Anniversary Day

Hooray for a special weekend! <3 Today, 6 years ago, Ian and I first met in a Starbucks coffee shop. Weird to think that I was living in a different country then; so much has changed! But still in love as ever :-) 

I spent Friday night at my friend's house and when I arrived home this was what was waiting for me on the table. A big bright bouquet of flowers waiting x x  :-) They are so beautiful, I love the big bright orange rose. They are so tropical and they make the house so cheerful against the cold outside. It's 1C outside and snowing today, yikes.

Ian's anniversary present. I found these in a craft magazine and thought they were so cute! They were from www.hunkydoryhome.co.uk. We have an ongoing tradition now of buying each other eggcups each year so I thought I'd bring some birdy cups in to the collection. I think they will be welcomed in by mr and mrs. hen egg cup. 

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This weekend was also special because, after 2 years of being engaged, we finally started our wedding planning. Wooo hooo! I spent Friday with two friends having a girly pre-wedding dress try-on sleepover. Katie cooked paella (with chicken and chorizo, yum). Then we woke up late the next morning and all went together for my very first wedding dress appointment at our local shop Mrs. Jones Bridal boutique (http://www.mrsjonesbridal.co.uk).

So excited and a little bit nervous! We were welcomed with brownies and champagne and the shop owner, Laura, picked out some dresses for me after I'd nervously and overly excitedly blurted out what I had in mind for the day (what was I talking about!? I have no idea what I said!). I was glad we chose that shop because she made it all so easy and was so helpful and I wasn't worried at all once we started. It all seems so surreal, everyone says girls grow up dreaming about their wedding day but I must have missed out on that part because I have never imagined myself in a big white dress and it was so crazy to try them on! I ended up loving the one style that I expected to hate!

On the way out I was given a thank you bag with some references for local flower & beauty shops, and in it came a beautiful little glass jar of flowers and a mirrored candle. In it was my favourite flower, which is the kind I want on our wedding day. So now I am reminded of the dress I've chosen every time I look at them. I've got a big scrapbook ready. Here goes the planning! x

Sunday Pancakes

Sunday was for washing the car and making pancakes. There's isn't much more that's as exciting as riding the London Eye over London. So we mooched about in our pajamas and dilly dallied about the house, and decided to have Shrove Tuesday four days late. I've decided to give up complaining for Lent, but so far have made an awful attempt and already need to start focusing on being more positive. So, I was thinking this evening after work (tired and staring at the tv, not bothering to move after Eastenders) that I would start thinking about some crafty projects to do around the house....

I have two new missions:

1. Organise the craft room - it's a gigantic mess of a book shelf, some tupperware boxes full of randomness, and an ikea table with everything shoved underneath (as if things can be hidden under a glass table)

2. Make something really pretty for our bedroom - we just bought new bedside tables and a wardrobe that we've like for ages and suddenly an oatmeal coloured room with nothing else in it almost doesn't look good enough anymore. I would love to make something simple to hang on the wall, or maybe a big crocheted quilt for the bed.

I love love LOVE Heather's quilts on www.littletinbird.co.uk. So might take some inspiration from her and dive into a big crochet granny square quilt! I started making one last year, all multi-coloured flower squares, for summer but never finished it. The pattern was in an issue of Mollie Makes and it's quite a nice simple flower that looks amazing in tons of multi-colours. I will post up some pics once I get going.

:-)

Birthday Trip to London

February 16th was my fiance Ian's birthday, and to celebrate we decided to take a trip to the London Eye. It's something we've wanted to do for ages but always seemed daunted by the massive queues to the ticket booths. But on Saturday morning we woke up lazy and late, spent ages getting ready and opening pressies and drove in to London as if we had all day and then some to spare.

I'm glad we chose to spend the day that way because it was stress-free and the earliest we could get a ticket for the London Eye was for 6.30 in the evening, which gave us loads of time to stroll up and down Southbank past the fairground rides and through the galleries. We got coffee and bought some roasted nuts from one of the stalls and just enjoyed all the people and the twinkly lights down the river.

By the time we had wandered back up it was dark and the london eye looked like this: 

And this was the view from the top!!  :-)

Another Rainy Day...

..Another rainy day. The past few days have been spring-cleaning days. After getting a lot out of the way today, I had chance to take pictures of the last couple of cards I've made. I modelled the heart card on this idea from the Hero Arts gallery: http://www.heroarts.com/cardmaking/cardIdea.cfm?cardID=5224. I love the idea of creating a really colourful card from just one stamp. Then, used this idea to create the strawberries card: http://www.heroarts.com/cardmaking/cardIdea.cfm?cardID=5222.

 I just might need to buy some Hero Arts pastel coloured ink pads... So tempted! My sister lives in Indiana and I am saving up to splurge a bit in the craft shops there when I go on holiday in March. I am going to be like a kid in a sweet shop! Can't wait! :-)