One year

One year ago today a handsome man got down on his knee on the ship's deck and asked me if I would marry him - of course I said yes!

For those of you who are interested, you can read the entire proposal story here.

I don't remember much of what A said to me once he got down on his knee that night, it is all just a happy blissful blur, but I do remember feeling my heart race and feeling like I was on a cloud, thinking "is this really happening to me?", "is this the moment I have imagined my whole life?", "he's doing what I think he's doing right?".

Before I knew it, A had stopped talking and had pulled the ring box out of his jacket and I just jumped on him. In that moment right there, with tears pouring out of my eyes, jumping on the man of my dreams, I the chatter box of all chatter boxers was SPEECHLESS.

We hugged, we cried, we smiled and I took millions of self pics, posing with my new ring. Every minute I was with A I couldn't stop shaking, grinning and staring at the beautiful man who would now remain by my side forever. Every second I was away from A, (usually only in the bathroom) I would stare at my ring and try to comprehend that I was now engaged, I was someones fiance, someone wanted to spend the rest of their life with me and that someone picked the DAMNDEST most perfect ring for me all by himself.

I remember thinking in those few days that I had I never felt so in love, I remember thinking how much I loved A then and how no one could ever feel that happy or that in love EVER at any other moment in their life.

Boy was I wrong.

As I write this now, I am smiling about how blissful, happy and in love I was this time a year ago, but I am also smiling at how naive I was. I thought I could not love A anymore than in that moment right then, but right now I love him so much more, with every day I love him more, I care for him more and I feel closer to him.

I once heard a priest in a wedding video say, "remember this moment right now, because this is the least you will ever love each other... from here on in your love will only grow and become stronger". I feel that way about A.

The boy just never stops making me feel amazing and I hope I do the same for him!!

A and I have lunch together regularly, as we work only a block away from each other. Today, I actually ran into him at Court (no joke) and he told me to make sure I eat before our break today. I agreed, thinking nothing of it. I should know better.

The wonderful boy had planned to take me to The Tea Centre for tea and scones. Originally he wanted to eat there, but I had made us pasta for lunch, so there was no use in wasting that.

We had the strawberries and cream black tea with scones - it was delicious!! The tea actually tasted like strawberries and cream, the scones were soft and the cream was smoOoooth... MmMmM.

The cafe was soo cute and excluded from all the outside noise of busy Pitt Street Mall. The waiters were very friendly and helpful and the whole place just had a cosy, relaxed vibe. I didn't want to go back to work afterwards.

It was an awesome "celebration" and lunch time break.

A is such a sweetheart. I am spoilt.

Soo A... if you are reading this... S'Agapo ;)

Signing off now, with my outfit of the day...

Love this cape!



On Getting Engaged

In the midst of all things Easter, I thought I would write a non Easter related, semi-serious post about a part of getting engaged that not many people seem to talk about.

I am writing this post after being engaged for almost 11months (WOW!) now and after talking to newly married friends of mine, who have been through the exact same experience. I am writing this post to hopefully make one engaged man or woman stress just a little less.

When your man or woman proposes to you, for most it is the single happiest moment of your life to date. You are overwhelmed with emotion, happy, excited and madly in love. As you start to inform your friends and family about your decision to spend the rest of your life together, for most people, the excitement continues, as well as the many celebrations, the silly smiles and the feeling that you are the luckiest woman/man on earth!!

The weeks, even months following the proposal, continue to be filled with this giddiness and excitement. You find yourself just staring at the rock on your finger in awe and shock, and giggling every time you say the word fiance. These are the weeks and months, where for most, it feels like life could not be better. You don't know what you did to deserve this state of happiness, but you still enjoy every second of it.

Of course, after some time, the after proposal glow starts to wear off and you and your fiance are faced with many decisions, situations and problems you never had to deal with before. Every ones situation is different, but I think it is very rare that nothing would change for a couple after the proposal. For some, they face the idea of sharing finances and moving out together. While for others, it is more about planning the engagement party, the wedding, pleasing the new in laws and fielding questions on when you will have a baby, buy a house and a station waggon. Regardless of the size of the change, there is change and most newly engaged couples are discussing things and doing things they hadn't even thought of before.

It is these little changes, that you now need to face not only as a individual, but as a couple, which I think is what leads to the little tiffs between you and your partner. By tiffs, I don't mean fights which are necessarily about anything important or significant at all. They can be and generally are about things, which in the scheme of things don't really seem to matter at all, but regardless of that, they still seem to happen more after you become engaged. These fights, coupled with the idea that this is meant to be "the happiest time of your life" make these insignificant things, seem a whole lot worse!

My newly married friends and I all admitted that there is so much pressure to be happy during your engagement... every time you tell someone the news or you see people out and you hear, "I want what you guys have" or "congratulations, you are so lucky" or "I can't wait to find a man like..." you can't help but think, hold on, I'm engaged, meant to be happy... why are we fighting so damn much?? Those thoughts tend to lead to more stress and maybe even more tiffs. Yes that's right, you start fighting about the fact that you fight. A & I had a fight just like this. If we are meant to get married, why have we started fighting more since you put this ring on my finger?

Now don't get me wrong... as a couple you are still madly in love and you know that you want to spend the rest of your life with this person, but damn you never signed up for this. You thought by saying yes you would be entering a period of love, smiles and happiness, not family feuds, money stresses and arguments over whether what's his face's girlfriend should attend your party.

So what am I trying to say? I am trying to say that this is the reality of getting engaged... it MOST DEFINITELY is an amazing time in your life, but it is never going to be perfect, it is never going to live up to what your friends, who see you once a month, think it is or what those stupid girly movies make it out to be.

THIS IS NORMAL.

Yes, if you are seriously doubting waking up with this person everyday, you should listen to you instincts, but apart from that.. these little tiffs, these annoyances, that is what growing as a couple is about and I guarantee you there is a lot more engaged couples going through that stage in their relationship, than a perfect, teddy and bubbles stage.

This post is to tell those recently engaged or hoping to soon become engaged, that no it won't be the toughest time of your life, but it won't be perfect either and that is OKAY. This pressure society puts on us to be in a Cinderella type relationship is unrealistic and unneeded. You may not think you are one to listen to outside pressure, but since we were little we have been fed this idea of being engaged= perfect happy ever after. As soon as you push that idea away and realise this is actually what happens when your engaged, you will have one less thing to stress about.

Our Engagement Party

yAhhhh.. I am so sorry to anyone who reads this. Our engagement party was about a week and a half ago now and I haven't posted a word about it! WHY??? I have been sleeping! Hahaha After the hen's party and then my engagement party, I had been donning my super dooper captain-planning cape for weeks and so I was exhausted! A captured it perfectly the other day when he said, "I wish I had a fiancé that didn't sleep so much"- woops! :)

Anyways…. The engagement party was great!!! During the day, after getting my makeup and hair  done, I went into some sort of stupid panic/anxious mode and even teared a little… why?? I have no freaking idea! I think the anticipation was all too much and I was scared that it might not be fabulous or that it would be over.. all silly thoughts of course! Luckily mumma and A were able to slap some sense into me.

After being too cranky at mumma on the drive in (sorry again about that- but you know it is a terrible personality trait of mine) and arriving at the venue, all my nerves seemed to go away… especially when the guests started to arrive and when A walked in and I got my usual big bear hug!

The rest of the night is one big blur of happiness to me… granted, the very end of the night is missing due to the bar tab, however the majority is just due to an overwhelming mass of happiness! I have never smiled so much ever! Every time I looked at the door, it was another one of my favourite people walking through the door…another person to hug, kiss and giggle with!

A and I wouldn't change a thing about the night and the best thing is that all of our friends and family have said the same. Everyone has reported back as having a great time and have commented "how meant to be" A and I are. Our speech wasn't planned at all and everybody really saw how we bounce off each other, it proved to be a great laugh for everyone but also an "awww" moment.

I wish I could do it allllllll over again a million times, exactly the same! I think I got a taste of the wedding and I want more… hehehe. Anyways, here are the pics :) (sorry about the excess- a bit excited!!!)

Cake from Princess Cakes

(same colour as my ring box)

The Martini glass had "look at me",

the others had "eat me" and "play with me"

Our Adlib/welcome table

A & I xxx

My dress was from George

Heellooo....

 my makeup was by Napoleon

hair by Ivy Hair Dressing

Bestie

Other Bestie

These great shots are from the guys at Createv Photographty

love

mumma xx

Another fav pic!

Boys

My friends from when I was on exchange in Canada

modelling the cake haahha

During our speech,

A suprised me with this MASSIVE bunch of flowers..

I was caught totally off guard!

One of my fav pics from the night

My Bestie then gave us a belly dance performance

 

especially when she taught the boys a few moves hehehe

Then it was time for dancing.....

Zorba ;)

Cotton-Eye Joe

I couldn't help myself.. lol

who knows?

 

A puzzle was on every table and each was a different pic of us...

I saw this at the end of the night hehehe

Great way to wrap up this post...

BEST ENGAGEMENT PARTY EVER!!!! :)

Mini Wedding?? No thanks!!

So after the proposal, comes the engagement party plans and before I continue there is something I feel I should say- weddings and engagements are personal events, everyone should have what THEY want, everyone is different and it is very much an each to their own kind of thing, BUT this is my blog...so these are my opinions :)

My opinion on engagement parties is simply this- IT IS NOT A MINI WEDDING!!! I cringe at the idea of having an elaborate, expensive, formal event, with set seating, a 3 course meal, ball gown, up do and speeches from every member of the family! If our engagement has all of that, what is left for the wedding except the church and exchanging of rings? I don't want anything to take away from our big day.

In saying that, A and I love love love a good celebration (friends reading this will be nodding right now), in the words of one friend, we will use any excuse to have a party-  so we have opted for a cocktail party.We are having our engagement in a function room of a club in a beach side suburb in Sydney. We have decided there will be lots of dancing, food (casual buffet), drinks, family friends and all round merriness! Other decisions which have been made...

Our DJ has been booked(this is me pretending to DJ- don't be alarmed I will be nowhere near there at our engagement party I just didn't have one of the actual DJ)

We are going to fill Martini glasses with blue, purple and clear baubles like this (minus the candles) for fun cocktail centrepieces

Ad libs like these will be on a table for guests to fill in (thanks to a voguette who shared the idea on a forum)

My dress and a few other surprises have also been decided on, but they can't be revealed on my blog until after the party ;) My dress will actually even be a surprise to me as I purchased it online (eeeeksss- I know!!).

We are making our invites this week and the only other thing to decide on is the cake... again going against the whole mini wedding concept, I do not want a white cake, I want something fun and bubbly.. I was thinking maybe something like this, what do you think??

Losing my blogging virginity!!

Hey Hey!!

So this is my first ever blog, I am not a journalist or a writer, but after recently becoming engaged I thought instead of bombarding my future husband (who we will call A) with all my wedding ideas, purchases and general nonsense, I will share it with the World Wide Web. Plus, I think having this blog will give me something to look back on when these times of engagement bliss are just a fabulous memory. So here I am, losing my blogging virginity, popping my cherry and spilling my guts...

Going with the engagement theme, I think my first blog should be about the proposal.. it is a bit word heavy, but worth it I think...

The proposal happened on a P&O cruise around the South Pacific. On the first formal night we went on a date, afterwards we were walking around the cruise ship when A "punked" me by getting half way down to his knee and then giggled "just kidding". After this, I had proposal wayyyyy out of my head until 4 nights later when we had another date night (most nights were spent drinking with our new cruise friends). This time we went to dinner again, then shared some wine on the back deck of the boat.. literally just me, him, the ocean, our wine and the stars. As people came and went on the lower decks A seemed to get a bit nervous.



The scene of the proposal

After all the people left, A grabbed my hand, spun me around, got down on his knee, pulled the ring box from his inside suit pocket (very suave hehe) and did his little spiel before asking me to marry him, after which I balled like a baby!!

My beautiful ring.. that I love!



After we both calmed down a bit, I called my mum and then we went to tell some of our new cruise friends, who promptly ran around the boat telling everyone.. they even managed to get balloons and a congratulations banner put on our cabin door before we got back. For the next 3days, our engagement was announced at trivia, bingo and even the nightclub. I had people coming up to me all day asking to see my ring and the best part was that we got to relive all the excitement again when we returned to shore and told everyone else our news.

 Hey, this is me...newly engaged!

And so the journey begins.....