just their wedding and nothing ese was going on in the main house that day we had the area to ourselves, and weren't running into strangers around the place, which was rather nice.

The girls had already gone off to the next town for spa treatments to be pampered.  As I'm saving pennies, I decided to hang out with the boys while they had a BBQ, and watched Wimbledon in the lounge.  Did I mention that on the Tuesday it rained?  Quite a lot???  So the BBQ had to be moved in doors, but was still just as tasty!  And A and his two best men were able to do some last minute checks to the reception layout, and test microphones and things.

Later that evening we all went for a meal in the next town, the close family, the bridesmaids, groomsmen and their partners.  I think there were 30 of us in all, and we took up the whole of one end of the pub!  It was lovely to catch up with A & N again, as I hadn't seen them since their engagement party last June.  N was being very tight lipped about her dress, and wouldn't share any details at all!  The meal was yummy, it had all been pre-ordered (and as we sometimes do, M lets me choose two starters and mains, so that if I don't like what I've chosen there is a good chance that I'll like the other one - he's very sweet like that) but I had the leek and potato soup which was so filling I didn't manage to finish my main course!  And the main was a red onion and tomato tart with feta cheese and rocket.  No room for it all though after the soup, let alone dessert!

The bride and groom to be

A and his two best men

Me & M (who is hugging the gerbera as it is my favourite flower and seems to be following us wherever we go at the moment!)

The girls all headed off back to the venue to stay the night at the cottage at about 10:30pm, and I got the boys back to the Travel lodge for just after 11pm.  And they were really good and actually all went straight off to bed!  (I think the fact that the Travel Lodge had no bar had something to do with it!)

Stay tuned for the next instalment where I tell all about the wedding.....

The One About The Bupa Great North Run...

So today is the day that M and his friend K have been working towards.  All those Monday night runs, which obviously have really helped as M knocked quite a few minutes off from last years time.  And I am so proud of him.  We got a few pictures of the boys before they walked down to race starting area:

We made it a trip out, with my Mum and M's dad, and K's other half N.  We got there in time for the warm up, so left the boys to it, and went and found a spot just further on from the start to wave them off.  We managed to see them and got some pictures, although M's dad got some much better photos with his lens, I'll try to remember to post them when I get copies, so for now mine will have to do! :

Then we wandered down part of the course, watched the big screen for a bit.  There was so many people everywhere, and so many people doing the run.  Just M's wave alone, he was the white wave starting at just before 11am, had hundreds of people in it, and there were four other waves that ran today!  We spotted a couple of famous faces, the actor from Taggart, the man that always gets into trouble in the drama, it was rumoured that Bob Hope from Emmerdale had been spotted, and Jonathan Edwards (the triple jumper) was up on the commentating podium.  There were other famous people taking part too, but we didn't see them.  We had to fight through the crowds to find a spot near the finishing line, and I'm a little bit claustrophobic so it wasn't great for me.  But we found a spot, just behind one line of people, so we could see through the gaps between their heads (if that makes sense?), anyway, there were these podium type things behind us, and I was keeping a watchful eye on them (well I knew I wasn't going to spot the boys from where I was, I'm only little, 5'4"!) and someone got down and I was there an instant later, only when I tried to get up I thought it was lower than it was, so I kind of tripped/stumbled up it (so embarrased), my legs just wouldn't work after the yoga workout I did yesterday!  (Me thinks I need to stretch more often!) oh and I scraped my leg and its been sore ever since :( but it was so worth it because first I spotted K, and shouted and waved madly (and got a funny look in response - but apparently he was just focusing his eyes), then a couple of minutes later there was M, and just like last year he s=didn't hear me or see me, he was on the other side of the road and he had his headphones in, so what hope was there really???  Anyway, they checked their times when they got back and M did his in 52, which is four minutes less than last year.  So so proud.

After the race with their medals

Sometimes I wish I could do a long run like this, but with my back the pounding on the floor just aggravates it.  M keeps telling me that I need to change my shoes, but who knows.  I'll be happy doing my Race for Life with Mum as a walk in July.  But maybe I'll do a run someday.

So did anyone else do the run today?  Or do you know of anyone that did it?

The One About my Craft Room Update.......

I know that a lot of people are interested in how my craft area is progressing, and I like to keep track of all the stages too so that I can scrap it eventually so here is the next stage.

M finished varnishing the shelving units and put them altogether on Thursday to show what they looked like, bearing in mind they're not in the right room at this point:

Please excuse the mess that is our dining room - another room that needs a make-over!
The drawers have been made especially as 12x12 inches to fit my card and papers :)

Then yesterday we went on the hunt for something that would do for the work tops.  We tried three different places before we ended up in Wickes where we found the wood that we decided to use.  Do you know how difficult it is to find pieces of wood in large widths and depths?  You see we needed it to be at least half a metre wide, with a good 2cm depth to it, and we didn't want laminate as we need to varnish the worktop to match the rest of the wood.  Wickes was the best with a width of 60cm and depth of 2.8cm.  So M has done his initial cutting out, and put it altogether in the craft area (nothing is fixed in yet, and a bit more painting is required - you might be able to spot the odd wall area of white or yellow where I forgot to paint - ooops!), but nothing isfixed in, and the work tops need varnishing still.

The bit in the middle on the chimney breast is where my fold down table is going to go, and M has just gone off to Wickes to get some more wood for that part, and for the hinges for the legs.

Let me know what you think!  And if you have pictures of your craft space on your blog please share them here so that I can have a nosy!  (I'm intending to frame some of my 12x12 LO's and putting them up on the wall running to the left of the craft space, I'm after some of those ones where there is just glass all the way to the edge, with no actual frame.  If anyone knows where I can get any please point me in the right direction!)

And don't forget everyone that it is Storytelling Sunday tomorrow over at Sian's.

The One About Speke Hall....

Yesterday Mum and I took a trip out to Speke Hall, near Liverpool.  We're both members of the National Trust, and this one wasn't too far away, and we hadn't been before.  We got there for just after 11am to be told the house wasn't open to the public until 1pm, but we could always sign up, for free, to a tour of the house by one of the National Trust volunteers.  Well of course that's what we did!  So our tour started at 11:15, with just enough time before for a quick trip to the ladies, or o we thought.  On starting to make our way to the house (it was some way from the reception area) I read the back of the visitors pass, which said make sure you get to the front of the house 5mins before the tour is due to start, and that the house is a ten minute walk away!  Well given that we had 5 minutes to get there we got a wriggle on (a new phrase I've picked up from M and that my Mum had never heard before which made her laugh!) and very quickly hotfooted it to the house - only to find we were there in under 5 minutes, and that the National Trust were obviously erring on the side of caution with their 'it takes 10minutes!!!!!'.

The gentleman showing us around was dressed in full victorian attire, and was very knowledgable about the  house and the family (as he should be really if he's giving a tour but anyway), and told us lots of little anecdotes and stories as we went around.  Apparently one of the upstairs bedrooms was haunted (I'll tell the story later if anyone wants to hear it), and there were lots of little hidey holes around the house.  The man of the house, one William Morris, had two wives, and get this, 19 children!!! 7 by the first wife (I believe she dies, but not sure why) and 12 by the second!  I can't really comprehend having that many children, but as Mum said they didn't have contraception in those days!!!

After our tour round the house we meandered round the formal gardens, and found our way into the bluebell woods.  It was lovely because it was still so quiet that I could stop and take photos without anyone else accidentally getting into the shot.  I've been after some pretty shots of bluebells for a while so I tried.  You'll have to be the judge of how good they are :)  I also wanted to try out my new remote for the camera that M's father got me for my birthday last year (I know its taken me a while to get round to using it, but the weathers nice now).  The night before M helped me work out how to use it, and I was all set.  I lined the camera up on the tripod (a pressie from M the Christmas before last - one of those ones with wiggly legs, only about a foot tall) and stood next to Mum and pressed the button and, nothing happened!  I went back to the camera checked all the settings and tried again, still nothing happened!  So for the time being I gave up, because I didn't want to hold Mum up much longer.  (Don't worry I did come back to it later, but more of that in a mo).

By this time we decided it was time for lunch, and with it being such a warm sunny day we had a picnic in the grounds of the house.  Whilst we were having a break I thought it would be a good time to have another go with my camera, so I again set it all up, and tested the camera and got this shot of my Mum's feet.

I thought that would be it and I again set the camera up for a shot of us together (as we only go out with the two of us its rare that the two of us are in a photo together), and guess what???  It still didn't work!  I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, but I'm going to play with it at home with M.  As a last resort I did the usual thing and held the camera at arms length, but of course at such a funny angle it made our necks look huge and gave me a double chin!  So that picture will not get shown!!!

As we still had the afternoon free and to make the most of the weather, we thought we would attempt the  external walk round the grounds, which was just over a mile long.  (I say attempt, the leaflet said it had rough terrain and that it was fairly steep in places).  We needn't have worried, the ground was fairly flat and there were no steep hills!  We stopped for a while on a bench along the way to watch the aeroplanes taking off, yes the house it right next to Liverpool airport.  It was quite strange to be in this lovely setting with this old house and beautiful grounds, to hear the thundering of an aeroplane every ten minutes or so!

Whilst on our little walk I again tried for some interesting photos.

I look large from the waist down in this photo - its only because I've got my jacket tied round my waist!

Mum has this habit of taking pictures and standing too far away.  So I set the shot up let her take the first one and then told her to take a step in for the next shot, and then another step and so on, and the final shot is really quite good.  Although my hair looks very windblown and untidy, but Mum said it demonstrated the surroundings more!

We finished up our walk and headed home for a much earned cup of tea :)

The One About Madeira....

A year ago this week, M and I went on holiday for a week to Madeira.  We hadn't been away since we went to Paris the November before, so we were really looking forward to going away somewhere and relaxing, and having some warm weather for a change!  We had an all inclusive hotel not too far from the city centre of Funchal.  (It was 20 minute walk away, which going down hill wasn't too bad in the mornings - coming back later in the day - that was harder!)  Anyway we got there on a Monday and spent the next few days exploring, and doing touristy things, going on a coach trip round the island, visiting the various gardens in the island, and one mad day we trekked up on a very hot day to find a garden/animal park that was at the top of a mountain - we were exhausted by the time we got to the top!  Well on the Friday morning we turned the tv on in the hotel room (we were quite lucky to have some english channels and the news) to find the Volcano in iceland had decided to erupt and throw out lots of ash which started to get blown towards Europe.  We had frantic phone calls from our family, trying to find out what was going on, as flights were being suspended.  Well the first day it said they were only suspending flights on that day, so we tried not to worry about how we would be getting home as we figured things would we back to normal on the Monday.  How wrong were we!!!

On Monday we went to the airport as planned to be told that of course our flight had been cancelled, but they were putting us up in a hotel, and would feed us breakfast and dinner, and we would be there until further notice.  The new hotel was nowhere near as nice as the original one, and it was a good 15mins bus ride away from the city centre.  We were told to just try and enjoy the extra days, and that we would get 24 hours notice when our flight would be ready, so we were fine to just go out on trips out.  Well we didn't like to stray too far from the hotel, and only made it out to the city centre on just one of the days.  Well on the Thursday night we were at dinner and it was about 8:30pm, and the lady from the travel company came in and said we had a flight leaving at 2am and we would get picked up at 11:30pm.  So four extra days, and we landed about 6am on the Friday.  Luckily I had booked two weeks off work so they weren't expecting me back.  Unfortunately M should have been at work on the Tuesday, so despite the lack of sleep he went to work and came home about mid-afternoon.  I will never forget our trip to Madeira, and before the volcano fuss we actually had a really lovely time.  I have more than 200 pictures from that trip because there was a flower festival on at the time, and a parade on the last Saturday.  One of these days I'm going to get round to scrapping these pictures, and the story of being stranded!

So... was anyone else stranded at the time?  Or know friends or family that were stranded?  I'd be interested to find out!

As you will all be aware I took part in Shimelle's class Blogging for Scrappers.  Well starting to today I'm doing the follow on class Beyond Blogging for Scrappers.  And so... its time to think about the theme of my blog.  It started off simply as a tool to take part in one of Shimelle's other classes.  More recently I've been using it to try and keep track of my thoughts and memories so that when I do come round to scrap things I haven't forgotten important parts!  I do like to share my LO's too once I've completed them.  And actually in the last month I've done more scrapping than the rest of the year, so blogging has given me a bit of a boost :) and its nice to find out what other scrappers think of the craftiness that I get up to!  Sometimes I throw in a few stories just about every day life, which one day I suppose will form part of my history for future generations.  So, I guess I'm wondering, do people enjoy the mix that I write about?  Would you prefer to read more about life in general?  Or less life and more craft???  Let me know what you think :)  all comments are appreciated!

The One About My New Job & Time Travelling.....

So my good news..... I've got a new job! I couldn't say before now because I needed to hand in my notice first but now I can tell everyone!  I've been worrying all weekend about how my boss was going to take the news, but I needen't have worried, he claimed he knew I would be off soon anyway, although how he knew I have no idea.  He must have just sensed I wasn't happy for the last few months.  Anyway, new job in a month (oh what a pain it is working notice) new start.  Its doing more of what I enjoy (thats working with numbers) its closer to home, so no more hour long commute yey!!!!!  And no more of the mad management that sends us all away for three days to talk about the organisations 5 priorities (just an excuse to get drunk really!).  So I'm going to be counting down the days for the next month now :)

This week whilst I wait for Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers I thought I would revisit one of Shimelles other classes 'My Freedom' which ran a couple of years ago, but which I didn't really finish!  So, today I'm thinking about where I would go if I could travel through time. Hmm... Sometimes I think I'd like to go to the 17th Century, when Pride & Prejudice was set, and wear the pretty dresses, and go to all the balls.  But then I think how boring it must have been for the women, waiting to get married, and not having any gainful employment.  Or else the 60's when everything was more relaxed and wore flowers in their hair (I still do wear flowers in my hair by the way).  Sometimes I think it would be interesting to go back to when my mum was in her early 20's and see what she was like then before having my brother, sister and myself.

So, if you could travel in time where and when would you go to????

The One About All My Books...

Well it's a lovely sunny day, and I want to be out enjoying it like everyone else, but instead I'm stuck indoors revising for my exams :(  M is out in the back yard building my storage for my new craft area, so I can hardly drag him away to come out with me can I?!!!  I know the studying will be worthwhile in the end which is whats keeping me going!!!

Last night M was at the rugby so I took the chance to spread all my stash out over the living room floor (well the dining room table just isn't big enough!), and I made my first LO of my sisters wedding, not of the bride and groom, but of my sister and I in the photo I showed last week as it is one of my favourites :) I'm waiting for the professional photos to scrap of the bride and groom as my photos aren't great, as I only used my point and click camera.

I have had some really good news this week but unfortunately I can't share it just yet, so you'll have to pop back for an update!  So rather than leave this as a really short blog post that doesn't share much at all, I thought I'd share a glimpse into our home, and all the books the we (I mean I!) have, and the fabulous book that I have just finished.  Its called My Last Duchess by Daisy Goodwin, and its just fantastic! I really couldn't put it down.  Its set in the 19th century and explains the story of an (very young) american heiress that gets married off to an english duke.  I love reading about all the little customs they used to have, and the way that they used to live.  Not that I could live that way now!  I'm far too outspoken for that!  But its nice to disappear into that world for a couple of hours isn't it?

(Sorry I've just noticed that these are dvd's, but honestly I've got lots of bookshelves and 100's of books!)

So what is everyone else reading at the moment???

The One About The Radley Bag.....

Last week my lovely OH came home and said 'I've got you a voucher for the Radley shop'.  (Not because it was my birthday or because it was a special occasion, but because he felt like it!)  At Christmas I saw a Radley bag in the sale, but because it was January, and because we're saving for works on the house I didn't get it, just kept day dreaming! So this voucher was for when the next sale came along, and it wouldn't be as expensive.  Wasn't that nice :)  Unfortunately the small print on the voucher (it being a promotional voucher) said that it couldn't be used on sale items, in conjunction with any other items, and had to be used by the 21st April!  So I hotfooted it to the Trafford Centre yesterday, and came home with a new Radley bag!!! (I was going anyway, my double sided sticky tape ran out on Saturday - you should have heard the yells when I realised!)  I needed an every day weekend (not work) bag with a long strap to go across the body so I found the one below with quite a cool design on.  The strap isn't quite to my taste and in the future I might take it off and replace it, but for now its perfect!  I cant wait for the weekend now just to use it!

Now, this isn't my first Radley purchase (nor will it be my last!) and I seem to be building a small collection of Radley items, so, my question today is 'who else has a Radley collection?  Or just one?  Or harbours after a particular bag?? Pictures please!!!

The One About Mothers Day....

So I had all day yesterday set aside to spend with my mum but no idea what we were going to be doing apart from 'visiting' (this is something we do regularly when the weather is good, pick a National Trust property and visit the house and gardens).  Anyway I arrived at Mum's and she said 'Gemma I have a plan!' (She and my family are really the only ones that call me Gemma now, all my close friends have shortened it - but thats just an aside!)

So The Plan.... to have a wander round John Lewis, spending vouchers wherever possible, and then a visit to the Style Quarry Mill if the weather held out.  So we spent a lovely hour meandering through the department store (its on its own retail park next to a Sainsbury's which is why we were only going there!) Mum bought a gorgeous purple leather jewellery box, and I got some little butterfly embellishments (I'm into butterflies on my LO's at the moment, but you'll see that in a mo!).  After a quick picnic lunch in the car, we decided to chance the weather and visit the mill and gardens.  The mill itself was really well laid out, it was all set up for school visits so there were a lot of fact sheets all around, and even national trust staff in various parts of the mill giving presentations, and showing how the old equipment worked.  Mum found it particularly interesting because she's into patchwork, and making quilts (thats where I get my creative streak from) and it explained how cotton is made into fabric.  So we had a really good time, and learnt something too.

The gardens were a little disappointing, really only because it's the wrong time of year to be expecting much in terms of colour from a garden, even I know that from doing Mum.s garden for several years when I lived there, but still, you pay to vist a garden, you want to see something interesting!  Anyway there was a magnolia tree that was about to flower, a nearly open rhododendron, and lots of daffs!  I do think though that the garden will look fab in a couple of months time though when the weather ets a bit warmer :)

Anyway, I also promised some scrapping, so here we go....

First up is the LO about the flowers my OH got me this week.

Secondly is a mini book that I made (started two summers ago, and just never quite completed) so I decided to finish it off.  Pictures from various camping trips in Wales in the summer of 2009.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about my new purchase today (its very exciting!)

The One About My Sister's Wedding....

Yes, thats the reason why I was wishing for good weather, and what my new bag was for :)  She only announced her engagement a month ago, so she did really well getting everything arranged in time!  We had a long visit in Manchester City Centre looking for her wedding dress, and found it in the very last shop (I know, it would have to be the last shop because we weren't going anywhere else, but it really was the last shop left in Manchester.)  But we found one and it was gorgeous.  Finding my outfit was a little more stressful, with nothing in the high street shops fitting, and having to order online, I'm always a bit dubious about ordering clothes online as it's not the same as trying it on in the shop, but this online shop you could send it back if it didn't fit, for free!!! And the dress fitted, which was such a relief.  Anyway, enough of my rambling, I'm sure you're more interested in seeing the photos!

So here they are.......

This is a picture of our side of the family, I'm the one in green/teal, my mum to the left, my OH to the right of the groom, and my brother on the far right.  It seemed to be a theme of the pictures to have boys on one side and girls on the other!

Me and my little sis :)

The one and only decent photo of me and my OH, doesn't he look handsome in his suit :)  You can't tell from the photo but I have twirled my hair with my fancy twirling tongs (a surprise christmas present from OH) it took ages to do but was really worth it :)

...... and finally my sis and her new husband at the reception after the ceremony.

I'm waiting to see the pictures that the official photographer took (I say official, but he is the groom's brother in law) with his fancy camera lenses (I would have taken my SLR was but was asked by my sis not to - I can't imagine why!!!).  I'm sure they will be much nicer than the ones I took on my little compact, and I'll choose a few to upload later on.  I've still got lots of lovely pictures to be scrapped! And I kept my name setting off the table, and a few of the scatter charms off the table too (Im sure my sister didn't notice that a few were missing!)