Our Day by Design

39 Weeks & Maternity Leave

2012-01-23T23:45:00.047Z

I'm currently 39+1 weeks and the baby is still the size of a watermelon!

I finished work on Friday so today was the first official day of my maternity leave. I'm planning to take almost the full year which means I wont return to work until January 2013! I spent my first day off washing more baby clothes and packing some of my hospital bag before meeting friends for dinner.

Yesterday, my best friends threw me a baby shower which was fantastic and a lovely way to spend the afternoon. I will write more about it soon but it included family, friends, a baby, tea, cakes, fabulous games, a brilliantly decorated cake and lots of lovely gifts for the baby.

I don't see the midwife again until Thursday so tomorrow I'm going to finish packing my bag and the baby's bag and complete my birth plan. Then its just a waiting game!

2011: My year in review

2012-01-17T13:30:00.058Z

Despite saying last year that I wasn't sure 2011 would come anywhere close to the fabulous 2010 we had, have as much excitement in it or that we would manage four holidays again, I think we did pretty well!

January

I carried on with my honeymoon recaps.

February

I met some of the blog girls and went to London for my brother-in-laws 30th.

March

I finally finished my recaps & all wedding related posts!
We had lunch at La Potiniere.

April

We visited both Bratislava & Vienna.

While there, we celebrated our 1st anniversary!

Followed by dinner at The Kitchin when we returned home.
I also went to a Hollywood Hen do!

May
We attended a weekend wedding celebration in Perthshire.

We made a Travel Map with our paper anniversary gift.

My blog turned 2.

We discovered I was pregnant just a few weeks after finding out my sister was too!

June

We went to Marrakech for a week where Graham turned 30.

Zoe & Neil got married followed by A Dizzy Girl who married her Irish Boy.

July

I went to London for a few days.
We had our first scan then announced my pregnancy to the world!

Soon after we were able to also reveal my sister was pregnant too!

August

I met the blog girls again.

Graham was the best man at his cousin Andrew's wedding to Elaine.

September

I attended the first ever Blook Club meet but haven't managed to make any of the others!

We had our second scan and discovered its a boy!

My nephew Enzo turned 2 and we went to London to celebrate.

October

I went to Manchester for the weekend with my friends to celebrate all of our 30th's.

We spent a week in the Peak District with my family and celebrated Christmas in October.

My sister Ashleigh, her husband Patrick & son Enzo then moved to Australia and we had a tearful goodbye at the airport!

November

We went for a mini 4D Scan so we could see the baby again.

I had Christmas in November with the blog girls.

We spent a long weekend in Cologne enjoying the Christmas markets to celebrate my birthday and as our last trip just the two of us!

December

I turned 30.

Then it was Christmas!

Turns out 2011 was full of holidays again {, as well as lots of babies!

2012 has already got off to a fabulous start with the arrival of my niece in Australia and now we look forward to our own new arrival in just a few weeks time. Then we have a summer of hen do's and weddings to look forward too as I'm a bridesmaid for both my best friend Lucy and Grahams sister Hazel followed by a trip to Perth, Australia later on in the year.

I still have to write about my sisters wedding at the end of 2010 and some of our trips last year, all of which I hope to finish before the baby arrives!

38 Weeks

2012-01-15T23:30:00.005Z

I'm now 38 weeks and since baby reached full term at 37 weeks, he will arrive some time in the next 4 weeks. The baby is the size of a watermelon (or a leek).

Bump is still growing as you can see below and my mum noticed a big difference once they returned from their 3 weeks in Australia. They were there for Christmas and the arrival of my niece last week so got to spend some time with her and lots of time with my nephew before they came home in time for the next arrival!

Ive ordered some pictures for the baby's room and I'm waiting on a few other things including a mobile, some fabric storage baskets and a large swaddle blanket. We've washed all of the baby clothes, muslins, moses basket bedding, sheets, towels, swaddles and blankets in preparation for his arrival and now all I need to do is actually pack the bags for the hospital! We built the pram at my parents house last weekend and the car seat is ready to go in the car. Today we got our room sorted and moved the moses basket beside my side of the bed, as you can see in the photo above.

I'm still feeling good although sleeping is still not great with all the toilet breaks and needing to move around a lot. I'm really looking forward to being able to sleep on my back again! I saw the midwife last Monday and everything was fine, I'm measuring on track and he is lying in the correct position, he just needs to move further down.

Only 5 more days at work until my maternity leave starts!

I'm an Auntie again!

2012-01-05T13:45:00.004Z

My niece has now arrived over in Oz!

My sister Ashleigh had their baby girl called Willow at 8.22pm yesterday, weighing 7lb 14oz & 51cm long.

I'm so excited to hear about the new arrival and delighted for her and her husband Patrick, as well as new big brother Enzo. I'm just sorry we wont get to actually meet her and introduce her to her new cousin until next summer.

Congratulations Mummy, Daddy & big brother Enzo!

My parents are still over in Australia until next weekend so they will get to spend some time with the new baby before they come home.

I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing them all on skype this weekend.

36 Weeks & Happy New Year

2012-01-04T23:15:00.030Z

I'm now 36+3 weeks which in theory means we could have less than 4 weeks to go. The baby is the size of a honeydew melon (or a crenshaw melon, whatever that is).

Bump is still growing although I still keep getting told I don't look that big. When I went to get my eyebrows threaded on Christmas Eve the women thought I was only about 5 months. I only managed a couple of photos this month, a quick one on my iPhone on Christmas Day at 35 weeks and then an actual photo last night at 36+2 but I think you can see I definitely look a lot bigger than last month.

There has been lots of progress in the baby's room; the cot and car seat were delivered and we painted stripes on the wall. We went to Ikea before Christmas, as we had £10 off vouchers to use, and bought a chest of drawers and a chair then we returned last week with another voucher to buy an expedit shelving unit. Everything has now been made up and put into place in the room. We still need to order some art for the walls and maybe some wall shelves but we have everything essential we wanted to start with.

Ive started to collect everything we will need for me and the baby in hospital including baby vests, babygrows, nappies, cotton wool, muslin squares, nighties, slippers and a dressing gown and once everything else arrives ill get the bags packed. We've also got the changing mat we wanted, a foam bath support for our normal bath, moses basket & cot sheets, a swaddle and a baby monitor which we got with some vouchers we received for Christmas.

I'm still feeling good although sleeping is getting more difficult with quite a few toilet breaks needed during the night and all the moving around he is doing! I don't see the midwife again until Monday when I will see what I'm measuring and what position he is in. We completed our course of NCT antenatal classes before Christmas and we found them really useful and are looking forward to meeting up with everyone again once we have all had our babies.

We celebrated Christmas a week early with my parents by having dinner at Norton House then we swapped presents before they left to go to Perth, Australia to see my sister. We then spent Christmas staying at Grahams parents where we spent a lovely Christmas Day followed by Boxing Day at my aunts. We were very spoiled by everyone and received lots of money which we are hoping to use to buy a new camera before the baby arrives as well as some clothes, chocolates and champagne which I can enjoy after the baby arrives! On the 27th we celebrated Graham's Nana's 90th birthday then we spent a lovely night at Norton House on the 29th where I also treated myself to a pregnancy massage with some of my birthday money. Our new year was fairly quiet for a change and was spent at my aunts followed by dinner at Grahams aunts on the 1st and the rest of the evening at my cousins.

We both went back to work today but for me I'm now on countdown to my maternity leave starting. My last day is on the 20th of January which means only 12 working days left which I'm sure will fly by! In the next week or so we need to get all of the baby clothes washed and once we've taken down the Christmas tree we also need to get the pram built up at my parents.

Hopefully I'll be back soon with news of my niece's arrival from Oz!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T12:00:00.013Z

M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas or festive season with your loved ones!

Getting Festive!

2011-12-22T23:45:00.032Z

With only 3 days until Christmas, I wanted to show you how we made our flat look festive! We put up our tree, got out all of our decorations and displayed all the new ones we bought in Cologne. Along with the tree we also have the ornament tree I added last year, which I use to display some of my favourites. As usual we totally underestimated the time it would take to put the tree up, string all the different lights around it along with all the garlands and that was before we even started on the decorations!

Again this year we had quite a few {I think there are 11} new additions to the trees, collected throughout the year on our travels. They include a gold metal star from Bratislava; a painted glass bauble from Vienna; a wooden ornament from Marrakech; a red metal star from Bakewell; a beaded ornament I made myself {the second pic below}; a glass tree which was a gift from a friend and quite a few we bought in Cologne in November. They were two red tin Santa's, a 5 coloured decoration, a metal star and a wooden tree.

In front of the ornament tree I have another new item for 2011, a tree, snowman & pudding set I got in the Paperchase sale after Christmas last year along with a couple of snowmen which I used to hang on the tree. We also bought a few other things in Cologne, including a reindeer on a spring which we hung from a lamp so it can be pulled down and a red acrylic reindeer & red acrylic Santa from Muji, which I stood beside the acrylic trees I got from Habitat a while ago. I added in a ceramic owl from M&S, a bouncing snowman we also got in Bakewell and we also have a mini teal tree I got from Paperchase a while ago and a dancing snowmen couple on the floor.

I'm working until tomorrow although we do have our work Christmas lunch as well so it will be a short morning, then we are going down to Grahams parents on Christmas Eve to stay with them for three nights. With my parents visiting my sister and family in Australia for Christmas and for the arrival of my niece, we swapped presents and said bye to them last night, we are spending Christmas Day with all of Grahams family. On Boxing Day we have been invited to my aunts for dinner with my aunt, uncle and cousin then we will come back to our flat briefly on the 27th before meeting Grahams family for dinner to celebrate his Nana's 90th Birthday. We don't have any plans for the 28th so I'm hoping for a relaxing day, with maybe some shopping and a meal with Grahams parents, then on the 29th we are off to Norton House Hotel to stay for the night and enjoy some time in the spa and a lovely meal. Ive hopefully going to book myself a long pregnancy massage which I intend to thoroughly enjoy as part of what I guess will be our last quiet Christmas; although I cant wait until we have our little boy running around next year!

Nursery Progress: Grey Stripes

2011-12-16T14:00:00.023Z

We have finally made some progress on the nursery!

As you may have seen from some of my nursery pins, we loved the idea of painting grey stripes on one wall. The room was still painted magnolia from when we moved in, as you can see below, so Graham started by painting the whole room white and glossing all the woodwork. I then forgot to take a photo of the room before we started the next stage!

To find the perfect grey colour we had previously tried a few paint swatches from the Grey Steel & Night Jewels Dulux Tailor Made Colour ranges against the white in our living room. After looking at loads and loads of grey options these were really the only ones which didn't have any hints of blue or green. We then bought a tester of Grey Steel 2, the 3rd one down in the photo, which we loved when we painted a bit on the white wall, behind our travel map so it wouldn't be seen!

Having read a few tutorials online before we started, everyone recommended Frog Tape as the thing to use if you wanted sharp lines with no paint bleed, rather than standard masking tape. We didn't want to put the tape on until we were ready to paint in case it damaged the freshly painted white wall, so we left that to dry and cure for almost three weeks until we were ready to get started.

Once we had measured the wall and decided how many stripes we wanted, it was time to get taping. The wall we chose to paint was just over 2m high so we decided to have 8 stripes at 25cm each, starting with grey at the top, leaving the bottom white section slightly larger, since it wouldn't really be noticed. Starting at the top, Graham measured 25cm down at a few points and marked the wall before joining the dots with the tape. The first stripe we drew a full pencil line first but then realised that just meant more hassle and more to rub out later. Graham carried on down the wall, measuring 25cm from each line above, to keep everything in line with the stripe above. We put tape along the top and bottom of each full 25cm grey stripe, which meant the areas to remain white in between ended up smaller, as they included the two 40mm tape thicknesses within their 25cm. This helped when we came to paint and as you can see we also taped the edge of each grey stripe with no tape on the white sections.

When it was time to paint we took a roller each then got started. It wasn't particularly easy for me to help paint the highest or lowest stripe so Graham did do most of the painting, but at least I contributed! We did the first coat, shown in the first photo, then left it for around an hour before painting the second. There were a couple of spots where a bit of grey paint managed to land on a white section, which might have been my fault, but we quickly touched them up and now they cant be seen.

Once both coats were complete we only left it for a few minutes before removing all of the tape, so the paint didn't dry over the tape and get pulled off later. The first photo below shows the wall just after we removed the tape and the second was a few hours later when it had almost completely dried. We were a bit nervous pulling off the tape but thankfully it turned out perfect and we were both delighted with the result. There was no bleeding under the tape at all and the only slight issue was one tiny bit of white paint that got pulled off, but we managed to touch it up no problem and now you cant even see it. I'm so glad we decided to tackle the stripes rather than going with wallpaper or just painting the whole wall grey as we love how it turned out.

After we had finished the stripes, Graham built the cot which had been delivered that morning, along with the car seat, seat base and rocking moses basket stand, and we also put the new curtains up. I was so pleased the grey of the cot looked ok against the wall, as we hadn't thought to check beforehand.

Now we just need to buy a chest of drawers, a chair, maybe some wall shelves, a bookcase and some art for the walls!

32 Weeks

2011-12-09T23:15:00.009Z

Reaching 32+5 weeks means we are down to single figures with less than 8 weeks to go. The baby is the size of a squash (or a jicama, whatever that is).

As you can see my bump is still growing a lot! I can still get away with wearing a few normal tops or vests providing they are long enough, otherwise its all maternity clothes. Although I think my bump is quite big I've been told by more than one person this week that they don't think so at all, and since its all out the front it doesn't look too big; one was surprised that I only had 8 weeks to go! Unsurprisingly I haven't managed to take a photo every week since my last update although I did manage one in Cologne at 31 weeks and one on Sunday when I was exactly 32 weeks.

It was my 30th birthday on Saturday so after having a delicious afternoon tea at Mimi's in Edinburgh, my parents had some family and friends round to their house on Sunday for another homemade afternoon tea to celebrate. Its not quite how I imagined my 30th to be, 32 weeks pregnant, but I will make up for it once the baby arrives!

Mimi's Afternoon Tea

We have been quite busy the last few weeks clearing out the spare room, especially the wardrobe, ready for it to be transformed into the nursery and have some space for things for the baby; we also painted the room white and glossed all the woodwork. I say we but I really mean Graham. The cot and car seat are getting delivered this weekend so we are going to paint the grey stripes on the wall on Saturday, lets hope it goes well!

We also spent the last weekend in November in Cologne for a long weekend, to see the Christmas markets, celebrate my birthday early and enjoy our last holiday with just the two of us; a full recap will come at some point but the city was fantastic. The weekend before I had also enjoyed Christmas in November with the blogging six girls.

My antenatal classes have now finished, the last one was on Wednesday. At my previous midwife appointment four weeks ago, I was measuring exactly 28cm and I got my anti-D injection as well as my flu jab and yet more blood taken. I had an appointment to see the neurologist at the hospital, as my mum had a blood clot in her lung in 2008 and they wanted to see me. Although my blood screening was clear, they still want me to take blood thinning injections for 6 weeks as soon as I've given birth which should be interesting. I saw the midwife again yesterday and everything was good, although I'm now only measuring 31cm instead of 32, which isn't a problem at this point. We have NCT antenatal classes starting next week, which Graham is able to come to as they are all in the evenings with one at the weekend.

There have been lots of babies arriving too; Grahams cousin had a baby girl Amy, who we got to see when she had just gotten home at 4 days old. Three of my friends have also had their babies in the last month, two with girls and one boy. One of Grahams friends wife's in due in the middle of December then my sister is due at Christmas.

Once we have painted the nursery stripes this weekend, we also want to make up the cot and maybe go and buy the other furniture we want on Sunday, as well as visiting my friend and their new baby. Our pram arrived at my parents last weekend although its still in its box just now until we get a chance to make it up! Next weekend we are having a Christmas dinner celebration with my parents at Norton House (the hotel we had our wedding reception in) since they are going to spend Christmas in Australia with my sister and her family. Between Christmas and new year I'm also hoping to go to the spa there to get myself a pregnancy massage with some of the money I received for my birthday.

In other news, I also won my very first giveaway this week. I entered to win a 2012 Around the World Calendar from Mr & Mrs Globetrot. All you had to do was leave a comment letting them know one trip you are planning to take in 2012. I told them that our travel plans in 2012 would be a little different from 2011 but that we were planning a trip to Australia next year with the baby to visit my sister and family.

It was announced on the 1st that I had won and I'm looking forward to receiving the calendar of their gorgeous photos.

My 30th Birthday

2011-12-03T10:00:00.013Z

Its my 30th Birthday today!

Unlike the last couple of years when we have been in Florida for my birthday, this year we are at home, since we took our last baby free trip to the Christmas markets in Cologne last weekend.

This morning we are going round to my parents so we can skype with my sister, brother-in-law and nephew in Oz then we are going to do some shopping before meeting my parents at Mimi's in Leith for afternoon tea. Tomorrow my parents are hosting some of my family and friends at their house for another afternoon tea to celebrate.

At almost 32 weeks pregnant, its not exactly how I thought my 30th would be but I'm looking forward to a lovely weekend.

Christmas in November!

2011-12-02T14:30:00.029Z

After celebrating an early Christmas in October with my family, the 19th of November brought Christmas in November with my fellow Blogging Six girls; Conversation Pieces, My Spare Thoughts, Daydreams in Lace, This Girl Is... & A Dizzy Girl.

I was bridesmaid dress shopping for my best friends wedding in the morning {being pregnant I just spectated while the other two bridesmaids tried the dresses on} then I met the girls at Coco's before we headed down to Mimi's in Leith for lunch, where we were going to swap our secret santa gifts. The rules for the secret santa were a small bought present and something homemade and I think its safe to say we were all quite nervous about handing over our gifts. However, everyone loved what they had been given and what had been made for them so there was no need for the nerves. You can read some of the other posts the girls have written about our secret santa here, here & here.

I had Lisa-Marie so I bought her a letterpress art print with the Christmas Dickens quote on it from Etsy, which I framed in a simple black box frame.

(Image from here)

For the handmade element I made some snow snowflake wine charms and gift tags. Of course I didn't think to actually take pictures of any of them but you can see them over on Lisa-Marie's post. I think she liked them all as there were a few tears shed.

My gift, from Zoe, was a rubber stamp and ink pad, which was perfect for me. The stamp is from Present & Correct and says 'from the desk of' with a typewriter on it. Little did Zoe know that it had been in my Etsy favourites for months and months and I'm now delighted that I have one.

(Image from here)

For her handmade element, I was given 4 gorgeous plaster G initials. Using an idea from Zoe, I'm maybe going to decorate one with some of my washi tape and maybe another with some stamping before I hang them on our tree. Thank you again Zoe for all the lovely gifts.

After all of the presents had been opened the girls then had a final surprise for me; two baby gifts from the blogging six. The first was a Jellycat dog for the baby which will sit beside the bunny and lion we already have. The second was a gorgeous Rob Ryan ceramic tile which says 'Our Adventure is About to Begin', definitely fitting for the next few months ahead. The tile is currently sitting on a mini easel in our living room until the nursery is finished and we can find a space for it there.

I just wanted to say a massive thank you again to all the girls for the gifts, it was completely unexpected but a lovely surprise. I love the tile and think it made the perfect gift.

Baby Items 4: Cot

2011-11-23T17:45:00.007Z

At the same time as we ordered the pram and car seat, Grahams parents very kindly bought us the cot we wanted.

We chose the John Lewis Olivia Cot in white and grey.

(Images from John Lewis)

We looked at quite a few cots but saw this one quite early on and didn't see anything else we preferred or that felt as sturdy. I also liked the fact it has a drawer underneath. We chose to just get a cot, rather than a cot bed, since they are smaller and it will be used for at least a couple of years then we will just buy a junior bed instead. The cot also has 3 base positions which can be adjusted as the baby gets bigger. To go with it we ordered the coir spring cot mattress.

The cot is getting delivered along with the car seat in December when we can get it made up and then into the nursery. Hopefully all of the painting will be complete by then. Then we still need to get bedding, sheets and possibly a valance so that you cant see into the drawer when the mattress is at its highest position. However there is plenty time for all of that as the baby will be sleeping in our room in a moses basket to start with.

Baby Items 3: Car Seat

2011-11-15T14:00:00.024Z

After choosing our pram, we knew we had to get a car seat that would fit onto the chassis with the additional adapters. We chose the Maxi-Cosi CabrioFix car seat in black along with the Maxi-Cosi EasyFix base. Grahams parents generously bought us the full system.

(Image from John Lewis)

(Images from John Lewis)

Since our car has Isofix points I wanted to make sure we got a base for the car seat which means it will be a lot easier to take the seat in and out of the car, especially if the baby is sleeping. The car seat simply clicks into the base, rather than having to mess around with the seat belt every time.

The car seat and base are getting delivered to our flat in December so that we can install it into the car in plenty time for the baby arriving.

Baby Items 2: Pram / Buggy

2011-11-10T15:15:00.005Z

The last weekend in October we went to John Lewis with my parents to order the pram / buggy we wanted as they had generously offered to buy it for us.

We chose the Bugaboo Cameleon with the dark grey base and dark blue canvas since we know its a boy. We had a bit of drama as Bugaboo have now discontinued the dark blue and John Lewis didn't have any left in stock; we ordered the main dark grey base along with the black canvas with the option to cancel that if we found the blue. After a search online, we found the dark blue canvas so we could get the combination we wanted. I had originally wanted the limited edition dark purple but felt it would be more suitable for a girl.

Cameleon Carrycot

(Image from Baby Concierge)

Cameleon Seat
(Image from Bugaboo)

We didn't really look at many different prams as my sister has the Cameleon and loves it. We always thought that it looked the best option and everyone we know who has one loves it. We did look at a few others but weren't impressed by the flimsiness of some of them and the weight of some others.

(Images from here)

We liked how the Cameleon has the carrycot which can be used until 6 months then the seat which can be used until they are walking. The seat reclines into 3 positions and the seat can be reversed so you can have the baby either facing you or facing the world. It folds up fairly compact which will be good for putting in the car and having in our flat. We also ordered adaptors which can be used with our car seat to make it a full travel system. Although we have gone for the dark blue fabric, this could be changed easily if we had a girl in the future. The tires are made of foam which should mean no punctures and the handle can be adjusted to any height depending who is pushing it. The handle is also reversible if you wanted to use the large wheels at the front on tougher terrain and it can also be used with just two wheels which could be handy over sand or snow!

We arent getting it delivered to my parents house until December where it will stay until nearer the baby's due date, since they dont live far from us and we will only need the car seat at first.

28 Weeks

2011-11-07T22:00:00.004Z

Now that Ive reached 28+1 weeks, we are officially into the 3rd trimester, and the baby is the size of an eggplant (or a chinese cabbage). Only 12 weeks to go which I'm sure is going to go so fast with Christmas first.

We decided to go for a 3D/4D Mini Scan at Babes in the Womb at the weekend so that we could see the baby again and confirm it was definitely a boy before we buy anything else!

It was so lovely to see him again and despite the fact he kept hiding his face with his hands and feet, we managed to get a few good 3D pictures. The sonographer confirmed that it is a boy and that he is around 2lbs 6oz just now. He has also still got his head up at the top so hopefully he will start to turn around soon. He is facing my back and as my placenta is at the front, and therefore between us, that explains why I'm not seeing any kicks at the front and why Graham cant really feel any either. We were so glad we had gone to get the scan and felt it was definitely worth it.

As you can see my bump is growing & growing, and normal tops are getting a lot harder to wear. From now on I'm going to try and take photos every week so I can see the progression to my due date.

In the last few weeks we spent a week of it away with my family, saying goodbye to my sister, her husband & my nephew, who are now in Australia. With both of us pregnant we took the chance to get a photo together which ill share when I write about our trip.

Since we got back, our flat clearing and decluttering has started and is progressing well; we have done our bedroom and got rid of the bed from the spare room. Now all we need to do is clear out the spare room double wardrobe then we can start painting the nursery. My dad painted our living room ceiling for us at the weekend and put up wallpaper for us on one wall, which along with our new rug totally transforms the room.

Ive already mentioned most of the things we have got for the baby and we have an idea of what else we need but we would like to get a bit further with the nursery first. We did order the rocking moses basket stand we wanted with the last of our John Lewis vouchers and also picked up a cube storage unit and 3 storage cubes to put inside for the bottom of the baby's wardrobe since they were half price. Grahams parents brought us some clothes they had bought for the baby while on holiday at the weekend and I just picked up a gym ball which is supposed to help in the later stages of pregnancy!

I have my first NHS antenatal class this week followed by another midwife appointment. I'm looking forward to both and I'm sure the classes will start to make it all a lot more real! We have also signed up for a course of the NCT antenatal classes as well which start in December, since Graham cant come to the NHS ones as they are all in the afternoons. I have lots of family and friends pregnant just now, with three due to arrive in the next few days; I'm looking forward to meeting all of the new arrivals.

Florida: December 2010

2011-11-04T15:00:00.032Z

In December last year we spent 8 nights in Orlando, Florida with Grahams family {his parents, his sister & her fiancé, his aunt & uncle and his cousin & his fiancée}, making 10 of us in total. The 8 of them had spent a week down the coast in Fort Myers first but due to our lack of holidays, we could only get 6 days off work. We met them all in Orlando on the Saturday.

We set off on the Friday, my 29th birthday and as we landed in Orlando, we were just relieved that we had actually managed to get there, following a few issues to say the least. It started with the never ending snow which had closed Edinburgh airport and kept my sister & nephew up here since the weekend before. The week was full of helpful suggestions from everyone and there were even thoughts of driving down to Manchester for our Orlando flight; thankfully the airport reopened on the Friday morning! However there were still a few issues at check in {how an airline system can’t cope with people who have the same surname and the same initial I don’t know!}; the plane had to be de-iced; we had to sit in the exit row since there were only 7 passengers on board; we almost didn’t land in Manchester due to freezing fog {the option was to divert to Liverpool} then our pre-booked seats on the next flight were given to someone else due to the earlier check in mix-up!

Thinking that was all that could possibly go wrong, the jumbo jet {which had Harry Potter on the side} took ages to get de-iced, although this did mean that we could take some other passengers on board that had missed their flights. Just as we thought they were about to finally close the doors, it turned out one of the emergency exit slides didn’t work. Thankfully the captain made the decision that he was happy to fly without it {it didn’t breach any safety laws} and finally, after what felt like ages, we took off and were on route away from the freezing cold & snow!

When we arrived, we picked up our hire car then went straight to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Downtown Disney where we spent just one night before meeting everyone else the next day. We had booked the Wolfgang Puck Café at Downtown Disney for my birthday but I really did not feel well at all; I think it was just a mixture of the stress of the week before, the journey and the time difference so really we shouldn’t have even bothered trying to go out! I’m sure the food is normally nice but we did not have a great meal! We had planned to look around all the shops there for a while but we just ended up getting a taxi home.

The next day, still feeling a bit sick, we met everyone else at the massive villa we had hired for the week. Located in Emerald Island Resort, it was only minutes from Disney, and had 7 bedrooms. It was perfect for the week and despite not being able to use pool due to the cooler weather, it was in a great location, close to everything. Since we had missed the first week with everyone and it was my birthday, we were given the biggest master bedroom with a massive en-suite bathroom. The size of the bed was hilarious and I almost had to jump up into it every night!

We spent the week at the theme parks and doing lots & lots of shopping, having a lovely & relaxing time! Since we have been so many times before and were only there for a week, we didn’t visit every theme park, we just chose our favourites.

First up was Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure. We bought the one day, two park pass which allows you to visit both parks on the same day; it is so quiet at the start of December that you don’t need to spend any longer. I was so so so excited about this as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter had just opened at Islands, which to be honest was really the main reason we wanted to go back to Orlando with everyone! Graham and I had seen it being built the year before and couldn't wait to experience the new ride inside Hogwarts. It definitely lived up to expectations, as did the way they have made Hogsmeade; if you like Harry Potter its definitely a must see.

The whole family went so eventually we had to split up; 10 is far too many people to keep track off and we looked a bit like a school trip! Its only really me & Graham that like the bigger rides and roller coasters so we went off by ourselves. We started in Islands, hopped over to Universal Studios, went back to Islands for another go on Harry Potter then back to Universal for the big parade before finishing up back at Islands to see Hogwarts in the dark. Its safe to say we walked miles. I had to buy myself a chocolate frog to eat too!

During the holiday parade, which uses some of the balloons from Macy’s thanksgiving day parade in NYC, we couldn't find Grahams parents anywhere; we gave up looking and settled down to watch. You can imagine our surprise when his parents, aunt & uncle came trooping along the road, helping to hold up the massive Uncle Sam balloon! They had been approached earlier on to see if they would help and they had to go for special training over an hour before the parade started. They loved it and I tried to snap as many photos of their five minutes of fame! If we ever go back I’m going to go and ask if I can be in it!

On Wednesday it was time for Epcot. When I was younger this was probably my least favourite park as the rides were quite slow & boring and it felt like being at school. However now it has the best rides at Disney, including Soarin' & Test Track, and is well worth a visit. It also has some of the nicest restaurants at Disney that are always booked in advance. We went on a couple of rides together then since no one else will ever come on Mission Space with us, we all split up and met up later on for dinner.

After managing to go on everything we wanted, we took the boat over the lagoon then walked around all of the countries. We watched some of the performers, bought another Christmas decoration and enjoyed some mulled wine in Germany. We met everyone back in Germany for dinner, where Graham’s uncle treated us all to celebrate his retirement. We had to book it months in advance since there were so many of us and the food was actually really nice. After dinner we found a spot to watch the fireworks which are always fantastic.

Leading up to Christmas, Magic Kingdom stages special events called Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. We booked quite far in advance to go on the Thursday and were quite surprised to see it was sold out when we arrived. Although not every ride is open most are and its a lot quieter than on a normal day, with the addition of special Christmas parades, fireworks, hot chocolate & cookies. We had heard rumours that you could get in as early at 4pm despite the event not starting until 7pm so we thought we should give a go. We were successful which meant we had much longer in the park. After the required group photo in front of the castle, we were in for another surprise.

After we watched Grahams sister & her boyfriend Jake getting their photo taken, he got down on one knee in front of the castle, with all of the family watching. Cue a lot of congratulations, screaming & crying! They are now getting married next August; I’m going to be a bridesmaid and Graham an usher and I can’t wait for another family wedding.

After all of that excitement we went on a few more rides, including the Jungle Cruise which is always closed once the actual party starts. Then it was time for one of my favourites, Splash Mountain. I could only convince Jake and Grahams dad to come on with me as everyone else thought you got too wet! At 7pm we came back to the park entrance so we could see the fake snow {despite seeing enough real snow at home to last us a lifetime} and find the special event merchandise. We struggled to find it then were surprised to see it being grabbed off the shelves before people had even had a chance to look at it; this explains why we weren't able to find any the year before! We managed to get the Christmas decoration & pin we all wanted then it was back to the rides, including Space Mountain, another of my favourites.

They have a special Christmas fireworks display which is always spectacular; I always think it’s even better than the one at Epcot. We managed to fit in a few more rides before the later Christmas parade started which is always great to watch.

Another reason we love to visit Orlando is the shopping. We came well prepared with an empty hand luggage case each to fit in all of our new purchases! The year before we had been allowed to check in two suitcases each but they have now changed the rules back to just one, as per any other destination. We visited The Mall at Millenia; The Florida Mall; the Premium Outlets at Vineland Avenue & International Drive; Downtown Disney; Target & Michael’s and managed to pick up quite a few things!

We managed to fit in a round of mini golf at Disney’s Fantasia Fairways as well; it’s a lot harder than it looks and I think I would have been better on the easier crazy golf side, Fantasia Gardens!

On our last evening, we went for dinner at the Grand Floridian Café at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. We had eaten here on our visit in 2006 and thought it would be good to go back with the rest of the family. It meant we could also celebrate the engagement. I had a caesar salad followed by spice-dusted tuna which was delicious, followed by the chocolate fondue for dessert which Graham and I shared. Although the food is lovely I still prefer the California Grill at Disney's Contemporary Resort where we had also eaten in 2006 and the year before, in 2009. From there you can watch the fireworks at the magic kingdom from the rooftop walkway.

During the week we had also eaten at the Outback Steakhouse, the Longhorn Steakhouse & Perkins so you can see that the kitchen in our villa wasn't really used!

We have been to Florida many times, the last three times with Grahams family at the end of November / beginning of December, basically between Thanksgiving and the lead up to Christmas, when it is really quiet. Despite the weather not being great this year, normally its a lot hotter and since the parks are really quiet and Christmas is everywhere, its a brilliant time to go. I'm not sure when we will go back again; maybe when we can take the baby!

Baby Items

2011-10-31T14:00:00.004Z

Ive already mentioned a few things we have been given or bought for the baby in my 16, 20 & 24 weeks posts but now we have started to collect more items that I wanted to write about.

I wont bore you all with all our clothing purchases but I just couldn't resist this Frugi dinosaur babygrow and hat that I found in the Pea Pod Baby shop in Bakewell while we were on holiday last week.

(Images from Frugi, babygrow & hat)

We have also been very lucky with more gifts and received a Cath Kids toy print babygrow from my sister and the baby zoo pack of 2 vests from my mum, along with a gorgeous white suit from my aunt. A friend of the family has been busy knitting and she made us a gorgeous white and blue pram blanket which will be perfect for the winter months, along with another cream blanket and a cream arran jumper. While on holiday we also found a pattern for a knitted babygrow which my mum is going to knit for us as its slightly out of my skill range!

What might actually be my favourite item for the baby is a giant plush penguin that we also found in Bakewell, in The Bakewell Toy Shop. He's about 60cm tall and is going to stand somewhere in the nursery.

(Image from here)

We visited Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield while we were away and there we found a gorgeous beige Jellycat Bashful Bunny in the Laura Ashley sale. Enzo has a small white one which he loves so we wanted to get one for our baby too.

(Image from here)

I have been looking for a baby book for a while and saw this K Two All About Baby file while we were in Buxton for the day. The only one the shop had was damaged so I didn't buy it but I managed to find the last one available on amazon since it had been a limited edition back in 2009. It has some lovely illustrations by Isak including stickers to mark the babies development along with lots of pockets to keep things in.

(Image from K Two)

Since the file is more for keeping things in than writing a lot about the baby, I also got this My Baby Book: A Keepsake Journal for Baby's First Year which I had first seen and remembered from another blog, Heather Drive. After reading Heather's review, it seemed to be the sort of book I was looking for, with plenty of prompts of things to write about rather than lots of blank pages which I probably wouldn't get round to filling out. The book has three sections; one about the baby's arrival, another for the first year which has a page for each month, then a gallery of firsts including things like the first bath, first smile, first swim, first big trip, first Christmas etc so that everything is covered. Its an American book so I was worried it might have a lot of stuff that wasn't relevant here but the only bit I can see so far is the baby shower page that ill just leave blank. I'm looking forward to filling it out and really hope that I can remember to include everything!

(Image from amazon)

I cant remember where I first saw the Oh Baby, the Places You'll Go! book but I think it was also on another blog. The theory is that you are supposed to read it to baby while they are still in the womb and its an introduction to the world of Dr Seuss. I couldn't resist adding it to my basket when I was shopping for the baby books and I think it will be good for Graham to read to the baby now that he can hear voices.

(Image from amazon)

My sister wanted to buy us a gift before they left for Oz and although they have already been very generous with gifts and given us their moses basket, we thought a baby gym would be a good purchase. I had seen the Lamaze pyramid one in Tesco previously and we couldn't believe it when we found it a quarter of the normal price while on holiday. I like how it can grow with baby then become a toy to play with.

(Images from Tesco)

We went shopping with our parents last weekend to get the pram, cot and car seat ordered, which I will write about separately, then Graham's sister has said she would like to get us a bouncer. We bought a new mattress for the moses basket and a pregnancy pillow for me at the same time, which has helped to make me a bit comfier in bed. We also bought curtains for the nursery and a rug for our living room so the baby isn't just lying on a hard floor. We were lucky to still have some vouchers left from the wedding that we used to purchase the curtains, rug, mattress and pillow. We have a small amount left which we are going to use for a rocking moses basket stand. Nursery wise, we have some ideas as I'm sure you will have seen with my recent pins but haven't made any other purchases yet.

Christmas in October!

2011-10-14T19:00:00.025+01:00

In what has become a bit of a tradition since my nephew was born, we are spending the October school break in the Peak District with my parents, aunt & uncle and my sister, brother-in-law and nephew. My cousin is also coming down to join us for the first weekend. This may be the last year we all get to holiday together for a while since my sister, brother-in-law and nephew are about to emigrate to Perth, Australia.

Since we wont all be together for Christmas this year, we are having Christmas dinner tomorrow instead, including a tree, cake, chocolates and crackers! Even if they had been staying in London we still wouldn't have been together as my niece is due on boxing day and I will be too pregnant to travel by then. My parents are now going to Australia for Christmas and we will be with Grahams family so its lovely we can have an early celebration together.

There may be internet access but since the house is on a farm in the middle of nowhere there probably wont be; hopefully there is at least 3G reception! I'm looking forward to relaxing, enjoying doing not a lot and visiting all the little villages nearby. We are taking my sister to the airport on our last day so I'm sure there will be plenty of tears before we then go and stay with Grahams sister in Sheffield for the weekend.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and Merry Christmas!

Norfolk Broads: October 2010

2011-10-12T23:00:00.009+01:00

Back in October last year we spent a week down in the Norfolk Broads with my parents, my sister, her fiance & my nephew and my aunt & uncle. Since we are about to head off for this October's trip, I thought it was time to get caught up with a quick recap!

We drove down to Pontefract on the Friday night and met my parents and aunt & uncle at a Premier Inn, just in time for some food and a few glasses of wine. On Saturday morning we continued our journey as far as Norwich to pick up my sister & family at the train station before continuing to our house on The Broads for the week. We stayed at a lodge by the river in the village of Wroxham, which came with a motorised day boat for us to use. The living room / kitchen was upstairs with the four bedrooms on the ground floor.

We took the boat out for the first time on Sunday and made our way slowly towards Horning, mooring right in front of the Swan Inn for lunch, which was delicious!

My dad had to go down to London for work on Monday so the rest of us went to Great Yarmouth for the day. It was a bit of a let down to say the least with not a lot to see and quite a run down seafront and pier. At lunchtime we couldn't find a decent place or pub to eat in so we found a pizza hut which we thought would do. That turned out to be the worst decision we made! After leaving Great Yarmouth we stopped in a craft village called Wroxham Barns and had a look around the small shops there. I wasn't feeling too good by then and it got worse by the time we got back to our house. Ill spare you the details but lets just say I rarely left one of the bathrooms all night and around 1am my mum also joined in! I have never felt so ill and it took a good few days for me to get back to normal. Turned out that it can only have been food poisoning and we deduced that we were the only ones who had eaten the salad buffet at lunchtime. Needless to say I have NEVER been back to a pizza hut since and don't intend to in the future!

Graham and Patrick left on the Tuesday, as neither of them had a full weeks holiday left, and me & mum stayed in bed for most of day, due to lack of sleep from the night before. I managed some crisps at night but still didn't feel great. Feeling a little better the next day we went to Kings Lynn which wasn't very exciting. We had some lunch and walked around the shops but there wasn't much else to see.

We felt it was time to take Enzo to something more exciting than pubs, towns and shops so while the rest of them went to Sandringham, me and Ashleigh took Enzo to Pettitts Animal Adventure Park. There were lots of animals for him to pet and lots of mini rides to go on too.

Our last full day was spent on the boat again, this time we tried the other direction, upstream to Coltishall where yes we found another pub to moor at to have some lunch.

The boat was very relaxing but it did take a long time to get anywhere. We didnt get a chance to get into Norwich while we were there but maybe next time.

This October we are all meeting up again but this time at a house near Matlock in the Peak District. With me and my sister both pregnant it wont be quite as exciting to visit lots of pubs, I think tea and cake will be required instead!

24 Weeks

2011-10-10T22:15:00.069+01:00

I am currently 24+1 weeks, and the baby is the size of papaya (or ear of corn)! At my 22 week midwife appointment I was measuring exactly 22 weeks and got to hear the heartbeat for the first time which was very exciting.

I definitely have a bump now, as you can see below. I haven't been very good at documenting every week but I will try as I continue to get bigger.

I have dates for my antenatal classes starting in November which I'm sure will make it all seem a lot more real. Otherwise I'm still feeling fine, I've had to buy some maternity tops now as well as many of mine don't stretch far enough over! I'm feeling a lot of movement inside now as well, quite often at night and I got woken up early this morning with him moving around!

We haven't made much progress on our spare room yet, we still need to move the double bed before we can do much more but we are hoping to go shopping at the end of October with our parents to order the pram / buggy, cot & car seat. We did buy one monkey sleepsuit, got a elephant one from my sister and received some clothes from my parents but we still have a lot of basics to buy. We also now have a moses basket as my sister wasnt going to be able to take it to Australia with her and they were going to buy us the same one anyway. All we need for it is a new mattress and some bedding.

(Image from Toby Tiger)

The next couple of weeks will be busy with our week away with my family which will also turn into a goodbye for my sister and her family then we are spending the weekend with Grahams sister before we come home. After that we actually have some free weekends that we will use to sort the baby's room before we go to Cologne at the end of November.

14.08.10 Helen & Nick's UK Reception

2011-10-05T22:45:00.028+01:00

Since there were only 30 of us out in Italy for their actual wedding, Helen & Nick held a reception in the UK the Saturday after we got back. This gave us a week to get our dresses cleaned before they were needed again! The reception was held at Orocco Pier in South Queensferry which overlooks the forth rail bridge. We all met there at lunchtime so we had time to get ready before the party started at 5pm. We all got ready in Helen & Nick's room then Nick was able to use the room me Graham were staying in.

As we had done in Italy, Helen did our eye make-up and we finished the rest before a hairdresser did our hair. Once we were all made up and had had some lunch, it was time to get in to our dresses again.

Just before 5pm we went down to the function room where a photographer friend of Nick's took some photos as we waited for the guests to arrive. A projector had been set up on one wall so that everyone could see some of the professional photos from Italy.

Once everyone had arrived and enjoyed a glass of presecco, they had a couple of speeches, cut their cake then had their first dance again, with the bridesmaids joining in. There were a couple of ceilidh numbers before the main party started.

After a few hours, most of the guests left and only those staying at the hotel remained. We had a drink at the bar before retiring to our rooms. The next morning after breakfast we said bye to the newlweds who were off on their honeymoon to Thailand.

2

2011-09-24T13:00:00.011+01:00

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY ENZO

(Image from here)

Its my nephew Enzo's 2nd Birthday today; I cant believe how quickly this last year has gone since he was one and now he has a little sister and a little cousin on the way!

We are spending the day at Battersea Children's Zoo in London to celebrate. For his birthday we got him a trunkie for him to take on his travels, a number 2 t-shirt, a Thomas book and a very hungry caterpillar colouring book. He also got an extra present of Winnie the Pooh duplo.

We are going to see them again in just 3 weeks when we all go to the Peak District for a week.

DIY Nursery Art: Butterfly & Elephant Punch Collages

2011-09-19T22:30:00.019+01:00

I recently made two punch collages to give to my sister for her baby girls nursery. Since they already have the room ready from having my nephew I thought it would be lovely to have something new and girly to add to the walls.

I first saw the idea on Ali Edwards blog (not sure how I ended up there in the first place) where she had made a version with a Martha Stewart classic butterfly punch then a heart punch. Since I already have the Martha Stewart 3-in-1 classic butterfly punch I thought it would be a lovely thing to make for our future nursery. Since we hadn't yet found out what we are having, and butterflies are more suited to girls, I decided to make one for my sister first. I thought they would look better as pair or trio so when I was searching for patterned paper pads I liked, I also found an elephant punch, which will work for a girl or a boy. While searching on eBay I also came across a ladybug punch and a seahorse punch, both of which would also work for a girl or boy so I ordered those as well.

I have tried a lot of punches, some good and others not so good, and I have found the Martha Stewart or Fiskars ones to be the best; I do have some cheap snowflake and circle / square ones from Hobbycraft which are ok but you definitely get what you pay for. The cityscape punch we used for our wedding DIY was also a Martha Stewart one and I also have a few others from that range as well.

The only place I could find white box frames the square shape I wanted was in Ikea's Ribba range although I replaced the mats with ones with a larger aperture from Hobbycraft. I could have just cut the original ones but I didn't want the edges to look too messy.

I set about punching loads of different patterns from the pads I had bought; then had to choose which ones I preferred to use in each collage. I kept the same arrangement of patterns for both collages so there is some uniformity between the two then just added an extra strip to the right side and at the bottom of the butterfly one. I used a lot of flowers, stripes, patterns & stripes in bright and pink colours, a lot of which came from the My Mind's Eye lime twist range. The punched butterflies and elephants were stuck onto a piece of salt dotted swiss cardstock, also bought from Hobbycraft, using 3mm foam squares which also lifted them up, the main reason I wanted to use box frames. I did mark some lines on the paper to try and keep the lines straight but it was mostly done by eye and I think it turned out ok. If they were too accurate they wouldn't look handmade.

Now that we know we are having a boy, I plan to make three for our nursery; using elephants, ladybirds and seahorses. I have already punched all of the pieces out from my patterned paper pads {I got a couple more boy suitable ones with less flowers & pink} so I just need to decide on which colours I prefer and placement of them all. I do love how my first project isn't a concern about the wall or cot colour but what I'm going to put on the wall!

Marrakech: June 2011 - Part 2

2011-09-15T15:00:00.005+01:00

It only took around twenty minutes to go further out of the city to our next hotel. We spent the remaining four nights of the week at the Sirayane Boutique Hotel & Spa.

After being welcomed with mint tea and homemade biscuits, we were shown around the gorgeous hotel before being taken to our room, which was lovely with a massive bathroom.

We had booked one of the 8 rooms with a private terrace, situated in the main building, which I think was a good choice as some of the private garden rooms could be seen from the pool. However, they also looked lovely so I don't think any room would have been a bad choice. The suites with the private pools would be perfect for a honeymoon but were a little more expensive than we wanted to pay.

We spent all of our time there just doing nothing, sunbathing and reading by the pool, relaxing and sleeping. Instead of individual sun loungers the pool was surround by large beds with pillows for two people. We never had an issue finding a bed as the hotel only has 28 rooms in total and many of the guests used the free shuttle service to go into the city. Graham had a Thai massage one day in the spa which he said was really good. They did do a pregnancy massage but you were supposed to be over 12 weeks so I didn't bother trying it.

It was still very hot and the sun was quite strong so even with factor 30 we couldn't stay in the direct sun for long. Each bed had a massive umbrella which the staff would put up or move around for you as necessary which meant we could continue to enjoy the heat.

Breakfast was included and was served until 10am each day, with loads of choice of hot and cold food and the option of omelette's cooked as you wanted if required. We usually ate a late lunch every day, usually consisting of a club sandwich for me, since we had had a lot at breakfast. However this also meant we ended up having a late dinner every night too.

For dinner they had two menu's to choose from a Moroccan and an international. On each there was a set price for either two or three courses. While this was a good idea, the portions were massive, especially on the international menu, and a couple of times I was feeling so bloated that I could have really only eaten one course. All of the food was delicious though. The only thing we felt the hotel was missing was some snacks to buy, however this wouldn't be a problem if you were planning on going in to the city, just that we stayed at the hotel the whole time and really should have brought some with us!

On our last night it was Grahams 30th so he celebrated with a couple of cocktails while I enjoyed a virgin cocktail, not quite as exciting!

If we ever to back to Marrakech I would definitely stay at this hotel again as it was fantastic and I would have loved to have tried the spa.

20 Weeks: Its a...

2011-09-12T23:30:00.007+01:00

...BOY!

I am currently 20+1 weeks {in my 21st week}, just over half way and the baby is apparently almost the size of a banana!

We had our 20 week scan on Friday and all was well, its a boy, and we could see him drinking and moving around touching his knees!

I'm growing now as well and have a definite bump, as you can see from the photo below. I think I'm going to try and keep a record from now on.

At my last midwife appointment my blood tests had revealed that I'm AB negative which means I'm rhesus negative and will require an anti-D injection at 28 weeks. This is to make sure that if my blood mixes with the baby's, I wont produce any antibodies against it if he is positive, a possibility since we know that Graham is.

Apart from that I have still been feeling fine, I have had to buy some more maternity clothes as I was stuck for options when I didn't want to wear work trousers or baggy jeans!

We have also received some lovely gifts from my sister:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pop-up Book & Whoozit Activity Toy

and Lenny Lion

We have started working on our spare room, the first task was to move the bookcase to the living room, the next task is going to be moving the double bed to Grahams parents garage so we can see what space we have and where we are going to put the cot, drawers, small bookcase, chair & possibly keep our computer desk for me to still work on. Now that we know its a boy we are probably going to order the dark blue pram cover and hood to go with the pram we are getting too.

The next few weeks are going to be quite busy with our London trip then I have a weekend away with my friends to celebrate our 30th's altogether. Mine isn't until December but October was midway between all 8 of our birthdays! We also have a week in Matlock planned in the middle of October with my family then we have just booked a long weekend in Cologne at the end of November, the week before my birthday, as our last holiday just the two of us!

10 years ago...

2011-09-11T23:45:00.027+01:00

...I had just arrived in Flagstaff Arizona, off the overnight bus from Las Vegas, the morning of September 11th 2001, which I will remember forever. Its hard to believe it was that long ago.

I was 19 and travelling around the states with a friend from home after spending the summer working at a camp in New York state. While we were checking in to our motel we saw the fire coming out of the first tower on the news. No one was sure what happened and we spent the rest of the day just watching the news in disbelief. We watched as the second tower was hit then they both fell before being able to find a phone and email access so we could speak to our family.

Remembering all of those who suffered and who lost family, friends and loved ones on that day 10 years ago.

Marrakech: June 2011 - Part 1

2011-09-06T17:30:00.005+01:00

We arrived in Marrakech on Saturday evening, following our afternoon flight direct from Edinburgh. After customs taking forever, and another stamp in my new passport, we found our taxi driver that had been arranged through our riad. He dropped us off at a parking area near to our riad {no cars are allowed within the Medina} then he asked a young boy to direct us to the door. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was literally only five seconds away from where we had been dropped off so there was no real need for a guide, especially when we then had to give him some money for carrying my suitcase!

For the first three nights we stayed in the Medina in the Riad Marrabahia. Although it had 8 rooms arranged around the central courtyard with the pool, we were the only guests staying. The room was lovely and had everything we needed.

After we had got settled it was quite late so we asked for directions for somewhere to eat and were directed to Kosybar for our first taste of Moroccan cuisine. We ate on the rooftop terrace where you got a lovely view over the square and the storks on the ramparts of the Badii palace. They had run out of the quail & cous cous I really wanted so I tried their fish tagine instead while Graham had beef kebabs. Both were ok but it was definitely a tourist place with prices to match so we weren't too impressed.

Our breakfast the next morning was served on the roof top terrace and was delicious; since we were the only guests we had asked for it at 9am. The breakfast consisted of fresh fruit, yogurt, tea, coffee, fresh orange juice and pancakes with syrup & jam. I made the effort to get dressed the first morning but ended up staying in my pyjamas for the next two mornings.

Once we were dressed, we set off to explore the city and made our way to the Bahia Palace. The palace was undergoing restoration in some parts but we were able to go around most of it. Its richly decorated everywhere with lots of painted cedarwood, stucco and stained glass panels.

Then it was time to walk towards the main square, a hive of activity at all times of the day. During our walk motorbikes and mopeds flew past us squeezing through every space imaginable.

From there we walked towards the Koutoubia Mosque and went into the gardens in search of some much needed shade.

We had our first taste of the souks, a maze of loads and loads of shops, people and more motorbikes. We found the best way to ignore the sellers was to keep our sunglasses on and keep walking!

By then it was absolutely boiling and I was in need of a seat so we found a lovely little place, the Cafe des Epices, for a drink and a sandwich in a small square in the midst of the souks. Maps are fairly useless in the souks so it took us a while to find the square on our map and discover which direction we had come from.

We continued walking through the souks right up to the Musee de Marrakech, located inside the Dar Menebhi Palace; unfortunately all the exhibit text was in french but it was nice to just look inside, especially at the tiling and the massive lamp in the main hall, have a seat and get out of the heat.

We bought a triple ticket at the museum which also allowed access to the Medersa Ben Youssef, a richly decorated former Koranic school.

The third item on our ticket was the Koubba Ba'adyin, one of the oldest cupolas in the city. We didn't look around for long since it was so hot in the sun.

After a quick stop for yet another drink of water, we headed back to main square then back to riad to have a rest before getting ready for a late dinner. Later on we headed towards the main square to see it at night and found a restaurant which was recommended in my guide; I tried harira soup and a chicken tagine with cous cous, both of which were delicious.

At night the main square is full of stalls selling food, all trying to entice you in. We didn't actually eat at any of the stalls as we had been warned by our riad owners mother to be wary unless you could see that it had been properly cooked. While we would have usually tried something, since I was not even 8 weeks pregnant we decided not to risk it.

We definitely underestimated how much our usual city walking & sightseeing pattern coupled with the heat would affect me being pregnant and the next morning, after getting up for breakfast {although I didn't get dressed}, I had to go back to bed for another sleep.

When we finally made it out around lunchtime we took it easy and walked towards the tinsmiths square then the Koutoubia Mosque to find somewhere for lunch. Desperate for a drink by the time we arrived at the mosque we found the first cafe for a seat then moved to another to have some lunch.

Afterwards we walked a little further to the ensemble artisanal which is a collection of shops selling authentic goods but at a fixed price. You didn't get any hassle like in the souks so it was much easier to look around. I found myself something to hang on our Christmas tree {not an actual decoration} and a couple of postcards.

Determined to see a little more of the city we walked to one of the main city gates, the largest one Bab Agnaou, where there were loads of storks nesting on the walls.

The gate led us to the Saadian tombs which we explored before heading back to the riad.

Once back at the riad we enjoyed a dip in the pool before getting ready for dinner. The water in the pool was really warm but it still felt cold compared to the outside temperature of over 100!

We headed back to the main square for dinner, but this time chose a pizza restaurant we had been recommended, which overlooked the busy square.

On our last morning in the city we did some some shopping and I got myself a pair of slippers, a scarf and the required magnet. We managed to haggle a bit for the slippers and scarf but it wasn't worth it for the magnet which was only 15dh (about £1.15) to begin with! It did get to the point where you felt you were arguing over pennies with the other items but I ended up paying around £8 each for the scarf and slippers.

We felt that three days was the perfect amount of time to spend in the city, and while there were some other things we could have seen, we had definitely seen enough. There is probably only so long you could put up with their frantic way of life as it was not a calm and peaceful city to walk around in. If we ever go back we would probably go at a cooler time of year, maybe April or October would be perfect, as 100+ degrees was very hot to walk around in.

Our riad then called us a taxi to take us to our next hotel...

16 Weeks

2011-08-15T13:30:00.148+01:00

I am currently 16+1 weeks {in my 17th week} and the baby is apparently almost the size of a onion!

Not a lot to report so far, I'm still feeling pretty good apart from a couple of colds. I don't always sleep so well but as my friends keep telling me its all to prepare me for the future!

We have started to clear out the spare room, which will become the baby's room, as we are moving the bookcase to the living room and the double bed to store elsewhere {most likely Graham's parents garage}. We haven't bought any major items yet although we have chosen the pram / buggy. We are going to wait until we find out the sex so that we can decide on a colour before we buy it. We've also looked at a few cots, dressers and car seats but are going to wait a while longer until we purchase anything.

I have made a couple of smaller purchases though, the first a Radley changing bag which I couldn't resist when I saw it in the sale and they had the black version in the Edinburgh store. I liked it as it was quite big but can be made smaller if required, it has plenty pockets, a waterproof changing mat and buggy straps and since its black it will be fine for Graham to carry around too. My aunt offered to buy it for us as a baby gift too which was a lovely surprise. They no longer have it in stock so I'm glad I just got it when I saw it!

We also bought a few children's books; a set of 3 of the That's not my... series {bear, lion & puppy} and The Very Hungry Caterpillar book & toy set, both only £4 each in Tesco. They are now waiting to go into our small bookcase which we are keeping in the spare room to become the baby's.

I don't really have too much of a bump just now, although it has become more noticeable lately, but my trousers are all uncomfortable. I managed to get jeans and a pair of work trousers from Dorothy Perkins which are a lot better! Despite trying I couldn't fit in to any of my wedding suitable dresses so I have had to buy this maternity dress from Asos for Grahams cousins wedding this weekend which fits a lot better and at least I will be able to wear it for a while. Now all I need for the wedding is a fascinator or another sort of head piece!

I have my first midwife appointment this week then we are looking forward to our next scan {when we should be able to find out the sex} which is less than four weeks away.

Thank you...

2011-07-29T13:30:00.016+01:00

...to everyone for the lovely comments on my Coming soon... post! It has been so good to finally tell everyone after weeks of keeping it a secret!

I am currently 13+5 weeks {so in my 14th week} and the baby is apparently almost the size of a lemon! This pregnancy was planned and we were lucky that it didn't take too long at all. We found out when I was almost 5 weeks so it was hard not being able to share our news with everyone. We told our parents and sisters first then waited until our first scan at 11+3 weeks to tell the rest of our family and all of our friends {many of whom had guessed since I wasn't drinking!}

I have been very lucky and been feeling pretty normal most of the time, apart from being so tired! It was lovely to have our scan so we could see there was a baby and see it jumping and wriggling around!

The baby is due on the 29th January so we have plenty time to buy everything and get organised. We are also going to find out the sex so that it makes it easier for buying things and to choose a name!

My sister is pregnant again too, almost 5 weeks ahead of me and due on boxing day! Its going to be lovely to compare as we go along; im looking forward to going back down to London in September then meeting again in October in the Peak District.

I'm not only going to talk about the baby I promise but I'm sure there will be some posts to come. I do still have lots of trips to tell you about, first up will be Marrakech!

Coming soon...

2011-07-21T13:45:00.007+01:00

...the newest member of the family!

Due to make an appearance 29th January 2012!

Congrats A Dizzy Girl & IB

2011-06-25T10:00:00.013+01:00

Congratulations to the lovely A Dizzy Girl who is marrying her Irish Boy today!

I have met A Dizzy Girl a few times now and have loved following along on her wedding planning journey. I am so excited that we are going to attend her reception this evening, along with some other lovely bloggers. I can not wait to see the dress!

I cant wait to hear all about it; hope you both have a fabulous day and it is everything you could have wished for!

Congrats Zoe & her OH!

2011-06-18T10:00:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to the wonderful Zoe from Conversation Pieces who is marrying her other half {as she refers to him} today!

I have met Zoe on a number of occasions and have loved following her blog. I was so disappointed to discover I wouldn't be able to attend her wedding, since we are still in Marrakech, but I'm sure the rest of the girls will take lots of photos and make sure to tell me all about it!

I cant wait to hear all about it; hope you both have a fabulous day and it is everything you could have wished for!

Happy 30th Birthday G!

2011-06-17T10:00:00.029+01:00

Its Grahams 30th Birthday today; Happy Birthday G!

This last year has gone so fast with all the weddings, holidays and events we had planned so we are now looking forward to what this next year will bring!

(Image by Craig & Eva Sanders)

This is also our anniversary of 8 years together {and I year, 10 weeks & 5 days married!} As you know we are celebrating in Marrakech and hopefully at this moment we are enjoying the sun and lazing by the pool! We are going to celebrate with his family when we get back by having lunch on Sunday at Grahams parents house.

Marrakech

2011-06-11T17:00:00.008+01:00

We are off to the sun in Marrakech for a week; spending our first three nights in the medina then moving to a boutique hotel & spa for the rest of the week where we will celebrate Grahams 30th birthday.

See you all soon!

04.08.10 Helen & Nick's Italian Wedding

2011-05-30T23:15:00.007+01:00

The reason we went to Italy was for the wedding of our friends Helen & Nick, where I was a bridesmaid. Helen was one of my bridesmaids too and I was honoured to be able to be there for her special day, especially since it was only four months after our wedding.

The preparations started with us having a meeting at the hairdressers on the Tuesday, a drink in the main square in Siena before meeting all of the other wedding guests for dinner back near the villa. We had a gorgeous Italian meal before the members of the wedding party were presented with gifts; the bridesmaids all got a gorgeous necklace and matching earrings to wear at the wedding. They were all slightly different so mine had pearls alongside the silver design. Afterwards Helen, me, the other two bridesmaids Lucy & Nic, and Helen's mum went back to her room to enjoy a glass of champagne and make the last minute arrangements for the next morning. We ended up enjoying a couple of glasses before we went back to our apartment to get our stuff ready for the next day.

We woke bright and early to start getting some of our make-up done before we went for out appointments at the hairdressers. Helen's dad and Graham drove us into Siena then we had a short walk into the centre. We had quite a relaxing time at the hairdressers as we waited for everyone to get their hair up.

Once we got back to the villa it was time for Helen to finish off our make-up then for her to get started on doing her own. At lunch time the groom surprised Helen with a basket of yummy food for us all to eat.

All too soon it was time to get dressed. The bridesmaids got dressed first, helping each other with our dresses so that we could then help Helen. Like me, Helen hadn’t shown anyone except from her mum the dress so it was lovely to finally see it, a gorgeous ivory satin strapless dress with detail to one side. We helped get Helen get in to her dress along with her mum, and I took over finishing of the corset and buttons, to make sure it was tight enough. The last things to put on were Helen’s veil and shoes then I packed up her bag, almost ready to go. The photographer had arrived while Helen was getting ready to take a few shots of her dress and getting ready. Doesnt Helen look gorgeous!

Once Helen’s dad arrived we were able to take a few photos of us altogether before we had to leave our cameras with the boys; they were running a little late trying to get themselves and Lucy’s daughter Emily ready. We saw all of the guests making their way towards the bus, hiding up in the villa so no one could see us. There was a threat of rain but after a few spots it stayed away for the rest of the day.

The cars arrived and we all got settled in to our car along with Helen’s mum, leaving Helen and her dad to follow. Although cars are not normally allowed in the centre of Siena, the two wedding cars had special permission and we arrived into the main square into a massive crown of tourists, all waiting to catch a glimpse of the bride! The groom, best man and guests had all walked into the centre of Siena, following the piper which had attracted a lot of attention along with all the men in kilts.

We lined up outside the ceremony room, with loads of tourists looking on, before the bridesmaids walked in one by one. I sat beside the best man on the right while Lucy and Nic sat on the other side. Helen and her dad walked down the aisle behind us, to where Nick was waiting. The ceremony was conducted in Italian then translated by their wedding planner. It was a very emotional ceremony, especially during their vows and while the grooms mum was doing her reading.

After they were pronounced man and wife the bride and groom made their way back up the aisle followed by the bridesmaids then the rest of guests. We came out into the waiting crowd of tourists who were visiting the town hall.

While Helen & Nick got some photos taken inside the town hall, the guests waited outside and made two lines for them to walk out into. We were distributed with rose petals which were thrown on them as they made their exit into the square, following the piper.

We had a few more photos taken in the square then the bride & groom went off to get some photos taken around Siena. The bridesmaids waited for their car and the rest of the guests circled the square following the piper then made their way back to the bus.

On arrival back at the villa we waited for the bride and groom to arrive and congratulate them, before we got some photos taken.

Afterwards we were led into the garden where the aperitivo was to be served and the harpist was playing. We were greeted by a fantastic sight; tables upon tables of gorgeous Italian cheese, meat, bread and many other things washed down with a few glasses of prosecco! It was really hot so a few glasses of water were required at the same time.

When it was time for dinner, we were called through to where the tables had been set up; overlooking the gorgeous Tuscan countryside. The four tables were each named after Italian wine and we were sitting a Chianti. Each of the three guest tables had one bridesmaid on each which was a lovely way to make each table important. The speeches happened before dinner and all three were fabulous and very touching.

Then it was time to tuck in to our five course meal! We started with a cheese soufflé with a pear compote & truffle; followed by two pasta courses, squid ink pasta with cherry tomatoes & king prawns then pici with wild boar sauce; this was then followed by the main course of quail, onion stuffed with potato and green beans & carrots wrapped in prosciutto; the meal was completed with the wedding cake. I never actually took any photos of the food but trust me when I say it was all delicious, especially the squid ink pasta!

After the first 4 courses we had a little break and then the massive cake was brought out for them to cut. They had a traditional two tier Italian wedding cake with loads of different kinds and colours of fruit on top. We all got more of it to eat the day after.

To complete the day we headed inside to one of the buildings at the Fattoria for the dancing. Their first dance was to Al Green’s Lets Stay Together and their parents and the bridesmaids joined them on the floor.

After lots more drinking and plenty of dancing (I changed into my flat shoes after the first dance) we finished off the party signing That's Amore! Afterwards, we dragged all of the chairs outside and continued the party way into the early hours; I think I finally made it to bed at 6am, with me and the bride the last ones up! It was a fantastic day and we were thrilled to be part of it. I would thoroughly recommend attending a wedding in Tuscany if you get the chance!

p.s You can read a bit more about the wedding on the wedding planners blog here.

2nd Blog Anniversary

2011-05-22T10:00:00.006+01:00

When I reached my 1st blog anniversary last year I wondered if I could keep it up for another year. Another year has passed and on my 2nd blog anniversary, I'm still here; so far so good and if you saw my drafts folder you would know there is still more to come! Next up is going to be recaps of the two weddings I was a bridesmaid at last year, some DIY which is long overdue and more of my travels.

Thank you all again for following along, the lovely comments that you leave and for the wonderful friendships I have made {you know who you are}; that was definitely not what I expected when I started writing about my wedding, but something that I now couldn't imagine being without. I cant tell you how excited I am that we are going to be able to attend a wedding very soon that would not have been possible without our little blogs.

(All images by Craig & Eva Sanders)

Places I've Been

2011-05-20T14:15:00.014+01:00

As you may have seen {unless you are in google reader}, I have added a new page; Places I've Been.

Inspired by our Travel Map, I wanted to write a list of all the places I have visited, including the years, then add photo links to them when {or if} I write about them. This will help to keep all of my travel posts in one place.

I've started with a photo of Austria; Italy; Maldives; Slovakia & Sri Lanka which link to all the posts about each country and a photo from the USA which im going to write about soon. Then I have added my written list of every country. Maybe one day I will get round to writing about them all and I'll update the page as required or when I remember some of the places I have probably forgotten.

Here is my list as it stands at the moment; Ill be able to add Africa after our Marrakech trip:

Asia

Malaysia {2006}
Kuala Lumpur & Penang

Maldives {2010}
Bodu Hithi

Singapore {1991 & 2006}

Sri Lanka {2010}
Habarana; Kandy; Mount Lavinia & Nuwara Eliya

Thailand {2006}
Ayutthaya; Bangkok; Chiang Mai; Kanchanaburi; Koh Phangan & Surat Thani

UAE {2003 & 2006}
Dubai

Australia

Australia {1991, 2000 & 2003}
Brisbane; Byron Bay; Cairns; Katoomba; Kuranda; Melbourne; Surfers Paradise & Sydney

Europe

Andorra

Austria {2011}
Vienna

Czech Republic {2005}
Prague

England
Chester; Cotswolds; Lake District; London; Norfolk Broads; Sheffield; Torquay & York

France {1987, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996 & 2004}
Aubigny-sur-Nère; Canet-Plage; Disneyland Paris; Dordogne; Fréjus & Paris

Germany {2000}
Berlin

Greece {2000 & 2005}
Corfu & Zante

Italy {2002, 2003, 2005 & 2010}
Florence; Lake Garda; Pisa; Rome; San Gimignano; Siena; Venice & Volterra

Monaco

Netherlands {2007}
Amsterdam

Norway
Bergen

Poland {2007}
Krakow

Scotland
Aviemore; Dunoon; Edinburgh; Eyemouth; Fort William; Inveraray; Inverness; Newtonmore; Perth & Troon;

Slovakia {2011}
Bratislava

Spain {1989, 1995, 2002, 2003 & 2007}
Barcelona; Majorca; Menorca & Tenerife

Turkey {2004}
Istanbul

Vatican City {2002, 2003 & 2005}

Wales
Buckley; Llandudno & Portmeiron

North America

Canada {2001}
Toronto & Niagara Falls

Mexico {2001}
Tijuana

USA {1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008 x2, 2009 & 2010}
Arizona {Flagstaff}; California {LA, Disneyland, San Francisco & San Diego}; Florida {Orlando, Treasure Island, Everglades & Venice}; Georgia {Atlanta & Savannah}; Illinois {Chicago}; Louisiana {New Orleans}; Massachusetts {Boston}; Nevada {Las Vegas}; New Jersey {Newark}; New Mexico {Roswell}; New York {Albany, NYC, Lake George & Buffalo}; South Carolina {Hilton Head Island & Charleston}; Texas {Austin}; Utah {Salt Lake City}; Wisconsin {Lake Geneva}

Total: 28 Countries

You can see the photos, links and full list here.

Italy: August 2010

2011-05-17T14:00:00.015+01:00

Time for me to start filling you in on some of the destinations on our Travel Map!

Back in August last year we headed off to Italy for a week. One of my bridesmaids Helen was getting married and I was one of her 3 bridesmaids. The wedding was on the Wednesday so we went on the Saturday so we would have some time before and after the wedding. We flew from Edinburgh to Rome via Amsterdam then drove our hire car up to Siena in Tuscany. We stayed at Villa Catignano, an old Tuscan villa 8km north east of Siena, along with the rest of the wedding party and all of the other wedding guests. The villa has been split into apartments and we shared a 3 bedroom apartment with the other two bridesmaids Lucy & Nic, their partners and Lucy's daughter Emily. The villa had a pool to use as well but we only ended up going there one day; I didn't even go in for fear of the chlorine ruining my french manicure before the wedding.

Since we didn’t have a lot of free time during the week, we took advantage of our first day to visit the small towns of San Gimignano & Volterra. San Gimignano still has 14 of its original towers so we climbed the one in the town hall to take a look at the view before having a wander around the town.

The twilight fan in me had to visit Volterra since it was so close although the New Moon film wasn’t actually filmed there, but in Montepulciano instead. We visited the town hall here as well and bought an alabaster decoration for our Christmas tree.

You can't go to Italy without sampling some of their wine so our friends wedding planner had arranged a wine tasting tour for 20 of us. The tour was excellent, helped by the great tour guide on the bus, and although I'm not a lover of red wine, the Chianti Classico was actually quite nice. We bought some delicious balsamic vinegar at one of the wineries and a bottle of truffle oil at the other before stopping at the walled town of Monteriggioni for a drink on our way back.

The day before the wedding we were able to have a quick look around Siena. We walked into the centre to the main square, the Piazza del Campo, to see the town hall, the Palazzo Pubblico, the venue for the wedding.

From there it wasn’t far along some of the narrow winding streets to the Cathedral. Graham was looking a bit ill by then so we came home so he could try and sleep it off while I got ready for the first of the wedding preparations.

The bride & bridesmaids had appointments at the Italian hairdresser in the centre of Siena so we could finalise arrangements for the next morning; rather interesting when he didn’t speak much English but thankfully the wedding planner was on hand to translate. After relaxing with a drink in the town square and discussing our entrance and positions for the ceremony, we met everyone back near the villa for dinner.

The wedding was the next day but it definitely deserves a post of its own; Siena town hall, lots of Italian food, Italian wine and dancing!

After a rather late night, the day after was a bit of a wash out, not helped by the torrential rain! We eventually gathered up enough energy to go out for something to eat, in the nearest place we could find.

On our last day we headed up to Florence, which was only around an hour away. We walked into the centre past the Pitti Palace {the Medici residence linked to the Uffizi by Vasari’s corridor} then over the Ponte Vecchio, which is maybe my favourite thing in the city.

As you can imagine for Italy in August, the queue to climb the Duomo was massive so after lunch in the main square we decided to visit the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall. We took the secret passages tour around the palace with just one other couple which took you inside the museum and to some of the usually inaccessible areas including the passages used by the Medici family.

From the top of the tower, we were able to get a really good view over to the Duomo. We then spent some time wandering around the city {trying to find an Internet café to check in for our flight home}, doing a bit of shopping and eating ice cream.

One day is never enough time for Florence but it was lovely to see parts of it again; I had been previously with my parents but this was Graham’s first visit.

We spent most evenings relaxing, chatting and drinking with everyone in the courtyard and the last night was no different. Almost everyone who was at the wedding was staying at the villa or in the adjoining Fattoria, so it was lovely to see everyone for a bit longer. Some people stayed just a couple of nights while others were there for the full week like us. The weather had been mixed all week, with a couple of really hot days and a couple of cooler days, unlike the last time I was in Italy in July when it was just hot all the time. I was surprised how chilly it got at night up at our villa, cardigans and jumpers were definitely needed.

All too soon it was Saturday and time to say goodbye and come home. Unfortunately Grahams case thought it would stay in Amsterdam a bit longer so he wasn't reunited with it until the next day.

1st Anniversary {Paper} Travel Map

2011-05-10T13:45:00.003+01:00

I wrote a post ages ago about anniversaries and what each one is supposed to mean*. For each of our anniversaries I want to try and stick to it and get gifts for each other that would also mean something. For our 1st anniversary we decided to buy something together which incorporated paper and also one of our favourite things; seeing the world. We have been wanting to make a travel map for ages and ages so we decided this was the perfect time to make it happen! Having already visited four new countries since we got married {Sri Lanka, Maldives, Slovakia & Austria}, and our planned trip to Morocco which will make five, we hope to add to it in the coming years. Graham thinks we should aim to visit 100+ countries. I can probably count 29 at the moment so there is still a long way to go!

We bought the FUTURE Map in blue, emerald, pink & yellow from The Future Mapping Company {which I first saw in Conversation Pieces Scotland on Sunday piece and knew we had to have it} as we love the different equal area projection they use and the bright colours against a traditional world map. We stuck the map onto foam board before framing it in a custom size frame without glazing that we ordered from EzeFrame. You can buy the map framed but since we wanted to mount it onto the foam we decided to do it ourselves which also worked out a bit cheaper. It meant we could choose the frame finish as well; we went with aluminium as we figured that would always go with anything.

Different coloured pins show the places we have been in the world. We used three colours of pins; black for the places we have both been, white for the places I have been on my own or with my family and yellow for Grahams. Most of the places with black pins are places we have been together apart from a few in the US & Canada {San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, Toronto, Niagara Falls} and the Spanish islands which we have both been to but just not together. We bought red, green, blue & grey pins as well but the coloured ones just looked lost against the bright colours of the map and they grey ones were too long. The neutral colours work so much better. The pins we are using all came from Ryman while I had to source the grey online, from MapsWorldwide.

Some people only use the places they visited together but we didn't consider that as there are so many countries / cities that would miss out, especially with all the travelling Graham did while in the Air Force. If we have children we are not really sure whether to use a different coloured pin to show where they have been with us.

We were going to put it in the spare room but then we decided that since we love it we actually want to be able to see it; its now in our living room. We finally put it up on Easter Sunday at the same time as 4 other pictures; our large framed wedding photo, the painting of our wedding venue, the Manhattan prints I got a while ago and a painting we bought in Thailand 5 years ago!

I love how the map turned out, although it does highlight that we really need to go to Africa and South America to even the pins out a bit! Out of the seven continents we have visited North America, Europe, Asia & Australia together which leaves 3 to go; Africa, South America & Antarctica. Our Marrakesh trip will at least add another pin in Africa {Graham has been to South Africa}; maybe a trip to Peru should be next on the list?

Although it wasn't really part of our anniversary gift, we have just subscribed to both the Lonely Planet & Wanderlust travel magazines, which are also paper! We also got each other a card and we received lots of cards from family and friends as well which was lovely as I wasn't sure how many people still send anniversary cards. Some we took with us to open while we were away. There was also a lovely bottle of champagne from parents and a couple of bottles of sparkling rose from Graham's parents to enjoy!

*Our friends are about to celebrate their 7th anniversary, which is wool, and Graham suggested they go to New Zealand. I'm totally going to remember this for the future and maybe our new plan should be to visit a country that's to do with the item; I'm thinking India for Cotton & Italy for Leather; maybe we should have went to Egypt for paper!

The Kitchin

2011-05-06T23:45:00.015+01:00

Once we got back from Vienna on Tuesday lunchtime, we enjoyed our afternoon then got ready to go and eat at The Kitchin. Since we were both off the day after we took the opportunity to book a table and use the voucher we got from my parents at Christmas.

I was really excited about going, having never eaten in a Michelin star restaurant before, and I really hoped we would get a glimpse of Tom Kitchin. Imagine our surprise when we arrived early for a change to see him going over the list of diners for the evening. While we enjoyed a drink and waited for them to finish setting up the restaurant, Tom came over to speak to us which was a little like meeting a celebrity and not really knowing what to say! Graham mentioned that we had just been celebrating our first anniversary in Vienna so we were delighted to find a hand written card on our table, wishing us a good night and a happy anniversary. The restaurant is lovely inside and has a viewing window into the working kitchen where we could see Tom and his chefs at work.

(Image from here)

The Kitchin prides itself on using seasonal local produce: From Nature to Plate so as well as the main a' la carte menu, there is always a celebration of the season menu and the surprise tasting menu. While we chose our dishes, which took a while to decide, we were served bread from the bread trolley, cut in front of you. Once we had chosen, Graham ordering from the main menu while I chose dishes from the seasonal menu, we were served an amuse bouche, a consume of roe deer with chives.

I knew before I even arrived that I was going to have scallops if possible so I started with the seared hand-dived Orkney scallops served with first of the season French asparagus and rosebay willowherb. Graham tried the first of the season French asparagus served with a soft boiled duck egg from Burnside Farm. The scallops didn't disappoint and were beautifully cooked. I wasn't sure what the willowherb would be like but it went really well with the asparagus.

Carrying on with seafood, I had the fillet of wild turbot from Scrabster poached in a saffron stock, served with diced vegetables and squid ink pasta while Graham had the wild sea bass from Scrabster served with a ragout of Swiss chard, lemon and basil. Mine was delicious and the fish was so tender having been poached rather than fried. I also loved the pasta when it had been infused with the stock. Grahams had been fried which gave it a lovely crispy skin but the fish was also delicious. Obviously I had to try his as well for research purposes!

To complete our meal I went for the British pear poached in chocolate and served with vanilla ice cream while Graham had another souffle, this time a mini chocolate souffle served with chocolate ice cream and a blood orange marmalade. The pear was gorgeous with a rich chocolate sauce and I'm told the souffle was just as good as the one Graham had at our anniversary meal.

The plates weren't too small like I thought they might have been and we were both given a large portion of fish. We were able to enjoy and finish all of our plates so we were definitely full at the end of the meal, without being stuffed. We had a voucher for our meal which paid for most it but we did have to pay some of the bill; while its not cheap it was definitely worth the money.

While we were the majority of the other diners were having Tom's land and sea surprise tasting menu, which looked wonderful. Most of them had also taken the matched wine package where a different glass of wine is served to compliment each course. Graham wasn't keen to try the tasting menu since you have no idea what you will get {he doesn't like any shellfish} but after seeing it being served I would love to go back and try it. I'm considering it as an option for my 30th in December, a perfect excuse for a treat, preferably from someone else!

The Kitchin also has a sister restaurant, Castle Terrace, which has just been awarded a Michelin rising star and possibly next on our list to try. I have also heard good things about 21212, another of Edinburgh's Michelin starred establishments, if only we could afford to eat there more often!

DO & CO Restaurant {1st Anniversary}

2011-05-03T13:45:00.015+01:00

On our actual anniversary we spent the day seeing some more of Vienna's sights. We headed back to the hotel around half six so we would have time to relax then get ready for our dinner reservation at 8.30pm.

We went to the restaurant at the DO & CO Hotel, located in the main square, Stephanplatz. After being shown to our table we started with a glass of Rose Champagne to celebrate while looking at the menu.

All of the food sounded delicious and there was a lot to choose from including international, Asian or Viennese cuisine. The kitchens were completely open so you could watch the chefs at work at the different stations and could see all of the fresh fish ready to be cooked.

I settled on nigiri sushi {including tuna, salmon, prawn & a few other things} to start while Graham tried a dish which had goose liver served two ways with Thai mango. The sushi was as good as the kind I had while on our honeymoon even if I wasn't sure what a couple of the items were!

I continued with the Asian menu and chose the tuna & stir-fry veg served with wasabi mash while Graham tried one of their specialities, Uruguayan beef with shallots and a potato & leek mash. Graham reckoned it was the nicest bit of beef he has ever had and my tuna was cooked to perfection, lovely and pink in the middle. The wasabi mash was really nice and not too strong, despite its colour; although it did get a little spicy by the time I finished it.

The desserts looked wonderful so I tried the trio of chocolate mousse with berries in a sugar basket and Graham had the chocolate souffle & passion fruit creme brulee. Each of the chocolate mousses was delicious although I think the dark chocolate one was my favourite. The sugar basket & fruits were served with sour cream which was unusual but really nice, especially since I don't like normal cream.

The food was wonderful but it was not at all cheap, at over €200 it was probably the most expensive meal we have ever had. I'm sure the champagne and wine didn't help but it was definitely worth it for our first anniversary. One of the reviews we read said that the portions were quite small which we didn't feel at all; they weren't massive but were more than enough and meant we could enjoy each of the three courses fully.

Afterwards we went to Loos American Bar for a couple of cocktails. Its a tiny bar inside with just two booths but we managed to get a stool at the bar where I sampled the Loos Champagne Cocktail followed by a Cosmopolitan while Graham stuck to his favourite Mojitos. It was really odd as you were still allowed to smoke inside, including the staff behind the bar, although you weren't allowed to take photos! We ended our evening with a lovely walk back to hotel; not by choice but because we had missed the last underground on a Sunday night!

Next year I'm not sure how we will be able to top our first anniversary trip & meal although we still have the option of returning to our wedding venue, which we did consider before choosing to go away. We spent the year before the wedding at our venue so it would be lovely to go back for one of our anniversaries.

p.s We were featured in the April Weddings and Anniversaries! post on A Practical Wedding. Please go and have a nose if you haven't seen it already; I sent my favourite photo of our first dance! We have also been married for 13 months today but now that we are over 1 year im not going to carry on with the monthly posts.

Vienna: April 2011 - Part 2 {1st Anniversary}

2011-04-25T21:09:00.003+01:00

We wanted to make the most of our last full day in Vienna so made an effort to get up early {very unlike us}, have breakfast, then catch the first journey of the Ring Tram. We got on at the second stop so were the only tourists on board at 10am! This was fine until a man with a microphone, looking suspiciously like he was on the radio, came towards us and asked if we wouldn't mind singing happy birthday to the tram, I think it was the 1st birthday of the new tram or something like that! Of course we couldn't really say no so if anyone in Vienna was listening to the radio that morning, yes we were the silly tourists singing to the tram; I wish I had taken a photo!

The tram tour took less than half an hour to go round the Ringstrasse which is the ring road around around the main centre of the city, and where you can see loads of the sights including the parliament building and the state opera house. While you could have done it yourself on two of the normal trams, we wanted to have the audio guide, even if we did miss the first 10 minutes due to our singing!

From there we hopped onto the underground for the journey out to the Schönbrunn Palace {Schloss Schonbrunn}. The palace which started as a hunting lodge, summer palace then then the main residence of the imperial dynasty, is now a world heritage site and Austria’s most frequently visited tourist attraction.

The palace has 1441 rooms in total, with only 40 open to the public on the grand tour. We did the shorter Imperial Tour which allows you to visit 22 of the rooms with an audio guide. This was the perfect amount for us as we aren't really lovers of history and just wanted to get a feel of the interior. The audio guide was very good and gave you just enough information about each room. They were in the process of renovating / restoring a couple of the rooms but you were still able to walk through and it was really interesting so see how they were doing it. For instance in the great gallery they were putting a copy of the fabulous ceiling frescoes at the top of the wooden structure they had built to protect the walls & ceiling; they had also used foam where the wooden structure stopped against a wall to protect it fully. Unfortunately no photographs were allowed inside so we took plenty outside in the sun instead.

The palace has massive gardens and you could easily spend hours walking around. Since we didn't have that much time, we walked up to Neptunes Fountain then around past the zoo and Palm House back to another underground station.

We headed back into the city and to the Naschmarkt, Vienna’s biggest and most popular market dating back to the 16th century. It is full of stalls selling fresh fruit, vegetables, olives, pasta, meats, cheeses, herbs, bread & seafood as well as loads of little restaurants, coffee shops & bars, which I wasn't expecting to see. We wandered around the stalls but the weather had suddenly changed to stormy, cold & wet so we quickly found somewhere to eat. We had a delicious lunch of chicken satay & red curry beef / chicken noodles at a little noodle restaurant. We were given a sample of sushi when we arrived as well and one of the waiters seemed surprised that we had come all the way from Scotland.

Another trip on the underground took us to the second palace of the day, the Belvedere. The complex includes the Upper & Lower Belvedere, which are now both art galleries. We visited the Upper Belvedere to see Gustav Klimt's most famous work, 'The Kiss'.

They were in the process of restoring parts of the palace including the grand staircase and one of the exhibition rooms so some of the paintings had been moved around slightly. Everyone goes to see 'The Kiss' so it was no surprise to see it within a glass cabinet in one of the first rooms.

A tram ride later {it had gotten too cold to walk without coats, even though it was boiling earlier} and we were back at the Museums Quarter where we went to the Architecture Museum. They have a permanent exhibition about Austrian Architecture in the 20th & 21st Centuries which I thought was really interesting, except for the bits that were only in what I think was German! Graham wasn't so enthralled with this museum and it didn't take him long to look around then sit and wait for me!

On our last night we wanted to sample some traditional Viennese cuisine in a beisl. Following recommendations from a couple of guidebooks, we ate at Figlmuller, which reportedly has 'Vienna's most famous schnitzel'. We had already tried to get a table on our first night, when people were queued down the street at both their locations, so we knew it would be busy and went quite early. We were lucky to snag a table for two just in time as we then saw loads of people being turned away.

We both ordered the speciality Figlmuller Schnitzel along with the recommended potato salad. Although the schnitzel here is made of pork and not veal {which is Viennese schnitzel}, it is supposed to be the biggest, thinnest & crispiest of all the others! As a former wine tavern they only served produce from their winery so I enjoyed a glass of white wine while Graham sampled the grape juice. When the schnitzels arrived they were massive and you could hardly see the plate. Needless to say, although it was lovely, I just couldn't finish it all!

Once we got back to the hotel, stopping on route to buy some Manner wafers, I enjoyed a complimentary glass of prosecco in the hotel bar, the perfect way to end our holiday! Unfortunately we had to catch the 7.20am train back to Bratislava to get to the airport in time for our 11.10am flight so it was an early pick-up from our hotel!

I loved Vienna, and would definitely go back; perhaps at Christmas as I would love to see all of the markets and I think the city would look beautiful in the snow! I would totally recommend a trip to both Vienna & Bratislava to anyone who hasn't been before. Now we are looking forward to our next trip; Marrakech in June for Grahams 30th!

Vienna: April 2011 - Part 1 {1st Anniversary}

2011-04-19T22:00:00.018+01:00

After enjoying our breakfast and catching a tram to the train station, we bought return tickets to Vienna. Having just missed the 10.45am train we waited for the next one an hour later. After a short 75 minute journey {at only around 64km apart, Bratislava & Vienna are the closest capital cities in the world} we arrived in Vienna and made our way to our hotel on the underground system. We stayed at The Levante Parliament Hotel, which had been recommended by our friends who got engaged in Vienna in 2008 and booked through booking.com, for three nights.

The hotel was very trendy and the room was gorgeous, although it was a lot smaller than the one in Bratislava. While we specifically chose a high star design hotel for our anniversary, the prices in Vienna in general were a lot higher than Bratislava. It only took 5 minutes to walk to the nearby Museums Quarter and around 15 minutes into the centre so it was in an ideal location, with underground and tram stops nearby if you wanted to go further afield. The hotel had a large restaurant & bar as well as a lovely looking spa & sauna area which again we didn’t have time to use.

At first glance Vienna was totally different to Bratislava, while the latter was still definitely in Eastern Europe and very laid-back, Vienna was so much more what I would describe as European and very extravagant. Especially to someone who studied art then of course, architecture, the city had hundreds of beautiful buildings I wanted to see, far too many for just one visit. In Bratislava we felt like we had seen quite a lot of the city, in Vienna you definitely just have to choose a few things as it would be totally impossible to attempt to see everything; there are over 100 museums alone!

After dropping the cases off we took a walk towards the centre, passing the Hofburg Palace {the old imperial palace} and Loos House on the way. The Spanish Riding School is part of the Hofburg complex but unfortunately we weren't able to take a tour due to performances on both Saturday & Sunday.

The first thing we did was get a hot dog from one of the hundreds of hot dog stands in the city before finding Loos American Bar.

After lunch we arrived in the main square, Stephanplatz, where the massive gothic St Stephen's Cathedral is located. The square was always busy every time we went there despite the rest of the city not being that busy in April. We were able to have a look inside but couldn't get all the way around as there was a concert in progress.

Opposite the cathedral there is a modern building, the Haas Haus by Austrian Architect Hans Hollein. It has divided opinion in the city since it was built in 1990, although I kind of liked it, especially when you could see the reflection of the cathedral. The DO & CO Hotel occupies a large part of the building and I had read that the restaurant inside the hotel was very good with a great view of the city, so we thought it would be perfect for a celebration. We had a look at the menu then booked a table for our anniversary the following evening.

We were too late to climb up the cathedrals tower so we caught the underground to the Leopoldstadt area where the Prater amusement park is located. The famous old ferris wheel, Riesenrad, is located at the entrance.

The wheel was built in 1897 and is 64m tall. It wasn't quite as smooth as the London Eye, the cabins were a little wobbly during the full rotation which took 14 minutes.

After our ride on the wheel we had a delicious ice cream then wandered around the park; it seemed to be where the young people of Vienna hung out at the weekend. We stumbled upon the world’s highest chairoplanes, the Prater Tower at 117m, which we just had to go on!

Nothing like the ones we are used to in Edinburgh at Christmas, the chairoplanes went up to a height of 95m; you definitely felt it just sitting in a chair, holding on to chains! The view was fantastic from the top, especially as the sun was setting, even if it was a little cold and windy! I wish I had taken my camera out before we went up as once at the top I didn't really want to let go to search around in my bag; I managed to get it out when we got back to a more normal height and the speed increased!

Since it was starting to get dark, we walked back into the centre then caught an underground back to the hotel, to have dinner in the Nemtoi restaurant. We don’t normally try the hotel restaurants but thought we would on this trip and I’m so glad we did, as the food was lovely. I sampled the antipasti followed by grilled king prawns, while Graham had ham & melon followed by a burger.

The next day was our anniversary so we had a very lazy morning opening cards we had brought with us from our family and friends. The hotel served breakfast until 12.30pm on a Sunday which was perfect and they had the most delicious spread including cereals, breads, smoked salmon, meats, cheeses, fruit, yoghurt's and a selection of cooked items as well as a menu to order from. I sampled the poached eggs with hollandaise sauce & spinach which were perfect.

We took a walk past the parliament building and down through the museums quarter to reach the Secession building. It was built in 1897 by Joseph Maria Olbrich as an exhibition hall for the Secession group of artists. Secession is a branch of Art Nouveau also known as Jugendstil and the building houses the 34m long Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt, one of the most famous Secession works. As well as the frieze the rest of the building features modern art exhibitions which were interesting I guess but we definitely paid to see the actual building and the frieze. The text above the main entrance is the motto of the Secessionist movement: “For every time its art. For art its Freedom”.

To continue our architecture tour, we walked back to Karlsplatz square where St Charles's Church and two of Otto Wagner’s public transport pavilions are located. One of the pavilions houses a café while the other is a small museum about Otto Wagner, conveniently free on the first Sunday of the month.

Not quite done on our tour, we caught the tube towards Hundertwasser Haus, one of the main things I wanted to see in Vienna. One of Vienna’s most popular attractions, it was designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser and I had seen it in many of my architecture books at uni.

As its an occupied residential block you are not allowed to go inside, although there is a cafe and some shops as part of the block. I bought a book about the house so I could read more about its interior and took loads of photos!

Opposite the house there is a small shopping gallery, also designed by Hundertwasser, where I found my Viennese Christmas decoration and we were given directions to another of his buildings, the KunstHausWien, which was just a couple of streets away.

Instead of taking the tube back we walked over the Danube canal back into the city centre, where we were looking for cake! We went to the Aria Café Konditorei in the main square which we had seen on our first visit the day before. They had every type of cake, pastry or dessert you could imagine; I had the traditional Viennese sachertorte while Graham tried a blueberry vanilla creation.

To help with the cake we walked back to the hotel through the Hofburg palace and via the Museums Quarter.

Once back at the hotel we had a short time to relax before getting dressed up for our anniversary meal at the DO & CO hotel. I bought the NW3 Tea Dress in Aubergine {or rather Graham did} for the occasion & for a friend’s wedding in May using the voucher from the last issue of Red magazine. Im going to write a separate post about our evening as the food was spectacular followed by cocktails in Loos American Bar. {I won’t mention that we missed the last underground home by 5 minutes and therefore had to walk!}

1st Anniversary - 3rd April 2011

Then we had one more day to enjoy in Vienna...

Bratislava: April 2011 {1st Anniversary}

2011-04-12T23:45:00.063+01:00

We arrived in Bratislava on Thursday morning after a really early morning {6.55am} flight from Edinburgh. We hoped on the bus which took us to the central train station where we got an over expensive cab to our hotel. We stayed at Mama’s Design & Boutique Hotel, which we had found on Trip Advisor, then booked through booking.com, for two nights.

Although we had just booked an executive double, we must have been given the biggest one as it was massive! Despite the rather pointless lift {the landings were half way between the floors so you still have to drag your case up stairs}, the hotel was lovely and it only took around 15/20 minutes to walk into the centre. There was a small sushi restaurant in the hotel and also a small pool, fitness centre & sauna but we never had time to try any of them.

After dropping of our cases, we walked into the old town to have a look around and grab some lunch in the main square, which included the Old Town Hall.

We made our way through the rest of the old town towards the new bridge, bumping in to an unusual statue called Cumil on the way!

We walked over the bridge to get to the UFO observation deck where we had a wonderful view over the whole city before enjoying our first drink in the bar.

The toilets had an interesting view as well!

From there we enjoyed another walk around the city, first visiting the Hungarian Art Nouveau Blue Church {Church of St Elizabeth}. It was described as looking like blue icing which it sort of did since the exterior was covered in plaster. We were lucky enough to be able to look inside the church which was also very blue!

After a spot of shopping {I found my Christmas decoration}, we made it to one of the old city gates which led to the main street. We knew we wanted to try some traditional Slovak cuisine, washed down with a beer, so we ate at Presburg restaurant which was recommended in our guide book.

I tried the homemade lokše {thin potato pancakes} followed by bryndzové halušky {potato gnocchi with sheep cheese & bacon}, which is one of the national dishes of Slovakia. The pancakes were nice although quite plain but the gnocchi was delicious and well worth trying. The same could not be said for Grahams starter of cheese spreads which were a little odd!

We walked a different route through the old town to get back to the tram stop, bumping in to another statue on the way!

After enjoying our breakfast in the hotel, we started our second day with a walk which took in the unusual Slovak Radio building and Grassalkovich Palace, the official residence of the President.

We ended up back at the main gate, St Michael's Tower.

Underneath the gate there is a compass marked with the distances to capital cities all over the world; it showed just 1288km to London! We were able to climb up inside the tower for a view across the old town, looking at a museum of weapons on the way.

After a quick look in St Martin's Cathedral, we walked up the steep hill to the Castle. We managed to enjoy a drink outside and have a quick look at the castle before the heavens opened! They are currently renovating the castle so we couldn't see much inside, just one temporary exhibition of sacral objects made from precious metals.

Not wanting to walk around in the rain, we visited the Palffy Palace which has a branch of the Bratislava City Gallery inside. As part of the permanent collection is an installation called Passage by Matej Kren. Its basically a walkway through the centre of a room, with each wall lined with books, almost 15,000 in total. What makes it unusual is that every other surface is mirrored so it makes it looks as if you are walking over a massive drop and is supposed to create an illusion of endless space & infinity of human knowledge. Since you have to go up a couple of steps into the room it definitely made you a bit wobbly and anyone with vertigo would not have been able to walk through it despite it just being inside a small room!

After searching for a cafe which apparently had 60 varieties of hot chocolate and finding it now closed, we went to the Schokocafe Maximilian Delikateso, which had a large chocolate fountain in the window, located back in the main square. The hot chocolate with caramel I tried was gorgeous and exactly what it said it was, thick chocolate which was served hot!

We took the opportunity for a few more photos with Napoleons soldier!

Then stumbled upon yet another odd statue!

Deciding that we had seen enough of the cities sights, we headed towards a Cuban bar called Malecon which had been recommended by friends. Their cocktails {caipirinha's & mojito's} were lovely but strong, and the fact we had arrived during happy hour when they were 2 for 1 was a bonus!

We completed our last night in Bratislava with a Thai meal at Lemontree restaurant & sky bar; we were seated in the rooftop bar which over looked the city at night, with the UFO and the castle illuminated. My duck red curry was delicious and, along with some lovely rose wine, a perfect way to end our visit to a fantastic little city.

The next morning we were off to Vienna...

1 Year & 300th post!

2011-04-03T10:00:00.039+01:00

1 year since we walked down the aisle, said our vows surrounded by family & friends, cut our cake & danced our first dance.

I'm not sure I can actually believe we have reached our anniversary already. So much has happened in the last year, a whirlwind of weddings, honeymoons & holidays, which has made the whole year disappear so quickly.

We have started our second year of marriage doing what we love, with our trip to Bratislava & Vienna. While we don't know what the rest of this year will bring, except for a trip to Marrakech for Grahams 30th and my 30th later on in the year, we hope to spend it on many more holidays, with our family & friends and of course, a wedding or two!

(All images by Craig & Eva Sanders)

This is my 300th post too; cant believe I've kept writing for so long {probably because my wedding posts took forever}, so thank you for following along!

Bratislava & Vienna! 1st Anniversary Trip

2011-03-31T10:00:00.036+01:00

Hopefully by now we are on route to Bratislava {after a ridiculously early flight} where we are spending a couple of days before moving on to Vienna.

Im really looking forward to our trip as both cities are completely new to us; we plan to spend our time seeing the sights, relaxing and celebrating with a drink or two! We will be in Vienna on our actual anniversary; can you believe its been a whole year!

I'm also looking forward to a full week off work and we still have a day and a half off at home to enjoy once we return. We are using that opportunity to visit The Kitchin for dinner.

I'm not sure if we will have Internet access or not but since I don't plan to be online much I'll catch up with everyone when we get back next week.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Advice for the Newlyweds

2011-03-29T23:45:00.087+01:00

Inspired* by Kirsty from a safe mooring, I thought my last post about our wedding should share the marriage advice given to us by our wedding guests.

As you may remember the guest book had different questions for them to answer, one of which was 'Any advice for the Newlyweds?'

We received lots of wonderful wisdom from our guests; some funny, some helpful, some we already followed and only a few that were really silly!

Here is some of the fabulous advice:

"Always listen to Gaynor" {sound advice from our very wise flowergirl}

"May the best days of your past be the worst days of your future" {a perfect reminder that your wedding day shouldn't be the best day of your life; there is plenty more to come}

"Be happy and treat life as an adventure to share together!"

"Never let the sun go down on an argument" {and loads of other variations of this theme}

"Keep a sense of humour"

"Be best friends!"

"Always remember to compromise"

"Enjoy every minute together!"

"Tell each other 'I love you' every day"

"Always be honest to each other!"

"Never spend too much time apart" {from married friends who were living in different countries}

"Don’t ever doubt each other"

"Agree to disagree!!"

"Respect and cherish each other"

"Enjoy your future adventures"

"Keep in with the in-laws"

"Remember, invent, pray"

"Laugh with each other"

"Keep talking"

a few who felt no advice was needed:

"No need for instructions"

"You wouldn't listen to us oldies!"

"Keep doing what you’re doing"

"You are the perfect couple"

and finally one of the more random offerings:

"Shouldn't have done it" {a bit late for that advice which I suspect was given after a few too many pints}

This advice will hopefully help take us through many many more years of marriage, not just when we are newlyweds! I think we need to find somewhere to keep the guestbook so we can get it out to look at; maybe along with the albums im still trying to find somewhere for!

With that I have finally finished writing about about our wedding, just in time for our 1st anniversary!

*Borrowed / stolen really but I did ask first!

(All images by Craig & Eva Sanders, last names smudged by me)

p.s Ive finally changed my blog header & removed the bride-to-be tagline! If you read in google reader click on over & let me know what you think of the new fonts.

La Potiniere

2011-03-27T23:45:00.299+01:00

A couple of Saturdays ago {12th March} we were able to use one of our Christmas presents by having lunch at La Potiniere in Gullane. We were given a voucher from my aunt & uncle and my parents received the same and bought one for my aunt & uncle too so we could all go for lunch together, masterminded by my aunt. Since my dad and aunt had been ill at New Year it was really our new year celebrations. I'm fairly sure we confused the other diners by our 'Happy New Year' toast in March!

The restaurant is quite small and just has 20 seats, which allows one of the owners, Keith, to serve as well as be in the kitchen; this makes it a lot more like being in someones house, rather than in a restaurant which is lovely. They bake two different types of bread so I tried the sunflower kind while we looked at the menu, along with a glass of prosecco for our toast.

With such a small restaurant, they choose to only offer two choices for each course on the menu, with one meat & one fish option for the main course. When you book you are able to tell them if there is anything you cant eat so I'm assuming they would cater for vegetarians that way. We weren't sure if just two choices would be limiting but I honestly could have eaten everything on the menu and I found it hard to decide what to have! All of the food sounded delicious.

I started with a camembert, prune & celeriac tart served on puy lentils while Graham tried the cream of leek soup served with lightly curried profiteroles. I wasn't sure what the prune would be like in the tart but it was lovely with the camembert and the lentils. The soup got rave reviews from everyone else too.

I followed this with the steamed fillet of sole which was filled with a smoked salmon mousse and served on a smoked salmon risotto. Graham had the gressingham duck served on an apricot & potato mash. I love seafood and the sole was gorgeous; the whole dish together was really light. The duck was beautifully cooked as well, as I managed to sample some of Grahams.

To finish I had the chocolate & creme brulee mousse which was delicious while Graham had the cheese plate.

The lunch menu is a very reasonable £18.50 for two courses & coffee or £22.50 for three courses & coffee; we all thought that was really good value for the quality of the food. The dinner menu is £40 for 4 courses & coffee and I would love to go and try that some time.

We finished the day by going back to my aunts for a few drinks then up to my friend Lucy's to catch up with them in their new house; finally getting home after 3am! Lets just say I wasn't very productive on the Sunday! Next we are going to eat at The Kitchin, another one of our Christmas vouchers, when we return from Vienna.

Wedding Gifts

2011-03-24T23:00:00.022Z

As you know we had our gift list with John Lewis. We were very lucky to receive the majority of the items on our list. We were also given a lot of John Lewis vouchers; half of which we used to buy the remainder of our list so we ended up with everything we chose. We had the delivery arranged for the Friday after we returned from honeymoon on the Wednesday as Graham was still going to be off work. When we were stuck on honeymoon my dad phoned to cancel the delivery for us. The first Saturday we could then rearrange for was the 29th May, when loads of boxes appeared at my parent’s house so we could store them in their garage until we could unpack them.

Having lived together for three years before the wedding we already had a lot of everything. However most of it was fairly cheap from Ikea so we used our list to upgrade things like pots, pans, glasses, towels, bedding, bathroom accessories, bins and a new fancy Dyson ball vacuum! We also got a Wedgewood china dinner service and Robert Welch cutlery set which we would never have been able to buy ourselves. Linen wise I knew exactly what I wanted from working there (pima cotton towels & Egyptian cotton sheets) but we also got some of Orla Keily's new range of bed linen & towels as you can never have enough of either!

L-R: LSA Moya Goblets; Wedgewood Signet Platinum; Orla Keily Stem Jacquard Towels

(Images from here, here & here)

To make sure we had a large range of gifts and prices for our guests to choose from we also added some more interesting items including a large black glass vase, a clock, an acrylic magazine rack, a door stop, the loop candelabra & the loop flower vase and the Lonely Planet Cities book.

L-R: Flower Loop Vase; Karlsson Wall Clock; Loop Candelabra

(Images from here; here & here)

While we have had the Dyson at the flat for ages, we only just unpacked the dinner set & cutlery a couple of weekends ago. We still have two boxes to unpack in our flat and the last one at mums with all the glasses in it! Ive only just put the hand towels into the bathroom, on one shelf of our new bathroom organizer, as they are just for display really, not actually for using!

As well as the rest of our list, we used some of our vouchers to buy new 4-wheel hand luggage suitcases, framed prints of the Empire State Building & the Chrysler Building, kitchen scales & utensils and some cushions. We still have some vouchers left and are considering a rug or keeping them until there is something else we need. Some of our guests gave us money so we could choose what to buy but so far we have only used that for the album cover and a food mixer.

As well as the gift list, the vouchers & money, we were lucky enough to receive lots of other lovely gifts, some chosen especially for us. One of my friends is an artist and she gave us a lovely painting of our wedding venue, Norton House. Another friend bought us the Habitat ribbon lamp in purple I had been looking at for ages and we also got a fabulous Sony digital photo frame. I added all of our professional wedding photos onto a spare memory card to put into the frame which runs on a slide show {when I remember to turn it on!}. Four of the frames I’m currently using to display our wedding photos in were gifts as well, which was good as we never added any to our list.

Habitat Ribbon mini table lamp

(Image from here)

We also received items from friends of my parents and grahams parents who weren't invited but who very kindly wanted to give us a gift. We got a vase, cocktail glasses, towels, some cutlery and even a slow cooker. I have to admit that the majority of all of these gifts are spread between both of our parents houses until we make some space in our flat; we really should have done it before our first anniversary!

We were well and truly spoiled with gifts and all of our guests were so generous. I am so glad we chose to have a gift list as we now have some lovely things that we couldn't have bought ourselves and its lovely remembering who bought us everything, for instance my aunt & uncle bought us the full cutlery set and box while Grahams aunt & uncle then bought all of the additional cutlery we wanted to match.

Framed Wedding Photos

2011-03-20T23:45:00.072Z

As we originally found our photographers at the SECC wedding fair, they had an offer for a free 16” x 12” framed print. We chose the image they had put on our mini album covers which is one of the black & white images of us in amongst the trees.

(Image by Craig & Eva Sanders)

The print looks fantastic in its black frame with the white mount and it will look even better when it’s finally up on the wall {hint hint G!} Our names and wedding date are on the mount as well.

They also gave us a 10” x 8” print of one of favourite photos which looks lovely in the black slate photo frame we were given as a wedding gift.

We have loads of other photos on display, including square black & white ones of us in the car and during the first dance; a square one of me & the girls laughing; one of us in amongst the daffodils, the full bridal party photo and the one of us against the wall. I have loads more printed out in square format that I’m planning to put in the purple frames we used for the table names at some point and we also have all of the photos on a digital frame that we got as a wedding gift.

We did get every single photo from our CD printed, all 596 of them, at 6” x 4”. Some of the kilt shots were long so I got each side printed separately which meant almost 600 photos! I found a large 300 print expandable album from WHSmith which I then added doubled in size by adding pages so that it held all of the photos.

The only problem now is where to keep this album as well as our main one!

Our Wedding Album

2011-03-16T14:00:00.012Z

The photography package we chose included a 16” x 12” landscape album with 40 pages / 20 spreads, by Bellissimo. We had looked at some album examples when we met them in the February before the wedding and decided to change it to a 12” x 12” square album with 50 pages / 25 spreads. Rather than having the photo cover, which was included, we opted for the engraved aluminium cover. It cost us an additional £70 and we were able to use some of the money we had received as a wedding gift.

Eva created a first draft of an album design to get us started back in May last year. Once we had received our CD of images, I swapped some around and made some changes to the layout before the design was finalised. This process did take a while and in the end we went through to their studio so I could see each page once the changes had been made. After deciding on the last spread we had two options for, we were finally happy and ready to order it by the end of July.

The album & prints we had ordered arrived on the at the beginning of August but the mini albums weren't in the first delivery so we waited to go and collect it. They ended up taking a lot longer so we went to collect the album & framed print on the 19th August.

I love our album; it tells the story of our day so well and I love getting it out to look at every so often. We just need to find somewhere to keep it! Each page is quite a thick board with lie flat binding which means you can see each double spread properly.

Our package also included 10 mini albums which are exactly the same design & layout as the main album, but they are flexible albums with an image on the cover & on the back.

The mini album is so cute; you can see how small it is against my iPhone above. Its really good as I can keep it in my bag to show off to everyone, much easier than taking the big album!

We gave one to my parents, Graham’s parents, my sister, Graham’s sister, Graham’s Nana & Grahams Gran then kept one for ourselves. We still have 3 left but haven’t decided what to do with them!

Name Change: My Decision

2011-03-10T22:30:00.023Z

There have been a few posts on the subject of name changing lately and the choice women have; I thought I would let you know what I chose to do.

I thought about it for a long time and went over all the options; I wasn't ready to lose my name but at the same time I wanted us to have the same family name, especially when/if we have children. My dad and his brother both had daughters so if we all change our names, our family surname wont continue. The same thing already happened with my grandads name as my mum and my aunt both changed their names, however, I was given that name as my middle name so its still here! Also all of my degrees and professional qualifications were completed before I got married so I never wanted to lose any of my original name.

After ruling out hyphening {which was my original plan way before I really thought about it in any detail} I chose to take Grahams surname and keep my maiden name as a second middle name, effectively just adding Grahams name on, without removing any of mine. My full name is now Gaynor MyMiddle MyLast HisLast, making me the third Mrs HisLast in Grahams family!

Since I started my new job after the wedding it made sense to use my new name from the beginning; if I had still been with my old office, I was going to keep my original name professionally as I also had to change it with my professional organisation. The bank changed it for me with no issues, although the teller was a little confused at me having 2 middle names! I hoped that everything else would be as simple, but of course its never as simple as your think! After I wasn't able to change it on my driving license {I now have a license saying Gaynor MyMiddle HisLast, which I still haven't changed}, the lady on the phone helpfully told me I would have to do it officially by Deed Poll since my marriage certificate only lets me switch my surname. {It did seem silly since all I really did was add another surname on to the end of my name, but never mind.}

There are loads of deed poll websites out there but I chose the UK Deed Poll Service, as they are recommended by the DVLA and the Passport Office. It was really easy to do, you just fill out the details online and they send you your deed poll all done, you just need to sign it and its ready to use. I paid a bit more to get 2 certified copies of my deed poll so once it arrived I had to get a witness to sign it before sending it back to them to be copied. I also added a title change from Miss to Mrs. The whole process didn't take too long and the total cost was £48 including the deed poll (£33), the additional copies (£15) and the title change (£4).

When we went to Italy last summer, my flights were still under my old name so I couldn't change my passport until we got back. I then had to change it as Graham helpfully booked our Florida flights with my new surname! I did the passport renewal online and once I had received the form and got my photos, I sent it back with my deed poll then received my shiny new passport less than two weeks later. So I can confirm that the UK Deed Poll Service is definitely accepted by the Passport Office.

I still need to do my credit cards and little things, but nothing else important. It does still feel, look & sound weird when people address me with my new name, especially when they use Mrs! Its not that helpful when I have to remember which card / document says what since I have 3 different name versions at the moment!

Recaps Complete: Any questions?

2011-03-07T23:45:00.034Z

It only took 30 posts for my wedding recaps & 15 posts for the honeymoon!

(Image by Craig & Eva Sanders)

I cant believe they took me so long but 2010 was a busy year, I'm just glad I managed to get them finished before our first anniversary! I have listed all of the recaps together on a page in my sidebar so its easy for everyone to find or in case you missed anything. Ive made a separate page with all of my DIY posts as well. I'm thinking of getting all of my recap posts made into two books so I can have a record of it all.

I still have a few more posts to do to finish off everything wedding related {that wasn't a recap} including changing my name; our album; the photographs & our gifts. However, I was wondering if there is anything else you would like to know that I haven't covered?

If you have any questions about anything to do with the wedding or the honeymoon, leave me a comment on this post and I will try to answer it.