break you to make you

this evening, at 5.50pm, my negotiation training begins.

i'm on a 4 day course. in the middle of nowhere. no phone signal and internet is intermittent. a letter with strict instructions has been left in my hotel room.

i have a feeling this is going to be hardcore.

colleagues that have already been on the course aren't allowed to give too much away (apparently everyone experiences some form of epiphany half way through) but pulling together some of the hints and snippets of information has led me to believe they break you down to build you back up again.

i'm excited but i'm also slightly petrified.

i'm hoping to learn a lot though. these guys are the best in the country at teaching buyers like me how to negotiate successfully.

so here goes......

if you don't here from me in say, 2 weeks, call someone!

dear dentist, you are a jerk

i don't know if were just having a bad day or if you consider it appropriate to be a jerk to your patients but, either way, you made me cross.
i get that you may not always have the answers and you may not know exactly why my front tooth is wobbling all over the place. but would it really have taken much for you to put me at ease just a little?!

all i wanted was a 'don't worry, your front tooth is very unlikely to fall out anytime soon' or a 'your fear of being a toothless bride is a silly one'.

but no. instead, you spend 30 seconds pulling my tooth from side to side, loosening it even further, you swear at your computer for being unable to read the x-ray, and then you let me know, with no sensitivity whatsoever, that there is a possibility that my tooth may fall out with no explanation as to why.

london dentists are mean and useless.

my home town is 2 hours away but i am taking a train there tomorrow morning to see a real dentist.

even if she tells me the same things, at least she'll do it nicely.

my first self-made dress

after a number of saturdays spent crouched over my wonderfully shiny and new sewing machine, i have finally finished my dress!

i'm so excited because, believe it or not, it is actually wearable!

sure, the zip isn't completely straight and one pocket is ever so slightly larger than the other, but for a newbie, i think the results are pretty good.

i have to confess, i'm actually kinda proud of myself.

the only other dress i've made was in a class - and, if i'm being honest, the teacher took control of most of that. i really didn't think i could do it on my own. but yippee! i really did manage it.

and, most importantly, making it was so much fun! i cannot wait to get back down to the fabric shop and start all over again.

wanting to be naughty

i have finally embarked on my wedding 'diet' (i dislike this word because really, i'm just eating healthily). motivation kicked in a couple of weeks ago when it dawned on me how close my last dress fitting was becoming. by the end of april, i am supposed to have reached my goal weight, ready to look as beautiful at the fitting as i plan to look on the wedding day itself.

temptation lurks at every corner.

but, even if i say so myself, i'm doing pretty well so far. i'm resisting 'bad' treats and the pounds are, slowly, falling off. to be fair, what greater motivation can you have than your wedding day?!

saying that, today, i really feel like eating all of this....

(all images from wikipedia)

i know i can do this and i know i won't cave. but i thought it might make me feel better to share how much i really really want to be naughty.

the ginger duo

last year, my family went back to our home town to sift through the junk/antiques/memories that existed in my parents loft, before they closed it up to rent the place out.

my main objective, other than to oooh and aaah at all the old toys we used to play with (aka fight over) and the books my parents would read to us at night, was to salvage the hundreds of old photos thrown up into storage.  i was genuinely concerned that a fire or flood or any other freak accident of nature would destroy all those beautiful reminders of the years gone by and the people lost.

taking all of them back to london would have required a truck, so instead i filled a box with my favourites......

photos of my grandad help me to remember him as the tall, strong man he was before he fell ill and passed away a few years ago. lots of those are my favourite.

photos of my parents when they were young remind me that they weren't always parents and that i probably get my love of clothes from my mum. to be honest, my dad went to art school so he was actually a bit of a fashionista too!

but i also love the photos of me and my brother, at all ages. i love looking back on how we were and how we've grown over the years.

on showing my childhood photos to m.r., after laughing hysterically, he told me that neither of us look all that different.

sure, i may dye my hair now and my brother may have grown into his head (well, not entirely!), but, physically, we really haven't changed.

what has changed the most over the years, is our relationship. just like most brothers and sisters, we fought - a lot. when he left for uni, things got better and by the time we were both living away from home, we had both realised that perhaps we weren't as horrible as we had once thought.

but since he's found his lovely wife, since i've found my gorgeous m.r. and, most importantly, since he became a dad, everything has changed again.

you know what, we actually like each other - a lot.

and not just because mum and dad tell us we have to!

that suits you

i like to think i know a little bit about clothes.
not an awful lot, but enough to get me by without looking ridiculous.

i know what shapes fit what types of bodies,i know which fabrics are worth spending the extra money on and i think i know which colours should never be combined.

apparently, when it comes to buying mens' suits, it's a whole different ball game.....

m.r. and i went suit shopping for the wedding party this weekend.

why, after many years of being in love with clothes, do i have absolutely no concept of what makes a good suit?
i mean, really. a black suit is a black suit, right??

m.r., fortunately for the look of the wedding party, knew better.......

but how annoying is it when a boy knows more about fashion and styling than you do!

in need of sleep

thank goodness it's friday.

image

right now, i'm too tired to do anything. i'm on the sofa, with m.r. by my side and i'm supposed to be watching a movie. but it's all i can do to keep my eyes open.

it's been a long, long week.....

discovering ingrid

i was completing my usual daily blog catch up and came across an adorable video on as she thinketh.

not only do the two of them look like they're having the most wonderful time in their helmets, on their sledge, but she accompanied the video with the most beautiful song -" you and i" by ingrid michaelson.



how have i never heard this fantastic lady before????

booking honeymoon - tick.

last night, m.r. and i booked our honeymoon flights!

we're so ridiculously excited.

we fly into los angeles and plan on spending 3 weeks road-tripping around california (with a little detour into vegas and grand canyon!)

we haven't started planning details yet, but the flights are booked! aaaarrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!

that means we're actually doing this......we're actually going to be doing something we both wanted to do before we even met each other.

and now, not only do we get to experience california the way we dreamed we would, but we get to do it together. which will make it a million times better than i could have ever hoped it would be.

p.s. in a few months, i will definitely be looking for some tips and advice so get your planning heads on people!

p.s.

i have been away for far too long from the blogging world and for that, i apologise.

i have an awful lot of catch-up reading to do......

the key to a girls success

confidence.

confidence is the key to a girl's success.

and a girl can only ever be confident when she's in beautiful clothes and pretty shoes.

a while back, i wrote a post about needing a new work wardrobe for my new job (i started said new job 2 days ago).
well, i threw caution (and budget) to the wind and began to compile that wardrobe.
plus, m.r. and family were wonderful enough to contribute with fabulous xmas and birthday pressies!

so i thought i'd share this newly found confidence with you guys as you have all been the initial impetus for this 'redesign'. because of you and all your gorgeous pictures, i remembered that looking good is easy, if you just wear what you love - forget others' opinions and the fear of looking slightly different.

embrace the kookiness and confidence soon follows.....

exhibit a presented as evidence - day 1 at work in my new coat! something i would never have worn in my previous job!

so thank you all for reminding me to just be me!