Cotton-iversary

Can you guess what T gave me for our anniversary?

{Sewing fun.}
We had a lovely evening just the two of us. I made good use of my Good Food magazine and cooked pork chops with potato slices and caramelised carrots and onions. We ate with flowers on the table and the windowsil, and then snuggled down on the sofa with dessert and a film.

{Dessert, dinner, flowers.}
{Last year - Paper-iversary}.

Living Room Date

{Vegetables, chicken, gravy, wine, empty plates, candles.}

Smile Saturday

These flowers have been making me smile for a few days now. Yellow roses and purple tulips make this girl feel very sparkly. Happy weekend everyone!

Days of Love

Did you know in Norfolk, a character called Jack Valentine knocks on the back door of houses and leaves sweets and presents for children? Or that in Sweden Valentine's Day is called Alla hjärtans dag which means All Hearts' Day?


And in Korea the 14th of every month marks a love-related day - Candle Day, Valentine's Day, White Day, Black Day, Rose Day, Kiss Day, Silver Day, Green Day, Music Day, Wine Day, Movie Day, and Hug Day.

Wedding Cards

Now that our trio of winter weddings are over, I thought I'd share the wedding cards we gave them. I think people put so much of their own personality and how they want their wedding to feel into the invitation so it's great to use that as inspiration for the card if you're making one.

This is the first (invitation above, the card I made below):


I took the colours and the relaxed swirls of the invitation for my design too. The font they'd chosen was quite simple and modern so I echoed that in their initials.

The second wedding invitation stated that the ceremony would be followed by "dinner and ball". It was formal and traditional in the colours and fonts but they'd made it unusual by having four triangular "petals" that opened on the front (invitation to the left, card to the right):


Again, I used very simple, traditional colours, keeping the creativity in the textures and patterns. I used ribbon roses to make it extra special.

The third wedding, just gone. The bride and groom had clearly chosen red and gold as their wedding colours (invitation to left, card to right):


Again, I took similar colours and included their initials in a swirly, handwriting, similar to that on the invitation.

I would love this to be my job!

Paper-iversary

One year ago today I married my best friend. It was a day of family and friends. Of love and laughter. Of photos, flowers, food. It was blue and golden. There was tea and cake. There were old cars, black suits and beautiful dresses. We praised and prayed. We made promises and gave rings.

One year on we have enjoyed so much time, so many visits with family and friends. Love and laughter have been cornerstones of this marriage. Photos, flowers and meals have adorned everyday life. Blue and golden will always remind me of that day, as will afternoon tea, old cars, suits and dresses. We have prayed and praised God every day - this relationship has grown from his love, his care and his knowledge of us. We work each day to keep the promises those rings symbolise.

It has gone fast, and yet feels like a year. It has been full of adventure and excitement, yet we revel in the ordinariness of sharing our lives. That it can be magical and feel right. This is home.

Thoughts on Birthdays

In nine days it will be my birthday. My first married birthday.

Yesterday my husband came home with surprises and secrets. Some were shared, some are still secret. This was exciting.

It's also new. I tell him pretty much everything that happens. When it was coming up to his birthday it was so hard not to tell him all about the surprises I had planned. I never have trouble keeping surprises from anyone else but being used to sharing everything it takes some concentration not to just talk.

I've also never had a married birthday before. On my birthday I will wake up with my husband. That's never happened before.

This time last year I wasn't that bothered about my birthday. And I was turning 21. I was more excited about our wedding (just over a month later) and my hen night (which would be when I'd see all my girl-friends). Oh and graduation. It was a summer of momentous occasions really and turning 21 kind of paled next to the marriage/graduation combo.

But then my lovely husband and lovely housemate kept a secret plan from me. They planned a dinner party. The fact that they'd arranged the whole thing without me knowing or expecting anything threw me a little but was so special. That summer I thought I knew exactly when the important events were happening. I figured I was getting enough fuss that year...and the fact that they planned a little extra fuss made me feel very loved.

This summer will be calmer and quieter but no less special. It will be a summer filled with new experiences and memories to come. I'm pretty excited that there are still surprises though...

Report

So I did it. I printed my CV and letter and went to hand them in at the school. I spoke to the Deputy Head who took my CV to pass on to the headteacher, but said that probably the school is too small to give me enough experience to do the GTP there. So I'm not holding out too much hope.

The really wonderful thing is that my prayers were answered. Not the "please let this work out" ones. But the "if this isn't right, please help me to accept it" ones. Because I walked out, after what was pretty much "no" and didn't feel like a hopeless failure at getting a job. I was disappointed. But after T and I got home, he made me tea, I told him what happened, he hugged me, I decided not to get depressed and cry. If the teaching plan is right, then it will happen. (I have a few other routes to pursue.) If it's not, something else that is right will happen.

The important thing isn't that my plan broke. Having a job or a plan doesn't make you a grown-up. I have a job now. I had a job when I was sixteen - it didn't make me a grown up then and it still doesn't now. What was grown-up is that I tried even though it was scary and might not go to plan. And when it didn't go to plan, I decided to try again.

The best thing is that T knows exactly how to make me feel better. He encourages me and supports me. And he knows exactly what to say to take my mind off it...

T

T and I met at the CU freshers' barbecue after I'd been at university about four days. He was a second year post-grad student and we ended up going to the same church. We got to know each other more in the run up to a mission trip to Brazil which happened at the end of my first year.

Entirely ignoring the "rules" of the mission trip we got together after the first week and by the end of the trip Brazilians who didn't speak any English were using sign language to ask how long we'd been a couple. We were together a year before we got engaged, engaged for about another year and then married in August 2008.

Being married to my best friend is the best thing that could have come out of going to university. He always listens, makes me laugh, even when I'm feeling grumpy, is kind and thoughtful, eats everything I cook, and many more good things! We're both very lucky that we have such supportive families as well - they were really happy when we got engaged (and married) and their support and advice is so valuable. As are the dinners we get taken out for. Awesome.

I'm not a big music person but this song was our first dance at our wedding and I love it. You're going to have to click on the link because I don't know how to embed videos in my posts yet! We weren't going to have a first dance but this song was perfect for us so here it is: Feels Like Home.

Valentines Day

T and I have decided not to "do" Valentines Day. We've been together for two and a half years now - Saturday will be our third Valentines Day.

For the first one we swapped cheap, charity shop gifts - I gave him the (now infamously awful) M25 game (we're both board game lovers) and I got the Oceans 11 video from him. Both have since winged their way back to the charity shop.

I can't remember what we did last year, and this year we'll be visiting my parents and sisters for the weekend which will preclude any romantic plans! We're married now and were always quite happy not to celebrate V-Day, but I'm sure for some couples this XKCD cartoon really hits the nail on the head. Surely maintaining and enjoying a relationship is complicated enough without throwing in a huge heap of hype and drama?